Variety (March 1959)

Wednesday, March 18, 1959 NCTUBES IT Tonight’s Star: ‘Blue Dinnerware’ Minneapolis, March 17. Free dishes not only are making a reappearance in local neigh¬ borhood houses, but the gifts, instead of the screen offerings, are the main attractions, judging by the newspaper ads. The uptown Franklin, for example, devoted almost its entire one-and-a-half inch double column newspaper ad to informing the public about its “Blue Tulip Dinnerware” free to the ladies. The twin bill pictures, “Geisha Boy” and “God Is My Partner” were mentioned in comparatively small type at the bottom of the ad. The “opening” gift was a 10” dinnerware plate. The ad,‘ ad¬ dressed to the “ladies,” declared the set is one “you will be proud to own.” Bureau of Missing Business \ That elusive on-and-off radio campaign to plug the picture busi¬ ness came into the forefront again as four exhibitor members of the executive committee of the mori¬ bund industry business building campaign “reaffirmed their desire” to launch the radio drive early this spring. The exhibitors said that as soon as the Motion Picture Assn, of America matches the $165,000 available from exhibition, the op¬ erating committee should be di¬ rected to launch the radio cam¬ paign. The exhib pitch was con¬ tained in a letter from Ernest G. Stellings. committee co-chairman, to Abe Montague, also a co-chair¬ man and MPAA rep on the com¬ mittee. Stellings said that exhibitors re¬ gretted that funds were unavail¬ able for the full business building campaign originally contemplated, but he noted that theatremen felt that the “radio campaign in itself would be a plus for the industry.” The film companies, operating, via the MPAA, have been disappointed by exhibition’s failure to come up with the necessary coin to embark on a full-fledged business building campaign. Exhibs were able to raise the money involved in the radio portion only after consider¬ able difficulty. Stellings noted that a spring start for the radio drive \yould be most beneficial because of the re¬ opening of drive-ins and the start of the industry’s peak season. Mon¬ tague has indicated that he will relay the exhibitors’ request to the MPAA board, which is expected to consider it at a meeting later this month. Horace Adams.. president of Al¬ lied States Assn.; Sol Schwartz, head of Metropolitan Motion Pic¬ ture Theatres Assn., and Harry Brandt, prez of Independent Thea¬ tre Owners Assn, concurred with Stellings on the necessity of launching the radio campaign. j Downtown Working Girls Nite 1 Minneapolis, March 17. Downtown Working Girls’ Night, last Tuesday (10\ one of a num¬ ber of local promotions designed to keep the loop on the map at a. time when mushrooming outlying shopping centers are trying to steal the spotlight, proved a smashing success. It resulted in booming business for loop theatres and restaurants on an evening that’s usually slow from a patronage standpoint. Ev. Seibel, United Paramount adver¬ tising-publicity head, credited for the theatres’ participation, and Jim Henry of the merchants’ Donwtown Council, sponsoring the promotion, are highly gratified and promise occasional repetition. The “Night” found an estimated 10,000 of the 20,000 loop feminine employes packing the downtown showhouses. restaurants and niter- ies, thus not only luring them away from their television sets, but also keeping and bringing them in fhe loop. There had been 20.0G0 coupons distributed to the gals entitling the holders to admission to the down¬ town showhouses. (excepting “Windjammer”) for 50c, instead of the regular $1 or, in two in¬ stances, $1.25 tap, and also spe¬ cial concessions at restaurants, in¬ cluding at one spot the first high¬ ball for a dime, instead of 75c. Seibel says at the ‘two Para- , mount houses alone, the State and Lyric, more than 5,000 of the cou¬ pons were redeemed and the thea¬ tres enjoyed their biggest Tuesday night within memory, boasting tri¬ ple the recent average grosses for the houses as many males, at reg¬ ular admission, joined the gals. With “Stranger In My Arms” as Its attraction and in its first week, the State at times had a boxoffice line more than a block long and a line continuous from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The Lyric, where “Rally Around the Flag, Boys” at ad¬ vanced $1.25 admission was in its fourth week, also packed ’em in all evening. Excellent business also was reported by the RKO Or- pheum. World, Academy, Gopher and RKO Pan. "We hope these nights will help to re-build the theatregoing habit on the part of those among the young women participants who might have gotten out of it,” says Seibel. “We’re sure we’re starting some of them to go regularly to the downtown- shows and to dine downtown.” “This is in line with the Down- tovvn Council’s drive to get people into the loop and to show people we appreciate their presence downtown,” explains Henry. A previous promotion brought an estimated 67,000 kids down¬ town to attend special free screen shows at the theatres. Seibel in this instance had sold the Down¬ town Council on the idea of buy¬ ing out the showhouses ior nom¬ inal sums and having • the young¬ sters as its guests. This, too, brought an army of parents and other relatives downtown. Other different promotions are in the planning. stage for the months to come. Henry says. 1 Bait For Special Groups _ ) Reade on UA ‘No Review 9 Policy: \Fine If Product Is Boxoffice Draw 9 Mags, Supps Off Continued from page 5 supplement ads. Disney invested $94,285 on “Missouri Traveler” and $22,700 each for “Young Land” and “Light in the Forest.” Universal, once the leader, rates fifth with $112,042 spent in the mags on nine films. It plugged “Twilight of the Gods” $14,642 worth and “Perfect Furlough” for $7,865. Warner Bros, was sixth, advertising II pictures for $108,- 632 im the mags only. It went heaviest for ads on “Marjorie Morningstar” ($27,000) and spent $9,705 on “Too Much Too Soon” and the same on “Indiscreet.”. Columbia Pictures, in seventh place, spent $96,437, of which $59,619 went to the mags and $36,- 318 to the supplements on a total of five pictures. “The Key” took the lion’s share of the ads. “The Image Makers” was plugged $3,- 018 in one of the supplements. Only “Bridge on the River Kwai” ad listed was for The New Yorker Magazine ($510). Fans Orphaned Breaking down, the magazines into their various types, one of the sharpest drops was registered by the fan magazines, which went down to $445,980 in 1958 against $724,935 in 1957. The film com¬ panies also advertised less in the general monthlies which got only $100,820 in motion picture coin in 1958 against close to $234,000 in 1957; The weeklies dropped to $828,569 from $1,226,000 in ’57. Life Magazine, which in that year chalked up $467,430 in film ads, got only $323,000 worth in 1958. On the other hand, where youth magazines were ignored in 1956 and 1957, $9,390 was spent in them during 1958. Women's magazine last year received S296.916 com¬ pared with $527,008 in 1957. Mc¬ Calls Magazine,, which carried film ads worth $177,163 in 1957, went down to $86,000 in 1958. But it’s the' Sunday supple¬ ments which really got* clobbered j and which, in fact, appear to be Minneapolis, March 17. RKO Theatres’ three Twin Cities’ theatres finally have followed the j passing from the scene as a film Minnesota Amusement Co. (United j advertising medium. The leader Paramount) lead in instituting es¬ pecially reduced admissions for junior and senior high school stu¬ dents, 12 through 17 years of age, just as it recently did for oldsters —men and women, 65 and 62 years of age and over, respectively. Identification cards, issued by both circuits, permit the teenagers to buy regular 85c matinee tickets for 65c and $1 night tickets for 85c. If there are upped admissions, there’s also a reduction for the juniors. When, for example, the after-5 p.m. adult price is $1.25 the teenagers are admitted for $1 “Golden Age Club” has flat 50e admission for nearly all pictures, including most of the $1.25 and $1.50 advanced price attractions. Deemed a big success ever since its establishment several years ago. RKO Theatres also is providing free evening parking for patrons, started downtown in both twin towns, by independent Ted Mann. MAC offers it only in St. Paul. among the three main supple¬ ments—This Week, Parade and American Weekly—is still This Week, which garnered $73,500 in film advertising last year. How¬ ever, in 1957, it got $155,240. That’s a far cry from a year like 1952. when the supplements took in $800,000 in film ads, and the combined magazine and supple¬ ment total ran to $4,425,000. ‘Jazz Singer* Dating St. Paul, March' 17. The local “fine arts” neighbor¬ hood Grandview is going to town with the resurrected “original first talkie”—“The Jazz Singer.” House used extra large newspa¬ per advertising space to publicize the picture which also received tion. So, Carolina Downbeat Columbia, S. C., March 17. Film theaters are shuttering fast in South Carolina, Nearly . half of the houses operating in 1954 have shuttered. Tax Com¬ mission figures show. .The state had 357 theaters showing films in 1955, while only 185 are in business now. The decline is shown in this breakdown by years: 1954 .357 1955 ......326 1956 . 