The Exhibitor (1959)

August 19, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR ElectroVision Acquires 20 Lippert Theatres . 17 Broidy, AA President, Named 16th Motion Picture Pioneer Of Year HOLLYWOOD — Acquisition of 20 Robert L. Lippert Theatres by ElectroVision Corpo¬ ration for an undisclosed amount of cash and notes was announced by Edwin F. Zabel, president, at the annual stockholder’s meet¬ ing in the company’s Hollywood offices. Located in southern Oregon and through¬ out California, the theatres and land just obtained have increased ElectroVision’s hold¬ ings to 34 motion picture houses and driveins, including five drive-ins in Fresno, Cal., acquired earlier. This was the second phase in the company’s purchase of 28 Lippert theatres. The final step is expected to be completed shortly after the first of the year, Zabel stated. The theatres include Buena Park; La Habra; Corbin (Tarzana); Crest (Westwood); and Motor Vu drive-in (El Centro) in south¬ ern California. Broadway and Drive-In (Yreka); Lake and Corcoran (Corcoran); Royal and Sanger (Sanger); and Alta, State and Midway drive-in (Dinuba) in central and northern California. Varsity (Ashland); and Craterian, Esquire, Holly, Starlite drivein, and Valley drive-in (Medford) in south¬ ern Oregon. Of the 34 theatres — now part of the company’s EVC Theatre Division — 10 are drive-ins, and of the total, 21 are held-in-fee properties. Robert L. Lippert, chairman of Electro¬ Vision’s board of directors, informed share¬ holders the land upon which the drive-ins are located are valuable holdings totaling more than 100 acres. “We are presently in¬ vestigating the possibilities of rezoning parts of some of the drive-ins to build shopping centers. The land, originally on the outskirts of the communities, is now in the heart of expensive residential and commercial areas, many of which do not have shopping centers.” First order of business of the stockholder’s meeting was the election of the board of di¬ rectors. All members serving on the previous board were reelected. They are Bruce Fowler, Stanford I. Drucker, Lippert, J. H. MacIn¬ tyre, and Zabel. Also announced was the appointment of Charles J. Maestri as vice-president in charge of theatre operations in central and northern California and southern Oregon. Maestri continues his duties, holding the same position in the Lippert organization for over 15 years. Zabel noted ElectroVision’s immediate plans call for the completed theatre opera¬ tion to be under centralized management. “This will not deter us, however, from con¬ tinuing to study diversified businesses for future acquisitions as well as the shopping centers investigations as part of our growth program,” Zabel said. “With most of the major organizational non-recurring expenses out-of-the way,” he continued, “we look ahead for a constantly improving and expanding year — the first full year under the new management.” Chi Clears "Chatterley" CHICAGO — The way for the showing of Kingsley International’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” here was cleared last week when Police Commissioner Timothy J. O’Connor said he would comply with a recommendation by Chicago Corporation Counsel John C. Melaniphy that a permit be issued to the film. The picture had been held up until now having been denied a permit pending three deletions. NTA Now Distributing NT's "Windjammer" Feature NEW YORK — NTA Pictures, the the¬ atrical distribution arm of National Tele¬ film Associates, has taken over distribu¬ tion of National Theatres’ Cinemiracle feature, “Windjammer,” in the U.S. and Canada, it was announced recently by Harold Goldman and Leonard S. Gruenberg, president and general manager, re¬ spectively, of NTA Pictures. “Windjammer” will be booked on a road show basis, with sales to be handled by NTA Pictures’ national field staff. Theatres playing the Cinemiracle feature will be equipped with a new, low-cost triple¬ screen projection system perfected by Na¬ tional Theatres engineers. The equipment, which is semi-portable, will be made available to exhibitors on a moderate ren¬ tal basis for the duration of the “Wind¬ jammer” bookings. UA ( Continued from page 16) temporaneous world -wide basis. The time lag of six months or more that used to separate the marketing of films in domestic and for¬ eign territories no longer exists.” “With the consolidation of the world’s mar¬ kets,” the message continued, “we are unify¬ ing our domestic and foreign activities in promoton and sales to develop this vast po¬ tential. Through an overall pattern of global promotion and cross-promotion, we are hope¬ ful of maintaining our upward growth mo¬ mentum.” A program of close coordination