Boxoffice-March.04.1950

See Record Turnout
At Variety Conclave
DALLAS — Advance registrations for the
Variety Clubs International convention to be
held in New Orleans from April 26-29 indicate
that a new high in attendance will be reached
this year.
Three hundred registrations were received
at Dallas headquarters within three weeks
of the announcement in tradepapers and bulletins
to the 37 tents. A registration fee of
$35 for members and $15 for women was required
from all applications.
N. L. Carter, chairman of the New Orleans
executive committee, has been holding weekly
meetings to coordinate the various activities
and complete the entertainment program.
Maurice Barr heads the barkers planning a
special entertainment feature which is beint;
kept hush-hush, but is expected to surpass
any seen at past conventions.
The allocation of hotel accommodations
has been conducted on a first-come, firstserved
basis. Registrants are assigned to
hotels according to the number of rooms each
hotel has made available to the committee.
A dinner will be held by the Hey-Rube
Club, composed of all past chief barkers. This
group was approved at the convention in
San Francisco last May.
R. J. 0"Donnell, chief barker, and Charles
E. Lewis, convention director, have been
working with Dallas headquarters committee
members and will meet with them in the middle
of the month to finalize all convention
plans.
The business portion of the convention follows
:
April 26—Registration of barkers and delegates
at the Roosevelt hotel. This is the
headquarters where all business sessions will
be held.
April 27—A morning session and luncheon,
and an afternoon session for the election of
international officers. If necessary, another
business session will be scheduled for Saturday
morning.
Previous estimates that between 500 and
600 registrations would be received have now
been revised and it is thought that the number
will come closer to a thousand, with
many industry executives and film stars
swelling the total.
January '50 Grosses Off
4 Per Cent, Says ARI
NEW YORK—Audience Research, Inc., reports
that the weekly average attendance at
film theatres for January 1950 was 64,600,000,
compared with 67,100,000 for January 1949, a
drop of 4 per cent.
The researchers point out that December is
usually the low month of the year. A year
ago the January business was 13 per cent over
December. This year it was 23 per cent above
December.
There are not enough television sets in use
to prove that television is a factor in the
decline, the report states. Some surveys recently
have indicated that television set owners
have cut their theatre attendance an
average of 25 per cent. This means very little,
the research group points out, because there
are only 4,000.000 television sets.
The report predicts, however, that as television
sets increase and programs improve
the inroads in film attendance will increase.
Top Figures Will Speak
At 20th-Fox Forum
NEW YORK— Eric Johnston, Motion Picture
Ass'n of American president; Abram P.
Myers, board chairman and general counsel,
and Trueman Rembusch, president of Allied,
and Sam Pinanski, president of Theatre Owners
of America, will be among an imposing
list of speakers who will address the twoday
merchandising conference to be staged
by 20th Century-Fox at the Drake hotel.
Chicago. March 8, 9.
In addition, Pi-e.sident Spyros P. Skouras,
and Vice-Presidents Al Lichtman, Andy W.
Smith jr. and Charles Einfeld will discuss
various pha.ses of the problem of bringing
customers back into theatres.
EXTENSIVE REPRESENTATION
It will be one of the most inclusive gatherings
of exhibitors ever to assemble in the
history of the industry. Ideas of both distributors
and exhibitors will be exchanged.
Formal addresses will be brief and discussion
of the varied phases of exhibition pertinent
to the purposes of the conference will be invited
from the floor. It is expected that most
of the time during the two-day sessions will
be devoted to this form of opinion exchange.
Among the exhibitors will be every type of
exhibitor—circuit operators and owners of
mdividual houses in large towns and small
towns. Heads of a number of regional exhibitor
organizations will participate and all the
top sales executives of 20th-Fox and division
managers and exchange managers will be
present.
Leading representatives of other distribution
companies also have agreed to attend.
Skouras will deliver an address of welcome
at the opening session. Both Pinanski and
Rembusch also will talk at the first session.
Other talks outlining the purposes of the
Spyros Skouras Eric Johnston
Trueman Rembusch .s.-im i'iiuinski
gathering will be made by Lichtman, Smith
and Einfeld.
Myers, who has been leading the fight for
repeal of the admission tax as chairman of
the COMPO tax and legislation committee,
is expected to bring the gathering up to date
on details of the campaign and to outline
plans for its continuance. He also spoke at
the recent merchandising conference at the
20th-Fox home office.
In addition to Skouras and the company
vice-presidents, the 20th-Fox home office will
be represented by: W. C. Gehring, assistant
general sales manager; Peter Levathes. short
.subject sales manager; Clarence Hill, supervisor
of exchanges; Sam Shain, director of
exhibitor relations; Frank Carroll, assistant
to Smith; Morris Caplan. statistician of the
sales department; Lem Jones, executive assistant
to Smith, and Roger Ferri. editor of
the Dynamo, sales department publication.
OTHER DEPARTMENT HEADS
The company's international department
will be represented by: Emanuel Silverstone,
vice-president and general sales manager;
Francis Harley, vice-president, and Leslie
Whelan, director of advertising and publicity.
H. Blackmer Johnson of the legal department
and Ulric Bell, director of information,
also will be present.
The home office and advertising department
delegation will include: Jonas Rosenfield,
advertising manager; Rodney Bush, exploitation
manager; David Golding, publicity
manager; Stirling Silliphant. in charge of
special promotions; Al Palca. radio manager;
Abe Goodman, assistant to Rosenfield; Vic
Sedlow. art director; Earl Wingart. pressbook
editor, and Ira Tulipan. tradepress contact.
'Bicycle Thief Refused
MPAA Code Seal
NEW YORK—The Motion Picture Ass'n of
America has refused a production code seal
to "The Bicycle Thief." prize-winning Italian
film, according to Joseph Burstyn. president
of Mayer-Burstyn. American distributors of
the picture. In a letter from Jo.seph E. Breen.
MPAA vice-president, denying certificate of
approval, the picture was termed "not acceptable
in its present form" and censorship
of two scenes was specified by the code administration.
Upon notification, Vittoria DeSica. producer-director
of "The Bicycle Thief." refused
by cable from Italy to permit elimination
of the designated scenes. In its present
form, the film has been approved by the
Catholic Legion of Decency and censors In
New York. Pennsylvania and Ohio and was
voted the best foreign picture of the year
by the New York Film Critics and the best
picture of 1949. domestic or foreign, by the
National Board of Review.
Burstyn .said he was discussing with his
lawyers the po.ssibility of appealing the
MPAA decision. Two previous Mayer-Burstyn
Italian relea.ses, "Paisan" and "Open
City." received MPAA seals after certain
eliminations were made.
COXOFFICE :: March 4, 1950 15