Boxoffice-January.08.1955

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The EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY
(Continued from preceding page)
Taylor, Piper Laurie. Saw this on wide screen
in a neighboring city. Good sport car racing
picture. Don Taylor and Piper Laurie turn
in good acting jobs. Tony Curtis is in it for
the bobbysox bunch. Business was fair at
their theatre. Played wed.-Sat.—Norman
Merkel, Time Theatre, Albert City, Iowa.
Small-town and rural patronage.
Law and Order (U-D—Ronald Reagan,
Dorothy Malone, Preston Foster. This is a
real rough one. Ronald Reagan is made marshal
and proceeds to carry out his duties to
the letter. Has plenty of trouble with town
bosses but, of course, "law and order" is the
final result. Color and story good. Played
Wed., Thurs. Weather: Still cold and cloudy.
—James Wiggs, jr., Tar Theatre, Tarboro,
N. C. Small-town and rural patronage.
Saskatchewan (U-D—Alan Ladd, Shelley
Winters, J. CarroU Naish. This is one of the
better films in Technicolor and, except for
Shelley Winters, who in our estimation louses
up any picture, drew fairly well. Whoever
designed her gowns was certainly playing to
the male pait of the audience. Played Sun.,
Mon. Weather: Rainy and cool.—Walt and
Ida Breitling, Comfrey Theatre, Comfrey,
Minn. Small-town and rural patronage.
Thunder Bay (U-D—James Stewart, Dan
Duryea, Joanne Dru. Splendid picture classified
as a drama but it should have been
called melodrama. Plenty of action yet not a
shot fired—something new! James Stewart
is splendid in this picture and so are the
rest of the cast. It's a better picture than
"Bend of the River." Drew 140 per cent even
with very bad roads. Played Mon., Tues.
Weather: Poor.—Fred L. Murray, Strand Theatre,
Spiritwood, Sask. Small-town and rural
patronage.
Yankee Pasha (U-D— Jeff Chandler,
Rhonda Fleming, Mamie Van Doren. C3ood
picture. What lovely "babes in the harem."
Sort of an Arabian Nights tale. Color wonderful.
Played Tues. Weather: Warm.—
Michael Chiaventone, Valley Theatre, Spring
Valley, 111. Small-town and rural patronage.
WARNER BROS.
(WBi—Kirk Etoug-
Along the Great Divide
las, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan. Just a
good average western in color. If your patrons
like westerns they will go for this one. Not
too much shoot-em-up and a little more
story. This is old and Warners sold it to
me right and I made a little money which
is more than I can say for the last two
months. Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Good and
the farmers busy.—Fi-ed L. Murray, Strand
Theatre, Spiritwood, Sask. Small-town and
rural patronage.
Desert Song, The (WB)—Kathryn Grayson,
Gordon MacRae, Steve Cochran. This
wasn't as well liked as the previous version
which starred Dennis Morgan. Dick Wesson
really had an opportunity to show audiences
that he is a great comedian. He stole the
picture so far as acting was concerned.
Music beautiful—business normal. Played
Sun., Mon. Weather: Cool.—Michael Chiaventone,
Valley Theatre, Spring Valley, III. Medium
size town second run patronage.
Dial M For Murder (WB)—Ray Milland,
Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings. One of the
top murder mysteries of all time. Top playing
time. Advertise it big—W. S. Funk, Star
Theatre, St. Stephen, S. C. Population 1,200.
Fort Worth (WB^—Randolph Scott, David
Brian, Phyllis Thaxter. This Randolph Scott
is an "oldie" but a "goodie." The previous
exhibitor here had passed it up although I
wouldn't know why. Doubled it with "Black
Fury" (WB) to our best Friday-Saturday
business since the first of the year. Can't un-
Bob Walker since he's still big here. Played
Friday-Saturday. Weather: Cool.—Norman
Merkel, Time Theatre, Albert City, Iowa.
Small-town and rural patronage.
High and the Mighty, The (WB)—John
Wayne, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day. Now
here is a motion picture! It is very good and
holds interest from the start for the full
147 minutes. It is nice to get pictures like
this to run for your public but I would like
to know why we do it when the producers
won't let us make a dime profit on them?
This picture was sold to me for 50 per cent
of the gross. Did over $300 and I came up
nearly $4 short of breaking even. I just cannot
understand why the producers cannot—
or won't sell these pictures to the small towns
so that they can make a fair profit. This is
the seventh Cinemascope picture I have
played and I have not even started to regain
the money paid out for the lens to run them
with. I am going to refuse to buy any more
50 per cent pictures as it is just a waste of
time to work for the producers. Played for
four days: Sun. through Wed.—W. L. Stratton,
LjTic Theatre, Challis, Idaho.
Island in the Sky (WB)—John Wayne,
Lloyd Nolan, James Arness. For an egg well
laid, take this—and I hope you get some
business—I didn't. We had the egg but didn't
make the coffee money to go with it. Played
Tues., Wed. Weather: Cool.—Lew Bray jr..
Queen Theatre, McAllen, Tex. Medium smalltown
English-Spanish speaking patronage.
Moonlighter, The (WB)—Barbara Stanwyck,
Fred MacMuiTay, Ward Bond. Have yet
to run a 3-D picture in 2-D that was worth
the film it was printed on. Just a waste of
two good stars—Fred MacMurray and Barbara
Stanwyck. If these two will draw for
you—okay, but you still won't please folks.
