Boxoffice-April.13.1959

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Milwaukee Theatres
Play to Big Crowds
MILWAUKEE — Easter school vacation
and top pictures contributed to the excellent
boxoffice response here last week,
in the opinion of downtown exhibitors.
Heading the list again for the second week
was the Riverside Theatre, showing "The
Shaggy Dog," with waiting lines winding
around the block. "Rio Bravo" and "Some
Like It Hot" also were in the blockbuster
class.
{Average Is 100)
Alhambro—Road Racers (AlP); Doddy-0 (AlP) 100
Some Like It Hot (UA), 2nd wk 200
Polace
Riverside—The Shaggy Dog (BV), 2nd wk 300
Strond
Pacific South (Magna), 41st wk 95
Towna—Tempest (Para) 1 65
Wornsr— Rio Bravo (WB) 250
Wisconsin The Sound and the Fury (20th-Fox);
Plunders of Pointed Flats (Rep) 100
Another Bell-Ringer Week
For Minneapolis Houses
MINNEAPOLIS — "Sleeping Beauty"
continued to be the top grosser in Its
fourth week at the Academy Theatre with
a big 225 per cent. Close contenders were
"Windjammer" in its 19th week at the
Century and "The Journey" in its second
week at the World, both with 175 per cent.
Beouty (BV), 4th wk 225
Academy—Sleeping
Century—Windjammer (NT), 1 9t-h wk 75
(Col), Gopher Gidget 2nd wk 150
Lyric The Mating Game (MGM) 140
Orpheum—House on Haunted Hill (AA) 175
(Para), Pan Tempest 2nd wk 150
State Bravo (WB), 2nd wk 100
Rio
World—The Journey (MGM), 2nd wk 1 75
Reader Insists That Ads
Be Respectable, Too
ST. PAUL.—A strong view of local motion
pictui-e advertising was taken by a
reader of the "Look 'N' Listen" column
written by Bill Diehl, motion picture critic,
the St. Paul Dispatch,
Terming ads "suggestive," she noted that
many films are ballyhooed as being "for
adults only" and she asks "why?" "To attract
teenagers and inquisitive men—and
women? It is bad enough when movies of
disreputable design are advertised as such,
but many good films which are family entertainment
are also announced publicly
in this manner. It is my belief that many
St. Paulites are staying away from movies
because of the advertising given them."
Concluding her letter, the reader suggested,
"What can the public do to put
a stop to these morally offensive advertisements?
As a starter, how about patronizing
only the theatres that advertise in
a respectable manner?"
No Fees From Jukeboxes
OTTAWA—The Supreme Court of Canada
here found that the Composers,
Authors and Publishers Ass'n of Canada
was not entitled to fees for performing
rights on music in its repertoire when
played on the jukeboxes of Siegel Distributing
Co., Toronto. The case came before
Canada's highest court in the form
of an appeal by CAPAC against a decision
in the exchequer court. The judgment
maintained that a jukebox is a phonograph
which is exempt from performing right fees
under the copyright act of Canada. The
ruling may mean that CAPAC would lose
an estimated $150,000 revenue in a year.
BOXOFFICE April 1959
Big: Storm, Big Gross!—It's an iU
wind that blows no good, agrees Manager
Elmer Haines of the Fox Theatre
at Sidney, Neb. When a spring blizzard
struck the area, it left a big blob
of white stuff piled up at the Fox,
which was playing "The Blob" and "I
Married a Monster from Outer Space."
Elmer looked for a handful of patrons
that night. But in addition to hardy
local teenagers, he had a raft of outof-town
motorists. Truckers, salesmen
and bus passengers were stranded
by the storm.
Council Offered Theatre
For Community Center
DELAVAN, WIS.—This community will
have its first municipal center and lose
its only theatre if the city council decides
to purchase the theatre building at the
corner of Walworth avenue and Fourth
street.
Standard Theatres. Milwaukee, which
owns the theatre building, has offered to
sell it to the city for $75,000 cash. The
council will make public its decision concerning
the offer by May 10. The city now
rents office space in the building and could
consolidate its functions there if the purchase
is made. The theatre section would
serve as a municipal auditorium.
The Delavan Theatre has been the property
of the Standard circuit since 1937,
when it was purchased from Community
Theatre Corp. Philip Newman is manager
of the Delavan, which went to a weekend
only schedule in Januai-y- Wardell Spencer,
who is in charge of the booth, has been
open-
projectionist at the theatre since its
ing in 1929.
Bloomington, Minn„ House
Updated by Paul Mans
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — Paul Mans
has been making steady improvement in
the Oxboro Theatre since he bought it
from Otto Kobs, the original owner and
operator, in January. The theatre is being
managed by Richard Mans, son of the
new owner.
The updating includes remodeling the
with a new floor and paint job.
interior,
An entire new front, complete with a new
theatre sign, wiU be put up. The Kobs
residence, which adjoins the theatre and
which was included in the puixhase by
Mans, wiU be dismantled to clear room
for parking near the theatre,
Kobs still retains his ownership of the
Flying Cloud Drive-In. Mans also is part
owner of the Richfield Theatre,
Vote No on DST Bill
But It Stillls Alive
ST. PAUL—The industry stacked up another
victory in the battle against daylight
saving time, but what the eventual
outcome will be is still anyone's guess.
The Minnesota senate, on a preliminary
standing vote, voted down a motion to approve
statewide daylight saving time from
Memorial Day to the Tuesday following
Labor Day. Action on the bill came while
the lawmakers sat as a committee of the
entire senate.
The senate voted not to recommend the
bill out of committee, but did not kill it.
So it is still "alive" before a body which
earlier voted to repeal all DST laws.
Also still before the senate is a biU to
hold a statewide referendum on DST, but
backers have not indicated when they will
bring it up. The house of representatives
has taken no action on DST outside of
committee hearings.
MnSTNEAPOLIS—The Hennepin County
(Minneapolis) board of commissioners in
a unanimous vote authorized DST for the
county from April 26 to October 25. Ramsey
(St. Paul) and Anoka counties appeared
likely to follow Hennepin County's
lead in adopting daylight saving time.
The action by the commissioners assures
Minneapolis of daylight saving time this
year unless the state legislature enacts a
different law.
Cui-rently there is a statewide DST law
which is due to expire July 1. and another
law allowing Hennepin and Ramsey counties
and the governing body of any contiguous
county or municipality plus the
city of Duluth to establish DST. The latter
law has no expii-ation date and is the one
under which the county commissioners
acted.
A bill to repeal the latter law was passed
by the Minnesota senate, but has not
progressed out of the house general legislation
committee,
FARGO, N. D.—The Fargo city commission
has voted to hold a city election to
decide whether Fargo citizens want daylight
saving time this summer. The city
is across the river from Moorhead, Minn.
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