Boxoffice-October.03.1966

ROUNDABOUT
-By
\X7inding up oik- ot ihc most spccuicul.iiK
successful summers — thanks in no
small measure to such major releases as
UA's "The Russians Are Coming the Hussions
Are Coming." Warner Bros." "Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Columbia's
"Walk. Don't Run." Univcrsal's "Arabesque."
MGM's "Around the World Under
the Sea," and continued roadshow engagements
of 20ih-Fox's "The Sound of Music."
New England exhibition is taking an understandably
cautious look at fall and winter.
and
For one thing, exhibition, both circuit
independent alike. wi>uld like to sec a ct)ntinuancc
of sustained quality attractions.
For another, they are vitally concerned
with further development of new theatres,
particularly within the sphere-and-scope o''
shopping centers. In this vein, more than
a handful of hardlops will he open within
a matter of months— Stanley Warner. 1.100
seats, Danbury Shopping Plaza; UA Theatres,
1,100 seats, Groton Shopping Plaza;
Sampson & Spodick I .OOO-scatcrs in Norwalk
and Westport. all in Connecticut; an
unprecedented (for New England anyway)
expansion of the Cinema I and II complexes
operated by Redstone Theatres in twn Massachusetts
situations. Lawrence and West
Springfield, to include Cinema III.
Well beyond 1966. however, there is
much conjecture and consideration. It's a
common argument, where New England
theatre owners gather, to ponder if the shopping
center idea, mushrooming fantastically
in the six-state area, has been "over-done"
and if the smaller towns now offer possibili-
ty-
In all
too many cities and towns, however,
it's been a poignant case of insufficient
sources from which to lake a young man or
woman interested in motion picture exhibition
as a career and start them on a well
coordinated training program.
"Too many guidance people in too many
of our area high schools and colleges." lamented
one prominent exhibitor, "are all
too quick to remind us that motion picture
exhibition is very easily overshadowed b\
more "glamorous' atmospheres—i.e., advcr-
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NEW ENGLAND
ALLEN WIDEM-
Using, IclcMsion. electronics, ail offering the
Monday through Friday 9 to 5 working
schedule—and it's tough, really tough, to
make a sales pitch for young men and
women with whom our own people can
work."
Recruitment. Speric P. Perakos. vice-president
and general manager of Perakos Theatre
Associates, asserts, is a matter of individual
circuit concern. "It's up to the individual
theatre owner or manager," he tells Boxoii
iti;. "to approach people whose knowledge
of community economics and emotions
they really respect and ask them if they
know of some bright youngster who'd like
to go to work in an industry that CAN
provide a tremendous future for someone
not afraid of nights and weekends as a permanent
work schedule."
Multiple Openings Entrenched
Multiple opcnmgs — something thai
boomed a few years ago from scattered situations
to a way of exhibition life on both
a city and regional scale—seem to be well
entrenched throughout New England by
now. and. by and large, exhibition is "living"
with the idea of playing day-and-date with
rival theatres. Cooperative advertising has
markedly increased.
In this particular category, the fast-expanding
Perakos Theatre interests in Connecticut
(six hardtop and two drive-ins) are
looking to construction of a l.OOO-seal theatre
as part of a million-dollar-plus shopping
center on Route 72, Plainville. midstate. directly
opposite the Perakos booming Plainville
Drive-In.
Aliead on Farmington Unit
And the E.M. l.oew-Hector Frascadore
interests are moving, full-speed ahead, on a
I.OOO-seater adjacent to the Farmington
Drive-In on Route 6 at the Farmington-Bri:,-
tol town line. Connecticut. A like venture
is envisioned for land adjacent to the E.M.
I.oew Norwich-New London Drive-In.
Moni\ille. Conn., and at the E.M. Locw
Riverdale Drive-In. Riverdale Street. West
Springfield. Mass. (The latter site, incidentally,
is a few minutes' driving time from
the aforementioned Redstone Cinema I and
II complex, also on Riverdale Street. West
Springfield I.
Construction-wise, New England exhibition
hasn't had a similar spurt of activity in
several decades. Moreover, numerous circuits
are spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars in extensive remodeling of existing
showcases, Perakos Theatres in Conneclicul
will pour a quarter of a million dollars into
renovation of hardlops in Connecticut alone.
All of the foregoing, to be sure, has served
as a tremendous morale factor to regional
exhibition. But the ever-present plaguing
problems of quality proilucl and. significant-
Is. procurement ot ample manpower ha\en'l
Mowed into oblivion.
Only a minute pari ol New Ilngland exhibition
can openly express satisfaction with
personnel recriiitnieni. In all of these instances,
it's cited that local and area schools
have cooperated in singling out potential
management trainees.
.Additional cause tor alarm is inability ol
the small-town theatres to "bounce back"
strongly. Small-town theatre owners tell
BoxoFi-iCE that America's Affluent Age.
with its preponderance of four-lane parkways,
highways, freeways—call them what
you will—has taken the once regular smalliinvn
patron far from hometown theatre to
the bigger cities for shopping, social life and
entertainment, which, of course, sporadically
includes motion pictures.
Few of the small-town theatres that closed
in the tragic aftermath of television's initial
impact in this territory ten and fifteen years
ago have reopened. Many have since been
converted to other commercial purposes;
their owners, in effect, "writing off their
investment in motion pictures, per se.
Boxoffice-wise. business IS booming in
New England—attributable in large part to
top-calibre releases. Receipts are running
well ahead of corresponding summers of
long ago. but the more concerned exhibitors
remark that attendance figures, as such, are
dwindling.
"We're getting more in admission." admits
one showman, "but our number of patrons
is at about the same level or even lower
than heretofore. As long as the money runs
ahead of years before, of course, we're
ahead of the game. But it's perplexing to
wonder where those "lost audiences' have
gone and how we, as exhibitors, can get
them back as 'regular' patrons."
HARTFORD
^hc independent Midtown, Norwich first
run, has a Wednesday bargain matinee
, . .
policy in effect, charging only 75 cents for
adults at the 1:.^0 p.m. performance
.lohn Scankin 111. operator of the Strand.
Winsted. running " larzan and the Valley of
Ciold." alluded to TV's new "Tarzan" series
in ads captioned. "You Don't Have
to Wait for TV! Here Is the All-New, All
I'xciting Tarzan!"
The l.nccu family-operated, subsequentrun
1 \ric. one of Hartford's few remaining
theatres still functioning with such a policy,
has resumed seven days-a-week performances.
The theatre had been on a weekend
schedule for many months.
The one-time Glackin-LeWiit .Arch
Street Theatre. New Britain, is being converted
into a two-story office building by
new owner J. M.S. Inc., headed by New
Britain's Robert W. Knaus. a builder.
Ed Ruff Back to Work
Following Eye Surgery
II \l< I 1 OKI) liKk-pciuk-Mi New Engiaiul
slalcs-nghls film distributor Edward
Ruff has resumed acti\e business again, following
his recovers from eye surgery in early
July.
His corporate interests, Edward Ruff Associates,
dales back several decades.
NE-4 BOXOFFICE October 3, 1966