Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1951)

ADJUST CITY’S SEAT PROBLEM Philadelphia Over-Seating Cleared; Exhibitors Are Optimistic for Future PHILADELPHIA: An intelligent adjustment of the exhibition situation in Philadelphia has taken place during the past year and is expected to continue through 1952. In moves designed to counteract a serious “over-seating" condition in the city, which has maintained for many years, since the building boom of the 1920s, and which continued through the profitable war years, some 40 theatres have closed during 1951. Perhaps as many more will be closed during 1952. Expect Fewer, Better Films Exhibitors generally in Philadelphia are highly optimistic over business prospects for the coming year. They view happily the marked increase in receipts the past year and are convinced “a movie boom is on again,” with fewer houses showing better pictures and for longer runs. At the present time, Philadelphia has 187 licensed motion picture theatres compared with about 300 during the ’30s. Some industry members feel that it if the total now drops to 150 or even 125, the business as a whole will benefit. W'illiam Goldman, head of Goldman Enterprises, Inc., which operates 20 theatres throughout eastern Pennsylvania, is among the industry leaders who see benefits in the present trend. “It will mean less theatres, less pictures but better ones, and longer runs," said Mr. Goldman. “Motion picture theatres are in either of three classes — lush, in between, or the third class or 'fringe’ theatres. The producing and distributing companies frequently lose money on their transactions with the fringe class. Some of the owners and operators of the theatres now being converted had no good reason to be in show business. They made their money in some other business then figured the motion picture field was an easy touch. Failed to Modernize “They pocketed the profits of the war and post-war years and spent little or nothing to modernize their places. Some of these owners have been in reality janitors of rundown theatres. It is just too late to save most of the places now being sold. But it is certainly no mass funeral of the industry. While current attendance is less, income is up. Resurging interest in the movies is evident all over the country.’’ A local distril)utor concurred in Mr. Goldman's analysis, adding that many of the theatres now being disposed of were too small to make money. He said the average small house must gross $1,100 a week to cover $250 for film, $650 for overhead and return the owner $200. “The owners missed the boat when they didn’t shovel back some of the profits in the lush years,’’ he said. However, not all houses on the selling block are sub-standard operations. One of the houses listed for sale, it is understood, is Warners’ Mastbaum. A 5,000 seat house, it cost $5,000,000 to build in the late 20s. More Profit in Conversion Other theatre properties can return the owners a greater profit if sold or converted to other commercial purposes because of location, as was the case of the Great Northern, neighborhood house. This house and seven stores on the same plot was sold for $1,000,000 last week. The 920-seat house that has been in operation for 40 years is in an excellent shopping area. The new owners will convert the theatre into at least eight stores with a potential annual rental of $800,000. The theatre at one time paid a $20,000 a year rental, but now pays $9,000. George F. Wurtele, manager of the Great Northern, said, “We have more than doubled our attendance in three years. Television undoubtedly hurt us a couple of years before then. But now these patrons are coming back. Good pictures are bringing them back. TV’s newmess is wearing off. We are doing our best business in years.’’ The Great Northern will operate until the new owners start the conversion work. The Murray Realty Co., which represented the purchaser in the sale of the Great Northern property, also has Mo Wax’s long dark Lincoln near the center of town for sale at $150,000. Motion pictures and live shows, said the realty company spokesman, didn't draw sufficiently there to net the profit that a commercial setup will. TV may be responsible in part, he added. Changes on Market Street Along Market Street, the city’s major center-city market center, four smaller Warner houses are already converted or in the process. The Princess will house a shoe store ; the Victoria was sold to an apparel firm ; the Capitol is now occupied by a sporting goods concern, and 333 Market Street is a parking lot. The four houses were either sold or subleased by the Stanley Company of America, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. A spokesman for the circuit said the four houses had outlived their usefulness. He said TV’s effect was negligible. The circuit spokesman also disclosed that Warners’ Earle, 3,200-seat house showing stage-and-screen offerings, also will be a future conversion. A large chain store bought the building and is understood to be awaiting only the easing of the building materials shortages. BOOK REVIEW YEAR BOOK of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry — Edited by Hye Bossin of Canadian Film Weekly. A compendium of information on pictures, people, corporations and organizations operating in the motion picture industry of Canada, with statistics, illustrated, 188 pages, cloth. Price, $2.25. Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., 175 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Canada. Here is the first year book of the Canadian film industry, which has had an experience as long, and at times as adventuresome as in the United States. The tight slim volume is filled with information succinctly presented, giving a surprisingly complete and swift survey of the field as it stands today, and with a decided line of perspective on its yesterdays. It is primarily a book of the Now. This issue is led off with a section devoted to the first history of the motion picture from the Canadian viewpoint, written by' the editor of the volume, who is also the editor of Canadian Film Weekly, the busy Hye Bossin. His opus comes into appreciative hands with this reviewer, himself a student of film history these thirty-five years and an editor of yearbooks for twenty. The Canadian Year Book is substantially a oneman job, done at the other end of a desk engaged in the race with the publication deadlines of a weekly journal. That helps a keeping in touch with the present. It is of interest to note Mr. Bossin’s discovery and presentation of that letter in which Thomas A. Edison, in May, 1894, thanked Holland Brothers at Ottawa in Canada for the first public exhibition of his initial motion picture device, the Kinetoscope. Holland Brothers, as Canadian dealers in his phonograph, had become concessionaires of the Kinetoscope Company to open a Kinetoscope Parlor at 1155 Broadway in New York, that first night of the motion picture for all the world. This yearbook presents interesting account, too, of the origins and activities of Canada's National Film Board, an order of governmental organization which has no parallel in the U.S. There is a survey of the Canadian censorships, which are varying through all the provinces, an examination of Television in Canada, a touch of Radio, as well as a discussion of the refreshment trade. Also there is an imposing, complete and up-to-date listing of all the licensed theatres in Canada, city by city, wdth populations, seating capacities, days open, and names of licensees. Details, details, details — all of which this industry consists of nothing else but. — Terry Ramsaye Enters Exhibition Field George Schwartz, distributor of special foreign films and former branch manager for Universal-International in Philadelphia, will become an exhibitor January 1 when he leases the Shore theatre, first run Atlantic City house, currently operated by Hamid interests. 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD. DECEMBER 15, 1951