Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1958)

Jjky, January 17, 1958 Motion Picture Daily % Plan to Boost the Box Office n BUSINESS-STIMULATING PLAN, designed for use by thea!lk tres of any size and in any community, is herewith presented to *m. the motion picture industry by Quigley Publications. There is piestion that at this time the nation's motion picture box office is v in need of a hypo, and this plan should be of material benefit in ing that need. : PLAN i .ie objective of the plan is to encourage attendance at theatres of 3 in the over-30 age groups comprising the so-called lost audience, dls for special efforts and special inducements to reach and win patronage for theatres several times in particular months. re plan is addressed to the family as a group. Thus, it promises to t the younger, theatre-going members in the exhibitors campaign terest and attract the stay-at-home elders. is suggested that the months of March and October, when atten.e is apt to be sluggish, be chosen as trial months for the plan in . In relation to experience and results, individual exhibitors may to extend it through the entire year of 1959, or to whatever slack ids of the year the theatre owner may wish to apply it. AILS OF THE PLAN m ie theatre will sell in advance either a monthly family and individual ssions card, at discount prices determined by prevailing admission s in individual or regional situations. It should, however, be reajle enough to be a readily recognizable bargain. suggested price would be twice the adult evening admission price n individual ticket at theatres making only one change of program dy, The charge for a family ticket at the same type of theatre Id be around three or four times the single adult admission. 1 card would admit the individual holder to each new program, mum of four monthly, in a theatre that changes the show weekly, family card would admit all members of a family, accompanied t least one adult, once for each program change during the life of icket. Boxes numbered to correspond to program changes may be : in ted on the cards and punched by the ticket-taker as used. i ace for the owner's signature should be provided on each card, in the case of family cards, space also should be provided for an ' specifying number of children. • • ie attraction which a '"bargain" holds for the average person will tate a wide distribution of the monthly rate cards. Since the more are used, the bigger the bargain for the purchaser, it would appear the uninviting appearance of a sparsely occupied auditorium could voided during the weakest attendance months of the year, when . ilan is put into effect. lother psychological advantage would be that the stimulated attene would create a favorable public impression among non-card ers. and would increase drop-in trade. These factors together would e favorable word-of-mouth and would work to renew the theatreg habit among the newly won patrons. ie effect of attendance increases on concessions sales doesn't need . lasis. ie simplest accounting method for the revenue from card sales— hit is believed that in most instances distributors will approve, since cfi sales will represent almost 100 per cent plus revenue-probably id be to apportion such receipts in accordance with the traditional o(stry daily allocation formula, adding l/10th for each week day; •ths for Saturdays and 2/10th for Sundays. If • • 0 ><>perative merchants, especially those whose trade stands to benefit increased theatre attendance, could offer the cards for sale or d purchase them and offer them to customers as sales promotion cements of their own. leatre personnel can be assigned to neighborhood door-to-door lg and to telephone solicitation. Availability of the cards certainly Id be made known in the theatre's advertising, via handbills, on the marquee and on the screen. They could be sold at the boxoffice or at separate booths set up in the lobby. The plan can be adapted to participation by community theatres, regionally and even nationally. It costs little to place in operation, it is simple to administer, and yet it promises rich returns in direct proportion to the amount and quality of thought and plain, old-fashioned work applied to it. Movie Ticket Month can be utilized by the smallest as well as the largest theatres. It holds possibilities which, if realized, could arrest and reverse declining theatre attendance. SHERWIN KANE MARTIN QUIGLEY, JR. Test of Baltimore Ad Tax Tentatively Set Special to THE DAILY BALTIMORE, Jan. 16 The first court test of Baltimore's new taxes on advertising has been set tentatively for late February or early March. The hearing will be in Circuit Court. Sixteen suits against the taxes have been filed by radio and television stations, newspapers and merchants. It has been agreed that all will be consolidated, and a month will be allowed for depositions and stipulations. The case is almost certain to be taken to the State Court of Appeals and perhaps farther. Academy Roster 2,028 HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 16 Membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences now stands at 2,028, an all-time high, following the largest month's enrollment in the organization's history. A total of 258 individuals were proposed for membership during December, it was revealed, and now have been accepted into membership. Academy president George Seaton said the sudden increase can be attributed to the new rule, adopted this year, which limits all voting in the Academy Award nominations and elections to the Academy's own members. Tax Cut Tabled COLUMBUS, O., Jan. 16. Ordinance calling for an increase in the exemption from the city's 3 per cent admissions tax from the present 75 cents to 90 cents was tabled indefinitely at the first meeting of the new city council. Theatremen have been urging the increased exemption. Wesley Llewelyn, council president, said the body wished to study the ordinance, which would take some $35,000 annually from city' revenues. Davis Post ( Continued from page 1 ) exploitation departments aimed at strengthening and broadening their merchadising activities," Pickman said. "Under the new set up, increased emphasis will be placed on long range promotional efforts for individual pictures starting in the pre-production phase, and continuing through the point of sale. Campaigns will be planned to encompass the foreign market as well as domestic." Prior to his joining Allied Artists, Davis was Eastern director of advertising, publicity and exploitation for Samuel Goldwyn Productions, with which company he was associated for nine years. 'Pacific' Bow ( Continued from page 1 ) on a reserved seat basis with 11 scheduled performances per week. The Criterion Theatre will be completely refurbished for the engagement. Projection booths will be rebuilt to house the special Todd-AO equipment, while the entire theatre will be rewired to accommodate the six-channel Todd-AO sound. 'Ship1 Here Sunday "The Ship Was Loaded," George K. Arthur's newest feature presentation, will have its New York premiere at the Guild Theatre on Sunday. 'Oregon' Dates Slated Allied Artists' "Oregon Passage" will have its West Coast premiere on January 22 at the Liberty Theatre, Portland, Ore., where the opening will precede a multiple booking in 15 theatres in the outlying territory. General Strike Closes Theatres in Nassau Special to THE DAILY NASSAU, Bahamas, Jan. 16-Theaties are closed here as a result of the general strike which brought in military forces and caused all tourists to depart. The Wometco Bethell Brothers Theatres — Savoy, Nassau, Cinema, Capitol and Meeres— are dark. This is said to be the first time all theatres have closed because of such a strike.