The Exhibitor (1966)

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Columnist Plans Top Super-Film Of A II— Encyclopedia Britannica NATO — — ( Continued.) leaders do everything within their power to equalize the harm that is being done us? Will they make a hard, honest and perhaps agoniz¬ ing appraisal of the dangerous future that im¬ pends if they do not act?” Corwin acknowledged a resolution adopted by the board of the Wisconsin Theatre Owners Association calling for a broad exploration of National Movie Month and containing proi posals for its improvement. He said that the! atremen everywhere, as well as the trade press, were making similar thoughtful appraisals of ! the project. The results of the recent “Month” \ are being thoroughly analyzed from all aspects i and will be discussed at the meeting of NATO’s executive committee and board of directors in January. At that time, all sugges¬ tions, criticisms, and future prospects will be evaluated for discussion when exhibition’s leaders visit the film companies’ heads. Regarding the distressing situation faced by small theatre owners, Corwin said that he plans to meet with distribution’s sales executives in New York and is hopeful that friendly talks in an atmosphere of mutual understanding will lead to the development of workable and rea¬ sonable formulas for the relief of the little exhibitor. He referred to the fact that there are hundreds and hundreds of exhibitors in small towns and in fringe operations in the cities who are fighting for survival, and that these men are all veterans, many of them pioneers, who are deserving of the deepest consideration. Corwin concluded his remarks by telling his fellow exhibitors — “We will not move moun¬ tains in minutes, nor will we prevail in every reform we propose, but we will be ever alert and always the champion of the exhibitor’s role and his contribution to the good health of our industry.” “I am pleased that Edward Schuman, of the Walter Reade Organization, has agreed to serve as chairman of the newly-formed audi¬ ence trends committee,” Corwin announced. “Stuart H. Aarons will act as committee coun¬ sel, and the committee will be comprised of the following knowledgeable theatremen: Horace Denning, Dixie Drive-Ins, Jackson¬ ville; Irving Dollinger, Triangle Theatre Ser¬ vice, New York City; Charles Freeman, WilbyKincey Circuit, Charlotte; Harvey Garland, Florida State Theatres, Jacksonville; Henry Goldman, Fabian Theatres, New York City; Saul Goldman, Allied Theatres of Illinois, Chicago; Robert Hosse, Martin Theatres, Co¬ lumbus, Ga.; Joe Jackson, Interstate Circuit, Dallas; Joe Kelly, Redstone Management, Bos¬ ton; William Kelly, United California The¬ atres, San Francisco; Ronald Krueger, Fred Wehrenberg Circuit, St. Fouis; Lawrence Lapidus, Foew’s Theatres, New York City; Norman Newman, Metropolitan Theatres, Fos Angeles; Dan Polier, National General Corp., Los Angeles; Fred Schmuff, Durkee Circuit, Baltimore, Md.; Sam Seletsky, General Cinema Corp., Boston; Edward. Stern, Wometco The¬ atres, Miami, Fla.; George Stern, Associated Theatres, Pittsburgh; Joe Strother, Marcu; Theatres, Milwaukee; Edward Stuckey, But¬ terfield Theatres, Detroit; and Ray Vonderhaar, Tentelino Enterprises, Alexandria, Minn. Robert W. Selig, Pacific Drive-In Theatres, Hollywood, has been tapped by Corwin to head the public affairs committee. The follow¬ ing advertising-publicity executives will serve with Selig: Henry Capogna, Butterfield Theatres, De¬ troit; Ernest Fmerling, Foew’s Theatres, New York City; Sy Evans, General Cinema Corp., Boston; Harry Greene, Welworih Circuit, Min Fla. Exhib Calls COMPO Industry's “Santa Claus" NEW YORK — In a note of appreciation forwarded with a check for his COMPO dues, Sam Tournure, an exhibitor of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., called COMPO “the industry’s Santa Claus,” it was revealed by Charles E. McCarthy, COMPO’s executive vice-president. McCarthy said that Tournure apparently was referring to COMPO’s accomplishment in obtaining complete repeal of the Federal 20 per cent admission tax and the exemp¬ tion of motion picture theatres from the federai minimum wage laws. McCarthy pointed out that this year is the first time in 49 years that the industry has been free from the admission tax. Loew’s Ups Diamond, Lapidus NEW YORK — Preston Robert Tisch, chair¬ man of the executive committee of Loew’s Theatres, has announced the election of two assistant vice-presidents, Bernard Diamond, general manager of the circuit’s theatres, and Larry Lapidus, chief film buyer and booker. Diamond joined Loew's in 1963 following a 23 year association with Schine Theatres. Lapidus was associated with the General Cinema Corp., Boston, for