exhibitor – The Magnificent 60s

Several years ago, I received a wonderful surprise in the post. The package had come all the way to Scotland from New Zealand, a mere 11,000 miles, and it contained the ledgers of cinemas run by legendary New Zealand exhibitor Allan Webb, whom I had befriended online. Not only did it contain lists week-by-week and day-by-day of all the programs run by Allan at various cinemas, it also detailed how much money each movie made, and, later on, the figures also included the earnings from refreshments.

Since I’ve always been interested in the minutiae of the movie business, this was manna from heaven. I had grown up in an era and an area where cinemas, at the most, changed movies twice a week (three times if you counted the occasional Sunday night horror double bill). So I had no idea how an exhibitor way down the distribution food chain managed to keep a business going.

*Allan Webb outside the Regent. Main picture, Allan Webb today.*

Since 1970 Allan Webb had been running the 250-seater Regent in Te Aroha, a small rural town (population around 3,000) in the north island of New Zealand. The cinema, which had opened in 1927, had shut down at Xmas 1969, and in Easter 1970 Allan took it over on a three-month trial basis at a rent of NZ$13 a week (enough to cover the local rates, as the owners just wanted it open).

“The place was a dump,” recalled Allan, “but I made so many improvements on a very limited budget, kept the light lows, ran a good ship and had an eccentric programming. I had circuit cinemas on either side of me getting the films much earlier.”

The cinema was licensed to show movies four days a week. When he started out, he limited screening films to Friday and Saturday. Prices for adults were 45c for matinees and 50c for evenings and for children 25c for matinees and 30c for evenings.

However, getting movies was a problem from the outset. Recalled Allan, “Te Aroha was considered to be the ‘Exhibitor’s Graveyard’ and some film distributors were very indifferent about supplying film there.” Various studios refused to supply him or their rental rates proved too high. It took years before United Artists, for example, took him on as a customer. Paramount was more amenable offering flat-rate hires ranged from NZ$6-10, with repeats NZ$5. And, initially, he had to pay in advance.

The film shown on re-opening was western Villa Rides starring Yul Brynner and Robert Mitchum which attracted 117 customers, including 51 children.

At the Regent in Te Aroha, in 1973, it would be rare to get by with just two movies showing, separately of course. In 1973, the cinema screened 176 movies including double-bills, averaging out at around 3.5 movies a week. In total the box office brought in NZ$12,557 (that’s New Zealand dollars) at an average of NZ$241.48.

The best week (beginning July 12^th, 1973) brought in NZ$611.8 split between The Cowboys (1972) starring John Wayne and The Godfather (1972).

But, as I said, it was rare for the Regent to be able to just screen two movies in a week. The second-best week (April 25^th – Easter) hit NZ$615.35 – but it required a total of six pictures to reach those figures. The sextet comprised a double bill of Bonnie and Clyde (1967)/Bullitt (1968) and separate programs featuring Disney’s The Barefoot Executive (1971), the Oscar-laden Ben-Hur (1959), French war comedy Don’t Look Now, We’re Being Shot At (1966) with Bourvil and Louis de Funes and Fred Astaire musical Finian’s Rainbow (1968).

A James Bond tribute (October 4^th), each film a separate program, comprising From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971) still wasn’t enough to sate demand and Carry On Doctor (1967) was added to the mix, the seven pictures in total pulling in NZ$266.45.

On two other weeks were six films shown, with varying results. The combination – each film shown in a separate program – of comedy It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), French gangster picture Borsalino (1970), musical The Student Prince (1954), Judy Garland classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland in Kelly’s Heroes (1970) and Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra in musical High Society (1956), knocked up NZ$445.85 for the week of August 30^th.

Oddly enough, High Society also featured in the six-picture week of September 2^nd which could only manage a take of NZ$284.4 from the combined efforts of that musical, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), a John Wayne double bill of Rio Lobo (1970)/Big Jake (1971) and the horror duo of Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)/The Mummy’s Shroud (1967).

The Student Prince was also part of a five-picture week (April 23^rd) which rustled up NZ$364.9 thanks to World War Two POW drama The Great Escape (1963), weepie Love Story (1970), and a Beatles double bill of A Hard Day’s Night (1964)/Help (1965).

It was virtually impossible sometimes to guess which films would draw an audience and which would not. The most dependable performers turned out to be the British Carry On comedy series. During the year Carry On Henry (1971) ran as a main feature. So did Carry On Doctor (1967) and Carry On Loving (1970) – so successful it was rebooked as a main feature later in the year. Carry On Camping (1969) was teamed, in the same week, with both Carry On Up the Jungle (1970) and Carry On Screaming (1966). Acting as supports were Carry On Cowboy (1965) and Carry On Constable (1960).

