The Exhibitor (1955)

NT-4 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR MGM Workshop Hits Mound City ST. LOUIS — Upwards of 200 theatre owners and managers who attended MGM's 21st Ticket-Selling Workshop at the Cha e Hotel here were rewarded with more than $630,000 worth of selling id as, luncheon, plus some ice cold Coca-C la as an extra bonus for having bee.i on hand. Host at the lunch; on, as in the previous workshops, was the Coca-Cola Compa y, and F. E. Riggs, sales manager for Ch cago and St. Louis, and Frank Sheldon, vicepresident, Coca-Cola B ttling Company of St. Louis, were on hand to take the bows. Mike Simons, MGM’s director of cus¬ tomer relations, was in charge, but the exhibitor panelists woiked ent'rely on a free-wheeling basis. The exhibitor partici¬ pants in the workshop were C arence Golder, Civic Center, Great Falls, Mont.; Robert Walker, Uin’.ah, Fiu ta, Colo.; Art Farrell, Southwest 14th Street Drive-In, Des Moines; and Joseph Jarvis, Gilbert Stuart, Riverside, R. I. Emery M. Austin, director of exploitation, Loew’s, Inc., New York, gave a quick but properly detailed outline of MGM’s 33 exhibitor aids. Loren Cluster, Salem, I 1., on behalf of the Missouri Illinois Theatre Owners, was given time to make an appeal for letters to the FCC belore June 9 to pretest against toll-TV. The day’s proceedings got und rway with an address of welcome by T m E. Bailey, St. Louis exchange man; ger for Loew’s, Inc. Simons gave the why for these work¬ shops, “Getting people into theatres, sit ce that’s all theatre folk a e interested in.” Panelists here and elsewhere had been “billed” solely because they had ideas that sold theatre tickets. The importance of imp essing on mer¬ chants and Ouher business men the va us of the theatre to their c .mmunity and the absolute necessity for every motion picture theatre owner and manager to make h’mself an important person in the com¬ munity was stressed threugheut the day. As Simon put it, “The town without a (Continued from preceding page) Oklahoma City Irene Metzler is the new receptionist at Metro, replacing Barbara Rychlec, who has been promoted to biller. Barbara re¬ places Marjorie Wolf, who resigned to await a blessed event. . . . Betty Matthes has replaced Shirley Varner as office man¬ ager’s secretary, MGM. Shirley resigned to continue her schooling. . . . Vera Strick¬ land, cashier, MGM, is vacationing. . . . Barbara Bowers, secretary to branch man¬ ager, MGM, spent the holidays in Terre Haute, Ind., visiting her relatives. Video Independent Theatres changed the name of the Ritz, Ardmore, Okla., to the Park. . . . Thompson Theatres closed the Sequoyah, Tehlequah, Okla. . . . K. Lee Williams Theatres bought the Sunset Drive-In, Wilburton, Okla., from Kinsel Tucker, and changed the name to the Wilburton Auto. . . . Myron Osburn has closed the Aline, Aline, Okla. . . . Albert Turtlelott closed the Ritz, Fairland, Okla., motion picture theatre is a dead town," a fact that should be constantly kept before all community leaders. Golder, who owns four conventional theatres and two drive-ins, urged ex¬ hibitors to become the permanent chair¬ man of the entertainment committee of the community, and told how in order to sell theatre tickets he gives them away. These “giveaways” are slanted at pub ic goodwill, including invitations to be the theatre’s guests sent to various organiza¬ tions, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, high school teams, and school bands, etc., and free shows for Safety Patrol card holders. All this is to keep the community indebted to the theatre. Walker, who had a 210-seat theatre in a commun.ty of from 1200 to 2530, took time out as he was starting his talk to introduce his wife, Melba Walker, his chief helper in combatting the competition of three drive-ins, plus a lighted horse track and a baseball team, not to mention TV. He told of the beneficial results from the “Salute to the Movies” in which the mer¬ chants of the town participated. Simons stressed the importance of em¬ ployee morale, with all workers trained to boost the house at every opportunity. Mike also told of the advantages of reading the trade press. Farrell said everything he does is pointed at the family trade, his drive-in having a playgr.und for the kiddies, pro¬ vision for bottle warming, free gum and free potatoe chips, etc. He told how he “took our story to the housewives of Des Moines” through