Boxoffice-July.01/1950

EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY
ABOUT
PICTURES
Just as the Barometer page shows first run reports on current pictures, this
department is devoted for the most part to reports on subsequeiit runs, made
by exhibitors themselves. A one-star contributor is new, two stars means the
exhibitor has been roriting in for six months or longer, and a three-star contributor
is a regular of one year or more. All exhibitors welcome. Blue Ribbon
pictures are marked thus O.
COLUMBIA
UAH the King's Men cCoD—Bioderick
Crawford. Joanne Dru, John Ireland. This
turned out to be my biggest flopperoo in ten
weeks. The Sunday gross was so low I barely
made film rental but the Monday gross was
average. What went wrong, I don't know. In
my estimation it is a wonderful picture that
holds one's interest all the way through. The
farmers are still busy, which may account
for the low gross. Weather: Fair.—Fred G.
Weppler, Colonial Theatre, Colfax, 111. Small
town and rural patronage.
• • •
Miss Grant Takes Richmond (Col)—Lucille
Ball, William Holden, Janis Carter. Maybe
she took Richmond, but even on bank night
here she didn't take the people in to the
boxoffice. Of course bank night was down but
Columbia said Miss Grant would pull. How
wrong they were! Played Tues., Wed.
/. N. Allison Calls For
New Selling Angles
T S. Allison of the Vivian Theatre at
Carlisle, Ind., had a few things to get
off his chest, which are aired here:
"MOMES ARE BETTER THAN EVER
—a good slogan, but what can the small
town do about promoting these better
movies? The pressbook is out 99 per
cent of the time as far as we are concerned.
I did a little extra advertising on
'Johnny Holiday' and 'Blue Grass of
Kentucky' which paid off. 'Challenge to
Lassie' and 'That Midnight Kiss' both
got lots of panning until I almost hated
to play them. However, I worked on
both, used Red Heart Dog Food cards
and had two good average days with
Lassie. On the other, I worked with school
and music teachers here, played one day
and had good results and good audience
reaction.
"The trouble is with us small fellows,
though, that we can't work all of them
because of the short runs, yet if we could
get folks in, they would enjoy a lot of
films that flop. MOVIES ARE BETTER
THAN EVER—with so Uttle to work on.
Maybe an exhibitor will pan a picture
because he can't get the public in, whereas
a full house would make that same
picture A-1. The old boxoffice is still our
best barometer.
"The small town exhibitor has a problem
all his own. He needs different advertising
angles. Mats are little help.
He needs some inexpensive specialties.
I use window cards, calendars and heralds
and the local newspaper, which is of
little value. I would like to see an oldfashioned
pressbook when tire covers
were in style, bookmarks, door hangers
and what not ... I can't sell costumers,
mysteries, gangsters, or grand opera. My
patrons seem to want simple stories, comedies,
and last but not least, horses, dogs
— plain, fancy or ordinary. We small
town exhibitors need cheap ideas and help
from the big brothers to sell these movies
that are better than ever!"
Weather: Fair.—M. W. Long, Lans Theatre,
Lansing, Iowa. Small town and rural patronage.
•
Mule Train (Col)—Gene Autry, Pat Buttram.
Sheila Ryan. Autry still is good medicine
for us at the boxoffice, thank goodness!
Played Fri. Sat. Weather: Warm.—Harland
Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ont. Small
town patronage. • • *
EAGLE LION
Hit the Ice (EL)—Reissue. Bud Abbott, Lou
Costello, Ginny Simms. Bud and Lou in this
reissue still drag them in with the same old
routine. At many places in the film I could
hear them laughing a half block from the
theatre. When patrons laugh that hard, then
they are being entertained! And naturally
you don't have to ask them if they liked the
show. They did! Doubled with "Ride, Ryder,
Ride" (EL). Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Clear
and hot.—Jim Dunbar, Roxy Theatre, Wichita,
Kas. Subsequent downtown run patronage.
• • *
FILM CLASSICS
California Straight Ahead (FC)—Reissue.
John Wayne, Louise Latimer. This is the
second John Wayne reissue I've played from
Film Classics and both have proven to be just
what my audience wanted: action, comedy,
romance and John Wayne. Business was
average. Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Cool.
Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W.
