The Exhibitor (1955)

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18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR BETTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT wmmmmm George Nonamaker Editor Our friend, Charles Melven, Philadel¬ phia Daily News’ movie critic, was won¬ dering cut loud again recently and devoted a column to whether audiences really want double bills. Quoting from Mel¬ ven, “Among our own circle of friends we have heard twin bills talked down harder recently than ever be¬ fore. You’ve probably heard their reasons. Either the two pic¬ tures were very bad, or they had to sit through one stinker to see the good one. It is rare when two good pictures play the same program. “Film exhibitors generally regard these doubles as one of the biggest evils of the movie industry. To begin with, there is a product shortage, and doubles grind up the pictures as fast as they come out of the film capital. “Some houses claim they are forced to book ancient re-releases, and other fi’ms they would ordinarily ignore in order to keep their doubles schedules full. “No one can put his finger on just when double bills came into being. It would seem that since there have been motion pictures, one exhibitor has always tried to beat down the competition by offering twice as much for the price of an admission. “Perhaps this is one of the reasons ex¬ hibitors are afraid to take a gamble. It is a legitimate fear, for apparently there is a segm.ent of the movie-going public who just like to go to movies — and if it’s a double bill they enjoy it twice as much. “In the not too distant past, there had been a trend in a few cities to swing back to single bills. The results of these ex¬ periments by far-sighter exhibitors have been inconclusive. In some theatres the idea worked; in others, it fell flat. “We don’t claim to know the minds of m.ovie-goers. We only know our own. And we dislike double bills. “Nevertheless, we are still wondering. Could the t’me be ripe to drop them? What do you think?” Of course, Philadelphia, except in the neighborhoods, has been one of the few remaining strongholds of single features, until the day of previews arrived, that is. But that’s another story, altogether. Nonamaker "To Hell And Back" Gets Military Boost In Record U-l Promotion New York — Universal-International is blazing new trails in its advance promo¬ tion of “To Hell And Back,” based on the life story of Audie Murphy, America’s most decorated hero. It has already been hailed by the military authorities who are lending their full support to the pro¬ motional campaign program. “To Hell And Back” has an introduc¬ tion by General Walter Bedell Smith, who served as Chief of Staff at Supreme Allied Headquarters during World War II. It has been screened fcr top Defense Department officials both in Washington and West Point and has received their full endorse¬ ment. The picture was seen by exhibitors for the first time early this week when U-I was host to circuit and New York area exhibitors at a special invitational screen¬ ing at Governors Island highlighted by a military review in honor of Murphy, who was in New York starting a nationwide promotional tour on behalf of the picture. The trade press, national magazines, syn¬ dicates, television and radio representa¬ tives were also scheduled to attend the .screening with some 600 exhibitors and military guests, in the CinemaScopeequipped Post Theatre. U-I has already established a liaison in Washington to handle some of the impor¬ tant promotional projects being developed on the picture which involve Defense De¬ partment officials. There are also several projects being developed in conjunction with the leading veterans’ organizations of the country, including the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Murphy, a native of Texas, will be hcnored by the Texas legislative leaders when he visits Washington, including Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. The picture will also be screened during his visit for invited audiences of top government officials, foreign dignitaries, and press officials. That U-I is backing “To Hell And Back” to the hilt with one of its record adver¬ tising, publicity, and promotion cam¬ paigns has already been indicated by vice president David A. Lipton. The national magazine advertising campaign will be launched in late August with spreads in Life, Look, Coronet, the American Legion Magazine, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine, and the National Guardsman. Lipton has already disclosed that the pic¬ ture will also receive the first national long-range television spot-campaign. The company is also giving the picture a national billboard advertising campaign, the first in many, many years, using boards covering more than 400 suburban areas designed to hit a population of more than 30,000,000. In a special directive issued a few weeks ago to all Army Commands in the United States, the Defense Department has directed field installations to cooper¬ ate fully with exhibitors showing the picture as part of the Army’s enlistrnent program. Launching the record national magazine coverage on the picture, both Life and Look Magazine, with their combined cir¬ culation of 9,500,000, in their issues on the newstands for the July 4th weekend de¬ voted important layouts to the picture. Every important national magazine and Sunday supplement is scheduled to fea¬ ture important text and picture layouts on “To Hell And Back” during the coming weeks. Another facet of the all-out promotional campaign will be the national tieup with Pocket Books on the Audie Murphy auto¬ biography upon which the picture is based. The fact that an important Holly¬ wood actor’s autobiography is involved is unusual in itself and the special campaign involves posters, window streamers and a national contest. This is all the initial phase of the U-I “To Hell And Back” campaign. It has been a long time since any film com¬ pany has started to work so far in ad¬ vance of release on a picture, but this is the one that U-I feels has the makings of one of the truly great pictures and one which should prove one of the industry’s outstanding boxoffice attractions. This idea from John Hutchings, Schine's Ben Ali, Lexington, Ky., may prove of help to exhibitors planning a horror show. We think the ghosts are pretty cute. “"XqXXOX'' (Continued from page 15) trailer in addition. More than 150 radio spots were used on four stations. Three radio stations made use of contests sug¬ gested in Columbia’s special exploitation kit fcr “The Night Holds Terror.” Plenty of street work was undertaken. Girls paraded the streets handing out free whistles, which had a card attached call¬ ing attention to the film. A sound truck carried the message through key areas and use was made also of street stencils. Warnings against picking up hitchhikers, which was the beginning of Courtier’s trouble both in real life and in the pic¬ ture, were placed under windshield wipers along with playdate information. Tieups were easy to arrange. The local automobile club went along on the nohitchiking idea. August 31, 1955