Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

92 MOTION PICTURE HERALD August I, 1936 MANAGERS ACTIVE IN CLUBS (Continued from preceding page) dropped until the fall. Philadelphia is only 28 miles from the city and less than an hour ride by motor and a good portion of the trade is taken to first class vaude houses there. With the exception of the legitimate stage, the Playhouse, Wilmington houses never go over the 40-cents tops. First runs open with matinee prices as low as 25 cents and scale up to 40, averaging around 32 cents, while the second runs open at 15 and scale to 25 cents, averaging around 20 cents. Prices change at two and six o'clock. Neighborhood houses are only in the evenings with the exception of Saturday, when doors open at noon. Wilmington's parking situation is a headache to the downtown houses, while the neighborhoods are neither handicapped by parking regulations nor downtown shopping throngs. Beer garden trade offers the only parking opposition for the neighborhood. In the downtown area parking is limited to one hour up to six o'clock in the evening, after which the regulations are lifted. The restricted area makes it impossible for downtown patrons to take in shows in the afternoon and park within three blocks of any of the theatres without violating the parking law. Parking Spaces Limited Another problem crops up in the downtown parking situation on Wednesdays and Saturdays when the farmer curb markets, extending the length of the business district, one block off the main thoroughfare, runs parallel to all seven of the downtown theatres. Parking spaces are limited and few and in most instances are rented to downtown department stores who in turn permit their customers to park free. One large downtown parking area has just been cleared and another is under way. Parking spaces bring an average of 25 cents. Loew's Parkway, out of the downtown area but located on one of the main streets, is faced with a shortage of parking on Monday nights when the Auditorium, two blocks distant, booking wrestling shows, attracts big crowds and numerous automobiles. The Wilmington High School and the New Century Club, also in the neighborhood also offer a big parking problem. Excellent trolley and bus service to theatres in all parts of the city make transportation very convenient, but this service fails to compete with the auto in spite of the parking situation. Fares are eight cents. Wilmington theatremen encounter terrific opposition, particularly from the beer gardens, schools and summer resorts. While there is little or no night life in the city after midnight, the beer spots draw exceptionally well Winter and Summer in spite of the fact that the State Liquor Act prohibits the sales of liquor after 12 o'clock. Plays in the Wilmington Public Schools have cut deep into the box office, according to a number of the theatres. Public schools throughout the city have two and three plays a week in many instances and nearly all are well patronized. Summer resorts and swimming pools take the biggest toll in warm weather. Wilmington takes on the appearance of ghost town on Sundays with most of population either to a beach or on the highway. Public swimming pools were opened on Sunday for the first time two years ago and since have drawn heavily on the Sabbath. Sunday motion pictures are prohibited in Delaware, thus Wilmington theatres are not affected by Sunday attractions. The legalization of Sunday sports after two o'clock in the afternoon will provide a big form of opposition for the theatre in event Sunday movies are ever legalized. Several years ago Sunday movies would not have had to contend with sports and public swimming pools but today these two forms of recreation vie with the resort in popularity. Carnival's Tough Opposition The Delaware Sports Center speedway, several miles south of the city, operating one of the fastest midget automobile tracks in the east and carding races weekly, also provides opposition. Carnivals cut deep into the box office and between the last of May and late in September they come and go in one endless line. The Brandywine Hundred carnival, a mile north of the city, billed the "World's Largest Carnival," attracts between 8,000 and 10,000 persons nightly. Free automobiles awarded each night of the 11-night stand draw the patrons. Wilmington is rated an excellent dance town and dances at the Hotel DuPont draw weekly crowds. Theatremen in Wilmington are divided on Sunday shows. Some are of the opinion that the city is "cold" to Sunday pictures and that there is no big demand, while others feel that the population patronizes Pennsylvania houses and Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey resorts because of the failure to produce Sunday shows. Daylight saving time is another form of opposition theatremen vigorously oppose. The advanced time allows but one good show a night, the last show, as the extra hour of daylight attracts the population to the out of doors. The new time also encourages the suburban beer spot trade due to the fact that the suburban gardens do not come under the advanced time and are thus permitted to remain open an hour later than beer gardens within the city limits. Wilmington theatres have not as yet been caught in the mania of bank nights and double feature programs which are sweeping community theatres throughout the State and Delmarvia Peninsula. Only one theatre in the city, the Avenue, an independent neighborhood, has taken to the giveaways and double features. Wilmington theatremen in general, chain and independent, frown on the practices and so far have successfully "steered clear" of them. Most of the city's theatre advertising is clone on Thursday due to the fact that a majority of the programs change the following day. Theatres use the Journal-Every Evening, an evening paper with a circulation of over 40,000 copies ; the Wilmington Morning News, and the Sunday Star, the only daily and Sunday papers in the State. There is very little advertising and ballyhoo compared with cities of the same size. All newspaper tieups are made for theatres as a group and not so much individually. The papers cooperate wholeheartedly during Christmas shows for the children and the collection of toys and food for the needy. Over a year ago the two daily papers changed their policies as to theatre publicity. The daily "readers" for pictures were abandoned and in place the Nevus-Journal Company (operating the two daily papers) set aside one full page in the Thursday editions of both evening and morning publications for theatre publicity and advertising. Mrs. Margaret Merchant, the motion picture editor for both papers, is doing an exceptionally fine job of placing the pictures before the public but theatremen seem to favor the daily "reader" over the full page weekly. They contend that each picture should be exploited individually, particularly in the case of the neighborhood house where programs change daily. The present set-up of newspaper publicity does not keep the pictures before the public at all times, they point out. Women's Clubs Classify Pictures Daily and Sunday papers use syndicated and also columns of fan chat by the motion picture editors. A motion picture guide compiled by Mrs. George L. Schwartz of the Better Films Council of the City Federation of Women's Clubs, giving a classification of pictures showing in Wilmington as to audience suitability, based on the joint estimate of many preview groups, carries in the Thursday editions. The only criticisms are given to the legitimate stage shows. Nearly all theatre managers are members of the various clubs throughout the city and take active part in the programs. Both chain and independent theatremen get the best of cooperation in opposing laws and ordinances affecting the theatre. Their cooperation to date has been very effective, particularly in the State Legislature at Dover, where a number of important measures working hardships against the theatre were killed through the efforts of the independent organization and the chain houses. The Independent Motion Picture Theatre Owners Association of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, of which A. Joseph DeFiore, manager of the Park Theatre, is president, has a membership of 32 theatres, of which 18 are in Delaware, and is constantly on the lookout for any legislation which may tend to hurt the theatre. "The organization brings theatre operation to a better plane," Mr. DeFiore stated in pointing to a number of instances where the organization has been of benefit.