John Wayne was another banker. Apart from the previously mentioned The Cowboys, the Duke turned up in Chisum and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). Rio Lobo and Big Jake had both played, separately, as main features before being brought together in a double bill. Clint Eastwood was beginning to dog his footsteps, the entire spaghetti western trio was shown, as was Where Eagles Dare, Kelly’s Heroes, Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Dirty Harry (1971) and Play Misty for Me (1971).

Richard Harris as A Man Called Horse (1970) also received a repeat booking – the second time as a support to Shalako (1968) – while the sequel Man in the Wilderness was screened. Other westerns in the exhibition mix in 1973 were: They Call Me Trinity (1970), Dustin Hoffman as Little Big Man (1970), Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune in “eastern-western” Red Sun (1971), James Stewart and Henry Fonda in The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), Elvis Presley as Charro! (1969), Sam Peckinpah’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Wild Rovers (1971) starring William Holden, Robert Mitchum in The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969), 100 Rifles (1969) with Jim Brown and Raquel Welch, The Great Bank Robbery (1969), Jim Brown in El Condor (1970), God Forgives…I Don’t (1967), Burt Reynolds as Sam Whiskey (1969), Gregory Peck in The Stalking Moon (1968), Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot in Shalako and Lee Van Cleef as Sabata (1969).

The Regent could rely on westerns. Several of those shown in 1973 had returned for a repeat performance. Shown in the period 1971-1972 were: A Man Called Horse (twice), Shalako (twice), The Stalking Moon, Two Mules for Sister Sara, 100 Rifles, Little Big Man, God Forgives…I Don’t. The Carry On films were as commonly repeated.

“It’s a wonder I survived with so many weak titles and getting them so late,” said Allan. “Many of the films I showed didn’t screen anywhere else, but they were very good films. The first year was sustainable but by the end of the second year, it was dire. I asked Paramount for Love Story but was told it was frozen until the next year. I pleaded and said I probably wouldn’t be there next year, so I got it at a rental of 50 per cent for a Friday and Saturday night at Xmas and it filled.

“From then on people started to come back. I also agreed to show it in the January holidays at 50 per cent as part of the deal. The Godfather – shown in 1973 – resulted in the biggest take over the seven years I ran the cinema.

“British comedies always played to good sized audiences as well as the ‘big’ films. Double features of two ‘B’ movies or one ‘B’ film and a popular repeat would usually perform satisfactorily on a Friday. Popular films could be repeated several times and often coupled up with other ones.

“The programming was considered to be fairly obscure, but it worked. A lot of films were played especially for the few days it operated.” Two films held the single session attendance record – Easy Rider and Helga which both played to capacity.”

“It was the school of hard knocks, but I learned a lot on how to survive.”

Allan Webb sold the cinema in 1977. He was awarded the Queen’s Medal in 2014 for services to the New Zealand film industry. He had run The Regent in Te Awamutu for 48 years.

The global release is a relatively recent phenomenon. Back in the 1960s nobody would dream of letting loose a film on 7,000 screens worldwide all at once. In those days release patterns were a moveable feast. You could guarantee that a big new movie would open on a scheduled date in first run in a major city like New York, London or Paris, but after that it was anybody’s guess how long it might take to arrive at your local neighbourhood cinema. Especially, if a movie was part of the roadshow equation, it could occupy one cinema for months, maybe even years, and as long as it was screening there could go no further afield.

But even I was astonished, once I dug around in the files, to see just how long it took a movie to shift from world premiere to turning up at the last booking stations on the route, those tiny cinemas that appeared to litter small-town America. Towns with populations under 2,000 could still support a cinema. And it fell to the exhibitor to ensure a movie did not outstay its welcome. In Britain, cinemas in the 1960s screened films six days a week (Sunday films were subject to different regulations and were often one-off showings of old horror pictures hired on a fixed rental basis). Films ran for six days or the week was split into two, one program running Mon-Wed, the other Thu-Sat, the latter being allocated the movies with the better box office prospects.

It seemed, from an objective perspective, a fairly straightforward system. But in Britain a cinema with a catchment area of just a couple of thousand people would have gone to the wall a good time previously. All cinemas, even independent ones, fitted into some kind of release pattern, and might get the fifth or sixth or seven run of a movie after its big city first appearance, but, excepting roadshow, once it had made that vital first appearance you could rest assured it would take no more than six months or so to travel down the pipeline.

That did not hold true for small-town America. In 1967, for example, a picture could 18 months or more to reach towns such as St Leonard (pop 1900) in New Brunswick; Pittsfield (pop 2300) in New Hampshire; New Town (pop 1200) and Washburn (pop 968) in North Dakota; Lansing (pop 1328) in Iowa; St Johnsbury (pop 6000) in Vermont; England (pop 2136) in Arkansas; Flomaton (pop 1480) in Alabama; Oshkosh (pop 1100) in Nebraska; Grace (pop 775) in Idaho and Miltonvale (pop 911) in Kansas.

