The Exhibitor (1959)

41 Years of Service to the Theatre Industry Founded in 1918. Published weekly by Jay Emanuel Publications, Incorporated. Publishing office: 246-248 North Clarion Street, Philadelphia 7, Pennsylvania. New York field office: 8 East 52nd Street, New York 22. West Coast field office: Paul Manning, 8141 Blackburn Avenue, Los Angeles 48, Calif. London Bureau: Jock MacGregor, 16 Leinster Mews, London, W. 2, England. Jay Emanuel, publisher; Paul J. Greenhalgh, general manager; Albert Erlick, editor; M. R. (Mrs. "Chick") Lewis, associate editor; George Frees Nonamaker, feature editor; Mel Konecoff, New York editor; William Haddock, Physical Theatre and Extra Profits departmental editor; Albert J. Martin, advertising manager; Max Cades, business manager. Subscriptions: $2 per year (50 issues); and outside of the United States, Canada, and Pan-American countries, $5 per year (50 issues). Special rates for two and three years on application. Second class postage paid at Phila¬ delphia, Pennsylvania. Address all official communications to the Philadelphia publishing office. VOLUME 62 . NO. 2 MAY 20, 1959 A MAN WITH A FUTURE When you are “making book on the manpower that will run this industry’s future, don’t overlook Paramount’s George Weltner. Currently on a highspot visit around the domestic industry, meeting and listening to exhibitor leaders, meeting and listen¬ ing to company personnel, and generally getting a better understanding and “feel” of the domestic problems and Para¬ mount’s future needs, Weltner is merely completing the pattern that will qualify him for increased future service. As a matter of fact, meeting and listening seems to be a key to Weltner’s management decisions, as those exhibitors will testify who have visited with him on his current swing. Weltner joined Paramount 37 years ago and spent 31 years in all branches of the foreign department, that now accounts for nearly half of any company’s gross revenue. In March, 1955, he became his company’s top world-wide distribution executive. And in July, 1957, he was elected a vice-president. Still young enough to have a lot of future, we can’t feel that this is the final achievement of George Weltner. A “heavy¬ weight and a “company man,” trained for years under Barney Balaban and some of the best distribution brains in the indus¬ try, it would seem that he is one of the industry’s marked men. ON THE SUCCESS OF "AL CAPONE" There was an old belief of the Barnum “tub thumpers” that all references, whether good or bad, were helpful. As they used to put it, “Say anything you like, hut just spell the name right!” Something in this vein was noticed in the recent tremendous boxoffice success of “AL CAPONE”. Admittedly, this Allied Artists’ release was a well-made and interesting feature, and Rod Steiger was brilliant in the title role; but the latter was never rated as a boxoffice champ, and there have been many well-made and interesting features that haven’t approached the “AL CAPONE grosses; even though the “ad boys” backed it with a strong series of selling ads and stunts. But something unusual did happen to this picture, and it just might have made the difference. Commenting on this, a theatre executive friend went to his file and extracted the tearsheet of a big TV display ad that read: “Westinghouse-Desilu Production. The Story of AL CAPONE Narrated by Walter Winched. ROBERT STACK, NEVILLE BRAND, KEENAN WYNN in “THE UNTOUCH¬ ABLES The group of honest men who destroyed gangland’s greatest empire. TONIGHT 10 P.M. on CHANNEL 55.” Thrown into the market while the movie “AL CAPONE” was still in its first-runs, this would seem to have been a killer. But TV “spelled the name right”. As our theatre executive friend sees it: “Ads like these ran everywhere. The manager of one of our key city theatres, booked to play “ CAPONE ” the following week, sent this tearsheet with his observation that ‘ This may hurt us!’ And I think TV thought they would hurt us. After all, our “AL CAPONE” movie had been announced and had been in production for a year or so. It now teas being heavily advertised in highadmissioned first-run theatres, and TV had names like Winched, Stack and Wynn to lay against our Steiger. And their price was right! For free! “But, from the audience cards we have seen, something else happened. Millions of people saw the TV show on their little home sets and were sufficiently interested that they wanted to see more on our large theatre screen. Millions of teen-agers, born long years after Al Capone was dead, were filled in and acquainted with his history. And the whole TV show resulted in a gigantic, beyond-price plug for the movie. Whammo! The boxoffice reacted!” So we too inspected the audience cards, and card after card backed up his theory. The TV show shared importance with local newspapers as the two main reasons for attendance. Maybe we ought to encourage TV to do more “killers.” If they’ll just “spell the name right”! A BOW TO LESTER STEPNER We see by John Fitzgerald’s LOOKING AND LISTEN¬ ING column in Our Sunday Visitor (Catholic and 830,884 weekly) that Lester Stepner, manager of the Evanston Theatre, Evanston, Ill., has “been honored by 22 Evanston PTAs for maintaining a wholesome atmosphere in his theatre.” Added praise drew attention to him for “presenting special programs for our children; for the cleanliness and discipline in the theatre; and for his cooperation with parent and civic organizations in our community.” Congratulations, Lester! You have brought credit to our industry as a whole. We are sure, however, and Lester will agree, that there are literally thousands of other theatre owners and managers from one end of the country to the other who have similar objectives, and who are equally sincere. Very often, it is more frustrating to such managers than to their patrons, to note that the cheap, the gaudy, and the sensational, get better patronage than the sweet, the clean, and the delightful. Maybe the better elements in each community would make a very real contribution to the showing of better quality films if they got to know their theatreman; told him what pleases them and what offends them, and why; and occa¬ sionally honor him, as Lester was honored by Evanston for a job well done. This latter thinking is also expressed by John Fitzgerald, in slightly different words. And he is right as rain! Spanked continuously, treated as someone who operates a shady business, and never given a kind word or pat on the back, is not the way to build a friendly cooperative theatre operator. In Evanston— or anywhere else!