Boxoffice-January.07.1950

;
lfCe*t €utd S(^^€*t^
Back to the Country
THE big trek back to the country, both by
theatres and stores, to get away from
parking problems and traffic snarls, is continuing.
The National Suburban Centers
of Boston, backed by a group of financiers.
proposes to build shopping centers throughout
the east and in the middle west.
Its latest project is an $8,000,000 to $12.-
000,000 project in Westchester county. New
York, which will cover 75 acres between the
Sawmill River Parkway and the Taconic
State Parkway at Hawthorne Circle.
Because these shopping centers are attracting
theatres, both closed and drive-ins,
it may be of interest to would-be drive-in
operators to know some of the formulas
used by the Boston group.
Krst, the backers want to be near express
highways and a drawing population
of 1,000,000 within a radius of ten miles.
According to Huston Rawls, president of
National Suburban Centers, surveys show
90 i>er cent of housewives are willing to
drive 30 minutes to reach a place where
they can have varied shopping facilities.
Suburban populations will continue to be
an increasing segment of the population.
Rawls says.
What he says fits in with obvious tendencies
in the three states of southern New
England, and also New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Maryland, North and South Carolina
where drive-ins are mushrooming.
Tax Maneuvers
yjJHEN the U.S. Conference of Mayors
advised its members last week to start
pressure on individual members of Congress
for cuts in the admission taxes it
joined an ever-growing army of tax opponents,
but not for the purpose of cutting
taxpayers' expenses and stimulating business.
The mayors want the federal government
to get out of the excise tax field so
they can take it over.
Almost at the same time that the mayors
were letting their latest move become
known Abram F. Myers, chairman of the
COMPO legislative and tax committee, issued
a statement that the outlook for favorable
action was good, but that there
were so many unpredictable factors that
nobody in this industry should relax.
The house ways and means committee
will be the central target when hearings on
new taxation begin. That is where tax
measures originate. If the committee favors
a reduction, the prospects of getting
it through both branches of Congress will
be really bright.
Business Booms
ytZHAT with "Samson and DelUah" at the
Paramount and Rivoli, the Christmas
show at the Music Hall and "Prince of
Foxes" at the Roxy business boomed just
before Christmas on Manhattan and continued
to roll upwards the following week.
All the schools were closed and it was
difficult to get through Rockefeller Plaza
without losing a coat button or getting
-By JAMES M. JERAULD
pushed around. The lines completely surrounded
the Music Hall and those around
the Roxy went east as far as Sixth Avenue
where they were across the street from the
beginning of the Music Hall line. Some
waited nearly three hours. At the Rivoli
and Paramount there were more long lines.
Even if the other houses had had weak attractions
they would have benefited, because
tired parents and their offspring had
to go some place to sit down.
It was remarkable—like the wartime
days.
Local Newsreels
pROM time to time the national newsreels
have included subjects of regional
importance designed for showing only in
certain areas. Also, many individual theatres
have made up 16mm subjects of
purely local interest and the regular projectionists
have run them off. These have
been increasing in number and have been
found to be boxoffice stimulants.
Now. for the first time, a company has
been organized on a statewide basis to
furnish this material. It is in Califor!iia
and is called Town and Country Topic
Productions. It claims to have more than
80 theatres signed up, although it also will
furnish service for television and commercial
use.
This experiment undoubtedly will be
watched closely, because scattered television
stations are using this type of film material
and it has been found to be competition.
Local exhibitors may want to meet
this threat by using their own coverage,
if a way can be found to do it without
jumping the overhead.
History Repeats
TT WAS the finding of a baby girl in the
Sheridan Theatre, Pittsburgh, Oct. 24,
1928, that caused the founding of the first
Variety Club by a group of showmen. They
adopted the girl, named her Catherine Variety
Sheridan. She is now grown up and
married. Her distracted mother was made
happy and the imagination of sympathetic
people the world over was captured.
Christmas night, 1949, history was repeated.
A six-pound boy was found in the
powder room of the Strand Theatre, Holyoke,
Mass. Samuel Goldstein, president of
Western Massachusetts Theatres, Inc.,
immediately sent a check for $50 to the
Holyoke Transcript-Telegram with the hope
that a fund would be started to take care
of the child.
