Motion Picture Herald (1954)

SEE RECORD TURNOUT AT TOA CHICAGO MEETING TESMA TO ASK JOINT SHOW WITH TOA. ALLIED IN 1955 Concurrent Equipment and Popcorn Sessions Draw Hundreds of Showmen CHICAGO : Advance registrations at midweek indicated that the Theatre Owners of America convention and the TESMATEDA-TOA-IPA trade show, getting under way here at the Conrad Ililton Hotel, Sunday, and running through Thursday, will be one of the biggest in history. More than 380 persons had registered through the New York office, with more registration coming in daily, for an advance registration twice as big as that for last year’s show one week before convention time. Equipment Exhibits Will Be Open Every Day The convention’s co-chairmen, Roy Cooper, George G. Kerasotes and Horace Denning, this week released a day-by-day schedule of activities for the delegates. Open each day of the meeting, of course, will be the theatre equipment exhibits of the Theatre Equipment and Supply Manufacturers Association, the Theatre Equipment Dealers Association and the International Popcorn Association. Highlighting various activities outside the Conrad Hilton Hotel will be a special demonstration of Perspecta Sound at the State Lake theatre Monday morning. Three film companies, Columbia, 20th Century-Fox and Allied Artists, also will screen their current and future product for the theatre men in attendance. The following is the calendar of events now scheduled : Sunday. In the morning general registration and a meeting of the Finance Committee with S. H. Fabian, treasurer, presiding. The convention committee luncheon at noon, to be followed by a meeting of the executive committee and board of directors in the afternoon. Monday. Convention’s formal opening in the afternoon, with a keynote address by Pat McGee. Speak-your-mind session. In the evening the TESMA-TEDA open house. Tuesday. In the morning a film problems forum, open to exhibtors only. Luncheon, with hosts the Motion Picture Advertising Service Company and the United Film Service Company. In the afternoon, open discussion, and in the evening the Coca Cola party. The ladies that afternoon will be entertained at a fashion show and art exhibit at the Ambassador East Hotel. Wednesday. Morning, drive-in forum. Luncheon sponsored by Motiograph, Inc., the Nestle Company, Radio Corporation of America, National Theatre Supply, the Charles E. Hires Company, and Radiant Manufacturing Corporation. In the after Fred C. Matthews, president of the Theatre Equipment and Supply Manufacturers Association, this week announced that his association intended to issue an invitation to TOA, Allied States Association, the International Popcorn Association and the Theatre Equipment Dealers Association to meet in industry-wide convention in 1955. “We hope,” said Mr. Matthews, “that Allied and TOA can resolve such differences as they may now have and join with TESMA, TEDA and IPA in an all-industry trade show in 1955.” Mr. Matthews’ statement was issued on the eve of the opening of the 1954 TESMA convention and trade show, being held in conjunction with TOA, TEDA and IPA, at Chicago’s Conrad Hilton Hotel Monday through Thursday. Not “Wed” to Anyone Although TESMA has for the last two years held its convention and trade show in conjunction with the Theatre Owners of America, Mr. Matthews said his organization was “not wedded to a meeting with any particular exhibitor organization.” The TESMA chief predicted that theatre owners who attend this year’s show will be in a much more optimistic frame of mind than those who were on hand last year. “Exhibitors now realize,” he said, “that the movie industry is very much alive, as they know most theatres have not only regained their lost patrons but have also gained thousands upon thousands of new ones.” The economic resurgence he attributed to a large extent to “the bigness and granduer of modern motion picture presentation.” Mr. Matthews also answered some theatre owner-critics who have asserted the equipment manufacturers and dealers have made “phenomenal and uncalled for” profits on equipment. “The officials of one association of theatre owners,” said Mr. Matthews, “even seemed so certain of this that they proposed the entrance of their association into the manufacture and distribution of projection and sound equipment.” noon, the TESMA-TEDA-TOA equipment and new processes forum. In the evening, a supper and square dance at the Tam-OShanter Country Club sponsored by the Pepsi-Cola Company. That afternoon the ladies will be guests at a matinee of the stage musical, “Wonderful Town.” Thursday. In the morning, the IPA The TESMA president explained: “It is true that when a new item of equipment is introduced the price is higher than that which invariably prevails at a later time. This high price, however, does not make for an extraordinary profit to the manufacturer, rather it only partially covers the high cost of research, development, engineering and tooling needed to make the equipment. “Today there is plenty of competition for the theatre man’s equipment business whether it be for projectors, sound equipment, arc lamps, rectifiers, generators, screens or lenses. As a consequent result, the theatre owner can buy equipment at a price that produces but a minimum profit for both manufacturer and dealer. “The individual companies that make up the membership of TESMA have done their part in helping to bring about the resurgence of good times in the motion picture exhibition and they can be counted upon to carry on research and development programs that will keep the motion picture industry predominant in the entertainment field.” All Is Under One Roof Mr. Matthews pointed out that the TESMA trade show, which has been held annually for the past 10 years, brings under one roof virtually every make and model of theatre equipment that is used in the motion picture theatre. “This showing,” he said, “gives the exhibitor the opportunity of leisurely examining ever item of equipment that he might conceivably use in his theatre.” During the coming year, Mr. Matthews promised, both TESMA and TEDA and its individual members will compaign for the modernization of motion picture theatres. The advent, he said, of wide screen and stereophonic sound has brought exhibition back to a more profitable level, but it is felt by TESMA that the course to better and continuing profits is to improve the beauty and comfort of theatres. TOA concessions forum. In the afternoon, a meeting of the executive committee and board of directors. In the evening, the National Carbon Company’s cocktail party preceding the president’s banquet. In the morning the ladies will be guests at the “Welcome Traveler” television show at the Hotel Sherman. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 30, 1954 15