Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

THE MONEY MAKING STARS OF THE YEAR SELECTED BY EXHIBITORS OF NA TION EXHIBITOR SELECTIONS COMBINED Gary Cooper Martin & Lewis John Wayne Alan Ladd Bing Crosby Marilyn Monroe James Stewart Bob Hope Susan Hayward Randolph Scott CIRCUIT Martin & Lewis Gary Cooper John Wayne Marilyn Monroe Alan Ladd Bing Crosby James Stewart Ava Gardner Bob Hope Susan Hayward INDEPENDENT Cary Cooper Martin & Lewis John Wayne Alan Ladd Bing Crosby Marilyn Monroe James Stewart Bob Hope Susan Hayward Randolph Scott by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollywood Editor THE technological revolution of 1953 didn't make a whoop of difference in the star situation. Nobody who appeared in the new sizes and shapes sky-rocketed to peak prominence in personal drawing power, and nobody who didn't appear in them skidded. Th is is the disclosure of standout significance in the results of The HERALD’s 22nd annual poll of American exhibitors to determine the Money-Making Stars of the year. For Theatre Men Only Nobody votes in that poll but theatre owners. These men who have bought the pictures at the best price they could get and sold them to their neighbors know the score better than anybody. In 1953 they've had to run a spot-referendum on 3-D and anamorphic dimensional-itis, and the final returns are far from in, but there isn't a trace of that turmoil in the results of their balloting on players. The 1952 poll results are surprising only in their lack of surprises. There is one first-timer in the Top Ten echelon. That brings to a snug 56 the grand total of players who have earned this eminence in the entire 22 years of the poll's operation. (That brings to 3.92 — by quickly dividing the actual 56 into the theoretically maximum 220 — the number of years in this select estate average by Top Ten talent.) There is one returnee to Top Ten listing, in again, with good cause, after a first inclusion in the 1947 poll. In all its phases the 1953 poll proves again that Fame is a far more constant wench than reputed. He’s a Marquee Giant On his 14th appearance on the Top Ten list Gary Cooper has taken over, for the first time, the Number One Spot. This man is a marquee giant. He started crashing lop Ten in 1936, taking 10th place. His record shows two seconds, one third, three fourths, two fifths, one sixth one seventh, one eighth and one ninth. Those aren't fractions. Those are winnings over the sternest competition the whole world of show business could throw against him. The Cooper supporting cast in his Top Ten stardom is made up, in this order, of Martin & Lewis, John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart, Bob Hope, Susan Hayward and Randolph Scott. Martin & Lewis, last year's toppers, are on the Top Ten list for the third consecutive year, having made it in 1951 as runner-up to John Wayne. They look like permanent residents. Third position on the 1953 list is occupied by the two-time winner of first place — 1950 and 1951 — John Wayne, now mak GARY COOPER. Number One ing his fifth consecutive appearance in Top Ten category. Alan Ladd, who was out and around during 1953 in three other pictures besides the tremendous "Shane," namely "Desert Legion," "Botany Bay" and "Thunder in the East" is back in the Top Ten circle for the first time since 1947. Bing Crosby, casual incumbent of fifth position in the 1953 finals, is the only Top Ten star of the year who has made this mark on box office history as many times — M — as this season's Number One.* He was out in only two pictures during the year, Road to Bali," shared with his favorite co-star and sparring partner, and "Little Boy Lost," which was closely held as to public availability during most of the period covered by the poll. But no story of the Money-Making Stars poll, now or ever, can properly skip mention of the alltime championship run up by Bing in holding Number One Spot for five consecutive years. Take all you can get at whatever odds you can scare up that this record will stand as long as movies last. Marilyn Monroe's placement in sixth position on her first inclusion in the Top I en list cannot be classified as unexpected. She had been voted a swift Number One position in the 1952 Stars-of-Tomorrow poll, conducted at midyear by this periodical in the same manner and among the same exhibitors as this older, original poll of ( Continued on page 16) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 2, 1954 13