five years prior to joining Leow’s in 1965. Earlier, he was em¬ ployed by the B & Q Theatre Circuit in Massachusetts. neapolis; Thor Hauschild, Armstrong Circuit, Toledo, Ohio; Fred Herkowitz, RKO The¬ atres, New York City; Dave Jones, Kerasotes Theatres, Springfield, Ill.; Sam Mills, Panther Circuit, New York City; Russell Mortenson, Standard Theatres, Milwaukee; Ronnie Otwell, Martin Theatres, Columbus, Ga.; Ed Seguin, Balaban & Katz, Chicago; Jack Silverthorne, Hippodrome Theatre, Cleveland; Charles Smakwitz, Stanley Warner, New York City; M. B. Smith, Commonwealth Circuit, Kansas City; George Stern, Associated The¬ atres, Pittsburgh; B. V. Sturdivant, Arizona Paramount, Phoenix, Ariz.; Morton Sunshine, Independent Theatre Owners, New York City; Joe Vleck, National General Corp., Holly¬ wood; and Ray Willie, Interstate Circuit, Dauas The Young NATO Organization (YNO) includes Bruce Corwin, chairman, Metropoli¬ tan Theatres, Hollywood; Allan Blank, Cen¬ tral States Theatres, Des Moines; Robert Car¬ penter, Sunset Drive-In, Hamburg, Ark.; Richard Durwood, Durwood Theatres, Kansas City; Thomas Floyd, Floyd Theatres, Haines City, Fla.; Jerry Forman, United Theatres, Portland; Michael Forman, Pacific Drive-In Theatres, Los Angeles; Richard Kite, Marcus Theatres, Milwaukee; Roger Lockwood, Lockwood & Gordon Theatres, Boston; Richard Mann, Theatre Management, San Francisco; Roy E. Martin III, Martin Theatres, Colum¬ bus, Ga.; Harmon Rifkin, Rifkin Theatres, Boston; E. David Rosen, Fabian Theatres, New York City; Robert Stein, State Wide Theatres, Los Angeles; and Herman Stone, Consolidated Theatres, Charlotte. DALLAS — Paul Grume, columnist in the Dallas Morning News who writes “Big D,” wrote the following: “People say that the most super colossal film now showing at our movie houses is ‘The Bible.’ True, the New Yorker magazine did imply that a person might learn more just by reading the book, but the New Yorker is not very good on super-colossal matters. It is better at micro-metric nit-picking. “At any rate, the question is moot because I have come up with a better super-colossal idea. I am in the process of writing a screen play adapting ‘The Encyclopedia Britannica’ to the movies. “Let this stand as fair warning to competi¬ tive writers and other plagiarists that this sub¬ ject belongs to me. I thought of it first. The idea hit me like a ton of books the other day when I was dreading having to look up some¬ thing. I forget what the something was because it became no longer important. When you latch onto a great idea like making a movie out of the Britannica, you have to strike while the iron is hot. A week is none too long to spend on a subject of this magnitude. “ ‘Here’ I remember thinking, with my unusual infallible insight, ‘is a book that, as a movie, would be bound to have everything.’ “It should be obvious to anybody, after some genius has thought of it, that the Britan¬ nica. is the material for the most colossal supercolossal spectacle ever staged here or abroad. It has a giant cast including nearly everybody who has even been heard of in the human race. The action of the book takes place in virtually every scene on the globe, and if you go easy on things like thermodynamics, there is plenty of action. As a book, it is weak ondialogue, but anybody can furnish that. “As a movie, The Encyclopedia Britannica would be the only device by which you could link together the Taj Mahal, giant pandas, Stonehenge, and Salome carrying the head of John the Baptist. The only other way to do it would be to have an imaginative director, and we’re not going to have one. We are going to underplay the whole subject as far as our 50 million-dollar budget will allow. “At the moment, I lean to allowing Alfred Hitchcock to direct the show because even when you have read some of the paragraphs in the Britannica, you still don’t know how they came out. “There would be a part in the play for everybody in show business, from aardvarks to zygote, though the casting might take a little time. “Luckily, I am superbly equipped to turn the Britannica. into celluloid, for I have spent much of my spare time for 30 years in a scholarly project to find the missing item in it. “I started out in .a hit and miss fashion, thinking up subject after subject, but they all turned out to be in the index. Now, though, I am following a process of deductive reasoning. All you have to do, obviously, is to list every subject included in the book and eliminate these from consideration. The subject not listed is bound to be the missing one. “Scholarly work of this kind seldom pays. It will be good through the movie to make pocket money.” Pecember 21, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 9