Boxoffice-May.03.1952

In the Newsreels
Movietone News, No. 35: Newsreels film atom
bomb drop in Nevada desert; New Jersey and Michigan
jail nots ended, hostages freed; oquo champs
show skills ond spills in Florida tourney.
News of the Doy, No. 269: Spectacular test of
newest atom bomb, Hornman in Presidential race;
fire razes Japanese city; Snorkel trucks for army;
surprise from Holland; championship oquo thriller.
Paromount News, No. 72: Woter ski wizardry;
peace on prison front; historic maneuvers— biggest
U.S. otomic explosion.
Universol News, No. 555: Atom bomb; underwater
truck; prison riots in New Jersey; aquatic acrobats,
Warner Pothe News, No. 74: Biggest U.S. atom
blast; Michigan and New Jersey prison riots end;
Japan— fire rozes 5,000 homes; Cypress Gardens, Flo.
— Dixie water ski tourney.
Movietone News, No. 36: War with Jopan ended,
peace treaty in effect; Ridgway succeeds Ike m
Europe, C'ark to Japan; 5,000 Reds invade West
Berlin; $5,000,000 fire in Vancouver; Bre'r rabbit gets
glorified in new California furs; Penn relays; water
skis set 135-mile ski mark.
News of the Day, No 270: Officiol end of war with
Japan; Vancouver's worst fire; Reds riot in Berlin;
birthday parade for Elizabeth; Forget-Me-Not-Cerebral
Palsy poster children; Penn relays.
Paromount News, No. 73: Olympic gymnastics; Penn
relays; Queen Eltrobeth's birthday; cerebral palsy
drive opens; Japan begins new era of freedom; Ridgway,
Clark get new assignments.
Universal News, No. 556: Japan free; cerebral
palsy; labor strike in Japon; loyalty parade in New
York; Miss India; Vancouver fire; bear facts.
Worner Pothe News, No. 75: Japan regains independence;
Atlanta—rally booms Russell for president;
Aberdeen proving grounds— air force tests its own
planes under fire; French Morocco— France trains jet
pilots in Morocco; Washington— Mrs. Truman meets
cerebral palsy poster kids; New York— new wrinkle
no wrinkle magic fabric; 135 miles on water skis;
Luxembourg exclusive— Ike in Luxembourg on final
tour.
Telenews Digest, No. 17B: Nevada atom blast; riots
rip prisons; Japan— 1,000,000 strike; Italy—how to
walk o wall.
Telenews Digest, No. 18A: Ridgway succeeds Ike;
Washington — newest U.S. sub; Japan— fire levels
community; Germany—congressional committee probes
the Katyn mossacre; Greece—CARE distributes the
100,000th package for this war-torn country; England—
81 notions honor Shakespeare; tennis—Sedgmon
beats Drobny.
Odeon Courtesy Awards
Greeted Warmly by Press
TORONTO—Public reaction to the Odeon
Theatres, Ltd.. announcement of plans to
distribute courtesy awards to employes has
been widespread both in newspapers and from
individuals.
The announcement was released individually
by managers across the Dominion and
newspapers gave it considerable space. David
Griesdorf, Odeon general manager, says a
remarkable number of clippings has been received.
"The plan is being accepted with enthusiasm
by the press and by our staffs," he
states.
The award plan enables theatre staffs to
earn silver and gold stars for consistent display
of courtesy to the public. The receipients
are chosen on recommendation of theatre
managers and supervisory personnel.
The silver star is worn on the employe's
uniform. In addition, each winner receives an
engraved certificate.
Griesdorf predicts greatly improved service
to the public and he also expresses the
opinion that the awards will impress on
employes the value of the service they render.
TV to Get 28 Traveltalks
NEW YORK—James A. FitzPatrick has
released a series of 26 of his older travel
films to Sterling Television Co. for use on
the air, according to Saul J. Turrell, president
of Sterling.
CAREFUL ALLOCATION OF PLAYING TIME PAYS
Planned, Off-Beat Booking
Dps the Take in Detroit
DETROIT—Careful allocation of playing
time to secure maximum returns from a picture
is paying off currently in a way that
proves intelligent planning, plus a rea.sonable
dose of standard showmanship, can still
draw busine.ss, according to the experience
of RKO with "Kon-Tiki" in the Detroit metropolitan
area. Saturation booking is being
achieved in effect, but it is being done the
hard way. and over a period of time.
