Variety (March 1956)

18 PICTUIU2S PSftlETY Winter Here But Spring Pulsates In Hearts of Drive-In Owners Even with snow on the ground, - and many of the country’s drive- ins still closed, the booking sea¬ son for the ozoners is at hand. Drive-ins, now estimated to number about 4,400, are expected to figure more importantly than ever in the distributors’ scheme of things this' summer. For the Indoor operators, the auto lots will offer greater competition. Company execs say that, in the forthcoming season, more drive- ins than ever will he vying with the hardtoppers for firstrun prod¬ uct. Unlike the regular situations, the drive-ins aren’t hit by any product shortage since they've got close to half a year’s product to fall back on. At the same time, the ozoners now are defi¬ nitely in the big league and ready to act accordingly. To many in distribution drive-ins represent a natural an swer to television and a form of exhibition which, if anything, promises to grow in the future even as the regular houses may be having their difficulties. Some feel that, in certain areas (not in the East) the saturation point in outdoor locations has virtually been reached. Yet, each season, the business volume has indi¬ cated otherwise. There is no question that, in a good many instances, the rising b.o. potency of the drive-ins has badly hurt the suburban runs, particularly if the ozoner near them books a feature day-and- date with the downtown firstrun. The neighborhoods, of course, have to await their turn. Mean¬ while, a section of their potential audience has already seen the picture Distribs at times will turn down a drive-in bid even though it’s higher than that submitted by its hardtop competition, the theory being that, under certain circum- sances, it isn’t profitable to preem a film in a spot that’s so far out-of-town that people have to get into their cars to see it. It isn’t so serious if it’s a small place where there’s one theatre and people have cars anyway. Approximately 3,500 of the drive-ins in the country now are equiped for Cinemascope. Last year, some of the C’Scope films ' did outstanding business in the ozoners even though the overall gross of 20th-Fox, the Cinema- Scope company, fell somewhat short of expectation,- possibly be¬ cause the distrib didn’t have enough 2-D features to back up its C'Scope bookings. Minnesota Audit to Chi Chicago, March 20. Accounting offices of Minne¬ sota Amusement Co., a sub¬ sidiary of United Paramount Theatres, will move to the Balaban & Katz homeoffice in Chicago April 1. Centralizing move is de¬ signed to cut costs. Cannes Festival Invites Columbia’s ‘Harder Fall’ And 20th’s ‘Gray Flannel’ Cannes film festival has invited two American films to participate in the competition. They are Co¬ lumbia’s "The Harder They Fall’’ the : and 20th-Fox’s "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.” Official U.S. entries are Para¬ mount’s "The Man Who Knew Too Much” and Metro’s "I’ll Cry to- Morrow.” Total of 34 countries, including Russia, wilLbe repped at the fest. HERBERT WILCOX INTO' GOTHAM ON TEENAGE’ British producer Herbert Wilcox checked into N.Y. Monday (19) for ruddles with 20th-Fox on his latest film, "My Teenage Daughter,” and the possibility of two future co¬ productions. * Wilcox also said he was dis¬ cussing possible coproduction of two tv film series with Guild Films topper Reub Kaufman. "My Teenage Daughter,” dis¬ tributed in Britain via British Lion, stars Anna Neagle (Wilcox’s wife) as the mother, and introes a new personality, Sylvia Syms. Ken¬ neth Haigh has the male lead. Film isn’t in Cinemascope. If Wilcox goes into any coproduction arrange¬ ment with 20th, the resulting pix would be in Cinemascope. ECONOMY AT PAR EXCHANGE Two Oldtimers Exit Chicago Sales Branch Chicago, March 20. Paramount Exchange here is in the throes of an economy wave which has seen several vet staffers lopped off the payroll. Latest to go is projectionist Herman Busch, a 38-year vet. Paramount closed the branch screening room here and plans to use Igel’s Screening Room, a film row indie operation, for trade showings, etc. Only distribs still operating their own projection rooms here are 20th-Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. Busch .followed Paramount branch office manager and assist¬ ant division manager Bill Hamm, with 39 years of service, and his secretary, Gertrude Mix, to the exit. Hamm's assistant division manager post was axed in the economy move. Several other clerical employees’ jobs have also been abolished. Services Pledge U’s ‘Boats’ Full Promotional Assists Universal has received assur¬ ance from the U.S. Defense Dept, that it will enjoy full services’, cooperation on promotional en¬ deavors for its forthcoming "Away All Boats,” scheduled for release this spring. Based on the success of “To Hell and Back,” which received similar aid, U has scheduled the same type of promotional campaign for Boats.” Details of the drive were set this week following 10 days of meetings Tn^few York between pub-ad v.p. David A. Lipton and homeoffice pub-ad officials. It will include a national tv spot cam¬ paign and a national billboard campaign which will be launched well in advance of the release date without being specifically tied to any playdates. I take this occasion to express my gratitude for the continuing confi¬ dence placed in me by my cus¬ tomers and friends in’show business. JESSE BLOCK Registered Representative IRA HAUPT & CO. Investment Brokers 501 7th Ave., New York 18, N. Y. LOohgacre 5-$262 ' British Too British ~ ■ Continued from page 5 ~— particularly the U.S. exhibitors, who multiply excuses for not being equally receptive. It is especially "needling” to British film folk to have British product blanket-condemned as hopeless for American circuits and regular playdates other than arters at the very time leaders of Allied States Assn, and its confrere body, the Theatre Owners of America, are raising piteous cries, easily heard across the Atlantic Ocean, that they are being crucified be¬ cause of product shortage. Here’s the snapper in London’s reasoning: “If British films have been trying to crack the American' market with only piddling results for something like 40 years ; it is just possible that the American film industry, distributor and ex¬ hibitor alike, want it that icay and all their arguments are no .more than double-talk.” Paul Lazarus’ Ideas On Big-Sell Budgets No Hit in Manhattan Statement by Paul N. Lazarus, Columbia v.p., rapping some dis¬ tributors for "substituting” adver¬ tising dollars for showmanship has several ad-pub toppers at rival out¬ fits doing a. burn this week. "Vari¬ ous companies are vying for great¬ er and greater expenditures and advertising spending has reached the point of economic hari-kari,” Lazarus told a Col convention in Chicago. The exec named no names but, as pointed out last week, $2,000,000 has been reported as the campaign budget for Hecht-Lancaster’s "Trap¬ eze” at United Artists. In any event, some of Col’s ad- pub competition rebutted private¬ ly that while budgets are on the rise this doesn’t mean an ab¬ sence of showmanship. Further, they add, there’s no way of get¬ ting important publicity breaks for free. The trade’s ad-pub showmanship takes the form of tieups with com¬ mercial products or merchandisers, appearances on radio-tv programs, premieres, etc. All of these, it’s underlined, require some outlay of cash to cover supervision of the bally work and the actual expenses incurred. It's also emphasized by those quarreling with Lazarus that these activities are engaged in to go hand in hand with the ad pro¬ grams. But that more and more money is going into advertising is not de¬ nied. Universal last year spent $3,800,000, compared with $2,920,- 000 the year previous. UA went' for $1,300,000 on "Hot As a Stranger.” And in the case of "Marty,” UA’s budget is about equal with the production costs of about $375,000. The time and space cadets are uniform in stating there’s no sci¬ entific formula to guide them on how much coin should go into a campaign. It’s all a matter of judg¬ ment based on experience and each picture must be considered on an individual basis. Universal, for example, wouldn’t give much backing to a "Ma and Pa Kettle” entry on Broadway for the known reason that this type of product simply doesn’t sell in the area. On the other hand, a Goth¬ am opening for an "A” picture re¬ quires an expenditure of about $40,000. Thereafter the money fac¬ tor depends on the length of the run, with the longer engagement obviously meaning commensurate- ly more ads. A 10-week run at the Capitol, for instance, would mean nearly $175,000 for the promotion, according to one ad-pub director. UNIVERSAL BROADENS INSURANCE BASE Universal has increased by about 33V6% the amount of life insur¬ ance available to its 3,500 em¬ ployees in the United States under the company’s comprehensive gioup insurance plan which in¬ cludes a medical program. New plan, effective April 1, 1956, will enable employees to subscribe to life insurance in the amount of about twice their annual salaries instead of one and half times as heretofore. . . The cost of the insurance is be¬ ing shared by the company and the employees in the same ratio as present. More than 90% of the company’s employees who are elig¬ ible have elected to participate in the insurance program. They have until April 30 to exercise their option to take the additional in¬ surance. The major medical expense in¬ surance, added to the program in 1952 for employees and their de¬ pendants, is a new form of insur¬ ance devised by Benjamin Lorber, head of the company’s insurance department, and the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. Reels on C'Scope 55 In Demand, Says 20th Lively exhibitor demand for its Cinemascope 55 demonstration reel is reported by 20th-Fox which al¬ ready has shown the reel at a ser¬ ies of nationwide exhib powwows. Spokesman for 20th said that there are 10 reels currently in cir¬ culation, and that current plans didn’t call for additional ones to be made. Wednesday, March 21, 1956 Cite TV in Realty Assessment Plea Keene, N. H., March 20. : A 30% reduction in the realty assessed valuation of two film theatres here has been recommended by Atty. Leonard C. Hard¬ wick of Rochester, master in a tax appeal by D. Latchis, Inc., in a report to Superior Court. Citing the impact of television on exhibition, the report asked a reduction from $124,650 to $105,220 in the appraisal of the Latchis theatre block, and a decrease from $103,730 to $87,733 in the appraisal of the Colonial theatre block, owned by the same company. _ Negro’s ‘Shame & Disgrace’ Action Against Ohio Theatre Deadlocked -,-:-——=- 4 - Confirm Slezak as Dad