Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1942)

Page 4 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW March 21, 1942 FORMULA SET FOR PERCENTAGE PIX Astor Now Has 100% Distribution Savini Signs Deals For New Orleans and Omaha (See Cover) R. M. (Bob) Savini, president of Astor Pictures, this week announced that his company now has 100 per cent distribution outlets in key cities throughout the country, as a result of his signing of E. L. Kennedy, Astor Pictures, New Orleans, and Mayer H. Monsky, Liberty Film Exchange, Omaha, to handle the Astor product. This gives the company a total of 32 offices in as many key cities to distribute the Astor releases. Savini, a veteran in the distribution field, organized the company he heads during the depression era and through it has nationally distributed many films, including several notable re-issues which have been re-edited and modernized. He entered the film field with the Dixie Film Co., New Orleans, later operating the Savini Film exchanges in Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis and New Orleans. In addition to his duties as president of Astor, Savini is special representative of Howard Hughes Productions. "Menace of the Rising Sun" To Premiere in Baltimore "Menace of the Rising Sun" a special Universal featurette, dealing with the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, will have its world premiere at the Keith Then tre in Baltimore next Friday. GWTW Opens Again "Gone With The Wind" will "open" for the third time on Broadway on March 31, MGM announced this week. The Astor Theatre, scene of .the original opening, will again house the biggest grosser of all time. Another Col. Picture In Capitol, N. Y. "The Lady Is Willing," Columbia picture, has been booked into the Capitol Theatre in New York, to follow "The Invaders," also a Columbia release. INDEX OF DEPARTMENTS Page Advance Dope 38 Boxoffice Slants . . 16 Feature Booking Guide 43 Hollywood 36 Newsreel Synopses 40 On the Patriotic Front 18 Selling the Picture 25 Shorts Booking Guide 46 Short Subject Reviews 40 Variety Club Notes 12 Plan Adopted by Philadelphia Group Determines Whether Any Film Worth 40% Widespread dissension among exhibitors over increased film rentals, especially high percentages, is resulting in concrete action by organizations to refuse to play such pictures. This week Allied Theatres of Illinois Board of Directors voted to advise its membership to book no more percentage pictures this season. The directors' action was taken, they said, because of the high overhead in Chicago theatres which precluded the chance of any profit on a percentage engagement. The membership later ratified the action. In Philadelphia, the independent exhibitors committee which has been protesting high film rentals, has developed a formula for determining whether any picture is worth 40 per cent or more. For the purpose of the plan, any theatre operating seven days a week is allowed three units for Saturdays, two for Sundays and one for each of the five weekdays, making a total of ten. The weekly overhead is then divided into ten equal parts and the total number of units in an engagement is used in the formula. The complete formula follows : "A 40 per cent picture must do 250 per cent of the playing time unit overhead to gross enough money to pay the exchanges 40 per cent film rental, and leave the exhibitor a profit equal to 50 per cent of the film rental paid. "A 35 per cent picture must do 210 per cent of the playing time unit overhead to gross enough money to pay the exchanges 35 per cent film rental, and leave the exhibitor a profit equal to 50 per cent of the film rental paid. "A 30 per cent picture must do 182 per cent of the playing time unit overhead to gross enough money to pay the exchanges 30 per cent film rental, and leave the exhibitor a profit equal to 50 per cent of the film rental paid. "A 25 per cent picture must do 160 per cent of the playing time unit overbead to gross enough money to pay the exchanges 25 per cent film rental, and leave the exhibitor a profit equal to 50 per cent of the film rental paid. "For instance, a theatre which has a playing time unit overhead of $50 that runs a 40 per cent picture Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (4 units of playing time) must gross 250 per cent of $200, the overhead for four units of playing time, or total gross of $500 in these three days in order to pay a film rental of $200 and have $100 left for profit. "If that picture does not do enough gross to leave this much profit for the exhibitor, it should then revert to a 35 per cent allocation. "If that picture does not do enough gross to leave this much profit for the exhibitor, it should then revert to a 30 per cent allocation. "If at a 30 per cent allocation the picture does not leave this much profit for the exhibitor, it should then revert to a 25% allocation. "This formula would act as a ceiling on pictures, and require a 40 per cent picture, from any and all companies, to measure up to a necessary gross in order that the picture remain in the allocation given it by the exchanges. "It