Boxoffice-November.24.1951

Audience Expanding
For Adult Pictures
MIAMI—Considerable interest is reported
locally in Filippo Del Giudice's efforts to establish
a southern Florida film producing
industry. His two-room hotel suite is a
veritable museum of motion picture mementoes,
including a photo of the Oscar awarded
Laurence Oliver but turned over to • Del
Giudice for his work on "Hamlet" and
"Henry V."
EMPHASIZE GOOD WILL
The producer was currently in New York
on business in connection with a $250,000 suit
pending against Italian distributors who
failed to deliver certain pictiu-es to him last
winter.
Del Giudice, who departs from formula in
making pictures, was described in the London
Mirror as being "laughed at" when he
broached the subject of"Henry V" as film
material. Vindication of his idea, however,
has been supported by other successes such
as "The River," filmed in India by Ken Mc-
Eldowney who made it contrary to "commercial"
standard.
George Bourke local columnist, pointed out
that this occurred about the time the newly
formed Council of Motion Picture Organizations
was announcing that Hollywood should
stick to "Ma and Pa Kettle" epics and
westerns "because they paid off best at the
boxoffice."
This season, besides "The River," "A
Streetcar Named Desire," "A Place in the
Sun" and the French "Le Ronde" are all
boxoffice successes, and none has the Hollywood
formula. This bears out the McEldowney
contention that up to now the public
has not had much choice but now "the pictures
that are doing the best business are
these adult films . . . Everyone has underestimated
the mentality of film audiences."
Del Giudice, says that the reason for any
crisis which the motion picture may be facing
is not completely television, but the failure
of the producers to realize that the norm of
intelligence of the American people has been
changing during the last 20 years.
CLEANLINESS AND COURTESY
He grants that pictures still must be made
for the public which wants "Ma and Pa
Kettle," but insists
that the increasing number
of filmgoers who want adult pictures
also must be served if motion pictures are
to maintain the hold they have as the
civilized world's No. 1 entertainment and inspirational
medium.
The success of realistic films, such as
"Champion," "The Search," "In Which We
Serve," and examples of classicism such as
"Hamlet," "Great Expectations" and "Cyrano"
indicate definitely that there is a market for
films "which people can believe," as Del
Giudice puts it.
H. N. Hall Shifts to Drive-In
LAKE WORTH, FLA.—Harold N. Hall,
owner of the Boulevard Drive-In, has appointed
Malcolm Estes manager. Estes came
to West Palm Beach in 1933 with Florida
State, managing the Arcade, Paramount and
Palace theatres at various times. In 1945 he
came here to Lake Worth to manage the Lake
and Worth theatres.
John Alsop, Film Pioneer, Relates
Requirements for
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — John T.
ALsop.
who has been active in the motion picture
business since its birth over 50 years ago, who
has seen radio born and develop Into a great
industry and now is witnessing the growth
of another screen competitor, television, offers
the following guides to success in theatre
operation:
1. Show good pictures, which he thinks
should also include inspirational, educational
and instructional type of films,
which also must be entertaining, he says.
2. Maintain a clean, comfortable theatre
adequately ventilated, operated by a
staff that is unvaryingly courteous.
3. Keep harmony among members of
the staff, and harmony between the
management and the public.
4. Managers should take an active part
in the civic, religious and business life of
their communities.
SUING ITALIAN DISTRIBUTORS
"The importance of managers being on
friendly terms with all city, county and state
officials cannot be stressed too strongly,"
Alsop says, "as they can be of inestimable
value to the industry many times. Goodwill
and harmony between the theatres and the
public, as well as with public officials, should
be emphasized since without it you have
nothing."
Alsop feels that some managers are prone
to book too many cheap pictures which do
not make as much money as the better ones,
and that theatres should show more inspirational,
educational and instructional pictures,
which should also, of course, be entertaining.
Just as harmony is necessary between the
theatre and the public, so it is necessary
within the theatre. If there is not teamwork
and cooperation in a theatre from the manager
down to the lowliest employe, the theatre
cannot function in a manner which will
encourage the public to attend.
Back in 1898 Alsop opened the Savoy, a
five-cent house, and was secretary and treasurer
of the Grand, which charged ten cents
and was owned by the Montgomery Amusement
Co. of which Frank Montgomery was
president.
MORE SEEKING ADULT FILMS
Alsop felt in those days, just as he does
now, that the necessary requirements of every
successful theatre are cleanliness and
courtesy. And from the very beginning, he
has felt that since the theatre is an important
and necessary institution of a city, the managers
should take an active part in the civic,
religious and business affairs of that city.
He lists these institutions in the order of
their importance as he sees them—the home,
church, school and theatre. This places and
important responsibility on the theatre to
be a factor of service and betterment in its
community, he points out.
"The growth and prosperity of a city are
of great importance to the movie industry,"
says Alsop. Probably no one person has done
more to "practice what he preaches" than
he has. When he opened his Savoy here in
1898, Jacksonville had a population of 25,000.
Today the population of Jacksonville and its
environs is 250,000 and many of the big
Success
industries have been brought as a result of
his leadership, including the naval air station,
several paper pulp mills and cigar factories.
In Alsop's earliest days, Jacksonville was
the Hollywood of the U.S.A. with 12 companies
making pictures here. Many of the
stars active then are still remembered today
—Mary Pickford, Alice Nellson, Carlyle
Blackwell. Charlie Chaplin and the first
glamor girl, or vampire, as they were called
in tho.se days, Theda Bara.
When the theatres first opened there were
only one reel pictures with one .serial a week,
each show lasting only 30 minutes. Gene
Gauntier starred in the first picture ever
made of over one reel, a five-reeler called
"From the Manger to the Cro.ss," which was
made here and in the Holy Land by the
Kalam Co., the directors being Sid Olcott and
Bob Vignola.
One of the first pipe organs ever played
in a film theatre played in the Grand Theatre,
bearing out what Alsop still believes 53
years later—that whenever po.ssible there
should be some live entertainment on the
bill.
With S. A. Lynch, Alsop built the Arcade,
Palace and Florida theatres in Jacksonville,
the Olympia in Miami and the Tampa and
Floridan theatres in Tampa.
Alsop served as mayor of Jacksonville for
18 years and made the first speech ever made
over a radio in the state of Florida.
Northtown Robbed Again
TAMPA. FLA.—Two men loitered
outside
the Northtown Theatre late one night recently
until all customers had been cared
for, then approached the doorman and Mrs.
Jeanne Miller, who was in the cashier's cage.
At the point of a pistol they scooped up the
evening's receipts, approximately S80, and
then escaped. This was the second holdup of
the theatre this year. Last July two gunmen
got away with $900.
Now . . . RCA ready
TO STAKE MORE MILLIONS
Find out how the RCA Modernization
Plan con help you get, right
now, the
equipment you need to
give your house greater patron
appeal and boost boxoffice.
Get full story
Call us . . . today
SOUTHEASTERN
THEATRE EQUIPMENT CO.
CHARLOTTE .. ATLANTA ^
JACKSONVILLE .. NEW ORLEANS
BOXOFFICE :: November 24, 1951 59