The Exhibitor (1959)

August 12, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 13 Audience Support Up For Hospital Drive NEW YORK — Although August is the ac¬ tion month in Will Rogers Hospital’s Combinded Drive for 1959-60, some circuits started earlier, and conducted audience col¬ lections in July. Others are pledged to run through September. Territorial tests have been made in various locations, notably in Pittsburgh and New Haven by Stanley Warner, and in Cleveland by Loew’s. Public acceptance and response was found to better than anticipated, and collection totals were well ahead of last year in all situations. The upswing is attributed to a better un¬ derstanding on the part of the public of what the Will Rogers Hospital is, and what it is doing. The public seems more familiar with the Hospital now, and is appreciative of the benefits it brings to them through the re¬ search work carried on at Will Rogers Labora¬ tories. The pictures shown in the tests were, “Hole In The Head,” “Anatomy Of A Mur¬ der,” “Five Pennies,” “Last Train From Gun Hill,” and “The Nuns Story.” Collections ran for the full runs of the pictures, and were also held through hold-overs. Eugene Picker, chairman, of fund raising and finance committee, said, “In view of the success attained with the test pictures, it would appear that productive audience col¬ lections could be taken whenever these pic¬ tures are played, and I suggest that this be done. However, I would not make this a limitation. Theatre managers should make the collections at any time they have a strong picture.” “All in all, we feel that this year’s Audi¬ ence Collections should surpass previous drives by a wider margin of any in our ex¬ perience,” said Ned E. Depinet, who is Na¬ tional campaign co-chairmen with S. H. Fabian. “The early responses, both in earnest cooperation, and in actual collections in the theatres, indicate that this will be our great¬ est year. “The fact that this is the 10th anniversary of Will Rogers’ new approach to healing and patient care, and research, and that it marks a decade of the most rapid yet soundly es¬ tablished growth of any hospital anywhere, should be an inspiration to everyone work¬ ing on the drive — and the way I look at it that includes everyone in our industry — to make this the greatest thing our industry has ever done. This is a tremendous thing we’re doing, not only for ‘our own,’ but also for all mankind. It’s well worth the work.” Theatres and circuits not yet pledged to take up audience collections and conduct their employees’ Christmas Salute, should do so now, by contacting either the Will Rogers national office, 1501 Broadway, New York, or the distributor or exhibitor chairman in their exchange areas. Give the starting date of the audience collections and the names and street addresses of the theatres. Trailers will be sent directly to the threatres by their local National Screen Service branch. Disney Profit Report BURBANK, CAL. — President Roy O. Disney announced that the •consolidated net profit of Walt Disney Productions and its domestic subsidiaries for the nine months ended July 4, 1959, was $2,366,497, equal to $1.50 per share on the 1,581,011 common shares outstanding, after provision for taxes of $2,681,000. The corresponding period end¬ ed June 28, 1958, showed net profit of $2,900,094, equal to $1.89 per share on the 1,537,054 common shares then outstanding. CANADIAN Highlights By Harry AHen, Jr. PLAN BY WHICH drive-ins book first-run product day-and-date with in-town hard top houses is being adopted in three cities here by Famous Players Canadian Corp. The new booking policies with better product is paying off. Once upon a time, this procedure might be done only by independent distributors and exhibitors, and was looked on with disfavor by the large companies and circuits. But now, they have seen the sagacity of such a plan. Business in drive-ins in Canada continues to be in a healthy state. Today there are 228 drive-ins, a decline of six since last year, during which seven did not reopen. This season, one new drive-in opened — Northland Theatres’ 350-car situation in Dawson Creek. Three drive-ins, of which two are 35mm. and one 16mm., are under construction, and four, all 35mm., are planned. Ontario, where four closed since last year, has 89 drive-ins; Alberta, 36; Saskatchewan, 35; Manitoba and New Brunswick, 13; Nova Scotia, eight; and Prince Edward Island, two. British Columbia now has 32, three having closed and one new one having opened since last year. There are none in Quebec because the law bans them, and none have been opened