284 1957 ..268 1958 .234 1959 ..185 view’ policy is fine as long as the ran 01 lOling Blooding distributor has good product. That's ‘fidget’ Into 187 Keys; rt of ‘Young Bloodi By Columbia Pictures “Gidget,” picture devised by Co¬ lumbia for introduction of new faces, has been booked in 187 key city theatres for the Easter season. Sales v.p. Rube Jackter indicated that the company was heartened by the exhibitor reception, especially since “Gidget” is first of a number of films planned by Col for young and comparatively unknown per¬ formers. The sales chief credited trade ads and news stories with playing a major role in lining up the “Gidget” dates for the Easter period. DRIVE-IN EMBEZZLEMENT Manager Joe Bresnahan Pleads Nolo Contendre Hartford, March 17. Details of a $15,000 embezzle¬ ment at the Meadov;s Drive-In Theatre here were disclosed in Su¬ perior Court last Wednesday (10) by Assistant State’s Atty. John D. Labelle. Background of the swindle of the Smith Management Co., of Exhibitors showed more than usual skepticism last week In re¬ acting to United Artists’ new “no adjustments” policy statement. Theatremen said that, if UA actual¬ ly sticks to the idea, they’d eventu¬ ally just have to skip booking UA product. William J. Heineman, UA v.p. In charge of distribution, has indi¬ cated that, starting with the Mari¬ lyn Monroe “Some Like It Hot,” he’d no longer review terms once the contract has been negotiated. Heineman feels that exhibitors, by asking for and getting adjustments on terms for pictures that have disappointed at the boxoffice, aren’t properly sharing the risk. The theatres, who’ve long com¬ plained anyway that rental terms are too high on all films, don’t see it that way. Said Walter Reade of the Reade circuit: “That ‘no re- been proven before. It’ll never work when the pictures don’t per¬ form.” Other exhibitors were less mod¬ erate in their comments. In fact, the story goes that UA already has lost some dates for “Some Like It Hot,” which shapes as a big hit, on account of its “rigid” sales tack. "Heineman is too smart a sales¬ man to insist on a thing like, that,” said one exhib. "If he does, it’ll hurt him more in the long run than it’ll hurt us. After all, he’s got to play his pictures some¬ where. Why on earth should we pay top terms for a film that’s sold as a blockbuster and turns out to be weak fare. We’re not in busi¬ ness to support the distributors re¬ gardless of what they give us. It’s the boxoffice that must be the final arbiter.” Hollywood, March 17. Debbie Reynolds with Dean Mar- i tin and Tony Curtis in Columbia Former manager Joseph Bresna¬ han pleaded nolo contendre (no contest) to two charges of em¬ bezzlement by agent and one count of obtaining money by false pre¬ tenses. The two former femme cashiers, Doris Cormier and Priscilla Durr gan pleaded guilty to charges of ac¬ cessory to embezzlement. Sentenc¬ ing of the trio has been set for this Friday (20) by Judge Charles S. House. Jurist is awaiting a pro¬ bation report. Owners of the drive-in became alerted to activities of the trio when receipts showed a drop. To test suspicion, management last Oct. 10 sent four adults into the theatre in one car. On duty at the ticket booth a the entrance were j Miss Durgan and Bresnahan’s wife. , - • . I The driver of the car asked for plenty of gratis newspaper atten- j f our tickets and paid for them at the rate of 80c for each. Accord- Boston. Ozoner came°to light as'the ! f. k:tllre . s ’ of ,„, Nor “ a “ theatres former manager and two T iL a j embezzlement eh" 0n GeSge X-S “y embezzlement charges. ! Sidney . . .Milton Sperling cast “Singer” also has been booked into the Minneapolis neighborhood “fine arts” Campus. ing to police reports. Miss Durgan punched only two tickets at the register and waved the car inside. tyauad&i