Boxoffice-October.02.1978

j
The
Less X-Raled Product
Appearing on Screens
By MAURIE H. ORODENKER
PHILADELPHIA — Significantly, the
start of the new season finds only a minimal
presence of X-rated films and ever fewer
film houses with an exclusive X to triple-X
film policy. Save for a number of storefront
movie houses that are operated in conjunction
with adult book stores and "live" features,
there are less than a half dozen conventional
theatres in center-city dedicated
to
the X's.
Ad Copy Less
Explicit
It wasn't too many seasons ago that the
X films had a high degree of visibility on
the theatrical pages of the daily newspapers.
Now, with its descriptive art and headlines
severely toned down, there are only
four such center-city theatres carrying display
ads running from 30 to 86-line ads in
the tabloid Philadelphia Daily News. Significantly,
only the Apollo Theatre shows
the letter X in its copy.
The Apollo, once part of the RKO-Stanley
Warner circuit and one of the first center-city
conventional theatres to go X, has
isince become a complete adult complex
with a full stock of books, magazines and
films for sale where other theatres offer
popcorn, candy and Coke. The only center-
Icity cinema operating 24 hours around the
|cIock, the Apollo utilized its basement. It's
'only a 25-cents admission through a separate
entrance to the basement below where "Live
Nude Dancers— 16 Girls Daily" are offered.
JReguIar admission to the "four X-films
levery day" is S3 with senior citizens getting
!$1 off with the Daily News ad, which
doesn't appear in the other two daily papers.
Changes in Program
The other three theatres,
which avoid use
lof the letter X in their ads in all three papers,
are the Studio Theatre, which once
featured foreign films, as did the Forum
Theatre, which may try at it with classic
ifilms, and Theatre 1812, originally opened
as a first-run house. The Studio is also an
['adult complex," with its lobby boarded up
with a separate entrance for adult magaizines,
books, films and peep shows. The theatre
itself tries to perk up business from
time to time with live burlesque and nude
shows.
only other conventional theatre in
:center-city with a triple-X rating is the Center,
which confines its advertising in the
three newspapers to four-line listings in the
Neighborhood Movie Directory. Opening
daily at 1 p.m., it stays open all night. Interestingly
enough, the Neighborhood Movie
Directory shows only two other theatres
operating in neighborhoods are listed—Art
Holiday, the first neighborhood house to
turn to X-rated films, and the Devon Theatre,
both in the Kensington section of the
icity. Of the five other X-film houses among
the almost 90 theatres listed, two are suburban
houses—the Yorktown Theatre and
(Continued on page E-8)
CHARITY, STAR POWER AT LUNCHEON—Nearly 650 persons packed
the house at the Blue Crest North in Pikesville, Md., for the Variety Club Women
of Tent 19 luncheon and fashion show September 11. Proceeds from the event
benefited a Variety pediatric oncology isolation unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Special guests included Tony Randall, who was honored as "Entertainer of the
Year"; Oscar De La Renta. "Designer of the Year"; Eric Morley, president of
Variety Clubs International, with his wife Julia, and Dr. Brigid Leventhal, director
of pediafrioncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who accepted the Variety donation.
Chairperson for the event was Shirley Howard. Pictured above are, (seated left to
right), Dr. Leventhal, Randall and De La Renta; (standing left to right) Shirley
Howard, chief barker William Howard, president of Variety Club Women Barbara
Goldberg and Morley.
Classic German Films
Find Way Onto Screen
TOMS RIVER, N.J.—A festival of German
Film Classics will be presented at two
of the three Ocean County Mall Cinemas
located in the Ocean Mall in suburban
Brick Township. While the triplex is an
operation of the General Cinema Corp., the
foreign film festival will be promoted by
Erwin Single, an area resident, who leased
the theatres for eight dates throughout the
year.
Friday Morning Screenings
Not interfering with the regular film programs,
the films will be shown Friday mornings
at 10 a.m. with simultaneous screenings
of a drama or comedy in one theatre
and a musical in the other. The series opened
this week with "Der Zigeunerbaron"
("The Gypsy Baron") and "Heimweh nach
St. Pauli" ("Homesick for St. Pauli").
Season tickets for the entire series of
eight films are being sold at $20 with single
admissions at $3. Other festival dates include
Friday (20), November 17, December
8, March 9. April 20, May 18 and June 5.
All the films selected for the series were
made in the 1950s and 1960s with English
subtitles. Each film program will be accompanied
by a travel featurette on Germany
or Austria.
Single, former owner of "New Yorker
Staats-Zeitung," one of the largest Germanlanguage
newspapers in this country, which
was published in that city, said he began
to organize the series eight months ago. He
said that he discovered there still is a great
affection for German films in the nostalgia
category, especially among the many thousands
of German-speaking residents in the
adult communities of Ocean and Monmouth
counties in this Central Jersey resort area.
Response Is
Enthusiastic
Announcement of the festival, Single said,
has drawn enthusiastic response not only
from the German-speaking community, but
also from lovers of the classic operetta. The
operetta, he added, was the traditional form
of theatre the German-speaking residents
grew up with and he feels that the postbreakfast
showings will prove most popular
especially among the older moviegoers.
The other three musicals in the series are
"Der Vogelhaendler" ("The Bird Vendor"),
"Der Bettclstudent" ("The Beggar Student")
and "Don Juan." the film version of Moazart's
"Don Giovanni." Others in the comedy
and drama series arc "Alle Tage ist kein
Sonntag" ("Not Every Day Is Sunday"),
"Kein Tag Schoener als der Andere"
("Every Day Is Better Than the Other")
and "Auf der Reeperbahn Nachts um halb
eins," which depicts Hamburg's streets at
12:30 a.m.
BOXOFFICE :: October 2, 1978 E-1