The Exhibitor (1966)

Canadian Groups, National General Join To Develop World-Wide Circuit TORONTO, CANADA — Two leading Ca¬ nadian and U.S. organizations have joined to¬ gether to develop NGC Cinemas, Ltd., Can¬ ada. This will be a $30 million, world-wide motion picture exhibition circuit, “leisure¬ time” and entertainment complex, it was announced. The parties to the agreement, which calls for the initial construction of 50 theatres in the next two years, include Na¬ tional General Corp., one of the largest the¬ atre exhibitors in the United States, and North American Cinema Centers Limited. National General Corporation will own 50 percent of the common and preferred stock of the new corporation through its Canadian subsidiary, Carthay Theatres, Ltd., and will be in charge of operations. The other 50 per¬ cent of the stock ownership will be held by North American Cinema Centers (James Scott, president), a company owned by sev¬ eral prominent Canadian organizations. They include CEMP Investments, Ltd., the Samuel Bronfman family trust, which is the major shareholder in Distillers Corp.-Seagrams Ltch; Power Corporation of Canada Limited, one of the largest public holding companies in the Dominion, headed by president William Tur¬ ner; and Paul Nathanson, founder of the Odeon Circuit in Canada and owner of Em¬ pire Films, Ltd., leading independent distribu¬ tor which has the exclusive Canadian fran¬ chises for Walt Disney Productions and Seven Arts Productions. Eugene V. Klein, chairman and president of National General Corporation, will be chair¬ man of the board of NGC Cinemas, Ltd.; E. Leo Kolber, vice-president and managing director of CEMP, will be president; Irving H. Levin, executive vice-president of National General Corp., wil be executive vice-president; and the vice-president and general manager of the new company will be Jack McGee, pres¬ ently head of NGC Fox Intermountain-Midwest theatre division; James Scott will be a director and vice-president of the new com¬ pany. Said Klein, the new board chairman: “Al¬ though our program calls for the initial de¬ velopment of a 50-unit, Trans-Canadian the¬ atre circuit at a cost of $30 million, longer range plans provide for the establishment of a world-wide theatre circuit as well as develop¬ ment of other areas of mutual interest, includ¬ ing Canadian motion picture production, and expanding fields of entertainment and ‘leisuretime’ activities. The company may operate anywhere outside of the United States and U.S. Territories and Possessions.” NGC Cinemas will immediately commence operations by the takeover of several newly constructed hard-top theatres. These include the Place Longueil Theatre in Montreal and the Guildford Theatre in Vancouver, B.C., as well as the Plaza Theatre, at Plaza Shopping Center, Oakville, Ontario, which opened Feb. 4. The Cinema Bonaventure Theatre at Place Bonaventure, Montreal, is scheduled to open with the commencement of EXPO ’67, the Canadian World Fair. CEMP Investments and Power Corporation have extensive world-wide investment and real estate holdings which include over 30 major regional shopping centers throughout Canada. These two organizations are among the largest and most active real estate de¬ veloper-owners in that country. Schwartz Circuit Plans Del. Shopping Center Site DOVER, DEL.— “We hope Dover can support two theatres,” Reba and Muriel Schwartz said in announcing that they will operate a new 700-seat house to be in¬ cluded in the 42-store Blue Hen Shopping Mall, under construction in Dover along U.S. Route 113. The new theatre will bring to eight the number operated by the circuit founded by the late George M. Schwartz, husband of Reba and father of Muriel, who came to Dover 50 years ago and opened the Temple Theatre. The seven Schwartz theatres include four hardtops, the Capitol, Dover; Smyrna, Smyrna; Everett, Middletown; and Cinema Center, Newark; and three drive-ins, the Kent, three miles south of Dover; Delmar, Delmar; and Elkton, Elkton, Md. Roth Circuit Names de la Viez SILVER SPRING, MD.