Boxoffice-January.03.1953

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B.C. Salamis Decorated
By King of Greece
OTTAWA—At a ceremony in the Greek
embassy here, Raoul Bibica-Rosetti. ambassador
of Greece to Canada, decorated Basil C.
Salamis of Montreal and Maj.-Gen. D. C.
Spry of Ottawa in behalf of King Paul of
Greece in recognition of their services.
Salamis. who is the general secretary of
the Greek-Canadian Relief fund, was given
the medal of FYiend to Greek Scouts for his
personal work for Greece during and since
the last war. General Spry is. the chief commissioner
of the Boy Scouts Ass'n of Canada.
Officiating in the ceremony were D. A.
Alexatos, national commissioner, and George
Legakis, international secretai-y, of the Greek
Scouts. Salamis is owner of the Laval and
Fairyland theatres in Montreal and is
prominently identified with the national committee
of the Motion Picture Exhibitors Ass'n
of Canada and the Quebec Allied Theatrical
Industries, of which he is a director.
Crawley Films Volume
Up 17 Per Cent in Year
OTTAWA—In a year-end review, President
P. R. Crawley of Crawley Films, Ltd., declared
that a 17 per cent increase in business
had been record in 1952, with major productions
totaling 53, of which 90 per cent
were in color and 20 per cent in the French
language. The pictures were made for firms
in Canada, England, Sweden and the United
States.
During the year, seven Crawley productions
received U awards and recognitions, to be
added to the 27 honors already captured.
"Newfoundland Scene" was cited as the
Canadian Film of the Year, while "Packaged
Power," made for Aluminium, Ltd., was
judged Canada's best industrial picture of
1952.
Pi-esident Crawley pointed out ten persons
had been added to the company's staff, to
make 63 names on the payroll. In 1945, the
company employed five persons. The company
is planning to celebrate its 15th anniversary
this year. Since its start, the company
has produced more than 380 major
films.
Showings of 'Journey'
Set Record in Canada
OTTAWA—Distributed to theatres through
Columbia Pictures of Canada, "Royal Journey,"
the prize picture of the National Film
Board in 1952, has received 1,105 theatrical
bookings in this country, it has been announced
in a review of the year. The fivereeler
in color has played 1,640 theatres in
the United Kingdom and 677 theatres in the
United States. The cost of making the featurette
was $88,000. The report said that the
"Royal Journey" theatrical bookings in Canada
had beaten the previous record held by
"The Jolson Story," also released by Columbia.
At present there are 170 prints of
"Royal Journey" in circulation throughout
the world.
All-Night Christmas Show
TORONTO—On Christmas night, the Rio
downtown ran shows all night, using three
features, the next day being Boxing day, a
legal holiday as well as Christmas day itself.
Theatre Receipts Reach
Record High in Canada
Ontario Power Setup
Shifts to 60 Cycles
Toronto—Back in the days of power
shortages and blackouts, many exhibitors
in this area installed auxiliary dieselpowered
generators to insure continuous
current for shows. Since then the Ontario
hydro-electric power commission has
converted its system from 25 to 60 cycles,
and theatre owners now will have to
alter their auxiliary units to 60 cycles.
The Motion Picture Theatres Ass'n of
Ontario has beeji notified by the hydroelectric
authorities that exhibitors will
have to pay for changing diesel-driven
generators, which had to be installed in
the first place because of interruptions
in service in past years.
Goodwill Institute
Nears Realization
TORONTO—The proposal advanced at
the
Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada's
convention last October for the establishment
of a Canadian Motion Picture institute is
receiving support. The project has been
enthusiastically received by members of the
national committee of Motion Picture Exhibitors
Ass'ns of Canada.
A number of branches of the industry council
also have endorsed the proposal, the
distributors having added their support to
the institute.
The plan calls for the opening of a central
office to study public reaction to motion pictures
and to conduct publicity campaigns
which would include cooperative displays at
fairs and conventions, the appearance of
special speakers at club gatherings and cooperation
with newspapers and magazines.
