Boxoffice-Septemeber.19.1953

I
160-Seat Ohio Theatre
To Have Wide-Screen
NEW LONDON. OHIO TIr- niKiiunty of
two local theatremen. Charles P. Meyer and
his engineer father-in-law John O. Guthrie,
which only a few weeks ago gained for their
Karolyn Theatre here the world premiere of
"Shane," again evidenced iLsclf in their little
City Hall Theatre at Greenwich.
Meyer and Guthrie equipped their 300-seat
Karolyn here with three-dimension and widescreen
and in doing so gained for this 1.600-
person town the premiere of "Shane."
Convinced that wide-screen system is the
media most likely to bring back theatre customers.
Guthrie and Meyer now are installing
both 3-D and wide-screen in tlie 160-seat
Greenwich house. Greenwich has a population
of about 1.000. and it is t)elieved that
thi.s is the smallest theatre in the smallest
town to be equipped for the new processes.
"We had 200 seats in the Greenwich theatre,"
Meyer said, "but we had to remove 40 in
order to install the new equipment, leaving
a grand total of 160 seats. Our first new
medium picture to be shown was 'Thunder
Bay." We opened with it September 10. Admission
scale remained the same as always,
25 cents and 50 cents. For 3-D we have to
boost our prices. At the Karolyn in New
London we went up to 40 cents and 80 cents
to cover cost of glasses for 3-D pictures, but
here. too. we are holding the line on widescreen
pictures."
Guthrie, who is a graduate and experienced
engineer, and Meyer made most of the equipment
themselves for the City Hall, Greenwich.
The cost. Meyer says, was commensurate
with the probable returns, meaning that
only in this way were they able to afford
the new processes, which put them on the theatre
survival list.
Comparing the future of the two new media
as related to small towns Meyer says, "We
look for wide screen, or some variation of the
present wide-screen method, to outlast 3-D for
a majority of pictures. However, in my
opinion, 3-D is especially well suited to a
certain class of pictures, specifically for
westerns, horror pictures or most kinds of
exploitation presentations on the screen."
Detroit Censors Fail
To Cut Any in August
DETROIT—No eliminations were made in
film reviewed here during August by the police
censorship bureau, which reviewed a
total of 488,000 feet of American and foreign
film.
This is somewhat remarkable in view of
the amount of footage run for censorship, a
quantity which is exceeded thus far this year
only by April's total of 584.000 feet reviewed.
The July total of 403.000 feet reviewed was
higher than June's total, but the August rise
shows an increase of 29 per cent since July.
For both months, the American film reviewed
has a steadily rising amount of footage,
from 325.000 in July to 401.000 in August,
in comparison to the total of 279,000 feet
re\-iewed in June.
In the foreign film category, the Mexican
film was the only type run for censorship
the past two months, with July having a total
of 78.000 feet reviewed, and August a total
of 87.000 in footage, showing a rise here of 16
per cent reviewed since June.
Long First Run Dates
Hold Up Film for Subs
CLEVELAND—The effect on .sub.sequciit
run theatres of long first run engagement,
clicit-s diversified opinion.s from exhibitors in
this area. Some think it will .seriously halt
the present back-to-thc-theatre trend, while
others foresee no difficulty in getting suitable
product for exhibition.
"Prom Here to Eternity" opened Thursday
1 171 at the Palace for a minimum run of four
weeks. "This is the first picture ever booked
Into the Palace for .so long a period." Manager
Max Mink said. "We have played pictures
four weeks, but on an extended weekto-week
basis. From Here to Eternity' i.'~
contracted for a minimum of four weeks. Wtmight
even hold it through Thanksgiving."
"
"The Robe opens October 8 at the Hippodrome.
This win also be a long-term engagement.
With top pictures holding over long
periods and thus reducing the number of
pictures available for the subsequent theatres,
some exhibitors are raising the distress signal
and wondering where their pictures are coming
from.
"We haven't anything to worry about," another
subsequent run theatre owner said.
"There will be at least 300 major product
pictures available to us during the coming
season. If necessary, we, who have played
split weeks, can go to one change a week. And
there will always be 52 good pictures available
to us."
Still another subsequent run theatre owner
suggests that rather than hold up their
product indefinitely for downtown first run
exhibition, distributors will release at least
.some of the product to the top subsequent
run houses on a first run basis.
Lobby View-Masters Used
To Promote Style Show
ASHTABULA, OHIO—While seasonal style
shows are not new. Dale Dysinger, manager of
Shea's, came up with a new angle to his recently
promoted display of new fall styles
on his theatre stage.
The new angle was his use of lobby View-
Masters to promote the display ten days in
advance of the show. The models, all pretty,
all young and all society girls, were pictured
in the View-Masters wearing the clothes they
were going to model on the stage. The showwas
called the Wheel of Fashion and this
fitted right into the operation of the View-
Masters. Interest in seeing their friends in
the View-Masters brought big attendance to
the theatre during the entire ten days ahead
of the stage show. Regular theatre prices
prevailed for the stage show, which played
to capacity audience.
The Wheel of Fashion was presented with
an off-scene commentator. Ruth CoUander.
head of the Ashtabula Little Theatre group,
wrote and presented running comments, but
remained behind the screen so that all attention
was focused on the models. Six Ashtabula
merchants cooperated in the promotion,
which included modeling of dresses,
furs, shoes, lingerie and children's clothes.
TV Fight to Palms-State
DETROIT—The Palms-State Theatre has
bought the rights for the September 24
telecast of the Marciano-LaStarza fight.
Tickets are scaled at S3 for general admission,
with reserved seats selling at an additional
$1.20. according to Manager C. E.
O'Bryan.
M. Harlan Starr Dies;
Dean of Detroit Row
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