Boxoffice-January.17.1953
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ments, cards on street cars, billboards, radio<br />
and television announcements asked: "What<br />
is<br />
DAYL?"<br />
There was much talk about "DAYL," lots of<br />
guesses.<br />
Then on the Sunday before Christmas day,<br />
Ritz announced in the new.spapers and on<br />
the radio the answer was "Donate As You<br />
Leave" would be the Ritz policy starting<br />
Christmas day with a new picture.<br />
A big banner across the front of the theatre<br />
reads:<br />
"Admission FREE. Donate As You Leave.<br />
Admission FREE."<br />
A sign on the <strong>Boxoffice</strong> says; "Welcome<br />
Admi.ssion Free. DAYL."<br />
There is no cashier in the boxoffice.<br />
She stands beside a goldfish bowl at the exit.<br />
A sign beside the bowl says; "We will<br />
gladly make change for you."<br />
That is all.<br />
Some see the show and leave without making<br />
a donation. That's O.K., too. Nothing<br />
is .said to them.<br />
The advertisements .say come and see the<br />
show free, pay what you think it was worth.<br />
The average couple drops in a $1 bill as<br />
they leave.<br />
Some family groups, four or five, drop in<br />
only $1.<br />
Other couples drop in more than $1 and<br />
other family groups $1.50 or $2.<br />
St. Paul, Minn.<br />
ST. PAUL. MINN.—The State Theatre here,<br />
located just outside the Loop, has abandoned<br />
its experiment of one free night a week when<br />
the boxoffice was closed and patrons, entering<br />
the house without buying a ticket, could<br />
donate what they felt the entertainment was<br />
worth if they chose after seeing the show<br />
gratis.<br />
Management said that, helped by a considerable<br />
amount of free publicity and wordof-mouth,<br />
the plan did well the first week, the<br />
Tuesday proceeds from voluntary contributions<br />
and increased sale of popcorn and candy<br />
leaving the theatre better off financially than<br />
it had been on the same nights during preceding<br />
months.<br />
However, there was a falling off both in<br />
attendance and in contributions and refreshment<br />
sales on the second Tuesday. And on<br />
the third Tuesday the "freewill offering" fell<br />
off still further and was not offset by popcorn<br />
and candy profits. Accordingly, the plan<br />
was abandoned after the third Tuesday.<br />
The plan also brought into the theatre<br />
many undesirables, including young rowdies.<br />
Tuesday and most of the other nights are still<br />
a "problem" for the theatre, with the operation<br />
difficult here the same as at many other<br />
outlying houses, but it feels it's better off<br />
charging the admission and operating conventionally<br />
on Tuesdays now than it would be<br />
if it retained the free stunt.<br />
New Pact to David Lipton<br />
NEW YORK—David Lipton, vice-president<br />
of Universal Kctures Corp. in charge of<br />
publicity, advertising and exploitation, has<br />
been given a new three-year contract running<br />
to Dec. 31, 1955, calling for a salary of $1,000<br />
per week until Dec. 31, 1953, with an increase<br />
of $100 per week for the remaining two years<br />
of the pact. His living expenses will be paid<br />
when he is not working in California.<br />
A ROSY REPORT ON STATUS OF INDUSTRY<br />
Wall Street Journal Finds<br />
Something to Cheer About<br />
NEW YORK—The Wall Street Journal,<br />
which has published some brutally downbeat<br />
stories on the prospects of the film business<br />
in the last several years, this week finds<br />
the outlook definitely on the bright side<br />
as of January 1952.<br />
In a nationwide roundup of theatre business,<br />
the financial paper comes up with this<br />
type of upbeat information:<br />
National Theatres, with its circuit of<br />
more than 500 theatres, sagged about 4<br />
per cent in 1953 as compared to 1951<br />
business, but December receipts ran about<br />
12 per cent over a year ago.<br />
United Paramount Theatres, biggest circuit<br />
in the country, ran 11 per cent above<br />
December 1951 business, and its dip for<br />
the entire year was about 2 per cent.<br />
In Texas, Raymond Willie, general manager<br />
of the Interstate circuit, reported<br />
1952 ticket sales were on par with those<br />
in 1951, but that Christmas business was<br />
15 per cent over a year ago.<br />
Excellent product now available is given<br />
as the reason for the unusually heavy holiday<br />
and post-holiday business by exhibitors<br />
interviewed in the Journal roundup. The reports<br />
of record business during the holiday<br />
season substantiated reports published in<br />