The result is that "Kon-Tiki" is outgro.ssing
anything the exchange has had here in
about two years. The idea was conceived
and is being clcsely nourished through the
sequence of runs by Murray Devaney, branch
manager, who is seeing his brain-child really
bring in what is a series of surprising grosses
to date for a picture of this special caliber.
Breaking away entirely from the traditional
pattern of runs as Detroit has known them
on practically every successful picture for
many years, Devaney is breaking "Kon-Tiki"
in a series of waves of bookings. Typical
Detroit booking pattern is a first run, followed
by half a dozen second runs a month
or more later, and then around 20 each of
key, subkey, and fifth runs, each group playing
day and date, and one group right after
the other. This is largely defended on the
ground that it enables the subsequent runs
to get faster bookings and take advantage
of national or other exploitation of the picture
while it is still fresh.
Instead of this fairly rigid pattern of bookings,
"Kon-Tiki" started out with a first run
'Movie Dog' in
a Bow;
Films Plus Hamburgers
PHOENIX. ARIZ.—A roofless motion
picture theatre was opened here April 18
by Bill Sale and Bill Coscarelli, partners
in the unique venture. The grand opening
of the Movie Dog. as it will be known,
was held in the location at 5644 S. Central.
The entertainment project is a
combination drive-in and drive-inn.
The drive-inn, which is the fi'ont part
of the establishment, features hot dogs,
hamburgers and other light foods, with a
patio for those who wish to get out of
their cars to eat. The drive-in, at the
rear, is a departure in theatres—an outdoor
affair with no roof, where patrons
sit on wooden benches to watch motion
pictures.
Sale, who is a former manager of the
Palms Theatre here, said the roofless
theatre will seat about 600. It is equipped
with a standard 24-foot screen with builtin
speaker. Representing an investment
of about $20,000, the Movie Dog was built
on what was until recently a vacant lot,
Coscarelli, the other partner, who handles
the restaurant end, is the former
operator of Bill's Drive-Inn.
at the ."jOO-.seat Cinema, the normal downtown
art film house for special pictures, and
precedent wa.s broken from the start, since
it is unusual for a Cinema booking to move
Into other hou.ses in the Detroit area, except
perhaps the few houses that have experimented
with an art film policy in the past
three years, or a very occasional spot booking.
"Kon Tiki" next moved into the new cooperative
group of neighborhood art film
houses, then in its first tentative week—the
Studio. Coronet, and Center, each located In
a widely spaced part of the city. Followin?
this, the film played third run at the Tower,
Tuxedo, and Mack-Uptown—again in scattered
parts of the city; while the fourth run
is set for the Lincoln, 'Warren, Linwood-La-
Salle, and Del-The—four more widely .scattered
houses. It is noteworthy that this last
group is usually in a third rather than first
run cla.ss.
Timing is an essential element of the Devaney
plan—these bookings are not only selected
geographically, so that each house is
many miles away from any other playing the
film, but each wave of booking.s—and there
are only three or four houses allowed to play
the film day and date—is spaced about a
month apart. Instead of crowding bookings
in subsequent runs close together in both
space and time. Devaney is reversing this
usual objective in both dimensions.
The result is successful business, compared
to general current theatre conditions locally,
in some of the best houses in the city, and
a chance to continue the gros.ses of the picture
over an unusual period. Both distributor
and exhibitors appear well satisfied. The
film, having unusual audience appeal, is able
to build up a third and fourth group of patrons
by the very effective cumulative effect
of word-of-mouth publicity. The method
would presumably be less effective with runof-the-mine
product.
RKO is seeking specific playing time on each
run. to make this plan feasible, and is also
interested in a careful planning of the area.
and selection of house for the picture. Realizing
that it is a special-appeal film, smaller
houses—about 1,000 seats—are preferred—
and a standard of operation that includes
no such features as giveaways.
Dacca Buys More U-I
Common and Warrants
NEW YORK—Decca Records. Inc.. owner
of more than 10 per cent of the common stock
of Universal Pictures Co.. bought 1.800 shares
of common stock in March, bringing Its direct
holdings to 271.800 shares, according to
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Decca also bought 5.000 warrants to purchase
common stock, bringing Its direct holdings of
warrants to 37.500.
The Universal annual report for the year
ended Nov. 3. 1951. showed 960.498 shares of
common stock outstanding, and warrants for
the purchase of 218,809 shares of common at
$10 a share on or before April 1, 1956.
BOXOFFICE :: May 3, 1952 23