The Exhibitor (1960)

NEW YORK Scene By Mel Konecoff THE NEXT BIG ONE to come from Universal B.S. (Before Spartacus) will be “Midnight Lace,” and the wheels have started turning. Phil Gerard, eastern advertising and publicity director, reported the other day that past experience with films by producer Ross Hunter has shown that women go for his films in a big way. Ergo, the campaign will be slanted in the direction of their well-filled forms in more ways than one. Said Gerard, ‘“You can’t have a big boxoffice success without the overwhelming support of women. They don’t guarantee success but they sure do insure it— if you have what they want to see.” A survey, he reported, has shown that in the first six months, seven out of the 10 top¬ grossing films have been attended by more women than men. The average for women is 58 per cent compared to 42 per cent for men. ‘ Pillow Talk had 62 per cent women in the audience, while “Operation Petticoat” had 59 per cent women. Bearing all this in mind, Universal has completed a five -minute short featuring Doris Day in her Technicolor wardrobe tests for the film, and this will be sent “on the road” as a facet of the advance promotional activities. It will be available gratis to theatres three and four weeks ahead of showing. The short will also play in department stores in 16 mm form and its showing there will be bolstered by a special group of “Midnight Lace” fashions. Doris Day, Myma Loy, and Ross Hunter will go on tour as release time approaches. Par¬ ticipating in the revelations were Herman Kass, Paul Kamey, and Jerry Evans. ONWARD AND UPWARD: In addition to censorship being hit on the city front (see else¬ where in this issue an account on the battle against the Chicago censor filed in the U.S. Supreme Court), it was also threaatened on the Federal level where such powers are used by the U.S. Customs. Ephraim London, attorney prominent in the fight against censorship, reported at a press conference last week that he was going to take two steps in Washington’s Federal District Court. One, he was going to request that the court order Customs to release immediately the film “Les Jeux de 1’ Amour” (The Love Game) which it has been holding for over five weeks. Secondly, he was going to ask the Court to award damages to the film’s owner, Films Around The World, Inc., for loss of profit that will ensue because of unfulfilled bookings and to cover possible reparations which the distributor may have to pay contracted exhibitors. In a letter to D. B. Strubinger, Acting Commissioner of Customs, London wrote: “In our opinion, the film is being illegally detained. It was received on or about July 16. It is un¬ exceptionable and so clearly entitled to entry that the refusal to release it must be con¬ sidered arbitrary and capricious. “You state in your letter that, in view of certain scenes, you would like to have the film reviewed by your officers and a consultant. A film may not be judged on the basis of iso¬ lated sequences. It must be considered as a whole. We cannot imagine why the services, of a consultant are required, or in what way he or she is specially qualified to determine whether the film is obscene. “It is also our opinion that the customs service practice of reviewing motion picture films before allowing them into the country is a violation of the constitutional guaranty of free¬ dom of communication. “At the time the film was shipped, arrangements were made for its exhibition in the United States. If the picture is withheld any longer, it will not be possible for our client to fulfill its commitments. As a result, our client will suffer loss of profit, and may be required to make some reparation to the exhibitors to whom the film was promised. “If we do not receive your assurance upon recept of this letter that the film will be re¬ leased without further delay, we have been instructed by our client to institute appropriate proceedings, including an action to recover damages. “In this jurisdiction, motion pictures have sometimes been admitted without the prior approval of the customs authorities upon the filing of an affidavit to the effect that the import of the matter is not prohibited. I shall be perfectly willing to make and file such an affi¬ davit on behalf of the importer with the knowledge that I would be subject to criminal prosecution if the statement is not true.” London stated that he would like the Court to look at the film and he wants it released without any deletions. As a matter of fact, he would like the whole thing opened up be¬ cause this customs procedure has been “a nuisance” with regard to their acting as film censors. If London is successful, the resulting decision could strip the Customs Bureau of its right of censorship. He is prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court and this action was approved by company general sales manager Harold Wiesenthal. The film, incidentally, was made in France this year and won the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Wiesenthal called it a “New Wave comedy.” THE METROPOLITAN SCENE: “The World of Suzie Wong” has been booked into the Radio City Music Hall for Thanksgiving. . . . Cinemiracle so happy over grossing $237,433 in 36 weeks at the Bellvue, Upper Monclair, N.J., the longest running attraction in the history of that state, that it’s sending out birth announcements with appropriate cigars to celebrate the event. The hard ticket policy has attracted audiences that surpass the population of the town three-and-a-half times. . . . Sam Horowitz hosted a special sneak preview for teen agers of “Force of Impulse” at his Mermaid, Brooklyn. "Concept Of Years" Will Sell "Spartacus" NEW YORK — Where advertising, publicity campaigns on ordinary motion pictures are normally developed in terms of weeks and months, the campaign on “Spartacus,” the $12 million Bryna Production being released by Universal-International, has been devel¬ oped along the concept of years. This theme was stressed at the opening sessions of the three-day “Spartacus” orientation meetings presided over by Jeff Livingston, executive coordinator of sales and advertising. Participants at the meetings included David A. Lipton, Universal vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity; Stan Margulies, Bryna Productions advertising and publicity head; Philip Gerard, Universal’s eastern ad¬ vertising and publicity director; circuit ad¬ vertising and publicity representatives; ad¬ vertising, publicity, and exploitation staff members, as well as special “Spartacus” per¬ sonnel and field representatives from the ini¬ tial cities where “Spartacus” will open. This “concept of years,” Livingston said, not only has applied to the national adver¬ tising, publicity and promotional campaign on “Spartacus,” but to the local level campaigns since all initial engagements of “Spartacus” have been cleared to run one, two or more years. Where local campaigns on a normal motion picture in key cities are generally started several weeks in advance of opening, the campaigns on “Spartacus” in these same cities are being started as much as six months in advance by the use of such promotional devices as trailers, lobby displays, cross¬ trailers, display material, and the soliciting of group sales through special mailings. Further, Livingston stressed, where field exploitation representatives are normally sent in two or three weeks in advance of openings in key cities, “Spartacus” field personnel are being sent in not less than eight weeks in advance and in some instance as many as 12 weeks in advance. The local campaigns on “Spartacus,” Liv¬ ingston reminded the participants, must be paced, not only be started 10 to 12 weeks in advance and built to a peak at the time of opening, but the campaign must then be sus¬ tained for 20, 30, 40 or more weeks as the picture continues its engagement. Delving into the promotional aids on “Spartacus,” Livingston predicted that the field personnel will find that they are being provided with the finest tools ever assembled for local needs. The meetings continued with the emphasis on group selling techniques and certain spe¬ cifics of roadshow theatre operation. Columbia Ups Three NEW YORK — In keeping with Columbia Pictures’ established policy of promotion from within its own ranks, Robert S. Fergu¬ son, Columbia’s national director of adver¬ tising, publicity, and exploitation, has an¬ nounced the advancement of three members of the home office publicity department. John Newfield, currently serving as New York newspaper and syndicate contact, has been named to handle national magazine pub¬ licity, replacing Martin Goldblatt, who is re¬ signing to take a similar post at 20th-Fox. Bud Rosenthal, Columbia’s trade press con¬ tact and news writer, will succeed Newfield as newspaper and syndicate contact. Charles M. Powell, most recently a copywriter in the advertising department, will take over the trade press assignment. 14 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR August 31, I960