TO LORD

,
——
——
—
1j
Sacks Special Showmanship Spree
To Continue After 25th Anniversary
BOSTON—A. Alan Friedberg, president
iii Sack rheatres, is putting the "show"
back in showbiz with an array of premieres.
promotions, Hollywood-type openings of
new theatres, gimmicks to hype the boxoffice,
all part of the circuit's 25th anniversary
year.
But when the anniversary celebration is
over, Friedberg said the promotions and
other extras will continue — "because they
work."
"Some theatres tend to forget what show
business is all about. It's not opening the
doors and showing pictures. I think show
business is supposed to be glamorous," he
said.
He's just opened a new twin cinema in
Brockton with the whole bit, klieg lights,
marching bands, drum majorettes. VIPs,
limos. hoopla, and he's got the world
preem of Joseph E. Levine's "A Bridge Too
Far" lined up for the Music Hall in June
and the world premiere of Peter Guber's
"The Deep." He's running TV and radio
NEW HAVEN
The Bowl Drive-in in West Haven opened
for the season with "Carrie" and "The
Mechanic." It is advertising electric in-car
heater service.
The shoreline town of Clinton now has
cable TV service with the Connecticut River
Cable TV Co. Installation charge-percustomer
is $24.95 and monthly service
charge is $8.50. Towns in the franchise area
include Killingworth, Westbrook, Old Saybrook,
Essex, Chester, Deep River, Haddam
and Durham.
Paramount'* "Artists and Models" and
"Hollywood or Bust," Dean Martin-Jerry
Lewis starrers, were screened at the Bernhard
Center, University of Bridgeport, on
a recent Thursday night. Admission was 75
cents.
"The Road to Rio," starring Bob Hope,
TWIN
Call
IT!!
Harry Jones
Drive-in Theatre Construction Since 1946
NE-2
• Steel Towers
• Painting • Repairs
Free
Estimates
Theatre Construction Co.
Fairfield Drive-In Theotre
Fairfield, III. 62837
Phone A/C 618-847-7636
**g&M ft***«S^*
contests, and his most instant success was
making "25" the winning number, age, anniversary,
wedding date, etc., for free admission
to any theatre in the 30-scrcen circuit,
with proper credentials.
For a spy film, in which the lead wore
a trenchcoat, anyone wearing a trenchcoat
was a free shoo-in. Other Friedberg stunts
have included marching a ten-foot King
Kong along Boston streets peering in store
windows, putting models in old-time sandwich
boards advertising his films and hosting
champagne receptions in the lobbies of
his
theatres.
Friedberg says business at Sack theatres
is good, and "this year promises to be a
record one—it's shaping up as the best
year in dollars and in unit admissions since
the advent of TV—and it is giving TV more
competition by offering a form of entertainment
free of commercial interruptions,
ringing
phones and noisy children." To say
nothing of popcorn!
Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, was
shown in the Greenwich Public Library on
a Friday night as a free attraction, open
only to Greenwich residents.
A one-time prominent downstate cinema,
the long-shuttered Palace, South Norwalk.
is assuming new status, with incorporation
of a Palace of the Performing Arts Center,
approved by IRS as a non-profit foundation
and dedicated to teaching/ production of
performing arts (from ethnic comedy to
grand opera). A $350,000 fund-raising drive
is under way. New theatre owner is Russell
Frato. Fifty and 60 years ago, when vaudeville
flourished, the theatre featured such
names as Mae West, Weber & Fields and
Hotidini.
"Pippi Goes on Board" was screened on
a recent Saturday and Sunday at the Hoffman
Capitol. Milford. with a 75-cent admission.
Cartoons supplemented the feature
attraction . . . UA's "A Thousand Clowns,"
which starred Jason Robards, was shown at
the East Haven Public Library with free
. . . The
tickets distributed in advance at the library's
circulation desk
Edmond Town
Hall Theatre, Newtown, screened "Billie"
at a Saturday matinee, the $1 admission
going to the Newtown Stridors Drum Corps
Fund.
Carload: $4 in Canton
CANTON, MASS.—The Blue Hills
Drive-In went opposition underskyers one
better with a recent weekend show. It
charged $4-per-carload (regardless of number
of passengers) for a double-bill comprised
of Universal's "Car Wash" and "The
Eiger Sanction." Over the same weekend,
area drive-ins were charging $5-per-carload
(also
regardless of number of passengers).
Black Sunday' Huge
400 in Hartford 1st
HARTFORD—Three newcomers injected
new life into the capital city boxoffices
as grosses ran far above average. Paramount's
"Black Sunday" ballooned to a 400
at the Redstone Showcase while "Airport
'77" registered 375 in three situations. "Sex
Wish," grossed 175. The Redstone complex,
which normally runs new product in all
auditoriums, brought back "All the President's
Men."
(Average Is 100)
Art Cinema Through the Looking Glass (SR);
Naked Came the Stranger (SR), 4th wk
Atheneum Cinema Cousin Cousine (Sft),
10th wk 3''
Cmema City—Wizards (20th-Fox), 3rd wk. . 125
Four theatres The Domino Principle (Emb),
2nd wk 175
Showcase—Black Sunday (Para) 400
Showcase—Rocky (UA), 9th wk 135
Showcase—Network (MGM-UA), 7th wk 150 ,
Showcase—A Star Is Born (WB), 15th wk ... 12";
Three cheatres—Airport '77 (Univ) 375
Webster—Sex Wish (SR) 175
'Airport '77' Opens
At 350 in New Haven
NEW HAVEN—Universal's "Airport!
'77" with 350 and 20th-Fox's "Wizards")
with 200 paced the town. The first-run;
bloc, in the main, contained a sizable roster
of continuing attractions, many well above
the 100 figure. Warners' "All the President's
Men" opened in auditorium four of the;
Redstone Showcase 5, a rare rerun for that
deluxe complex.
Cinemart, Milford Fun With Dick and lane
1
(Col), 8th wk Ki
Milford—The Domino Principle (Emb), 2nd wk
15(J
Roger Sherman Emma Mae (SR); Blast (SR),
2nd wk 13(I
Showcase Airport '77 (Univ) 35(7
Showcase—A Star Is Born (WB), 15th wk 13(11
Showcase—Network (MGM-UA), 7th wk 14IM
Showcase—Rocky (UA), 9th wk 14''
York Square Cinema—Wizards (20th-Fox) 20' I
Mascolo Out on Appeal
BOSTON—Anthony Mascolo, 54, presi
dent, treasurer and director of Unite-
American Theatre Corp., doing business a
Pussycat Cinema in the Combat Zone, wh
was ordered sent to jail after a Suffol
Superior Court jury convicted him of pot
session of an obscene film, "Anybody Bi
My Husband," is out on appeal.
Fellini Film Shown Free
NEWTON, MASS. — Federico Fellini
"Nights of Cabiria," with English titles, w;
screened as a free attraction at the Nona
turn Branch Library on a recent Mond;
night at 7 p.m. The public was invited.
Triple Dose of Exorcism
MEDFORD, MASS.—The Meadow Gl
Twin Drive-In advertised, "A Triple Dc
of Exorcism," for a three-feature progra
comprised of "The Devil Within He'
"They Came From Within," and "The Nig|
Evelyn Came Out of the Grave," on t:
Wellington screen over a recent weeket-
The sister Circle screen had "All the Predent's
Men" and "Freebie and the Beat
Admission for either show was $5-per-c
load, regardless of number of passengers,
BOXOFFICE :: April 18, I9|
0*
••••