off QofuyUflU: Manila JHutken X ' Vienna, March 16. Little as the fact is known; or appreciated, or mentioned along Manhattan’s Tin Pan Alley, the pioneer in the protection of in¬ tellectual property and musical composition was that Catholic monk who founded Protestantism' —Martin Luther. - Nuremberg may be said to be the city which cradled the strange profession-industry of song pub¬ lishing and it was there that Luth¬ er lobbied for standard legisla¬ tion-governing music ownership and control,: the seed of copyright. Such a law was enacted’ in 1550, four years, after the theologican’s demise. The Luther-inspired statute was enforced for 100 years and pro¬ vided heavy fines, for that time —minimum, one florin—for each illicit printed sheet of music. It was to take nearly 400 years be- By EMIL W. MAASS fore modern legislation was again as protective of composer or lyri¬ cist! With the spread of Protesant- ism. great singers of hymns, the mar ket for sheet music expanded and pirates were not far behind. Interestingly the complaint of Martin Luther in 16th century Germany had its echo in the in¬ dignation of Mark Twain before the United States Congress late in the 19th century. Possibly the most ruthlessly lifted works of all time, however, ware the comic op¬ eras of Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. In the view of fly-by-night American showmen the English pair were philanthro¬ pists. Suffice that for a long time Gilbert & Sullivan passed into the uncompensated public domain when their words and music passed Staten Island. The following historic data es¬ tablishes clearly how venerable and intricate is the history of “protection.” The first printing trade privilege for music was apparently given in 1498 to‘ an inventor of movable types for such purpose. Ottaviano Petrucci da Fossombrone in Ven¬ ice by the Doge personally. The output was mainly for flute and pipe, organs. After 20 years the license expired, and Fossombrone did not renew it Since there is no record hinting that he retired on a ritillion-dollar polazzio, it’s presumed he shared the fate of many a subsequent publisher. Approximately at the same time, 1490, music Was being printed in Germany. Bamberg, a middle-sized city, is believed to have been the first when the local Bishop grant¬ ed permission to print religious compositions. (Continued on page 19) Angle Dickinson as costar with • Richard Burton in “The Bramble Bush,” which Daniel Petri will direct under Sperling’s banner for Warner Bros, release . . . producer Stan Rickman and writer-director Joel Rapp optioned Philip Roih’s Esquire short story, “Expect the Vandals,” for Indie production under $100,000 . . . Columbia Pic¬ tures reoptioned Gia Scala, cur¬ rently in Charles Schneer’s “Battle of the Coral Sea,” for another year. Joanne Woodward with Marlon Brando in Tennessee Williams’ “Orpheus Descending,” upcoming Martin Jurow-Richard Shepherd production for United Artists re¬ lease . . . Bryan Foy’s “Girls Re¬ form School” for Columbia Pic¬ tures release retitled “Riot!” fol¬ lowing Metro protest over its own “Girls Tow’n” . . . 20th-Fox, which filmed Hemingway’s “The Snow’s of Kilimanjaro” in 1952, protested "Warwick’s registration of “Am¬ bush at Kilimanjaro” . . . Jan Sterling set late summer starting date for her indie feature, “The Walls Came Tumbling Down,” to be produced under husband Paul Douglas’ Senalda banner and star¬ ring herself and Peggy Cass . . . Mary Treen goes into Hal WaPis’ “Career,” starring Dean Martin, Anthony Franciosa and Shirley MacLaine. Alfred Hitchcock cast Audrey Hepburn fo*- Paramount produc¬ tion. “No Bail for the Judge,” skedded to roll this summed . . . Associated Producers Inc. bought “Red Dragon, White Tigress.” original screenplay by James Clavell, who wrote “The Fly,” for outfit’s 20th-Fox program . . . Cesare Danova draws white hunter role in Metro’s “Tarzan. the Aoe Man," in which Dennis Miller will enact titie role and Joanna Barnes, part o* Jane . . . Nan Leslie with Rex Reason in Associated Pro¬ ducers’ “Miracle of the HiPs,” in which Jane Vincent also cast . . . John P»vue bought Alfred Besler novel, “The Demolished Man,” for Indie. production under his own banner next year. Diane Couture has been ap¬ pointed assistant manager of the Trans-Lux Krim Theatre, Detroit, up from cashier. Manager of the theatre is Eric H. Rose.