The Exhibitor (1960)

Spyros Skouras, 20th-Fox head, recently host¬ ed a luncheon at Luchow's, New York City, in connection with a sneak preview of Mervyn LeRoy's "Wake Me When It's Over," where he met Linda and Warner LeRoy, daugh¬ ter and son of the famed producer-director. ''Ben-Hur"At$6Million; 45 New Dates Set NEW YORK — In less than five months “Ben-Hur” has grossed close to $6,000,000, making it apparent the spectacular Metro Goldwyn-Mayer production is well on the way to becoming one of the most successful box office attractions in entertainment history. The film, now playing to virtual capacity in its first 27 engagements, is set to open in an additional 45 cities before July 4. These were among facts revealed when more than 20 MGM exploitation and publicity experts from all over the country who have been associated with the picture in its initial openings, met in Chicago. The group held a series of round table discussions to map extensive supplementary campaigns which will be used in cities where the film already is playing as well as those in which it will soon open. The new campaigns, designed to cover newspapers, radio and television as well as every other media open to exploitation, will take full advantage of the numerous awards and honors, including 12 Academy Award nominations, which “Ben-Hur” is receiving throughout the world. Howard Strickling, MGM’s director of ad¬ vertising and publicity, and Robert Mochrie, in charge of “Ben-Hur” sales, headed the group attending the meetings. Record London Delegation Expected At Variety Meet LONDON — The heart of show business beats with as much force here as any¬ where else in the world, and solid evidence is the fact that the local Variety Club tent will be represented in Toronto’s interna¬ tional convention on May 31 by the largest contingent of barkers ever to travel to such a session. James Carreras, International property master, reported to general convention chairman J. J. Fitzgibbons, Jr., that all the London tent’s six former chief barkers, present chief Monte Berman, and press guy David Jones will be on hand. The former chief barkers include C. J. Latta, D. J. Goodlatte, Nat Cohen, Mike Krankovich. Sir Thomas O’Brien, and Billy Butlin. The convention, a five day affair at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, is expected to attract a formidable number of barkers and their ladies from all over the world. CANADIAN Highlights By Harry Alien, Jr. TELEMETER has begun to see actual results of their tests in Toronto. From the first tapes that have been examined in the installations, 90 per cent of those with the boxes were watching the first night. Officials have put the success of that night down to the weather and the novelty of the installation. Only about a third of the boxes have been examined. The officials figure that on the size of crew they are using, about 50 to 60 boxes a day can be pulled. The operation of Telemeter has been expanded. There are now 20 crews working on in¬ stallations, with the objective of 40,000 installations. This is an increase from the original 5,000 installations. Most of the parts are flowing in on a continuous line, with the only de¬ ficiency in parts being a gear needed for the master antenna on apartments. The backlog of uninstalled sets is decreasing all the time, according to officials. This summer, actual plans for expansion of the service into Toronto city will be laid out. Center of operations at the moment is in Etobicoke, a western suburb of the city, where the studio is also located. In the meantime, a continuing survey is being made by Canadian Facts Limited on behalf of Telemeter. They are studying the viewing habits of those with Telemeter, as well as their programming habits, age groups of those watching, and appraising the socio-economic levels of those with the sets. Telemeter said they recognize that its operations will have a novelty value in the first six months, and thus they must have a comparison in the two periods, so that they can determine the direction of their operations. TWO TV LICENSE applications — that of Montreal and of Toronto — in which Famous Players Canadian Corp. had an indirect interest, were rejected. In Montreal, United Amuse¬ ment Co. Ltd., in which Famous Players holds a 40 per cent interest, was associated with radio station CKVL in its unsuccessful application for a French-language TV license. A com¬ pany headed by Paul L’Anglaid in which J. A. DeSeve, head of France Films, had a great interest, was granted the license. In Toronto, Famous Players played a role in the application by the Toronto Star Limited. The Star, along with eight other applicants, sought the license in Toronto for a second TV station. The license was granted to Baton Aldred Rogers Broad¬ casting, Ltd. Included in the winning group are veteran hockey commentator Foster Hewitt, owner of radio station CKFH, Toronto; Paul Nathanson, head of Sovereign Film Distributors Ltd.; and radio-TV announcer Joel Aldred. another Hot one for summer from [lJ)K|[l^[i[ag/^[^g April 6, I960 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 17