would eliminate further, the contention, by an individual distributor, that a particular picture of his grossed as much as one of his previous pictures, which he charged at 40 per cent, even though the gross on his pictures were substantially less than is here required, or is done by 40 per cent pictures from some other distributors. "It is necessary for the exhibitor to have a profit margin of one-half of the film rental paid the distributor on the big pictures so that the exhibitor can pay for the short subjects and take care of the losses on the low bracket features. Exhibitors should keep accurate records of the box-office performance of each distributor's total product so as to determine whether or not a particular product is profitable. "Those theatres using double features with high percentage pictures should receive an allowance of the cost of the second picture or a reduction of 5 per cent in the cost of the top feature, which ever is most applicable to the particular house." About 125 exhibitors representing 250 theatres — a majority of the independents in the territory — attended the session at which the plan was broached. William F. Crockett, president of the MPTO of Virginia was among those who attended. Those present heard several alternative proposals for terms on "Captains of the Clouds" submitted by Ben Kalmenson, Warner general sales manager, following the meeting which he attended last week. Carter Replaces Penick On "U" Board of Directors Allan Carter, Jr. was this week elected a director of Universal Pictures Company, replacing J. Dabney Penick. All the other directors were reelected. They are as follows : Nate J. Blumberg, Paul G. Brown, D. C. Collins, J. Cheever Cowdin, Preston Davie, John J. O'Connor, Samuel I. Posen, Octavio Prochet, Charles D. Prutzman, Budd Rogers, Daniel M. Sheaffer, William H. Taylor, Jr. The new board will meet for the first time on April 2. AMPA to Honor DeMille Mar. 26 AMPA's luncheon honoring Cecil B. DeMille on his 30th anniversary in pictures has been changed from April 2 to March 26, it was announced this week by Vincent Trotta, AMPA's president. 'Sgt. York' Gets 5 Million Statistics released this week by Warner Bros, show that "Sergeant York" which has not yet been generally released at regular prices, has already grossed $5,000,000. School For Women Mgrs. Projectionists Also Would Be Trained in Atlanta Evidence of things to come is seen in the opening of a school for managers and projectionists in Atlanta, where a number of key men have been called into the armed services. Fred Coleman, who operates a string of suburban theatres, found that some of the most important men in his organization were leaving and could not be replaced. Accordingly, he opened the school in the closed Hanger Theatre this week. Training will be free. Three hundred applications for enrollment received from women have been sifted by a committee at Emory University which has prepared aptitude tests to be given the applicants. Wives of theatre employes will be 'given an edge, but otherwise, enrollment will be strictly on the basis of merit. The faculty of the school will consist of prominent exhibitors, theatre managers, advertising and publicity men and projectionists. One other motive prompted the founding of the school. A contract clause permits projectionists to break their agreement in case of war ; the union in that section has made drastic demands for wage increases as a result. 500 Warner Employes In Fighting Forces Nearly 500 Warner employes outside of the studio have joined the fighting services, it was announced this week. Additional inductions and enlistments this month are expected to push the total well over the 500 mark. Personnel manager Ralph W. Budd in the home office has put a special flag in the cafeteria with each soldier's name stamped under a blue star. SHOWMEN'S Trade /ifffcv Review Vol. 36, No. 9 Mar. 21, 1942 Title and Trade Mark Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Published every Friday by Showmen's Trade Review, Inc.. 1501 Broadway, New York City. Telephone BRyant 9-5606. Charles E. "Chick" Lewis, Editor and Publisher; Tom Kennedy, Associate Editor; Robert Wile, Managing Editor; Joseph H. Gallagher, Film Advertising Manager; Harold Rendall, Equipment Advertising Manager; West Coast Office, Guaranty Bldg., 6331 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Calif., Telephone Hollywood J390, Ann Lewis, manager; London Representative, Milton Deane, 185 Fleet St., London E.C. 4; Australian Representative, Gordon V. Curie, 1 Elliott St., Homelmsli, Sydney, Australia. Subscription rates per year: $2.00 in the United States and Canada ; Foreign, $5.00. Single copies, ten cents. Subscribers should remit with order. Entered as second class matter February 20, 1940, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.. under the Act of Mar.cn 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1942 by Showmen's Trade Review, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Address all Communications to: SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW 1501 Broadway Mew York City