between the booking and promotion of United Artists releases in the overseas market was mapped at the conferences. The program involves long-range adapta¬ tion of basic advertising and publicity for the foreign market, with particular emphasis on ads, posters and trailers. Instead of converting domestic promotion materials for foreign use after their comple¬ tion, the needs of the overseas market will now be considered and acted upon in the initial planning for each individual picture. The early adaptation of these materials will assure maximum promotional impact at the time of release in the foreign territories. Over¬ seas campaigns will be fully developed to coincide with booking patterns. Joseph Gould, UA advertising manager, led the discussions blueprinting long-range ad¬ vertising campaigns for overseas markets. Herbert L. Golden, president, United Artists Television, Inc., was principal spokesman for the company’s far-reaching TV activities. David V. Picker, executive vice president of United Artists Records Inc., discussed the various aspects of the record company’s prog¬ ress and plans for expansion. “The UA World,” a streamlined weekly publication devoted to news about United Artists around the globe, made its debut at the conference. It is being distributed via UA’s 150 branches throughout the world and features news of upcoming productions and personalities. More than 75 top echelon promotion and sales executives from both sides of the At¬ lantic participated in the meetings along with key home office executives. NEW YORK — Steve Broidy, president of Allied Artists, has been named Motion Pic¬ ture Pioneer of the Year 1959, it was an¬ nounced last week by Ned E. Depinet, pres¬ ident of the Pioneers organization. Broidy was selected by the Board of Directors at its last meeting and was notified while he was in New York a week ago. He will be honored at the 21st Annual Motion Picture Pioneers Dinner at the Wal¬ dorf-Astoria Hotel on Nov. 23, and will be the 16th Pioneer to receive this coveted recognition. His predecessors were Adolph Zukor, Gus Eyssell Cecil B. DeMille, Spyros Skouras, Harry Warner, Albert Warner, and Jack Warner, Nate Blumberg, Barney Balaban, Herman Robbins, Bob O’Donnell, Joseph R. Vogel, Robert R. Benjamin and Arthur B. Krim. Depinet said that he was very gratified that the honor man this year is one who started his career in distribution as a film salesman and worked his way up through the ranks to the presidency of his company. Depinet jokingly said that it is high time that the distribution end of the business re¬ ceived proper Pioneer recognition, pointing out that most of those honored before have been either producers or exhibitors. Broidy was born in Malden, Mass., on June 14, 1905. Early in his career he was a film salesman in Massachusetts for Universal, and later was engaged by Warner Bros., .and given a similar assignment by its Boston of¬ fice. In 1930, Broidy began an affiliation with Allied Artists which was to be climaxed 15 years later by his elevation to the presi¬ dency of the organization. His first position with the company was as a member of the Boston sales staff. His terri¬ tory embraced Massachusetts and Rhode Is¬ land. By 1937 he had become the head of the Boston exchange, and in 1940 he was elected to the company’s board of directors. By the end of that year, he had been named vicepresident and general sales manager and moved to the company’s home office in Holly¬ wood where he since has remained. At the company’s annual convention in Chicago in the spring of 1945, he was elected vice-president in charge of operations. It was on Nov. 14, 1945, that he was elected president. Broidy is president of the Jewish Federa¬ tion-Council of Greater Los Angeles; chair¬ man of the board of the Brandeis Institute; a vice-president and member of the board of the Association of Motion Picture Producers; a vice-chairman of the United Jewish Wel¬ fare Fund; a member of the board of trus¬ tees of Claremont Men’s College; a member of the board of governors of the Los Angeles area council, Boy Scouts of America; a di¬ rector of the Jewish Federation -Council of Greater Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Community Chest, for which he was the campaign chairman of 1958; a former presi¬ dent of Temple Israel of Hollywood board of trustees of which he is still a member; a member of the board of directors of the Union Bank and Trust Company, the Per¬ manent Charities Committee, and Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. In 1930, Broidy married Frances Lewis, a non-professional. They are the parents of two sons, Arthur and Steven, and a daugh¬ ter, Mrs. Jack M. Sattinger.