The Exhibitor (1961)

S chine's New Indoor Ski-Dek Seen Area For Theatre Diversification LA Lido Renovation Latest For NT&T BOSTON — A new kind of theatre diversi¬ fication was shown here at the New England Winter Sports Show at the First Armory, Nov. 16-19, by G. David Schine, president of Schine Theatres. Called Ski-Dek, indoor skiing, it is being geared to open around the country with 1,000 ski centers planned within the next three years. These centers, Schine said, could be in existing theatres, closed neighborhood houses, bowling alleys which might be reconverted, and in newly built emits. Schine, in Boston to show the first actual operation of the emit before the public, said he will open the first one anywhere in the world, a converted Schine theatre, the River¬ side, in Buffalo on Jan. 15, the first of the projected 1,000. “We took an existing theatre and complete¬ ly gutted it to open the first Ski-Dek,” he said. “The first public showing of this new universal sport anywhere in the world was here in Boston.” The Buffalo Ski-Dek center in the renovated theatre, now nearing com¬ pletion, will be the prototype of the centers to come, complete with Alpine decor, warm¬ ing hut, snack bar, ski shop, and accom¬ modations for up to 300 spectators. The centers will be sold on a franchise basis, Schine said. “They will be franchised or lease basis, a minimum against a per¬ centage, and the rate of return will be around 25 per cent of total cost at a conservative figure.” He said the units will be placed in six key cities in the first year. Boston will be next after Buffalo, and a Ski-Dek center is being planned in the Cambridge, Mass., area on one of the big¬ gest traffic roads coming in and out of Bos¬ ton to follow the Buffalo opening. Some 20 franchises are set within the next few months, with 200 centers planned in 12 to 14 months. Most of the franchise holders will be theatre investments and chain theatre investments, Schine stated. The centers will be set up with standard admission prices of $1.50 from 10-6 for the first hour, and 65 cents for every half hour thereafter. In what is called “prime time,” from 6 at night on, admissions will be set at $1.75 and 75 cents each half hour after the first hour. Children’s prices will be $1 for the first hour, and 50 cents per half hour. Ski-Dek was designed by skiing champion Ray Hall while an instructor at Aspen, Col¬ orado, ski resort three years ago. Since then more than $300,000 has been spent in re¬ search and development to bring it in, Schine said. The huge bank of endlessly moving slopes on which both beginners and experts can ski exactly as if they were on snow, and the specially treated surface permits skiing un¬ der ideal conditions, as if there were two inches of powdered snow on a firm base, and frees the sport from the vagaries of weather. Harry Unterfort, Schine Theatres, in charge of Ski-Dek operations, said that plans call for six attendants for 10 slopes. Each Ski-Dek unit is considered a slope, and in a center with 10 Ski-Deks, skiers can go from one slope to another. How long a run the skier makes depends upon the individual, as one half hour spent on the sloping Ski-Dek is equal to 1-1V2 hours on an actual moun¬ tainside. ( Continued on page 10) Court Denies Rehearing In Atlanta Censor Suit ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court denied a motion for rehearing of two cases dealing with movie censorship in Atlanta. The denial was on a motion to rehear cases involving the City of Atlanta vs Lopert Picture Corp., the company which recently showed “Never on Sunday” in an Atlanta theatre. The state court two weeks ago threw out a lower court decision which had ruled movie censorship unconstitutional. The lower court decision was made by Fulton Court Judge Luther Alverson. In reversing him, the Supreme Court said Judge Alverson erred in overruling the Board of Censor’s objection to an in¬ junction against the board. The court said in effect the case was brought to the high court ly an improper legal channel. NT&T Promotes Levin LOS ANGELES — Irving H. Levin has been elected a vice-president of National Theatres & Television, Inc., by the board of director, it is announced by Eugene V. Klein, president of the company. LOS ANGELES — In line with Fox West Coast Theatres’ expansion and business building program, the Lido becomes the latest showplace to be given a deluxe, $100,000 face¬ lift, it is announced by William H. Thedford, Pacific Coast division manager. The Lido reopens following extensive mod¬ ernization which incorporates the latest in viewing pleasure, luxury, and comfort for moviegoers. Seating capacity consists of 550 new Ameri¬ can bodiform springback general admission seats and 250 springback loges. Tailored to improve sightlines and ease of viewing, com¬ fort and lots of leg room are assured by a spacious seating plan which provides a dis¬ tance of 36 inches between rows of seats, back-to-back, and 38 inches between those in the loge sections, Thedford said. An important feature is the installation of a refrigeration system to provide year ’round comfortable temperatures. Other features include a new facade of im¬ ported marble, massive aluminum and glass display cases, new boxoffice, marquee, and vertical sign. Luxurious new stage draperies, carpeting, modernistic lighting fixtures, new decor and lighting design have been created for the en¬ tire theatre. In addition, a parking lot adjacent to the theatre, has been resurfaced to provide addi¬ tional parking space. The NEW YORK By Mel Konecoff Scene DAVID FLEXER, president of Inflight Motion Pictures, Inc., which installs projection equipment on cross country and overseas jet planes, thought at lunch at the 21 Club that exhibitors should be grateful to his company for reintroducing many people to motion pictures. In an audience reaction check, he has found that the lost audience is not permanent, and that viewers like what they see as “captive audi¬ ences.” Warners was the only company not represented among the pictures shown thus far, but it’s expected that they’ll be included in the near future. Columbia’s “Scream of Fear” has gotten the best reaction so far, he claimed. Bookings are evaluated carefully because of the varied nature of the audiences, and no Legion condemned films or those denied a Code seal are played. At the moment, 12 TWA planes are showing the Inflight films, and this line will expand that number by adding 26 new planes in the process of being delivered. At the end of the year, when TWA’s exclusive contract runs out, other interested airlines will join the Inflight family, and by the end of 1962 some 150 planes will be in flight with Inflight. Flexer is working closely with projectionist unions, and service stations will be increased throughout the world. Distributors are paid on a per flight basis. He estimated it costs $22,000 to equip a plane with two projectors, which is a departure from the single installations at the start when the showings were confined to first class sections. These are being modified to include tourist sections as well, which will be the policy on future installations. Also present from the Inflight organization were Max Fellerman, W. C. Bryant, Robert Pique, Alfred Gottlieb, Dan Skouras, and A1 Tamarin. UNDERCOVER DEPARTMENT: Anybody ever hear of author Ian Fleming? Or British secret service agent James Bond? It seems that both have become extremely popular with the book-reading public over the last several years (some 280,000 paper backed books are sold monthly in England alone), and this plus the interesting yarns themselves have prompted producers Albert R. (Cubby) Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to plan a series of features on the novels and their hero for United Artists release. The first will be “Dr. No,” which will get under way in mid-January before the cameras in Jamaica and in the studios in England at a cost of a million dollars in color and with an unknown cast. Actor Sean Connery will portray the secret agent, and the pair reported that they expect to make one film every year or 18 months as soon as the reaction is in on the initial production. They have the rights to all of the Fleming books, nine already published and one to come next year. A thorough campaign is in the works to acquaint those amongst the public who aren’t Bond -conscious, and by the time the first film is ready for release next fall, advertising publicity head Fred Goldberg says, he’ll be pretty well known. ASIDE to APPLE ANNIE: Thanks for the apple. It was delicious. 8 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR November 29, 1961