The Exhibitor (1960)

TOA ( Continued from page 19) vine’s Embassy Pictures Corporation, with which he has been associated for 14 years. He will maintain his position on the board of directors of Universal Pictures Corpora¬ tion, a post he has held for 24 years. He said James S. Burkett will continue in charge of selecting production packages which Alpha will finance and present to the¬ atre owners for their approval. Rogers claimed that for its first year Alpha would produce and release 14 pictures. Maureen O’Hara, first announced Alpha star, appeared in person and promised the conven¬ tion that she would “hit the road and help sell the pictures she appears in.” Sumner M. Redstone, assistant to the TOA president, spoke on “Pay Television— Fact or Fiction — Life Or Death.” He digressed from reported statements of Spyros Skouras, 20thFox head, and Barney Balaban, Paramount Pictures president, that “motion picture thea¬ tre exhibition can live in harmony side by side with pay television.” He also disagreed with Balaban, who in his report to his com¬ pany stockholders, and relying in part on the Canadian telemeter experiments, stated that telemeter movie viewing is a supple¬ ment to theatre attendance ...” He added, “One need only refer to the im¬ pact that old pictures on television had on the motion picture theatre boxoffice to begin to foresee the disastrous impact of current pictures on television.” Edward S. Redstone, Northeast Drive-In Theatres, Boston, addressed the convention on the “manpower” subject and the tremen¬ dous shortage of competent personnel for theatre operation. He said, “We have talked down our in¬ dustry and bounced it about so much that I am convinced that, not only has it been a major factor in our not attracting good men, but possibly a contributing psychological fac¬ tor in the drop in attendance at our theatres. Let’s stop eulogizing our industry and start talking it up so that young men will once again want to be associated with motion pic¬ ture exhibition ... We need quality man¬ power today and for the tomorrows to keep the life-line of our business operating with enthusiasm and good judgment. In -theatre training can be effective; but TOA can and is willing to help its affiliates establish thea¬ tre training courses in vocational schools and universities which offer night extension courses. . . . Exhibitors should forget about the past and look to the future with enthu¬ siasm and the proper forecasting of our pres¬ ent and future manpower needs.” Burton E. Robbins, National Screen Ser¬ vice president, stated that over the years the NSS Weekly Service Plan has “saved exhibitors thousands of dollars each week, as against a Per Trailer purchase agreement.” He added that although NSS will not hold exhibitors to their existing Weekly Service Contracts if they should prefer to change to the Per Trailer plan, such a change would afford them no economies and would un¬ doubtedly prove most costly. Robbins’ answer to the question in exhibi¬ tors’ minds, since Columbia Pictures an¬ nounced that as of Sept. 1 they would assume the distribution of their own trailers, took place at NSS hosted luncheon. He pledged the support of NSS to TOA’s “Make Way For Tomorrow” campaign, asserting that “NSS facilities were available for any na¬ tional industry effort.” In explaining their economic need for a weekly service plan in providing a national distribution agency for the industry, Robbins said that “you exhibitors pay NSS for a serv¬ LONDON Observations by Jock MacGregor I ifft JUDGING BY returning travellers’ tales the Venice Film Festival hit a new low and the best the organizers can hope for now is a last chance £S next year. They may even be lucky to get that. Once, set at the begin — ning of September as it is, it was a wonderful promotion. Serious appraisals of films in intelligent publications combined with vast pictorial spreads of bikini’d starlets in the popular press to spotlight motion pictures internationally. They drew the pub¬ lic’s interest back from the beaches to the theatres just as the fall audience drives began. With choppings and changings and bickerings, scant coverages have resulted from Venice, and what there have been have mainly been of a carping downbeat nature. The event from afar frankly appears to have been excessively dull and ill tempered. That can do nothing but harm to our industry, and several national producers’ associations are wondering why they should go on spending large sums to boost local tourism. For the coverages received this year they might well have done better to buy the space instead of invest in the festival. Hardly a feature, from the initial choice of selectors to the final verdict of the judges, has escaped criticism, and more than ever the value of the awards is being queried — John Mills and Shirley MacLaine were named best actor and