— Robert O. de la Viez has been appointed district manager for the Washington zone of Roth Theatres, accord¬ ing to an announcement by Paul Roth, presi¬ dent of the rapidly expanding organization which currently operates 10 motion picture theatres in Maryland and Virginia. De la Viez, 36, is a lifelong resident of the Washington, D. C., area, and his most recent business associations have been with House of Wines of Washington, D. C., and as executive producer for Show Biz Productions, also of Washington. He will supervise the Roth the¬ atres now operating in the Washington zone and will join general manager Ned Glaser in directing the firm’s expansion activities. Two new theatres are currently under construction by the Roth, organization and several other locations are in the planning stage. N.C. Exhibs See Parents As Allies Against D.S.T. RALEIGH, N. C.— W. G. Enloe, Raleigh, N. C., district manager of North Carolina Theatres, Inc., has urged the state not to be “too hasty in advancing our clocks and watches one hour thinking the N. C. General Assembly is going to ‘sit on its hands’ just because Washington has snapped its fingers again.” He said, “Fortunately, Congress did recog¬ nize ‘states rights’ in this instance and per¬ mitted the states in the sunny south, where sunshine is not at a premium, to exempt them¬ selves from a federal law that would create a colossal nuisance. “I believe the parents of school children, especially the mothers, will become aroused and let their voices be heard when they realize that under Daylight Savings Time, their chil¬ dren will be leaving home in the dark, parti¬ cularly in October, in order to reach the school house on time. “To avoid this hazard, I predict some of our school boards are going to advance the hour of school opening time, and then confusion will really set in. A number of parents take their children to school on their way to work, but what happens if the school house is closed and the grounds are dark?” Enloe said, “The members of the General Assembly have heard from the few who favor Daylight Savings Time; now let them hear from many who are opposed.” He announced recently that theatre interests would seek to have the state exempted from the federal law. Lodge Fetes Maharam NEW YORK — Joseph Maharam, president of the Maharam Fabrics Corp., theatrical cos¬ tumers, and a member of the board of trustees of New York’s Cinema Lodge of B’nai B’rith, will be honored by the Lodge at an informal luncheon at the Hotel Warwick tomorrow (Feb. 16), it was announced by Norman Rob¬ bins, president. Maharam will be honored for his efforts on behalf of the Isreal bond committee of the Lodge and the Metropolitan Council of B’nai B’rith, which recently staged a bond-selling dinner. Sack Forecasts Continuing Trend Toward More Hard Ticket Features BOSTON — The reserved-seat, hard-ticket film trend is growing in Boston, and Ben Sack, hard-ticket’s firmest exponent, who will set a first in the country by having four roadshow engagements in four Sack Theatres at the same time, predicts that in the years to come, there will be fewer and fewer grind, or continuous performance film theatres, and more and more reserved-seat film houses. Sack, just cited by Mayor John F. Collins on the 15th anniversary of his entry into exhibi¬ tion with his first theatre, the Beacon Hill, as “truly ‘A Man For All Seasons,’ ” has just opened his third hard-ticket film at the Cheri One, “A Man For All Seasons,” and will open the fourth, “The Taming of the Shrew,” at the Cheri Two on March 22. The other two hardticket shows at his theatres are “Hawaii,” at the Gary, and “Dr. Zhivago” at the Saxon. In addition. Sack has booked more hardticket films for his theatres including “The Bible, which goes into the Saxon on Feb. 15; The Sand Pebbles,” which will succeed “Ha¬ waii”; Disney’s “The Happiest Millionaire”; Universal’s “Thoroughly Modem Millie”; Camelot,” now being made; and Robert Wise’s forthcoming “Star.” While reserved seats cost the customer more, Sack maintains that the big films that are played on hard ticket attract a “legit audience, which is accustomed to going to legit theatres and paying legit prices.” Runs for hard-ticket shows are longer and allow exhibitors to bid for the best pictures being made because the grosses are bigger. With the four hard-ticket films in Sack the¬ atres, Boston will have a total of six reservedseat films playing, with “ The Grand Prix” at the Boston Cinerama and “Is Paris Burning?” at the Circle Cinema. In addition, “The Sound Of Music ’ is playing sub-run on reserved-seat policy at I he Paris Theatre. 10 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR February 15, 1967