Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1952)

EXHIBITORS DETERMINE TOP MONEY-MAKING STARS OF THE YEAR VVV.V.V .■ .^W,%V.VAWAV■AVW•J^Vy“.V■■MVAVJ-VMV^^^WWWUVWW^ EXHIBITOR SELECTIONS COMBINED Martin & Lewis Gary Cooper John Wayne Bing Crosby Bob Hope James Stewart Doris Day Gregory Peck Susan Hayward Randolph Scott CIRCUIT Martin & Lewis Gary Cooper John Wayne Bing Crosby Bob Hope Gregory Peck Doris Day James Stewart Susan Hayward Esther Williams INDEPENDENT Martin & Lewis Gary Cooper John Wayne Bing Crosby Bob Hope James Stewart Doris Day Abbott & Costello Randolph Scott Susan Havward 1W.V.V.V.V.W.V by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Holl-yu'ood Editor EAN MARTIN and Jerry Lewis top the Motion Picture HERALD-fawe audit of the American box office for 1952, the 21st year of the original exhibitor poll and the Martin-Lewis duo's third year in motion pictures. The nation's theatre owners, voting by confidential ballot solely according to revenues from ticket sales, had placed the team second in the 1951 poll. Winners Martin and Lewis are followed by Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, James Stewart, Doris Day, Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Randolph Scott, in that order, on the list of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars of 1952. Miss Hayward is the single newcomer to Top Ten rank in the 1952 poll (although some of the others are returnees from earlier winning lists) and her rise from 19th place in 1951 appears to derive from her performances in "David and Bathsheba," "With a Song In My Heart" and "1 Can Get It For You Wholesale" rather than from her work in "Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "Lusty Men," which hadn't got into widespread exhibition in time to figure in the voting materially. Gary Cooper, runner-up to Martin & Lewis in the present poll, is on the Top Ten list for the 13th time, a record tied by only one of his fellow-winners. John Wayne, third this year after holding Number One Spot in 1950 and 1951, got around to his public less often during the year than was good for his poll standing, due to the continuing delay in releasing the now two-year-old "Jet Pilot." Bing Crosby, up a notch from his 1951 position, shares with Gary Cooper the distinction of 13 Top Ten rankings, and shares with nobody the record of five consecutive years in the Number One Spot (1944-48 inclusive). Bob Hope, up this year from six to fifth, is a Top Ten-er for the 12th time. He was Number One in 1949. James Stewart is in the Top Ten for the second time, finishing sixfh. He was fifth in the 1950 poll, dropping to 16th in 1951, due in considerable measure, no doubt, to taking time out from pictures in favour of the stage. Doris Day, in seventh place, is up two stations from last year's ninth, her first Top Ten ranking. Gregory Peck, finishing eighth, duplicates his standing in the 1947 poll. He finished Nth in 1951, 12th in 1950, 23rd in 1949 and 12th in 1948. Randolph Scott, tenth this year, was seventh last year, eighth in 1950. Fluctuations of box office Fame are singularly slight from year to year. Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, I Ith in the 1952 poll, although eighth in the Independent column, have seven Top Ten placements— including a Number One in 1941. Esther Williams, 1 2th in the present listing, although lOth in the Circuit column, was eighth in both the 1949 and 1950 polls. The most striking shift of poll positions is that of Betty Grable, who was third in 1951 and dropped to 20th in 1952. The repeated suspensions she drew from her studio account for that, as the Grable pictures were always quickly played off down to the smallest hamlet, and musicals are seldom reissued. Fluctuations In the Money-Making Western Stars listing are even slighter than in the over-all poll results. Roy Rogers finished firsf In 1952 for the 1 0th consecutive year, with Gene Autry second for the fifth straight time. Autry had topped the list for six years before interrupting his career to join the Army. Rex Allen is up this year from fifth to third, and Bill Elliott from sixfh to fourth. Tim Holt is down from third to fifth, and George "Gabby" Hayes jumped up surprisingly from last to sixth. Smiley Burnette repeated in seventh {Contiulicd on page H) Dean Martin & Jerry Leu is, first 12 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 27, 1952