The Exhibitor (1964)

AB-PT Southern Affiliates Plan Campaigns For WB, Col. Features Kids Take Over At Bow Of New Reade Theatre EATONTOWN, N. J. — Premieres, usually a function reserved for adults, will become juvenile property today (Aug. 26) when Walter ReadeSterling, Inc., opens its new Community Theatre in the Eatontown Cinema Centre here. The new theatre, adjacent to the Eatontown Drive-In, will have a special invitational premiere in the afternoon for children of this township. Municipal recreational and play¬ ground groups, and those organizations work¬ ing with handicapped children, have been in¬ vited to bring all their wards to the theatre. The youngsters will see the feature-length cartoon film “Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear,” plus a Disney cartoon. Refreshments will be “on the house.” Then at 7 p.m., the theatre will open for the first time to the public with a different film show. The Community is a 900-seat theatre of early American design, with a shingled roof, red sidings, and white colonnade front. With the adjacent Eatontown Drive-In, it will form the new “Eatontown Cinema Centre” motion picture complex. The preceding evening (Aug. 25), local of¬ ficials and movie industry dignitaries were guests of the Walter ReadeSterling organiza¬ tion for a reception and preview screening. IFIDA Awards Gala Set NEW YORK — The annual International Film Awards dinner-dance of the Independ¬ ent Film Importers and Distributors of America will be held on Tuesday evening, Jan. 19, 1965, in the Imperial Ballroom of New York’s Americana Hotel, it was an¬ nounced by IFIDA’s governing committee of Dan Frankel, Jean Goldwurm, and Irving Wormser. Selections For N. Y. Fete Near Halfway Mark NEW YORK — Selections for the Second New York Film Festival approach the half¬ way mark with the acquisition of the latest films of four directors of international re¬ nown. Richard Roud, program director of the non-competitive festival in which 25 films will be exhibited at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall Sept. 14-26, listed the films and their directors: “Diary of a Chambermaid” (“Le Journal d’une Femme du Chambre” Luis Bunuel, “The Great City” (“Mahanagar”) by Satyajit Ray, “Passenger” (“Pasazerka”) by Andrzej Munk, and “Cyrano and D'Artagnan” (“Cyrano et D’Artagnan”) by Abel Gance. Films previously announced by festical director Amos Vogel are the Russian “Hamlet,” British “King and Country,” Italian “Hands Over the City,” Swedish “To Love,” French “Band of Outsiders,” Japanese “The Taira Clan” and American “Fail Safe.” Klein Assists VCI Meet LONDON — Jack Klein, first assistant chief barker of the Variety Club of Great Britain and managing director of Max Factor, Ltd., has donated $1400 to sponsor a ladies’ luncheon at next year’s VCI convention in San Fran¬ cisco. Additionally, he will give each lady guest a Max Factor gift. ATLANTA — Merchandising motion pictures requires “the right idea in the right place at the right time, plus plenty of hard work — not blue-sky, eyewash, razzle-dazzle — in order to turn stay-at-homes into movie-goers,” Ernie Grossman, Warner Bros, national di¬ rector of promotion and exploitation, said here in an address to leaders of the southern affili¬ ates of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. The AB-PT meeting devoted its session to discussion of promotional plans for “Kisses for My President” and “Youngblood Hawke,” the two Warner Bros, releases selected to be AB-PT Project Plan Pictures. Grossman lauded what he described as the “grassroots approach” of the AB-PT exploita¬ tion teams, which presented promotional cam¬ paigns for the two Project Plan Pictures spe¬ cially tailored to each geographic area. “This is the kind of down-to-earth sell that must be encouraged,” Grossman said, “and we will do everything in our power to help.” AB-PT affiliates participating in the Project Plan are Wilby-Kincey Theatres, the Inter¬ state circuit, Texas Consolidated Theatres, and Paramount Gulf Theatres. “Kisses for My President,” starring Fred MacMurray and Polly Bergen, will begin its southern premiere engagement on Sept. 25. “Youngblood Hawke,” the film version of Herman Wouk’s best-sell¬ ing novel, will launch its southern premiere engagements on Nov. 6. Included in the Warner Bros, delegation at the Atlanta meeting were southern division sales manager W. O. (Ollie) Williamson, homeoffice publicists Paul Ross and Mark Saegers, and field representatives J. D. Woodward and Kevin Genther. “Fail Safe,” Max E. Youngstein’s produc¬ tion for Columbia Pictures release based on the widely-read best-seller, also has been selected by the southern affiiliates of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres as one of their Project Plan Pictures, it has been an¬ nounced by Rube Jackter, Columbia vicepresident and general sales manager, and AB-PT executive Bernard Levy. Under a comprehensive and specially de¬ signed promotional and merchandising program that is reserved for a limited number of top attractions annually, “Fail Safe” will have its world premiere early in October in the south¬ ern area of the country prior to its national release later in the month. Max E. Youngstein and Columbia executives Robert S. Ferguson, vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity; sales executive Jerry Pickman; exploitation manager Roger Caras; and special projects director on “Fail Safe” Nick John Matsoukas were in Atlanta for the discussions. Columbia has already serviced each partici¬ pating circuit with complete campaign ma¬ terials on “Fail Safe.” Important elements of the campaigns presented at the meeting will now be tailored to meet the specialized needs of each particular region. Drumm Joins Sigma III Maryland’s Governor J. Millard Tawes recently shoveled the first spade of earth for construction of Westview Playhouse at 6000 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Md. Seen, left to right, are Gene Raphael, civil engineer; J. O. Bishop, contractor; Governor Tawes; Norman Clark, motion picture critic, Baltimore News-Post; George A. Brehm and Joe Einbinder, heads, Edmondson Drive-In Theatre Corporation, builders of the theatre; and Bert Lichtig, architect. NEW YORK — Frank L. Drumm has joined the executive staff of Leonard Gruenberg’s Sigma III Corporation, which is releasing the Spanish film, “Los Tarantos.” August 26, 1964 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 7