The Exhibitor (1959)

March 4, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 15 Pepsi-Cola Sponsors Exhib 'Oscar' Contest LONDON Observations by Jock MacGregor IN HONORING the Associated British Cinemas champion manager at a London lunch, director and general manager William Cartlidge said: “J. D. Mackrell of the Haymarket, Newcastle, has set a standard of man¬ agement of which he can be justly proud, and his success in being judged champion manager for 1958 is the culmination of consistent effort on his part over the years. “Apart from his marked ability in all the other aspects of his job, he is a manager who fully realizes that first and foremost a cinema must impart a welcoming atmosphere of friendliness and efficiency in all aspects and, by dint of infusing the right spirit into his staff, he causes just such a state of affairs to exist at his theatre. “There is very definite evidence that more and more of our managers are becoming increasingly conscious that the cinema with an atmosphere which attracts is the one that the public is inclined to visit even when it is presenting a film which is not 100 per cent box office, and for this reason, judging the 1958 contest has been harder than ever. Mr. Mackrell received stern competition, especially from L. G. Lamm of the Regal, Harrow Road, London, a district winner.” Other district winners honored were J. A. Solkhon (Regal, Kingston); S. Luton (Carl¬ ton, Upton Park, London); L. Grou (Regal, Woolwich, London); G. Williams (Regent, Chath¬ am); F. R. Vere (Carlton, Boscombe); A. Quilter (Ritz, Penzance); M. E. Ward (Olympia, Newport); R. D. Bowen (Ritz, Oxford); J. Hare (Regal, Yarmouth); A. E. Griffith (Carlton! Nottingham); J. G. Power (Orient, Birmingham); T. Whittaker (Savoy, Wolverhampton); R. J. Parsons (Apollo, Manchester); D. Baker (Regal, Chester); C .D. Parkin (Ritz, Wigan); R. H. Romaine (Ritz, Leeds); A. Dale (Rex, Riddrie, Scotland); J. L. Laing (Regal, Aberdeen, Scotland); and A. W. Seddon (Ritz, Belfast, N. Ireland). LORD ARCHIBALD, in welcoming some 300 leading personalities from all sides of the industry at a Savoy Hotel lunch to honor Sir Alec Guinness on his knighthood, said the only absentees among the top stars and executives were either ill, working at the studios, or out of the country. The toast was proposed by Arthur Watkins, for the British Film Pro¬ ducers Association; your observer, for the critics’ Circle; John Junor, editor of the Sun¬ day Express; Janette Scott, for actresses; Sam Spiegel, for Hollywood; and Kenneth More, for actors. Sir Alec opened his reply by confessing to being “sloshed” — an inspired device to cover his obvious embarrassment at the gathering. No British show business person¬ ality has ever received a knighthood in so short a career. It is only 12 years since he made his screen debut. . . . There is no more bucked distributor around town than Monty Morton. Wherever you look there are big queues for United Artists releases. This is giving publicist Joe Pole plenty to do — and this, he assures me, is only the beginning. If every¬ thing goes according to plan, this certainly looks like United Artists’ year. . . . George Minter was an admirable host when Nadja Tallier, not to be confused with Nadine Tillier, arrived to star in his production of “Rough and the smooth,” which Robert Siodmak is directing. . . . Another glamorous arrival from the continent is Mylene Demongeot who is here for Rank’s “Upstairs and Downstairs.” Betty E. Box is producing, with Ralph Thomas directing. . . . The Variety Club Annual Dinner and Ball raised a record $40,000. The brochure was the best ever and raised $22,400, a lot of dough at British advertising rates. NEW YORK — Pepsi-Cola Company is co¬ operating with the Motion Picture Associa¬ tion of America advertising and publicity directors committee in the promotion of the upcoming industry -sponsored television and radio broadcast of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual “Oscar” awards on April 6, through a $2,000 exploi¬ tation contest for theatre managers, it was an¬ nounced recently by Norman Wasser, man¬ ager of theatre sales. Pepsi-Cola Company will donate the fol¬ lowing prizes: First prize: A free round-trip to Holly¬ wood from the home city for two. The winner can take the trip anytime up to the 1960 “Oscar” presentation. If the winner chooses