New England already has a Variety Club
with headquarters at Boston. Another act
of compassion like that in Pittsburgh could
be a great thing for Variety and for this
business.
'King's Men' Is Honored
NEW YORK — The February issue of
Esquire magazine, on the stands January 6,
named "All the King's Men" (Col> "the man's
movie of the month."
Chairmen Are Named
For NCCJ Campaign
NEW YORK—Forty-five industry leaders
will serve as company coordinators and exchange
area distribution chairmen during
the campaign of the National Conference of
Christians and Jews—February 18-28. A. W.
Schwalberg, vice-president in charge of distribution
for Paramount, is national distributor
chairman.
The company coordinators are:
Lou Brager, Film Classics; Harry Buckley,
United Artists; Mike Dolid, Warner Bros.;
Pete Friedhoff, Monogram; William Gehring,
20th Century -Fox; Al Grubstick, Screen
Guild; George Josephs, Columbia; Al O'Keefe,
Universal; H. M. Richey, Loew's, Inc.; Burton
Robbins, National Screen Service; A. E.
Schiller, Republic ; Jack Schlaifer, Eagle Lion
A. A. Schubart, RKO, and C. J. Scollard,
Paramount.
The exchange area distribution chairmen
are: Paramount—Jess McBride, Milwaukee;
John Moore, Boston: Heywood Simmons,
Dallas; Ulrik Smith. Philadelphia; 20th Century-Fox—Charles
F. Powers, Portland; I. J.
Schmertz, Cleveland; J. E. Scott, Omaha; Ben
Simon, New Haven; Loew's—Albert L. Adler,
Kansas City; Herbert Bennin, St. Louis; Poster
B. Gauker, Indianapolis; Saal Gottlieb,
Pittsburgh; RKO—Jack Chinell, Buffalo; Joe
Emerson, Denver; Sam Gorelick, Chicago; Joe
Smith, San Francisco; Warner Bros.—James
Abrose, Cincinnati; Art Anderson, Minneapolis;
Fred Greenberg, Los Angeles; Don
Woods, Detroit; Columbia—Clarke Baker,
Des Moines; Herman Chrisman, Memphis;
Duke Duvall, New Orleans; Dewey Gibbs,
Oklahoma City; Universal—J. W. Greenleaf,
Charlotte; E. Vogel, Albany; United Artists
—John Bachman, Atlanta; Carroll Trowbridge,
Salt Lake City; Eagle Lion—Wallace
Rucker, Seattle; Fred Rohrs. Washington;
Republic—William P. Murphy, New York City.
TOA Names 18 Area Heads
For Brotherhood Week
NEW YORK—Eighteen TOA members have
accepted appointment as exchange area cochairmen
for the Brotherhood week campaign
to be held February 17-25, Gael Sullivan,
national exhibitor co-chairman, has reported
to Ted R. Gamble, national chairman of the
motion picture division.
TOA exhibitor co-chairmen, who will serve
in each exchange area with an Allied and
distributor co-chairman, are:
Saul J. Ullman, Albany; Louis M. Gordon,
Boston; James Eshelman, Buffalo; John Balaban,
Chicago; Jack R. Keegan, Cinciimati;
Julius Gordon, Dallas; Earl Hudson, Detroit;
Ken Collins, Indianapolis; Dale Danielson,
Kansas City; Harry Viimicof, Los Angeles;
M. A. Lightman jr., Memphis; Harry French,
Minneapolis; N. L. Carter, New Orleans;
Morris Loewenstein, Oklahoma City; Robert
R. Livingston, Omaha; Roy Cooper, San Francisco;
Frank L. Newman, Seattle, and Frank
Boucher, Washington, D. C.
MGM Shifts Tradeshows
NEW YORK—MGM has set tradesbowings
for foiu' new pictures and has canceled
one previously set for January 19— "Shadow
on the Wall." The four new pictures and
dates are: "Black Hand," January 18; "Nancy
Goes to Rio," January 31; "Key to the City,"
February 2, and "Conspirator," February 6.
14 BOXOFFICE :: January 7, 1950