Weeks here appeared to be divided into three: Sun-Mon (or Sun-Tues); Tues-Wed (or Tue-Thu); and Wed-Sat (or Thu-Sat or Fri-Sat); and possibly into four if the exhibitor reckoned he had a bunch of stiffs. Certainly, minimal population counted against a small town being favored with a release ahead of a larger town. In addition, this type of exhibitor might well hold back until the rental terms were lower.

Tobruk was the fastest movie out of the blocks as far as these towns were concerned, just four months passed from its launch in February 1967 until showing up in one of these aforementioned towns. Murderers Row was not far behind, six months after its December 1966 release. But these were rarities. It took nearly two years for The Great Race, a roadshow release in1965, to gain a booking while The Sound of Music, another 1965 roadshow, was only available on condition it was hired for two weeks rather than the usual maximum four days.

And it was nine or ten months from first run to last run for Raquel Welch vehicle Fantastic Voyage, Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy The Fortune Cookie and Rock Hudson sci-fi Seconds. It took a full year for World War One epic The Blue Max, Cary Grant comedy Walk, Don’t Run and the Oscar-laden Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf to show. There was an even longer wait for Marlon Brando drama The Chase (sixteen months) and Sophia Loren starrer Judith (eighteen months).

Assuming that any movie showing on a Saturday was considered the best risk, the following films were perceived by exhibitors to offer the best prospects: Disney family comedy That Darn Cat (booked for two days), western spoof Cat Ballou (three), British spy picture Deadlier than the Male (three), William Holden Civil War western Alvarez Kelly (three), a revival of Hammer horror The Brides of Dracula (two), Lee Marvin-Burt Lancaster western The Professionals (three), Glenn Ford in Rage (three), British epic Khartoum (two), The War Wagon (four days in once cinema, only two in another), El Dorado (four days, running Fri-Mon), The Blue Max (four), Tobruk (two) and crime thriller Warning Shot (three).

Programs beginning on a Sunday I would reckon to have the next best chance of collaring an audience. Among these bookings were: The Great Race (three days), The Fortune Cookie (three), Fantastic Voyage (three), Paul Newman private eye thriller Harper (two), The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (two), In Like Flint (two), Paul Newman western Hombre (two), Night of the Generals (three), Walk, Don’t Run (just one), The Quiller Memorandum (two), western remake Stagecoach (three) and Lost Command (two).

That sometimes left a two-day program in the middle of the week as a bonus in a good week or make-and-break in a bad one. Clearly, exhibitors took greater risks on pictures slotted in then. Sometimes the gamble paid off. Raquel Welch in Swingin’ Summer (two days), booked on the back of expectations for Fantastic Voyage, did surprisingly well. So did Wild Angels and a revival of Tom Jones.

Exhibitors were not slow in venting anger at a poor performer. Box Office magazine’s fortnightly feature “The Exhibitor Has His Say” – from which all this information is drawn – allowed the cinema owner to mouth off and warn fellow exhibitors. Terry Axley of the New Theatre in England was among the most vociferous. “Never been able to do much business on Ann-Margret,” was his view on Made in Paris. There was “no dice” for The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Despite Sean Connery, A Fine Madness did only “average business.” Fantastic Voyage “flopped here entirely.”

The Quiller Memorandum provided an all-time low for S.T. Jackson of the Jackson Theater in Flomaton. Walk, Don’t Run was a “real disappointment” at the Arcadia Theater in St Leonard. A Man Could Get Killed was pulled “after the poorest Sunday ever” at the Roxy in Washburn. Arabesque held “no appeal” for the audiences at the Scenic Theater in Pittsfield, where Stagecoach “didn’t seem to have much draw.”

But exhibitors were equally good at pointing to pictures that had exceeded expectations: Laurel and Hardy’s Laugh In, Born Free, Henry Fonda western A Big Hand for a Little Lady, Tony Curtis comedy Not with My Wife You Don’t, Dean Martin comedy western Texas Across the River, espionage spoof Bang! Bang! You’re Dead and a revival of Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm from 1951.

What it showed was that one man’s turkey could prove another man’s golden goose. And while on the lowest rung of the distribution ladder that there was an inbuilt camaraderie that attempted to prevent fellow exhibitors from picking the wrong horse while hoping to pin their faith on an outsider romping home.

SOURCE: “The Exhibitor Has His Day,” Box Office, various issues, 1967.

Tag: exhibitor

Behind the Scenes: An Exhibitor’s Story – Allan Webb, Regent Cinema, Te Aroha, New Zealand 1973

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