The policy, in a nutshell, is to create goodwill
for the film industry and its product.
Courtesy Award to Cashier
TORONTO — Steve McManus. district
supervisor of Odeon Theatres of Canada,
officiated at a ceremony on the stage of the
Windsor at Hamilton when Mrs. Verna Delaney,
cashier, was given a Silver Star award
for maintaining a high standard of courtesy.
The presentation was made in the presence
of a number of Odeon representatives including
the manager of the Windsor, Mrs.
Jean Ford.
Name Breakfast Chairmen
TORONTO—A committee has been named
to make arrangements for the second annual
communion breakfast of the Canadian film
industry which is scheduled for January 18
at the Royal York hotel following the Celebration
of the mass in St. Michael's cathedral.
It is hoped to have George Murphy here as
guest of honor.
OTTAWA—Canadians spent an unprecedented
high total of $108,207,000 on motion
picture entertainment in 1951, an increase of
15 per cent over the 1950 total of $94,152,000.
At the same time the number of paid admissions
increased 3 per cent to 239,132,000
from 231,747,000 the year before, and per
capita expenditures rose to $7.72 from $7.12
according to the annual government report
on Dominion business.
There were 1,808 regular theatres in operation
during the year and their receipts (gro.ss
loss amusement tax) were boosted to $90,986,-
000 with all provinces sharing in the increase.
Drive-iii theatres numbered 82 in 1951 and
accounted for $3,348,000 of the total receipts
and 6,555.000 of the paid admissions as compared
with 62 drive-ins with receipts of $2.-
291,000 and 4,943.000 paid admissions in 1950.
There were 632 community enterprises operating
in 1951 as compared with 586, in 1950.
Total receipts amounted to $1,500,000, an increase
of nearly 20 per cent, while attendance
at these halls was 4,861,000.
The slight icrea.se in the number of theatres
in 1951 was reflected in a 1 per cent rise
in seating capacity and 3 per cent in potential
capacity as compared with 1950. Of
a potential capacity of 794,468,000 in 1951 only
30 per cent was utilized.
Ontario theatres, with 37 per cent of the
total seating capacity, obtained 42 per cent
of the 1951 business. Quebec theatres obtained
25 per cent of total business and had
24 per cent of the total seating capacity.
The average admission price, including
taxes, in 1951 was 43 cents as compared with
41 cents in 1950. Quebec ranked highest with
an average of 46 cents, while Newfoundland
with 33 cents was the lowest. Rouyn led all
Canadian cities with an average admission
price of 52 cents, followed by Calgary at 50
cents.
Motion picture theatre receipts, excluding
taxes, were as follows by provinces in 1951,
totals for the preceding year being in
brackets
Newfoundland— $1 ,098,61 1 ( 863,734)
Prince Edward Island, $313,090 (286,334).
Nova Scotia, $3,454,965 (3,266,536).
New Brunswick. $2,307,605 (2,053,595).
Quebec, $22,629,851 (21,310.810).
Ontario, $38,052,587 (34,083,166).
Manitoba. $4,604,683 (4,197,205).
Saskatchewan, $3,738,865 (3,505,695).
Alberta, $6,044,996 (5,314,331).
British Columbia, $8,740,857 (7,826,356).
Marcus Loew's Pays $1
TORONTO—Marcus Loew's Theatres of
Toronto, operating two theatres here, paid
a dividend of $1 on December 31 for the
final quarter of 1952 on all outstanding common
shares, this amount being the regular
payment.
All-Night Run in Toronto
TORONTO—Between the successive holidays,
Chris'.mas and Boxing day, the Rio, a
500-seat downtown house, ran all night with
a triple feature bill, made up of "A Song Is
Born," "Macao" and "Tarzan Ti'iumphs."
BOXOFFICE January 3, 1953
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