actress for “Tunes of Glory” and “The Apartment” respectively. The greatest gaff appears to have been the acceptance of no less than four Italian entries against the one per country rule to cause many to query whether Venice is being used as a shop window for Italian pictures at the expense of other pro¬ ducers. The time has surely come to shout “halt” to this jamboree and to roll up the Vene¬ tian Blind, if not forever, at least until an acceptable formula is found. IT IS LIKE the good old days down at Elstree. Things are really humming. With three stu¬ dios and 20 stages within walking distance the Red Lion public house at lunchetime presents a scene to surprise the most sophisticated eye. Here I recently spotted biblical characters from "The Story of David,” jungle camouflaged soldiers from “The Long, the Short and the Tall,” and some knights of old from a TV commercial to say nothing of artists in immacu¬ late evening dress enjoying a beer and a game of darts with overalled workers from nearby factories. Everyone is so used to such characters in the bars and nearby stores that no one bats an eyelid. . . . The color coverages appearing with increasing regularity in Pathe and Movietone newsreels are proving popular business builders. Color provides added impact to events which have probably been widely covered by TV, and theatres are plugging the fact in advertising. Now 20th-Fox’s Jim Pattinson has gone further and is making one reelers of the various color clips for distribution in South Africa and elsewhere. . . . Further delays through an exterior set collapsing at Shepperton has got the studio wits querying whether Carl Foreman will ever get “The Guns of Navarone” firing. . . . Elizabeth Taylor has arrived for “Cleopatra” and seems to be maintaining her battle with the British press. ice . . . rather than a trailer.” He conceded Columbia’s “right” to distribute their own trailers, but decried the suggestion that NSS should be penalized for any increase in exhibitors' costs caused by Columbia’s ac¬ tion. He termed the suggestion “unjust.” He called attention to the fact that NSS was displaying their new trailers on Colum¬ bia’s pictures via a continuous-projection machine in their booth at the TOA trade show, and said that “some exhibitors have been pleading for new trailer techniques for years.” Detailing National Screen’s value to the industry over 40 years and the value to the individual exhibitor of having this na¬ tional organization as a central source of supply, Robbins called upon the TOA mem¬ bership for their support, pointing out that this action on their part served their best interests, as well. Resolutions eulogizing the late Ted R. Gamble and the late Gus Kerasotes, Springfield, Ill., were passed by the board of direc¬ tors and executive committee. As a result of a survey, the TOA “con¬ vention handbook” revealed that “the era of the two-man booth” is rapidly disappearing except in the larger cities, particularly in the east, in some larger, newer drive-ins, and in road-show operated houses.” Al Floersheimer, TOA’s director of public re¬ lations, commented that “this has resulted in substantial savings for theatres because in the average operation the booth constitutes a major portion of the operating ‘nut’.” The survey, reputed to be the first ever made nationally on the booth situation, cov¬ ered many thousands of theatres and showed New Distrib Firm Set NEW YORK — John Alexander, former cir¬ cuit and division manager for Republic Pic¬ tures, has formed John Alexander Associates, distributors of motion pictures for theatrical and television exhibition. Offices are located at Palace Theatre Building. First picture to be handled for New York territory is “Santa Claus,” color feature soon to be released. that, except for some big cities, the south has always had one-man booths. The change¬ over for most of the rest of the country has come within the last 10 years. “In the majority of instances the IATSE recognized the plight of the theatres and reluctantly but realistically agreed to the re¬ duction,” the survey showed. It was further revealed that “technicians quickly point out that the switch from the inflammable nitrate film to the safer acetate stock has also been an important factor in the gradual elimination of two-man opera¬ tions.” The handbook pays tribute to the trade press. “Without the cohesion of a trade press,” continues the TOA statement, “ours would be a much more fragmented industry, and TOA’s continued growth would have been a much more difficult effort.” Sol A. Schwartz, president, RKO Theatres, and Pickus revealed that the 80-theatre RKO Circuit had joined TOA. RKO became the fifth and last of the five major circuits to join, following Loew’s The¬ atres into membership by a few months. September 21, I960 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 21