As forecast here some weeks ago, Walter Slezak, currently starring on Broadway in "Fanny,” will portray his father Leo Sle¬ zak, the great Viennese tenor, in a motion picture to be filmed in Europe in the near future. Slezak will reveal the story at Sardi’s tomorrow (Thurs.). Producers Guild Sponsors A Festival of ‘Classics’; Screen 20 Next Spring Hollywood, March 20. Screen Producers Guild will launch a Classics Festival next spring, screening a total of 20 films selected by the membership as the greatest pictures made in Holly¬ wood between 1913 and 1939. It is hoped that there will be other voting for further Festivals. Scheme grew out of the conten¬ tion by Cecil B. DeMille, in accept¬ ing the SPG Milestone Award this year, that Hollywood "will not come of age until it makes a deter¬ mined effort to keep its own great classics alive and to present them regularly to the public in a man¬ ner worthy of their merit and worthy of the great names who made them.” In keeping with the idea, SPG has promised that the old pix will be shown to their best advantage, including screening them at 60 feet per minute, as they formerly were shown, instead of at 90 feet per minute as is the current practice. Pix selected, in chronological order, were: "The Squaw Man,” 1913; "Birth of a Nation,” 1915; "Intolerance,” 1916; "The Kid,” 1920; "Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse,” 1921; "Ten Com¬ mandments” and "Covered Wag¬ on,” 1923; "The Gold Rush” and "The Big Parade,” 1925; "Ben Hur,” 1926; "All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Anna Chris¬ tie,” 1930; "Public Enemy,” 1931; "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang,” "Grand Hotel” and Fare¬ well to Arms,” 1932; "It Happened One Night,” 1934;-"Mutiny on the Bounty” and "The Informer,” 1935; and "Gone with the Wind,” 1939. ‘ALEX’CHEESECAKE COPY . BUMPED BY DAILY United Artists encountered cen¬ sorship on the newspaper front this week. Two-page ad for "Alex¬ ander the Great” the company had going in 13 key city dailies was ruled unacceptable by the Cleve¬ land Plain Dealer, which objected to art work showing Claire Bloom in a reclining position. Too much bosom and thigh, said the CPD. UA obliged with a retouch job lowering the hem and raising the neckline of Miss Bloom’s gown. As a result, the double truck will run March 30. The actress, ironically, has avoided cheesecake and sex copy in past. Okay Loew’s 4th Ozoner Application by Loew’s Theatres to acquire a 1,250-car drive-in site in Sharpstown, Texas, a sub¬ urb of Houston, was approved yesterday (Tues.) in N. Y. Federal Court by Judge Gregory F. Noonan. Latter signed the order after the Dept, of Justice gave greenlight. There was no opposition from exhibitor quarters. This is fourth outdoorer added by Loew’s since separation from production-distribution company. Others: Evanston; I1L, Jacksonville, Fla. and New' Jersey. Canton^O., March 20. An all-white jury hearing the first of nine suits charging racial discrimination in an Ohio theatre was unable to agree on a verdict. John Kelly, 33, of nearby Waynesburg, was seeking $5,500 damages from Ralph Bevington, owner-manager of the Mohawk Theatre in that village of 1,500. The six-man, six-woman jury de¬ liberated three hours but returned to inform Common Pleas Judge George N. Graham it was hopeless¬ ly deadlocked. Kelly testified at the two-day trial that on Feb. 23, 1955, he seat¬ ed himself in the right section of the theatre and shortly afterward was asked by the usher and Bev¬ ington to move to the left section. When he made neither comment nor motion to move, Bevington called a policeman who offered Kelly a chance to move or leave the theatre. Kelly sought $500 for shame, disgrace and ridicule he claimed resulted from the incident and $5,000 on his contention that he was forcibly deprived of his civil rights. Bevington testified it had been the policy of this theatre for 18 years to limit Negro seating to the left side of the auditorium. On the tickets is printed a notice that the management reserved the right to seat patrons where it pleased, he said. Judge Graham told the jury that the legend on the tickets was not legal and binding. The other eight cases were filed by other Negro men who attended the theatre the same evening as Kelly. SECRETARIES' CONTEST ‘A Miracle Can Happen to You* Pays off In Hollywood Flight ■v Hollywood, March 20. Warners will fly 32 secretaries from 32 cities across the country to Hollywood for a four-day, all-ex- penses-paid prize in connection with its "A Miracle Can Happen to You” contest, ballying release of "Miracle in the Rain,” starring Jane Wyman and Van Johnson. Winners of contest, limited to femme secretaries same character portrayed by Miss Wyman in film, will be selected in their respective towns on April 2, when a soldier will pull winning name out of a drum. Entire group will make a guest appearance on Art Link- letter’s "Houseparty” over CBS- TV April 6. CLEMENS HEADS UA, DALLAS Dallas, March 20. James Clemens has been named branch manager for United Artists branch exchange here. He has been the local sales man¬ ager and replaces Duke Clark who resigned. ,/„/,/.///, J/„; The -Hollvujooo KNICKERBOCKER New York Theatre — RADIO CUT MUSIC HUL—i Rockefeller Center MARIO LANZA in “SERENADE” co-starring JOAN FONTAINI A Warner Mroi. ficfgra . end INC MlltlC MLL't HUT 1MUI«Ni ^