Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

’Twas Very Happy Grossing New Year Grosses on Broadway and in Other Spots Strong for Holiday Weekend A merry box office jingle ushered in the New Year as lively business on Broadway and representative circuit houses throughout the country added to the good grosses enjoyed during the Christmas weekend. In New York a spokesman for Loew’s said that theatres in the Metropolitan area had one of the best New Year’s weekends in years. Playing Loew’s Metropolitan circuit was “From Here to Eternity” and “The Caddy,” both opening for the New Year holiday. Good business was also enjoyed by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, a spokesman said, adding that the New Year weekend compared favorably with grosses of last year. Times Square at Capacity In the Times Square area capacity business was chalked up during weekend by Radio City Music Hall, featuring “Easy to Love” on the screen and the traditional Christmas show on the stage. For the fifth and final week of the Hall’s holiday show a tremendous $170,000 was estimated. Despite excellent business the picture and stage show was changed to make way for CinemaScope at the Hall, where “Knights of the Round Table” opened Thursday. “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” at the Roxy did strong business with $100,000 estimated for the CinemaScope film in its third week. Other CinemaScope productions also did very well, with $60,000 seen for the third week of “King of the Khyber Rifles,” at the Rivoli. A big $50,000 for “How to Marry a Millionaire” at the Globe was estimated. The film climbed to $50,000 in its eighth week at the Globe, following the end of its engagement at Loew’s State, where it also had been playing. “Sadie” and “Eddie” High “Miss Sadie Thompson,” the 3-D representative on Broadway at the Capitol, also proved itself a grosser with $70,000 indicated for the second week. “The Eddie Cantor Story” gave an excellent account of itself with $70,000 forecast for the second week at the Paramount. For the 30th week of “This Is Cinerama” at Warners a tremendous $65,000 was registered. A fine $35,000 was estimated for the first week of “Paratrooper” at the Criterion while only a fair $35,000 was predicted for the first week of “All the Brothers Were Valliant” at Loew’s State. At the Astor a good $23,000 was expected for the second week of the “The Bigamist,” while a nice $15,000 was expected for the seventh week of “The Man Between” at the Victoria. “Here Come the Girls” at the Mayfair in its second week was due to hit a good $33,500. In Chicago grosses also were healthy. “The Robe” went over $35,000 in its 15th week at the B & K State Lake; “How to Marry a Millionaire” drew better than $40,000 in its seventh week at the Oriental ; “This Is Cinerama” wound up the holiday week with $47,000; “Julius Caesar” climbed to $18,000 in the second week of its twoa-day policy at the Selwyn. “Living Desert” Strong “The Living Desert” was up to $23,000 in its second week at the Loop, after an inital session at $22,000; and “Mogambo” bounced back to $20,000 in the final week of a long run at the Essaness Woods, where it was followed by “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef.” “The Captain’s Paradise” hit a rousing $4,500 in its 11th week at the Ziegfeld; “Annapurna” clicked off a great $6,500 at the Surf, in its second week ; “Easy to Love” held well at $15,000 in the RKO Grand also for the second week, and “Here Come the Girls” and “Those Redheads from Seattle” gave the McVickers a pleasing $25,000 in the second week of the run. In St. Louis “The French Line” in six days at the Fox theatre grossed $57,000. Commenting on the gross, Charles Boasberg, RKO Pictures general sales manager, stated the figure was the largest six-day gross in the history of the theatre. Another sturdy grosser was Walt Disney’s “The Living Desert,” which at the Playhouse in Washington, D. C., racked up $2,175 December 29, the biggest opening day in the theatre’s history. AMPA Launches 2nd Term of 1953-54 Showman School Jack Williams, Gerald Tasker and Anthony Shevins, of the Cunningham & Walsh advertising agency, Thursday addressed the first session of the 1954 Showmanship School conducted by Associated Motion Picture Advertisers at the United Artists home office in New York. Mr. Williams, vicepresident of the agency, discussed the importance of the advertising agency to the film industry. Mr. Tasker spoke on research in conjunction with film advertising, and Mr. Shevins on creative advertising. The meeting launched the second part of the 1953-54 term, comprising six sessions. Maurice Bergman is chairman of the school. Universal Preferred Dividend The board of directors of Universal Pictures Company, Inc., has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share on the 4J4 per cent cumulative preferred stock of the company. The dividend is payable March 1, 1954 to stock of record February 15. Fox *.* (i for 3 Months in Technicolor All 20th Century-Fox releases during the first quarter of 1954, both CinemaScope and standard films, will be in color by Technicolor, it was announced this week. The product slate will include three CinemaScope productions and three regular features produced for 20th-Fox release by Panoramic Productions to be offered during the January-February-March period. January releases are “King of the Khyber Rifles” in CinemaScope starring Tyrone Power, Terry Moore and Michael Rennie, produced by Frank P. Rosenberg and directed by Henry King; and “Three Young Texans,” a Panoramic Production starring Mitzi Gaynor, Keefe Brasselle and Jeffrey Hunter, produced by Leonard Goldstein and directed by Henry Levin. February releases are “Hell and High Water” in CinemaScope, starring Richard Widmark and Bella Darvi, produced by Raymond A. Klune and directed by Samuel Fuller; and “The Siege at Red River,” starring Van Johnson and Joanne Dru, produced by Leonard Goldstein and directed by Rudolph Mate. March releases are “Night People” in CinemaScope, starring Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Bjork and Rita Gam, produced and directed by Nunnally Johnson ; and “Gorilla At Large,” to be made available both in 3-D and 2-D, starring Cameron Mitchell, Ann Bancroft and Lee J. Cobb, executive producer Leonard Goldstein produced by Robert L. Jacks and directed by Harmon Jones. "Glenn Miller Day" Is Set in Clarinda, la. “Glenn Miller Day” will be observed next Wednesday at Clarinda, Iowa, where the late band leader was born. The day, marked by numerous and well covered civic events, is part of a statewide Glenn Miller Week. Its feature will be an invitational showing of the Universal-International picture, “The Glenn Miller Story” at the Clarinda Theatre. National coverage is assured through a Mutual Broadcasting System special events broadcast and attendance of national syndicate and wire service representatives. Pope Warns on TV Pope Pius XII on the occasion last week of the inauguration of network television broadcasting in Italy called on the bishops of Italy to organize a committee of ecclesiastics and members of the laity to advise on programming. In an apostolic letter proposing the committee the Pope called TV a “wonderful medium offered by science and techniques to humanity” but nonetheless warned that necessary safeguards must be taken. 12 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 9, 1954