BOXOFFICE early this month. Managers of<br />
key houses in several cities said they felt<br />
television had either reached a saturation<br />
point or viewers were becoming bored with<br />
the programs.<br />
An unidentified Chicago exhibitor was<br />
quoted as saying that the weeding out of<br />
some of the weaker houses was leaving more<br />
business for the theatres remaining in business,<br />
and a Cleveland manager suggested that<br />
filmgoers are finding more cash for entertainment<br />
after paying oft heavy debt loads<br />
for cars, refrigerators and other heavy appliances<br />
they took on after the .start of the<br />
Korean war.<br />
The industry will be helped by the anticipated<br />
admissions tax repeal, the introduction<br />
of three-dimensional pictures, use of<br />
17 Neighborhoods Join<br />
In 2 for 1 Ticket Plan<br />
MINNEAPOLIS—In a move to boost<br />
business, 17 neighborhood and suburban<br />
theatres have started a co-op two-for-one<br />
admi.ssion plan. The theatres are selling<br />
"privilege books" at $2, each containing<br />
68 tickets. One of these tickets, when<br />
accompanied by a paid admission, admits<br />
two.<br />
Only independent exhibitors are in on<br />
the plan, and they are merchandising the<br />
sale through display advertising and by<br />
opening a Loop office where they can be<br />
purchased. The Minnesota Amusement<br />
Co., UPT affiliate, is "studying" the plan<br />
before deciding whether to make a similar<br />
offer to patrons.<br />
improved larger screens and widespread renovation<br />
of theatres, according to the Journal.<br />
The roundup article, however, pointed to<br />
the steady decline which theatre receipts had<br />
shown since the top year of 1946. National<br />
Theatres was down 40 per cent from the<br />
peak, and claimed that nationally receipts<br />
were down 20 per cent under the 1947 take.<br />
WB Sells 37 Houses;<br />
Must Divest 24 More<br />
NEW YORK—The sale of 37 theatres, of<br />
which 31 were owned in fee, during the fi.scal<br />
year ended Aug. 31, 1952, is reported in the<br />
annual report of Warner Bros. This total included<br />
nine theatres required to be divested<br />
under the consent decree. One additional<br />
theatre, owned in fee and subject to divestiture,<br />
was sublet. Leases, on three, one of<br />
which was a divestiture theatre, were canceled,<br />
and the lease on one expired.<br />
Since August 31, three theatres have been<br />
sold, one of which had to be divested. Leases<br />
on two were canceled, the lease on one expired<br />
and one subject to divestiture was sublet.<br />
Contracts have been signed for the sale of<br />
three theatres, one of them a divestiture theatre,<br />
and another is a theatre mentioned<br />
above as having been leased.<br />
Since the con.sent decree was entered, 30<br />
theatres subject to divestiture, including those<br />
listed here, have been disposed of by sale, sublease<br />
and cancellation or expiration of leases.<br />
The Department of Justice has extended to<br />
July 4 the date for the divestiture of the remaining<br />
24 theatres. The decree also provided<br />
that a maximum of 27 other theatres might<br />
have to be divested. Eleven of them have<br />
been disposed of and no theatre is at present<br />
affected by the contingencies.<br />
The decree provided that no person affiliated<br />
with a theatre circuit can be elected an<br />
officer or director of the new theatre company<br />
unless approved by the attorney general<br />
and the court. That provision applies to S. H.<br />
Fabian, president, and Samuel Rosen, treasurer,<br />
of Fabian Enterprises, which is buying<br />
the Warner houses. The attorney general, as<br />
a condition to approving the election of<br />
Fabian and Rosen, has required divestiture<br />
of theatres in three cities where no first run<br />
theatres are operated by others than the company<br />
and Fabian Enterprises. Negotiations<br />
looking toward their divestiture are going on,<br />
and when closed, the approval of Fabian and<br />
Rosen as officers and directors of the new<br />
company is expected to be embodied in a<br />
court order, and the stockholders will be asked<br />
to approve the company's consent to the order.<br />
The decree requires that the distributionproduction<br />
and theatre companies must be<br />
operating independently of each other by<br />
April 4 and must not have any common officers,<br />
directors, agents or employes.<br />
The annual report also noted that Warner<br />
Bros, installed large-screen television systems<br />
in eight more theatres during the year,<br />
increasing the total to 13.<br />
BOXOFnCE :: January 17, 1953 15