The Exhibitor (1960)

NEWS CAPSULES %.U BROADWAY GROSSES Holiday Brings Crowds NEW YORK — The Easter week-end found business perking in the Broadway first-runs with Radio City Music Hall and Loew’s State setting new records. “WAKE ME WHEN IT’S OVER” (20thFox). The second session at the Paramount hit $35,000. “PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES ’’ (MGM). Radio City Music Hall reported $130,000 for Thursday through Sunday with the third week sure to exceed $222,000 for a new Easter record. Stage show. “THE UNFORGIVEN” (UA). Capitol re¬ ported $60,000 for the second session. “BEN-HUR” (MGM). Loew’s State an¬ nounced a record $63,500 for the 22nd week, with extra performances. “ON THE BEACH” (UA). Astor reported $35,000 for the 18th week. “DOG OF FLANDERS” (20th-Fox). De Mille claimed the second week at $15,000. “CONSPIRACY OF HEARTS” (Paramoimt). Victoria announced the second week as $15,000. “‘OUR MAN IN HAVANA” (Columbia). Forum claimed the 12th week as $12,500. “WHO WAS THAT LADY?” (Columbia). Criterion had a $53,000 opening week. “CAN-CAN” (20th-Fox). Rivoli, on re¬ served seat basis, with extra performances, claimed $56,000 for the sixth week. BOOK REVIEW "Hollywood Rajah" By Bosley Crowther Bosley Crowther, influential New York Times movie critic, has turned out a biograph¬ ical work on this industry’s fabulous Louis B. Mayer that is more exciting than fiction, particularly to those in the business. Written sharply and cleanly, the book pub¬ lished by Henry Holt and Company, recreates the early boom days of Hollywood and the rise to power of Mayer, unquestioned leader of the largest film-making empire of them all, and at the end of his life, a deeply tragic figure. The business and social climate in the early Hollywood that made it possible for a capable immigrant boy to rise to the posi¬ tion of the nation’s highest paid man is vividly recreated by Crowther with a pen dipped in acid. Certainly, Mayer was a man whom power corrupted, and this biography clearly shows how. He ruined careers, shattered per¬ sonalities often as a whim. Some industry apologists will blast the work as strictly anti-Hollywood. They will be doing the book and their industry a disservice. This is a bitter picture of a man made by a free-wheeling era. When it died, so did he. Louis B. Mayer accomplished much in his lifetime of which he could be proud. Like most business giants, he did as much or more of which he could be ashamed. His adven¬ ture is highly interesting and intensely readable. Mr. Crowther is certainly one of the most literate and knowledgeable observ¬ ers of this industry’s triumphs and tragedies. "Can-Can ' Injunction Denied In Phila. Suit PHILADELPHIA— U. S. District Court Judge C. William Kraft, Jr., last week denied a preliminary injunction against 2()th Cen¬ tury-Fox and William Goldman’s Midtown asked for by David Milgram’s D. W. H. Cor¬ poration, operators. Fox theatre, in connection with “Can-Can.” Counsel for Goldman and 20th-Fox then filed a motion to dismiss the $600,000 anti¬ trust suit which seeks damages for failure to obtain the film. The motion was taken under advisement. Judge Kraft said the evidence offered “establishes only a threatened loss” and not the “irreparable damage” essential for such an injunction. He said if the plaintiff was suc¬ cessful in its suit the amount could be rea¬ sonably ascertainable when the run of the film at the Midtown is completed. “The evidence persuades us,” Judge Kraft said, “that Goldman’s actual offer for ‘CanCan’ was not submitted until March 14, 1960, and was accepted by 20th-Fox on March 18. We find that the plaintiff was afforded a fair opportunity to negotiate for ‘Can-Can’ on March 14 and did make an offer then which 20th Century-Fox did not accept.” Milgram’s Fox theatre charges an unlaw¬ ful conspiracy to discriminate against it. The roadshow engagement of the film is set for the Midtown opening on May 4. Technicolor Net Down NEW YORK — It was reported last fort¬ night by John R. Clark, Jr., president and general manager, that Technicolor, Inc., had a net profit of $237,160, or 12 cents a share, in 1959, compared with $558,172, or 28 cents a share in 1958. Net sales in 1959 were $27,250,407, com¬ pared with $26,778,621 in 1958. No dividends were paid in 1959. Net profit for the British affiliate. Techni¬ color, Ltd., for year ended Nov. 30, 1959, was 176,041 Pounds, compared with 72,313 Pounds in 1958. The Italian company. Technicolor Italiana, ended 1959 with a loss of 50,862,000 lire, after charging 182,000,000 lire for depreciation. FILM FAMILY A ALBUM Obituaries George W. Evans, 67, former theatre and hotel operator at Brookfield, Mo., died last fortnight at Clarinda, la. Harold C. Novy, 37, president, TransTexas Theatres, Inc., died last fortnight in a Dallas hospital after a long illness. He was also a vice-president of Texas Drive-In As¬ sociation and a member of Dallas Variety Club. E. V. Richards, Jr., 74, New Orleans busi¬ ness and civic leader and 50-year pioneer in the motion picture industry, died on April 12 at Ochsner Foundation Hospital following a prolonged illness. He is survived by his widow, nine children by a former marriage, and seven grandchildren. With the Saenger Brothers, he at one time operated nearly 200 wholly -owned or affiliated theatres in the southern states, with the Saenger, New Orleans, built in 1927 as flagship of the chain under his supervision as vice-president and general manager. He retired from his motion picture career in 1950 following the sale of his interests in Paramount-Richards Theatres, Inc., which he headed as president, to United Paramount, predecessors of ABC -Paramount. At the time of his death he was a voting trustee of United Theatres, Inc., which oper¬ ates a group of neighborhood theatres in New Orleans and which he organized in 1929. He was also chairman of the board of Richards Center, Inc., the management cor¬ poration for the Richards family interests, having offices in the National Bank of Com¬ merce Building, which adjoins and is jointly operated with the Richards Building as Richards Center. He held several govern¬ mental and presidential citations; was a creator and principal trustee in the E. V. Richards, Jr., Foimdation at Tulane Univer¬ sity; and was at one time a director of Para¬ mount Pictures; a regional vice-president. Theatre Owners of America; president. Mo¬ tion Picture Foundation; a member of the board of directors of Motion Picture Pioneers; and one of the founders of First National Pic¬ tures in 1920. A further cementing of the friendly relationship between the motion picture theatres of Brook¬ lyn, N. Y., and the club women of the area was recently accomplished by Eugene Pleshette, managing director, Brooklyn Paramount, when he arranged a symposium on motion pictures which was attended by over 200 presidents of womens civic, cultural and philanthropic organ¬ izations. Seen, left to right, are Emanuel Frisch, treasurer, Randforce Circuit; Mrs. Margaret G. Twyman, director of community relations. Motion Picture Association of America; Pleshette; Mrs. George H. Sutcliffe, president. Motion Picture Council for Brooklyn; Ernest Emerling, vicepresident, Loew's Theatres; Ann Bontempo, Loew's Theatres; and Allan Grant, general manager. Century Circuit. 8 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR April 20. I960