a questionnaire take house-to-house by two trained lady can¬ vassers. Housewives who participated by answering various questions were rewarded with free passes for the family and a pearl necklace that cost seven cents. This check¬ up of movie habits and views has already covered 7,000 of the 50,644 homes in Des M ines, at a total cost of $1,400. He touched on the fine possibilities of Sunday morning church services at a drive-in. W. Hardy Hendren, Jr., United Film Service, Inc., Kansas City, then hit the highlights of the fine direct mail cam¬ paign his company had worked out slanted at selling the movie theatre to hometown merchants. with no plans to reopen. . . . S. B. Rucker, cashier, Paramount, is vacationing. St. Louis Friends of the late former Circuit Judge Moses Hartmann and his widow, Mrs. Carrie Scooler Hartmann, were saddened to learn that funeral services for her were held in Los Angeles. Mrs. Hartmann, who left here with her husband to settle in California some 17 yeai’s ago, died at the age of 75 and was buried at Forest Lawn Mausoleum. One of her two sons is Edmund Hartmann, a Hollywood producer. The other son is Sidney Hartmann, Long Beach, Cal. Three sisters and a brother also survive. The grand opening of the Holiday DriveIn, a unit of the Jablonow-Komm Thea¬ tres, Inc., took place. The 1003-car Holiday offers to the public one of the most elaborate drive-ins in America. Its con¬ temporary style buildings are in a park¬ like setting that has real eye appeal. It includes a year ’round air conditioned cafeteria that will offer a select menu for supper or lunch, and provides tables and chairs at large picture windows that enable the guest to eat in comfort while watching the picture program. A patio of paved terraces with umbrella-covered tables and chairs indicates a modern approach toward movie relaxation. There is a large play¬ ground for the kiddies. The kitchen is all¬ electric equipped and designed for faster service. The screen is said to be the largest in the St. Louis area. All of the projection and sound equipment is the newest Sim¬ plex, as are the in-a-car speakers. It has in-a-car heaters to permit operation in the winter months. This equipment was provided by National Theatre Supply. The architects for the drive-in were Gerhardt Kramer Associates, while the general con¬ tractors were the Swan Construction Company. In Highland, Ill., the Air Park Drive-In, 300 cars, will be taken over by R. L. Costilow, a teacher in the Highland High School. Prior to his teaching job here, Costilow had experience in theatre oper¬ ations in the middle west. Adolph P. List had operated the drive-in since July 30, 1953. ... In Kevil, Ky., the Park Drive-In, 225 cars, opened in 1949, has been closed indefinitely. In Columbia, Mo., the Varsity North Ninth Street was closed and will resume operations again when University of Missouri opens for the fall semister. , . . In Sullivan, Ill., the Grand, owned and operated by Lee Norton, was closed for the summer months. ... In Riverton, Ill., the Riverton was closed and will re¬ main dark through June, July, and August. Pete Cardoni is the owner. Don Davis, theatre equipment depart¬ ment, RCA, Kansas City, was here en route home from Camden, N. J. . . . George Phillips, co-owner, Realart Pictures of St. Louis, was in Chicago for a Lippert business conference. Seattle A Seattle chapter of the Variety Club is being organized, with committee appoint¬ ments from a recent meeting including Ed Cruea, Bud Saffle, Glen Haviland, Fred Danz, Jr., and Mercy and Hall Baetz. The next meeting had as guests publicists, and radio and TV personnel. . . . Hugh Owen, Paramount’s vice-president out of New York, in charge of western sales, made his first trip to Seattle for a meeting with Paramount’s Seattle and Portland sales force. Owen was accompanied by H. Neal East, western division sales manager. Paramount. Ed Cruea, Allied Artists branch man¬ ager, returned from a business trip to Ephrata and Spokane, Wash. . . . A. C. Lyles arrived from the Paramount Studios to handle premiere of the Pine-Thomas “The Far Horizons.” Walter Hoffman, Paramount’s northwest publicity director, has been traveling throughout the north¬ west territory setting up plans for the film. . . . Paramount held an exhibitor’s luncheon at the Georgian Room of the Olympic which was thoroughly interesting and enjoyed by all who attended. June 15, 1955