The Exhibitor (1966)

NEWS CAPSULES | 1 \!/ FILM FAMILY jS ALBUM Obituaries William Graham Carmichael, 71, of Charlotte, retired district manager of Allied Artists Pic¬ tures Corp., died Jan. 8. A native of Sudbury, Ont., he had a career of 61 years in the theatre business. He started in his father’s Calgary theatre, first film house in Canada, and at 18 was managing a theatre. He also managed traveling theatrical troupes. He entered dis¬ tribution in Charlotte in 1939 and also held film jobs in Atlanta, Memphis, Chattanooga, Omaha, Tulsa, Cincinnati, and Oklahoma City before returning to Charlotte for Allied Art¬ ists in 1957. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a sister. Carmichael was a past chief barker of the Variety Club in Charlotte. William J. “Pat” Russell, 79, pioneer Colum¬ bus, O., theatre operator, died Jan. 3 at his Columbus home. He operated the Columbia, Pythian, and Russell neighborhoods, all no longer in operation. He was a native of Cov¬ ington, Ky., and was a member of Variety Club. He is survived by his wife, nieces, and nephews. Lewis Sablosky, pioneer in motion picture ex¬ hibition, died at the University of Pennsyl¬ vania Hospital in Philadelphia. He was 81. Owner of a theatre in Norristown, Pa., in 1903, he was one of the founders of the the¬ atre firm bearing his name and later of Stan¬ ley Company of America, headed by the late Jules Mastbaum. Sablosky also helped found First National Pictures. In past years, he was associated in the operation of many Philadel¬ phia theatres, including the downtown Ar¬ cadia. He also was active in operation of the Mastbaum and Earle Theatres, both of which have since been razed. He is survived by his wife; two daughters; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two brothers, David and Nathan. AIF Execs Move Up LOS ANGELES — In an expansion of A.I.P. corporate structure, Samuel Z. Arkoff, execu¬ tive vice-president of American International Pictures, was elected to the post of chairman of the board for the independent film com¬ pany. James IT Nicholson, AIP president, and Arkoff stated that they would jointly continue to function as the firm’s chief executive officers. Leon P. Blender, vice-president in charge of sales and distribution, and David J. Melamed, in charge of finance, both were named senior vice-presidents. FORMS FOR THIS PACE CLOSED AT 5 P.M. ON MON., JAN. 16 Decision On Movie Month Depends On Pix Available SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO— The future of National Movie Month is entirely contingent upon the calibre of pictures that will be made available by the film distributors. This was the decision of the board of directors of the Na¬ tional Association of Theatre Owners at the mid-January meeting here. NATO president Sherrill C. Corwin appointed Nat Fellman chairman of a select committee consisting of Irving Dollinger, Bernard Levy, and Bernard Myerson to request firm commitments of major product from the general sales managers. Re¬ port will be made to the board at the Palm Springs meeting in April, and the decision as to whether or not there will be a National Movie Month in 1967 will be taken at that time. It was generally agreed that planning and staff work must begin no later than April if a successful National Movie Month campaign is to be conducted. In reply to the question whether the film companies would be able to commit specific pictures before the deadline, it was pointed out that the distributors who are now insisting on summer playdates in January should have no difficulty in setting September availabilities in April. Board chairman Jack Armstrong conducted the meeting. More than 60 directors attended representing every geographical area, and facet of United States exhibition. Representatives of the states concerned with passing Standard Time legislation before the April 1 deadline met to compare campaigns, exchange informa¬ tion, and plan coordinated strategy. The board approved the recommendations of the dues and criteria committee and the finance committee that national NATO dues be set at five cents a seat or 7p2 cents a speaker for all NATO member theatres. Armstrong emphasized that this dues schedule repre¬ sented only the responsibility of the theatre owner of the national organization and that these dues were in addition to the fiscal respon¬ sibility which each theatre owner owes to his state or regional association for local legislative protection and services. Each of the 47 NATO affiliated exhibitor associations will be responsible for the NATO dues from the area, which it represents. Since there is a close correlation between seating capacity, box office gross, and domestic film rentals, the fair share of dues from each NATO unit will be determined by pro-rating the NATO budget on the basis of exchange territory percentages. For example: Distribu¬ tion collects 4.66 per cent of domestic film rentals from the Detroit exchange area, so NATO of Michigan will be responsible for 4.66 per cent of the NATO operating budget. Corwin reported to the board on the many activities which he and the association have undertaken since the convention in New York last October. Encouraging developments have resulted from Corwin’s several discussions with the responsible executives of the film com¬ panies. Each of the general sales managers has assured Corwin that special consideration will be individually given to the later runs and small distress situations for relief from the squeeze of present market conditions and to assure their economic survival. Methods of “equalizing” the harm resulting from the “race” of films to tv are being explored. Cor¬ win also reported on his participation in the Film Advisory Committee of the National Film Institute. Fellman, chairman of the product subsidy committee, reported on several subsidy plans to encourage motion picture production and provide clearance over release to tv. Directors requested that these proposals be investigated by a select sub-committee for comprehensive report to the board in April. A theatre management development pro¬ gram proposed by the Division of Continuing Education of the University of Toledo was submitted to and approved by the NATO board. The purpose is to provide the potential theatre manager with a detailed knowledge of managerial duties and responsibilities and with a background that will enable him to represent film exhibition effectively in his area and to participate in the business and cultural affairs of the community. Corwin announced the successful consolida¬ tion of Illinois exhibitors into a single NATO association. Sumner M. Redstone, chairman of the trade practices committee, reported to the board on a number of problems which had been directed to and considered at length by his committee. Upon recommendation of the committee, the directors agreed that Corwin and Redstone should discuss these matters directly with the film companies and others concerned, pri¬ vately and without publicity. In other actions, the board approved NATO and exhibitor support of the 1967 Academy Awards telecast on Monday evening, April 10, and approved two amendments to the NATO constitution involving qualifications for mem¬ bership on the executive committee and board of directors. Corwin announced the appointment of Harry Botwick of Florida States Theatres and Flaivey Fleishman of the Wometco Circuit as co-chairmen of the 1967 NATO convention to be held at the Americana Hotel in Bal Har¬ bour, Florida, on Oct. 17-20. The board ap¬ proved future conventions for San Francisco in 1968, Chicago in 1969, and Los Angeles in 1970. ANOTHER SWORD OF entitled to take the blame for an unhealthy situation. If he is denied those tools, as he is in today’s market, then the blame belongs somewhere else. The trade press can no longer afford to give free space to material that rightly belongs on the advertising pages. In 1966, only two film companies — Columbia and Warner Bros.— in¬ creased their trade press advertising over the previous year. One major company had so little confidence in its product that it fell behind almost 100 pages. It is interesting to note that DAMOCLES ( Continued ) exhibitors, from the information on film grosses available, shared the company’s opinion of its films. Unless this industry is prepared to sell out entirely to the television tube, some new thinking on this subject is vital. If the theatre market is sold down the river, and films no longer get the big lift that a successful theatrical release can provide, then it will not be long before the television market loses in¬ terest in them as well. That’s something for distribution and production executives to ponder.