Boxoffice-December.17.1955

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'Kismef and Music Hall Xmas Show
Open Strong as NY Holdovers Lag
NEW YORK—The season's first
Christmas
show, the combination of the Radio City
Music Hall "Nativity" pageant, plus MGM's
Cinemascope musical, "Kismet," attracted
long waiting lines daily at the world's largest
theatre while the majority of the long run
holdovers lagged and some of them did poor
business.
"The Rose Tattoo," which opened at the
Astor December 12 and got strong reviews,
and "The Prisoner," which opened at the
Plaza December 10 to rave notices, also did
exceptionally well with the latter breaking
the theatre's record for Saturday and Sunday
(10, 11) business. Two other Columbia pictures,
"The Last Frontier" at the Paramount
'
and "The Crooked Web at the RKO Palace,
also did good business.
With the holdovers it was a different story
except for "Guys and Dolls," in its sixth
week at the Capitol, and the two-a-day attractions,
"Cinei-ama Holiday" in its 44th
week at the Warner Theatre and "Oklahoma!"
in its ninth week at the Rivoli, which
attracted the out-of-towners and those New
Yorkers not too occupied with Christmas
shopping. "The Desperate Hours," in it.5 ninth
week at the Criterion, resorted to dally "previews
of a forthcoming attraction" and "Good
Morning, Miss Dove" in its third and final
week at the Roxy, "Queen Bee" in its third
week at Loew's State, "Quentin Durward" in
its third week at the Mayfair and "The Big
Knife" in its fifth and final week at the
Victoria were way off.
In addition to "The Prisoner," several other
art house films held up exceptionally well,
including "Diabolique," which also had waiting
lines each evening of its third week at
the Fine Arts; "Umberto D.," which had a
fifth week even above the preceding one at
the tiny Guild Theatre; "Hill 24 Doesn't
Answer" in its sixth good week at the World
and "Marty" in its 35th week at the Sutton.
"The Life of Emile Zola," revival of the Paul
Muni 1937 film, also held up well in its
fourth week at the Baronet.
The second Christmas holiday film, "The
Rains of Ranchipur," in conjunction with a
new ice stageshow at the Roxy, opened
December 15. Two United Artists films,
"Heidi and Peter" and "The Man With the
Golden Arm," also opened during the w-eek.
(Average Is 100)
Astor— Rebel Without o Cause (WB), 5 days of
7th wk 105
Baronet—The Life of Emile Zola (WB), revival,
4th wk 115
Copitol—Guys and Dolls (MGM), 6th wk 130
Criterion—The Desperate Hours (Pore), 9th wk...IOO
Fine Arts— Diabolique lUMPO), 3rd wk 160
55th St.—Foreign revivols
Globe—One Way Ticket to Hell (Independent). ... 1 00
Guild—Umberto D. (Harrison), 5th wk 145
Little Carnegie— I Am a Camera (DCA), 18th wk..)00
Loew's State—Queen Bee (Col), 3rd wk 100
Mayfair—Quentin Durward (MGM), 3rd wk 100
Normandie—The African Lion (Buena Vista), 13th
wk 110
Palace—The Crooked Web (Col), plus vaudeville. .120
Paramount—The Lost Frontier (Col) 115
Pons—The Trouble With Horry (Para), 9th wk...llO
Plazo—The Prisoner (Col) 200
Radio City Music Hall Kismet (MGM), plus
anuol Xmas stage show 1 80
Rivoli—Oklahomal (Todd-AO), 9th wk. of two-aday
130
Roxy—Good Morning, Miss Dove (20th-Fox), 3rd
wk
no
Sutton Morty (UA), 35fh wk 110
Trans-Lux 52nd St. This Strange Passion [Omnifilms),
2nd wk 105
Victoria—The Big Knife lUA), 5th wk 105
Warner—Cinerama Holiday (SW), 44th wk. of
two-a-day ^ 1 40
World—Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (Continental),
6th wk 115
Philadelphia First Runs
Do Bumpor Business
PHILADELPHIA—Christmas shopping, so
far, has made no perceptible inroads on the
local boxoffice. Among first runs enjoying
a big week, "Guys and Dolls" was the standout,
scoring a whopping 305 in its third week
at the Randolph.
Arcadia—Trial (MGM), 5th wk 190
Boyd— Cinerama Ho.iday, 41 st wk 110
Fox—Good Morning, Miss Dove (20th-Fox) 100
Goldmon—Man With the Gun (UA) 120
Mastboum—The Treasure of Poncho Villa (RKO). . 95
Midtown—The Desperate Hours (Paro), 6th wk. . 90
Randolph—Guys and Dolls (MGM), 3rd wk 305
Sianley—The Tender Trap (MGM), 2nd wk 105
Stanton—The African Lion (Buena Vista), 2nd wk 120
Studio— I Am a Camera (DCA) 250
Trans-Lux—To Catch o Thief (Para), 12th wk. 80
Viking—The Big Knife (UA) 1 80
Christmas Shopping Hurts
Grosses in Baltimore
BALTIMORE—First run exhibitors continued
to depend upon weekend business to
bolster grosses while pre-Christmas shopping
offered such stiff competition. Boxoffices
were not sufficiently busy during weekday
matinees and nights, although "The Deep
Blue Sea" attracted attention and "Texas
Lady" ran a close second.
Century—The Tender Trap (MGM), 4th wk 90
Film Centre—Cocktails in the Kitchen (Assoc.
Artists) 100
Hippodrome—Texos Lady (RKO) 100
Little—Gone With the Wind (MGM), reissue 95
New—The Deep Blue Sea (20th-Fox) 110
Mayfair—Tarantula (U-l); Running Wild (U-l). ... 90
Playhouse— I Am a Camera (DCA), 5th wk 90
Stanley— I Died a Thousand Times (WB) 90
The Cinema— Chance Meeting (Pacemakers), 3rd
wk 85
Buffalo Boxoffice Takes
Seasonal Nosedive
BUFFALO—Crowds have started shopping
instead of theatregoing and boxoffices here
were affected all along the line. "Top Gun"
at Shea's Buffalo and "Target Zero" at the
Paramount held to normal. "Naked Street"
went a bit over normal in the Center.
Buffalo—Top Gun (UA)
1 00
Center—The Naked Street (UA)...
1 05
Century—Texas Lady (RKO)
85
Cinema—The Divided Heart (Rep).
90
Lafayette— Kiss of Fire (U-l)
90
Paramount—Torget Zero (WB) 100
Place of Theatre Manager
In Community Described
NEW YORK—The place of the motion
picture theatre manager in his community
was described by Emanuel FYisch, president
of the Metropolitan Motion Picture Theatres
Ass'n, at the New School for Social Research
Thursday (15). His talk was one in a series
on the implications of motion pictures in
contemporary life conducted by Rita Hochheimer.
Ampa's Christmas Party
To Be Held December 20
NEW YORK—The 39th
annual Christmas
party of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers
will be held at the Piccadilly Hotel
Tuesday i20). Neil Hamilton will be the
master of ceremonies. Among film players
expected to attend is Karen Sharpe, United
Artists starlet.
'HEIDI' OPENING—Leonard Bloom,
left, manager of the Little Carnegie
Theatre, New York, greets Fred Gygax,
Swiss consul general, who was guest of
honor at the opening of "Heidi and
Peter," Lazar Wechsler production filmed
in Switzerland.
Industry Leaders at
'Golden Arm' Event
NEW YORK—Arnold M. Picker, United
Artists vice-president in charge of foreign
distribution, came on from HoUyw'ood Thursday
115) to attend the invitation opening of
Otto Pi-eminger's "The Man With the Golden
Arm" at the Victoria Theatre. Other UA
executives on hand for the event included:
Robert S. Benjamin, William J. Heineman,
Max E. Youngstein and Ai'thur B. Krim,
president.
Exhibitor leaders and production and distribution
heads from other companies were
also on hand to see the opening of the controversial
film and 55 out-of-town newspaper
critics from 36 key cities were flown to New
York by UA from points as distant as Los
Angeles, Houston and Toronto and remained
overnight as guests of UA.
The exhibitor leaders included:
Herman Becker, Horry Brandt, Richard Brandt,
Leo Brecher, Max A. Cohen, Gus Eyssell, Nat Fellmon,
Emanuel Frisch, Sam Goodman, John H. Harris, Julius
Joelson, Harry Kalmine, Arthur M. Loew, Fred Lynch,
Frank Marshall, Charles Moss, Larry Morris, Arthur
L. Mayer, Clem Perry, Eugene Picker, Matthew Polon,
Walter Reade jr., Harold Rinzler, Sam Rinzler, Sam
Rosen, Sol A. Schwartz, Joseph Seider, Robert K.
Shapiro, Robert Sherman, Wilbur Snaper and Robert
M. Weitmon.
Industry leaders included:
R. W. Altschuler, Maurice Bergman, Charles Boosberg,
Jock Cohn, Ned E. Depinet, Charles Einfeld,
William C. Gehring, Morey Goldstein, Edward L.
Hyman, Leo Jaffe, Ben Kalmenson, Sid Kromer,
Theodore Kupfermon, Robert Lantz, Jules Levey,
Joseph L. Monkiewicz, James A. Mulvey, Robert
Mochrie, Frank McCarthy, Thomas F. O'Neil, Daniel
O'Shea, E. K. O'Shea, Hugh Owen, Milton R. Rackmil,
Charles M. Reagan, A. Schneider, A. W, Schwatberg,
Silas F. Seadler, Spyros P. Skouras, Horry M. Warner
and Major Albert Warner.
Film and stage celebrities who attended
included:
Gilbert Miller, Thelma Ritter, Harry Belofonte,
Marlene Dietrich, Janet Blair, Carol Bruce, Dagmor,
Arlene Francis, Rita Gam, Huntington Hartford, Fanny
Hurst, Phil Silvers, Carmel Myers, Billy Rose, Paula
Stone, Eva Gobor, Melvyn Douglas, Pearl Bailey, Kim
Hunter, Audrey Meadows, Gloria Vonderbilt, Blonche
Yurka and three members of the "Golden Arm" cast,
Doro Merande, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin.
The opening event was beamed to a
national audience of more than 23,000,000
with a live telecast over WPIX and broadcast
over two of the NBC network radio shows.
Shirley Thomas, Hollywood reporter for NBC,
flew to New York to interview celebrities and
this was taped to be aired Fi'iday over 197
NBC stations.
E-2 BOXOFFICE December 17, 1955