Played Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weath3r: Rain.
—Harold Bell, Opera House Theatre, Coaticook.
Que. Small-town and rural patronage.
Three Sailors and a Girl (WB) — Jane
Powell, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson. Nothing
wrong with the picture except the drawing
power. We just can't seem to sell music,
regardless. Guess our patrons are tired of
seeing this type of picture on TV so they
want a change when they venture out to a
picture sliow. Played Sun., Mon. Weather:
Fair.-Mayme P. Musselman, Roach Theatre,
Lincoln, Kas. Small-town and rural patronage.
(WBi-Jane Pow-
Three Sailors and a Girl
ell, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson. Very entertaining
little musical with good comedy.
However, I've said before and I repeat; unless
it's a musical of the caliber of "Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes," it doesn't go over here. Of
the 143 programs we've shown this year, only
seven have grossed lower than this. Played
Tues., Wed. Weather: Good.—James H. Hamilton,
Pine Hill Drive-In Theatre, Picayune
Miss. Small-town and rural patronage.
Thunder Over the Plains (WB)—Randolph
Scott, Lex Barker, PhylUs Kirk. A Randy
Scott movie that is good but westerns have
shown the biggest drop in attendance since
TV. We just can't do anything with a western
any more—super or not, they do not draw.
Business: Just over 75 per cent. Played
Thurs., Fri., Sat. Weather: Pair.—Ken Christianson,
Roxy Theatre, Washburn, N.D.
Small-town and rural patronage.
MISCELLANEOUS
Amazing Mr. X, The (SR)—Turhan Bey,
Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnel. Doubled with
Abbott and Costello in "Who Done It" for
a Halloween midnight show. • We had a lot
of competition around us so we didn't do as
well as expected—but not bad, considering
we stUl had a good average day's business.
Toward the end of "Mr. X" we turned the
hghts off and a small spot on and had our
aisles. This sure clammered everyone U]
ing to find out who it was. Played Sat.
night. Weather: Cool.—Lew Bray jr., (
Theatre, McAilen. Tex. Small-town
mixed English-Spanish speaking patr(
Country Parson (SR)—In a Lutheran
munity. which ours is, this one put m£
the table. My patrons liked it better
"Martin Luther" and it made me more n
Play it, by all means, and you'll be :
and so will your patrons. This film was
by the Lutheran church and in no wa;
offensive to any other church group. Pi
like this make it great to be in this bu
Rental fair—no percentage—no adve:
budget—nobody trying to tell you how
your theatre and it was one of the t
grosses all summer. We have two live
nels on TV batting us down and we
shows like this to drag them away frorr
sets. Rush a date if you haven't yet
;
it. I played it on big screen 2:1 and it
out swell. Played Fri., Sat. Weather: G
Ray S. Hanson, Fox Theatre, Fertile,
Small-town and rural patronage.
I'm From Arkansas (SR)—If you ar
small rural situation this hillbilly is gi
teed to pull them in. There is plenty c
in this one and, for the first time in n
moon, I got what I call a good Fridayday
turnout. A prolonged dry spell h
only dried up the land but the farme
come as well so it was wonderful to
good house for a change. I booked i
the Wallace Film Exchange in Atlant
this company has the best terms for
towns of any distributor there. Wf
Clear and cold.—I. Roche, Vernon T
Vernon, Fla. Small-town and rural f
age.
Keep 'Em Slugging (SR^—Reis.sue.
End Kids, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Alb
This is an old one and a good little
but, due to low line voltage, my patror
disappointed all three nights. Believe it
have done all right under normal com
Played Tues., Wed., Thurs. Weather
and cool.—Garland Lamb. Crown T
Lincoln, Ark. Small-town and rural i
age.
Knockout Parade (Swartz-Ind.i—
ette. If you need a good selling shoi
ject with a^punch—this is it. Sold rigl
good paper and trailer. We need rr
these featurettes that can be sold tc
some of the small pictures to make the
money-makers. Boxoffice only a
Played Fri., Sat. Weather: Warm
Christianson, Roxy Theatre, Washburr
Small-town and rural patronage.
Reaching From Heaven (SR)—Here
of the best small-town pictures I ha'
played in my drive-in theatre. We pi
on a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday t(
250 per cent of normal top busines
third day outgrossed the second daj
eating it had good word-of-mouth a(
ing. Still getting compliments from i
trons.—Ray Schmidt, Family Drive-I:
atre, Jasper, Ind. Small-town and rur
ronage.
Tomorrow Is Too Late (Burstyn)—
geli, Vittorio DeSica, Lois Maxwell,
one honey of a film which played to
lent houses. Usually our crowd does i
"sub" titles but they came in their hi
to see it. I would recommend any hoi
where to play it. Slant your advertis
ward the family and ask them to brir
children 12 and over. You'll make pi
friends. And, small houses, don't pa
cause it's in Italian. If your patrons a
they'll love it and word-of-mouth wi
in "the others. Played Sun., Mon.,
Weather: Fine.—Dave S. Klein, Astra
tre, Kitwe-Nkana, Northern Rhodes
rica. Mining, government and busine
TnnQCTP