The Exhibitor (1966)

Rugoff Named Exhibitor Of Year; To Be Honored At IFIDA Dinner NEW YORK — Donald S. Rugoff, president of Rugoff Theatres, has been named IFIDA’s “Exhibitor of the Year” by the Independent Film Importers and Dis¬ tributors of America, according to Joseph E. Levine, chairman of the organization’s upcoming 1967 International Film Awards Dinner. In announcing the award, Levine stated : “Donald Rugoff will be honored for his encour¬ agement of the exhibition of foreign motion pic¬ tures in the United States. His theatres have been in the vanguard of this movement and have won a well-earned niche in the art and specialty field.” Rugoff is a second-generation film exhibitor, son of the late Edward N. Rugoff, former president of the MMPTA. Today the Rugoff firm operates 1 1 theatres in Manhattan, which include the Plaza, the Paris (in association with Pathe-Cinema) , Cinema I and II, Sutton, Beekman, Murray Hill, 5th Avenue Cinema, Art, Gramercy, and 8th St. Playhouse; also two theatres in Long Island, the Austin in Kew Gardens and the Cinema in Manhasset; plus the World Theatre in Philadelphia. Among the pictures released in the United States by Cinema V, of which Don Rugoff also is president, are “Heavens Above,” “One Potato, Two Potato,” “Nothing But A Man,” “Nobody Waved Goodbye,” “The Soft Skin,” “Morgan!” and “The Endless Summer.” Rug¬ off is married and lives in New York City with his wife and two sons. The 1967 “Exhibitor of the Year” Award will be presented to Rugoff on Friday evening, Jan. 20, 1967, at the Hotel Americana in New York. MPAA Chairmen Named NEW YORK — Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., chair¬ man of the advertising and publicity directors committee of the Motion Picture Association of America, announced the new chairmen of the three sub-committees. The sub-committees review all proposals and programs for their special areas prior to rec¬ ommending any such programs to the full MPAA advertising and publicity directors committee. The three new chairmen are Howard New¬ man of 20th Century-Fox, chairman of the publicity sub-committee; A1 Fisher of United Artists, chairman of the exploitation sub-com¬ mittee; and John Lee of Columbia, chairman of the radio and television sub-committee. Following the completion of the agenda, the chairman presented Robert S. Ferguson, vicepresident of Columbia Pictures, with a desk calendar clock suitably inscribed in apprecia¬ tion for his two years of service as chairman of the committee. MGM Votes Dividend NEW YORK — The board of directors of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., voted the regu¬ lar quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share, payable Jan. 16, 1967, to stockholders of record Dec. 26. This colorful float represented MGM's "Grand Prix" in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York. Lexington, Ky., Houses Leased To Panther Corp. LEXINGTON, KY. — The Kentucky and Cinema theatres have been leased by Panther Theatre Corp., operators of the Strand The¬ atre, with Mel Gaitskill, former Kentucky manager, as overseer for all three theatres. Panther Corp., which took over the operations of the Schine’s chain from United Cinema, Inc., has a 25-year lease on the local houses. Sam Mills, formerly Strand manager, now advertising and publicity director for the 60theatre chain, said the three houses will con¬ tinue to operate as first-run theatres. John Hutchings, formerly Kentucky assist¬ ant manager, is to operate the Strand, and Dave Blair, formerly assistant manager at the Strand, is the Kentucky manager. Mrs. Dor¬ othy Gaitskill will continue as the Cinema manager. Sidney Levine, another former assistant at the Strand Theatre, is head booking agent for the Panther chain, headquartered in New York. Panther also operates theatres in Maysville, Paris, Richmond, Middleboro, and in Ohio, Delaware, and New York. N.Y. Unit To Change Name BUFFALO — At a meeting of the board of directors in the New York Allied offices here, the committee that has been investigating the change in the name of the N. Y. State exhibitor organization as suggested by NATO, reported in favor of adopting the new title, “New York State Association of Theatre Owners, Inc.,” Sidney J. Cohen, President of N. Y. Allied, announces there will be an open house cele¬ bration when the organization’s offices are moved about Dec. 15 to its new headquarters at 496 Pearl street, on the ground floor of the Motion Picture Operators Union building. The new state exhibitor organization will occupy one half of the ground floor, and the new offices of the local branch of the National Theatre Supply Company the other half. RUGOFF "Hawaii" Tops UA Records In 10 Roadshow Dates NEW YORK— “Hawaii,” Mirisch Corpora¬ tion presentation for United Artists release, has broken every UA roadshow attraction rec¬ ord in the company’s history during its first 10-city reserved-seat engagements. These en¬ gagements represent five weeks in New York, five in Los Angeles, four in San Francisco, four in Boston, four in Chicago, four in Hono¬ lulu, four in Toronto, three in Philadelphia, three in Montreal, and three in St. Louis. These 10-city engagements for “Hawaii” cover a total of 39 weeks of playing time for a com¬ bined gross of $1,071,998, it was announced by UA vice-president Eugene Picker. For the same 10 cities and a similar 39-week period, Mike Todd’s “Around The World In Eighty Days” grossed $830,257, which in¬ cluded Thanksgiving weekend in one city, j Christmas week in two, New Year’s in four, and Easter week in one, as compared to “Hawaii’s” $1,071,998 without holidays. For the same 10 cities and a similar 39-week period, the Mirisch Corporation’s “West Side Story” grossed $828,991, which included Thanksgiving weekend in one city and Christ¬ mas-New Year’s in two. For the same 10 cities and a similar 39week period, Stanley Kramer’s “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” grossed $834,914, which included Thanksgiving weekend in four cities and Christmas-New Year’s in five. In addition to the present 10-city release, “Hawaii” will open in nine more engage¬ ments at Christmas and in 40 other situations in mid-February. New Coach For Israel LONDON — Samuel Lunenfeld, member of the Variety Club of Toronto, Canada, has in¬ formed Leslie Macdonnell, global chairman of Variety Clubs International’s Sunshine Coach Scheme, of his intention of sponsoring a coach for presentation to the State of Israel. This will be the fourth Sunshine vehicle to be given by Variety to Israel. Last year, three coaches were sponsored by members of the Variety Club of Great Britain for ILAN, an organisation which cares for 10,000 handi¬ capped youngsters and is the largest of its kind in Israel. They were officially handed over in Tel Aviv by C. J. Latta, an executive officer of Variety International and a past chief barker of British Variety. "The Fortune Cookie" Philadelphia contest winner William J. Curran, right, is congratulated by WIP Radio personality Tom Brown, center, and Max Miller, United Artists mideastern regional publicity¬ advertising-exploitation supervisor. Curran received tickets to the Eagles-Browns football game in Cleve¬ land and an all expense trip to that city. November 30, 1966 20 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR