Boxoffice-April.07.1958

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BETWEEN THE LINES
The Oscar Show
VOU can't please everybody, but a checkup
of friends and acquaint^ances from
outside the industo' as to their reactions
to the Academy Award telecast brought out
one universal comment: It was far better
than previoiLs Oscar shows. The opinions
i-ansed from fair to fabulous and. except
for one or two critics who must have had
chips on their shoulders, the show was
lively. It moved. And the timins was perfect.
But what did it do for the industry?
It's too early to measure the show's benefits
but. perhaps, these comments from
personal friends could be a guide post, if
multiplied by the millions of viewers of the
telecast
The wife of a dentist said she would be
ashamed to tell us when she had been to
the movies the last time. However, she said
the telecast definitely had awakened her
to the fact that she had wasted a lot of
time in front of her television set during
the last year. And that she was going to
see more pictures in theatres.
The owner of a greeting card shop said.
and this is almost a direct quote: "What
have I been missing! I've got to see those
pictures that were mentioned on the Awards
show,"
Several others sp>oke in the same vein.
Within the industry, however, there were
some complaints regarding the lack of sales
pitches. It was the consensus that there
should have been more of a "sell" to the
public to get out of the house and into the
theatres. These pitches could have been
dropped in without disrupting, slowing
down or interfering with the show in any
way, it was said. They could have been
pitches without having the semblance of
commerciaLs.
If the "lost audience" has been stimulated
with the desire to renew the moviegoing
habit because of the telecast, it
won't mean a thing unless the followthrough
is followed through. The businessbuilding
campaign is under way. The "let
George do it" attitude will toss money
down the drain unless every exhibitor becomes
a George. Let's all be Georges and
do it.
•
That 'Bridge' Stunt
CELE>OM has a publicity gimmick received
the nationwide, if not worldwide, attention
that has been accorded to the nineyear-old
Italian girl, Marisa Leonizio, for
whom Columbia Pictures built a replica of
the River Kwai bridge over a stream near
her village home so that she could take a
short cut to school. It all goes to prove
that wideawake showmen can latch on to
any legitimate stunt and have it go all the
way, as in this case, to the White House,
if there is a human interest touch back
of it.
Columbia has let us borrow a scrap book
By AL STEEN
of the material that broke into print as
a result of the project. Life magazine gave
it two breaks, one in the issue of February
3 and the other in the March 31 issue.
Newsweek also used text and pictures. And
the Washington and New York newspapers
played it up big with Page One pictures
and lengthy stories.
The whole thing started when the girl
wrote a school essay, asking a patron saint
to build her a bridge across the Chiona
River which often rose so high she had to
travel four miles over rough roads to attend
school. Italian newspapers picked up
the story. Enzo DeBemard. Columbia press
representative, saw it and suggested that
Columbia constnict a duplicate, on a
smaller scale, of the bridge on the River
Kwai from the picture of the same name.
Columbia did exactly that and aLso brought
over the little girl to attend the Washington
premiere of the picture, sponsored by
Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Probably there are similar, local incidents
that are begging for such promotion.
And capital can be made of them on the
local level.
•
Dog Goes to Movies
QARL ROGERS, manager of Loew's Theatre.
Dayton. Ohio, sends us the following
from Mike Hennessy's "Off Beat" column
in the IDayton News:
Humans don't have a stranglehold on
poor sense of direction—it can even happen
to animals. Carl Rogers, manager of
Loew's Theatre, called to say he was sitting
in the back row Sunday evening watching
"Raintree County."
"It wasn't too crowded back there. I
heard this commotion behind me. Next
thing. I notice this dog coming down the
aisle. He Cor she) just jumps up on the
seat and starts watching the movie.
"We finally got him (or heri out. Never
saw anything like it before."
It had to be a case of misdirection. That
poor pooch just wanted to see "Old Yeller"
at the Victory and he got his
signals crossed.
•
(or her)
Patter
H TKT.EVISION station has just been put
up on a coral reef in the Pacific. It
already has atoll TV.
* • *
In answer to a question, it was denied
that closed-circuit means a theatre chain
that has gone out of business.
* * *
A Southwest theatre recently was burned
out. But it must have been expected. The
sign on the marquee said: A Sure-Fire Hit.
« « •
An ex-exhibitor in Congress who was
able to break up a political group now refers
to himself as a bloc buster.
To Vote on List-Alden
Consolidation April 11
NEW 'VORK- -A reorganization plan providinK
for the transfer of the assets of List
Industries Coi-p., which controls RKO Theatres,
to the Glen Alden Corp. will be placed
before the stockholders of both corporations
at meetings .scheduled for April 11. In addition
to the operation of RKO Theatres, List
is engaged in the textile finishing business,
in the manufacture of aluminum pLstons and
in warehousing. It also has an interest in oil
and gas properties, as well as in real estate
and other investments.
Glen Alden is engaged in the production
and sale of anthracite coal, in the manufacture
and sale of air conditioning equipment
and heat pumps and in the manufacture and
sale of fli-e trucks.
The sales and revenue of both corporations
for 1957 were $117,000,000 and the variou.s divisions
employed a total of 8,500 persons.
If the reorganization is approved by the
stockholders, the name of Glen Alden Corp.
will be changed to List Alden Corp. The basis
for the plan will be the exchange of five
shai-es of Glen Alden for six shares of List.
The consolidated net income of List Industries
for 1957 was $2,037,769 or 48.4 cents
per .share before special item and $1,540,461
or 36.6 cents per share after special item.
Cite Leonard Bernstein
At Ascap Annual Dinner
ISTErw YORK—Ascap presented a scroll to
Leonard Bernstein as the first native-born,
native-trained conductor of the New York
Philharmonic at the 44th annual membership
dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Tuesday.
Among the other honored guests at the
dinner, which was attended by 1,000 authors
and composers of America's music, were Elsa
Maxwell and Arthur Godfrey, who recently
became Ascap members: Mrs. Robert Bartlett,
daughter of the late Victor Herbert,
who was one of the founders of Ascap, and
Bruno Zirato, manager of the Philharmonic
Society. Featured on the program after the
dinner were Vincent Lopez, Morton Downey,
Norman Dello Joio, Betty Madigan, Margaret
Tynes, La Verne Hutcherson, Avon Long, Vic
Damone and Senor Wences.
Nineteen members of the Ascap board of
directors acted as honorary pallbearers at the
funeral of W. C. Handy, composer of "St.
Louis Blues," at the Abyssinian Baptist
Church Wednesday.
Bank of America Closes
Special N.Y. Branch
NEW YORK—The Bank of America wUl
move its local motion picture and television
department April 30 to bank headquarters
in Los Angeles. It was established here eight
years ago to distribute 30 features acquired by
the bank, which have now been sold to Mundus
Television Corp.
The local office was supervised by Francis
Herwood, vice-president. The resident manager
was Peter W. Geiger, who plans an early
announcement of a new affiliation.
N.Y. Producers to Meet
NEW YORK—The Film Producers Ass'n of
New York will open its campaign to further
production here with a dinner Tuesday (8)
at Toots Shor's, at which Mayor Wagner will
speak. The group was organized seven years
ago and has 31 members.
E-4 BOXOFFICE : : April 7, 1958