in Newfoundland. Several hundred thousand dollars is expected to be spent this year by both circuit and independent operators on improvements and alterations. In Toronto, 20th Century Theatres is making important expenditures, with Sydney Roth, Toronto manager, supervising them. One, the Northwest Drive-in, will have asphalt for approaches, boxoffice, and concession areas, with the ramps being treated. Addition of two ramps will increase car capacity from 1,064 to about 1,400. Major factor in paving is the decision to try a 12-month opera¬ tion. Some BC drive-ins operated year-round, and Calgary drive-ins open as soon as the weather permits. Drive-in business has come a long way since 1946 when three operations were opened. There are no statistics for that year, but the Dominion Bureau of Statistics shows that in the next year, when seven were operating with a car capacity of 5.438, there were 670,583 admissions and receipts of $274,325. Top year was in 1957 when there were 229 ozoners, with a car capacity of 90,513, pulling in 9,945,630 to the tune of $5,725,311. Major factor in the operation of drive-ins, of course, is the concession area where the average take is esti¬ mated at 35 cents a head, while operators figure from 90 cents to $1 per car. The first drive-in came into existence in 1933, but Canada’s first was at Stoney Creek, opened by a non-industry group. Many non-industry people jumped into the drive-in business before the industry woke up to its potentialities and had to buy their way in. REEL CLIPS: Joseph B. Dunkelman, president of Trans-Video Productions, Ltd., in look¬ ing to the future of his company which promises three TV series a year, expects to spend an estimated $4,000,000 a year on Canadian talent and technicians alone . . . Win Barron, Paramount Pictures in Canada publicist, came up with a unique way to publicize the visit to Toronto of Gordon Scott, the movies’ newest Tarzan. He invited press and radio to a meal of tropical fruits at the Riverdale Zoo and asked the press to interview Scott in a lions’ den (a den of cub lions), to which the press acceded with much space . . . Variety Club of Toronto will benefit from the opening of “Porgy and Bess” at the Tivoli, Toronto . . . The annual golf tournament of the Canadian Picture Pioneers in Toronto will be held Aug. 27 with Dan Krendel the overall chairman. Archie Laurie, is handling golfing; A1 Perly, cash contributions; Andy Rouse, Norm Rae, and Hilda Cunningham, prizes; Joe Bermack and Bill Foreman, ticket sales; Harry Sullivan and Chuck Sweeney, booty bags; Chet Friedman, jackpot raffle; Fergus Martin, dinner and bar arrangements. "Tarzan" Producer Sues MGM HOLLYWOOD — MGM and Loew’s, Inc., were sued last fortnight by Sol Lesser Pro¬ ductions for $1,925,000 damages, charging breach of contract and unfair competition in the production and distribution of “Tarzan” pictures. Lesser asserted the defendants agreed to distribute two “Tarzan” pictures for seven years, but has not released them in some countries, and charged that MGM made “Tarzan, The Ape Man” with intent to com¬ pete. Judge Ellsworth T. Meyer issued an order for MGM to show cause why it should not be restrained from releasing “Tarzan, The Ape Man.” Para. To Reissue Three NEW YORK — Paramount this autumn will re-release three of its biggest money¬ making pictures. DeMille’s Technicolor hit, “Samson and Delilah,” has been scheduled for re-release by Paramount in September. “The Country Girl” and “The Bridges at Toko-ri” are slated to return to the theatres in Novem¬ ber. New N.Y. Theatre Planned NEW YORK — The first new, four-wall, conventional theatre to be constructed in the metropolitan area in recent years will be open for business in October. The new house, the Murray Hill, being built by the Rugoff and Becker Circuit, is at 160-64 East 34th Street, and will have 600 seats. The cost of renovating the property, which was formerly the 34th Street Theatre, is $250,000. Rugoff and Becker bought the three-story building from Prudential Theatres. It will be a stadi¬ um type auditorium with a lounge under¬ neath. Ben Schlanger, designer of the mod¬ ernistic theatre at Williamsburg, Va., is the architect. Shelton Heads NTA Sales NEW YORK — -William Shelton has been named general sales manager of NTA Pic¬ tures, it was announced last week by Leon¬ ard S. Gruenberg, general manager. NTA Pictures is the theatrical distribution arm of National Telefilm Associates, Inc. Shelton was formerly vice-president in charge of distribution for Times Films, and more recently president of his own com¬ pany, William Shelton Films, Inc.