Va. Rural patronage. * * *
Unknown Island, The (PC)—Virginia Grey,
Philip Reed, Richard Denning. This picture
has possibilities dealing with shipwrecked
persons on an island where there are prehistoric
monsters. We played it up but the
Lions Club carnival was tough on us. Played
Fri., Sat. Weather: Warm.—Harland Rankin,
Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ont. Small town
patronage. • * *
LIPPERT PRODUCTIONS
Hollywood Varieties (LP)—Robert Alda,
Hoosier Hotshots. This is a nice program picture
to use for double billing. Played Fri., Sat.
Weather: Warm.—Harland Rankin, Plaza
Theatre, Tilbury, Ont. Small town patronage.
• • *
Hollywood Varieties (LP)—Hoosier Hotshots,
Robert Alda. This is strictly vaudeville
and a fine piece of just that. However, I
would hate to recommend this for any particular
house, as the individual situation can
best decide this one's fate. Personally, I liked
it immensely, but of course I love good vaudeville
and this has many outstanding acts.
Played Wed., Thurs. Weather: Clear and 95
degrees.—Jim Dunbar, Roxy Theatre, Wichita,
Kas. Downtown subsequent run patronage.
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
y Adam's Rib (MGM) — Spencer Tracy,
Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday. This is
not the picture Metro tries to make you believe
it is. It was well liked by those who
came but we did not do the business we had
Good to Bring Back
For Weekend Date
ALBUQUERQUE (Para) — Randolph
Scott, Barbara Britton, Catherine Craig.
We had a money-maker with this combination
of Randolph Scott, a swell
trailer, and Cinecolor that did not peel
off in the soundhead. For action houses
that may have played this on Sunday
when it first came out, it would be good
brought back on a Fri., Sat. playdate now.
Played it here on those days. Weather:
Fair.—L. I>. Montgomery, Don Theatre,
Lovclady, Tex. Small town and rural patronage.
* *
expected. We will class it as ju.st good entertainment.
Played Sun., Mon. Weather: Fair.
—R. V. Rule, Alco Theatre, Harrisville, Mich.
Small town and resort patronage. • • *
Ambush (MGM)—Robert Taylor, John
Hodiak, Don Taylor. If this had been in Technicolor,
it would have been the top western
of the year, in my estimation. This has everything
that a poor exhibitor wants and needs.
The star value of the picture helped but then
MGM is never stingy with their stars. We
had many comments from patrons that it
was the best western they had ever seen.
The opening of the film is unusual. If you
haven't played it, don't think your sound has
failed you on the beginning of the picture
it's for effect. Average gross with this. Played
Sun,, Mon. Weather: Fair.—Fred G. Weppler,
Colonial Theatre, Colfax, 111. Small town and
rural patronage. * * *
Bad Bascomb (MGM)—Wallace Beery,
Margaret O'Brien, Marjorie Main. Warning!
If you can pass this one up, do it and let
bygones be bygones. In other words, it brought
us no business. Played Wed., Thurs. Weather:
Warm.—Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury,
Ont. Small town patronage. • • *
Border Incident (MGM)—Ricardo Montalban,
George Murphy. Howard DaSilva. The
men will like it but it Is nearly too brutal for
the women. However, if you can get them in,
they'll stay on the edges of the seats until
the last scene! Some complained of the brutality
but it was so interesting, no one walked
out. Played Tues., Wed.—Jim Mote. Friend-
Small town and
ship Theatre, Sterling, Okla.
rural patronage. * * *
Doctor and the Girl, "The (MGM)—Glenn
Ford, Charles Cobum, Gloria DeHaven. This,
we thought, was a grand evening's entertainment
but it didn't mean a thing at our boxoffice.
I'm sure if you can get them in you'll
have favorable remarks. Our second night
couldn't stand up against Bingo. Played Wed.,
Thurs. Weather: Warm.—Harland Rankin,
Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ont. Small town patronage.
• • * •
Intruder in the Dust (MGM)—David Brian,
Claude Jarman jr., Juano Hernandez. This is
an interesting story. It won't merit your best
playing time but should do okay midweek or
weekend. The Puerto Rican is good and this
helped to bring us out of the red—caused by
a musical preceding it. Played Tues.. Wed.
Weather: Fair.—Jim Mote, Friendship Theatre,
Sterling, Okla. Small town and rural
patronage. * * *
Malaya (MGM) — Spencer Tracy, James
Stewart, Valentina Cortese. This is a fair
story with plenty of stars and it is well acted,
but a picture that nobody wanted to see. We
lost money on this one. Played Tues., Wed.,
Thurs. Weather: Good.—R. V. Rule. Alco
BOXOFFICE BookinGuide July 1. 1950