to go to Hollywood during the 1960 “Oscar” presentation time he will be an honored guest at all awards activities. The first prize winner has the option of taking $1,000 in cash in lieu of the Holly¬ wood trip. Second prize: $500 in cash. Third prize: $100 in cash. Fourth prize: $100 in cash. Six prizes of $50 each. The ceremonies, which will emanate from Hollywood, will be seen and heard in the United States starting at 10:30 p.m. on Mon¬ day night, April 6, over the NBC Television and Radio Networks, and in Canada over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Tele¬ vision Network. The contest is open to any theatre owner or manager. Each entry is to consist of a recapitulation of local efforts to promote a greater viewing audience for the telecast, complete wit-h all details, photographs, sam¬ ples of promotion literature, etc. These details are to be submitted to the Academy Awards Campaign Contest, c/o M.P.A.A., 28 West 44 Street, New York, post¬ marked no later than May 1, 1959. Judges will be the advertising and publicity direc¬ tor committee of the Motion Picture Associa¬ tion. The decision of the judges will be final. In the event that a group of owners or managers pool their efforts, they must decide among themselves the division of the awards as prizes will be given only to one theatre entry. Sponsorship of the Academy Awards con¬ test is another in a continuing series of pro¬ motions by Pepsi-Cola, in conjunction with the nation’s motion picture theatre owners and managers. Levy Raps Ad Ban HARTFORD, Conn. — Atty. Herman M. Levy, TOA general counsel, and MPTO (Motion Picture Theatre Owners) of Con¬ necticut executive secretary, appearing at Feb. 19 afternoon public hearing held by State Legislative Judiciary Committee, char¬ acterized proposed legislation that would ban objectionable motion picture advertising “as strangulating and unconstitutional legisla¬ tion.” The measure in question is State Senate Bill 44, introduced by Democratic Senator Mario Orefice. A delegation of parent-teacher units and church-affiliated groups appeared in support of the bill. Levy, representing the Connecticut film industry, maintained that “there is no question” there are laws on the state’s books today to handle this problem. "Oscar" Race Revived DALLAS — Kyle Rorex, executive direc¬ tor, Texas COMPO, announced last fortnight that at the insistence of exhibitors the pop¬ ular Oscar Race campaign used successfully in theatres all over the country in 1955 and 1956 will be revived. The Oscar Race is a copyrighted campaign created by Texas COMPO to permit theatre patrons to participate in the Academy Awards on the local level by attempting to select from the Academy nominations the winner in each of six categories. The campaign is designed to allow patrons the fun of guessing the winners via entry blanks used as ballots. To be a prize winner a contestant must correctly check each Academy Award winner in the six cate¬ gories. A package to sell the campaign including a trailer is available to exhibitors every¬ where at the production cost price of $11.75 from Texas COMPO, 2013-A Young Street, Dallas, on or before March 14. Pappas Joins Fox Exec Unit NEW YORK — Thomas A. Pappas, newly elected member of the 20th Fox board, has been named by president Spyros P. Skouras to the executive committee of the board. "Showcases" Only For "Diary" NEW YORK — Only showcase engagements for George Stevens’ “The Diary of Anne Frank” will be accepted, it is announced by Alex Harrison, 20th-Fox general sales man¬ ager, in a statement of sales policy for the CinemaScope attraction. The policy will refuse engagements of the attraction to theatres unless they allow at least three months prior to the film’s open¬ ing date for advance promotion; each thea¬ tre will have to be equipped with reserved seat — “hard-ticket” box-office facilities; and each theatre will have to have the highest quality stereophonic sound equipment. Rotary Names Exhibs EVANSTON, ILL. — Two theatre owners have been named officers of Rotary Inter¬ national, world-wide service club organiza¬ tion. J. Rodger Mendenhall, Mendenhall Thea¬ tre Company, Boise, Idaho, is a member of the Rotary Foundation Fellowships Com¬ mittee for 1957-59. Glen W. Peacock, owner, Isis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of Rotary International for 1958-59.