Boxoffice-March.06.1948

East and West Coasts Pay
Top Admission Scales
By NATHAN COHEN
A survey of motion picture theatre admissions
in key runs reveals that, on the
whole, patrons on the east and west coasts
pay more for their film entertainment
than those elsewhere in the country, and
that the lowest admissions are paid in
the midwest and south. The study was
made in 32 of the 92 cities with 100,000
population or more, and was undertaken
in cooperation with the corps of BOX-
OFTUCE field representatives.
Filmgoers in Seattle, Portland. San Francisco,
Boston. Miami and Philadelphia, for
example, pay more for their tickets than
those in Kansas City. Dallas, Atlanta, Fort
Wayne, Cincinnati and Tulsa. Prices range
from a first run low of 50 cents in Birmingham,
where the admissions scale has not
changed since 1934. to a high of $1.20 for loge
seats at the Lincoln Theatre in Miami
Beach. Average for the 32 cities is 68 cents.
Top admissions, as was expected, go to
theatres in cities with populations of a half
million or more with the scale falling—as a
general rule—as the population drops. There
is no general pattern on admission schedules
on a population basis, however. Unusually low
ticket costs turned up in several top bracket
cities and exceptionally high prices popped
up in the smaller cities group. The study included
eight cities with 500,000 population or
more, 13 cities with populations from 250,-
000 to 500,000, and 11 cities in the 100,000-
250.000 class.
In the eight top metropolitan centers
Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston,
Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee
the survey shows that the average evening
admission price is 82 cents. Chicago gets
the top price, 98 cents, and the price is constant,
matinee and evening. Neighborhoods
playing day and date with Loop theatres get
the same price. Detroit's first runs charge
95 cents, and Philadelphia's key theatres get
94 cents but the Philadelphia price includes
one of the top tax highs in the country, a
10 per cent municipal tax in addition to- the
20 per cent federal levy.
Patrons in Buffalo get the ticket bargain
among the major cities. Top prices here are
40 cents matinees and 60 cents evenings,
weekdays, with the scale rising to the 50-70-
cent level on weekends and holidays. In
Baltimore, there's a 65-cent evening scale
and a 44-cent matinee at all downtown first
runs, although the Hippodrome (Rappaports)
Survey of 32 cities reveals
first run prices range from
50 cents to $1.20, witfi no
set pattern for determining
cost of theatre ticket.
gets 70 cents for a stage and screen program
and Warners hikes its customary 65-
cent ticket to 70 cents for weekends and
holidays.
When the scales for cities under a half
it million population are studied, becomes
apparent that exhibitors have yet to adopt
a uniformity of admission prices. In the
24 cities surveyed in this group, the prices
ranged from 50 cents to 85 cents, with the
average 65.5 cents. Wichita, Kas., gets 75
cents for first runs, but Kansas City, Mo.,
sets its key run scale at 65 cents. Miami
prices range from 85 cents to $1.20. but
Atlanta has an evening top of 60 cents.
In the Miami area, the Wometco circuit
has a scale of 74 cents daytime and $1 evenings
at the Lincoln Theatte, with the loge
at $1.20. At other first runs, however, Miami
residents attending the Wometco and Paramount
houses pay 70 cents for matinees and
85 cents evenings.
Of the 32 cities surveyed, theatres in approximately
one-third of them have a state