Venues and and the EF Index

The value of the Exhibitors’ Faith index is that is illustrates the ‘worth’ that exhibitors placed on available product. For this post, we’ll be looking at the EF index in relation to the city theatres that originally screened the titles before they arrived in the suburbs in the calendar year of 1950.

Every suburban exhibitor had a “choice” as to what they screened in their venue in 1950. I place the word choice in quotes, as it was a conditional one: depending on their alignment with the major chains this “choice” was often dictated by orders from head office and out of the hands of individual theatre managers. Would an available film be screened at all? If so, would it be first or second on the bill? Would it screen for an entire week or on the lucrative Friday-Monday split or the moribund Tuesday-Thursday booking? It is these choices that were made – either by head office or individual managers that informed the overall EF value of screened films.

To a degree the likelihood of a film being placed in a prime position was dependent on how it had originally performed upon its city release. A strong performance in the city should guarantee a long and lucrative suburban play out. From the historical information available (which is severely limited) we can gauge this by the number of weeks that a film screened in the city upon its original Melbourne release. However, the accuracy of this KPI is dubious. For example, The Stratton Story – a baseball drama starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson – lasted a single week at the St. James in December 1949, yet it racked up a huge 393 EF points in the suburbs, ranking 12th overall for the year. Compare that to the biographical epic Christopher Columbus which managed two weeks at the Athenaeum and ended its suburban run with an abysmal 19 points – 337th overall for the year. These are but two arbitrary examples of many, however it would appear that on both occasions the suburban placements were made well in advance. The Stratton Story had 51 suburban playdates. All were top-billed and 34 were for full weeks (12 were on the Saturday observation and a mere five were observed on Tuesdays). Did audiences turn up to this film or were the booked venues left empty? It is difficult to say, but on the performance of other titles that received full week bookings on the Union circuit in their first week, but were drastically reduced thereafter, it would appear that Union was content with this film’s ticket sales and continued its lucrative placements throughout its suburban run.

On the other hand, Christopher Columbus was relegated to Tuesday support slots for most of its dire run – usually holding up The Big Steal and thus was given little or no chance to prove its worth. Its fate had long been decided by Hoyts who were happy to be done with it quickly (as an aside, that explains why so many copies of this film’s daybill were available for a couple of bucks at The Space Age Bookshop in the early 1980s).

So it would appear that, at least for their early placings within the bill and screening schedule, most titles had their bookings predetermined long before they reached the suburbs. And, it would seem, the venue the film appeared at in the city had a strong impact upon its EF value in the suburbs. The table below depicts (among other things) the original city venue, and the EF value – per screening – its titles received in the suburbs. From here we can see that, for films released across the Union chain those that played at either the Metro or St. James (both MGM houses under the Union banner) did extraordinarily well (including those released at both venues simultaneously) whereas a film at the Lyceum would receive quite a number of plays but end with a low EF ranking (for illustrative purposes those falling below the mean average are depicted in red).

EF Index of suburban releases of 1950 based on their first run city release venue

Original City Venue	Chain	Films	Total EF Points	Suburban Engagements	Ave Eng per film	EF Points per Film	Ave EF Points per Eng.
Athenaeum	Hoyts	24	2451	840	35.00	102.13	2.91
Australia	Indie	10	247	126	12.60	24.70	1.96
Capitol	Hoyts	29	5976	1491	51.41	206.07	4.01
Esquire	Hoyts	45	5820	2008	46.62	129.33	2.89
Grosvenor	Union	9	1205	286	31.78	133.89	4.21
Liberty	Union	41	3883	1153	28.12	94.70	3.37
Lyceum	Hoyts	42	4207	1626	38.71	100.17	2.58
Majestic	Union	23	4291	978	42.52	186.57	4.38
Metro	Union	7	2514	314	44.86	359.14	8.01
Metro / St. James	Union	6	2454	278	46.33	409.00	8.83
No City Release	N/A	8	305	107	13.38	38.13	2.85
Plaza	Hoyts	23	4146	1072	46.61	180.26	3.87
Regent	Hoyts	19	5121	1017	53.53	269.53	5.04
Savoy	Indie	8	1268	262	32.75	158.50	4.83
St. James	Union	31	7118	1390	44.84	229.61	5.12
State	Union	31	6447	1358	43.81	207.97	4.75
TOTAL		356	57,453	14,306
AVERAGE					40.19	161.38	4.02

In other words, depending on the theatres they originally screened in, films would receive a certain suburban fate. If you were a film that played in the Lyceum, Esquire, Plaza or Athenaeum you were most likely to be given a mediocre run in the suburbs. However, if you had played the Regent or Capitol (which was basically on par) then you achieved something over the average.

For all Union venues it was only the Liberty that fell below par, with the Majestic, State and MGM’s St. James and Metro doing above average business, The fact that Union Theatres – with limited product – performed more strongly overall than Hoyts is due to them having less product churning through their screens and therefore were more likely to play for full weeks rather than in reduced splits.

NOTE: On six occasions there were films that opened simultaneously at MGM’s Metro and St. James theatres (both under the Union / Independent banner). I’ve listed these separately to those those that played exclusively at either of those two venues. Additionally, eight films received suburban bookings that had no observed city release (these include re-issues of older titles that may have had a city release a decade or so earlier but in 1950 went sent directly to the suburbs).

To delve into the reason why films screened at some original city venues did better than others, the next table breaks down the suburban engagements into types of billing they received by number and percentage: Feature Only presentations (the only film on the bill), first or second billing.

The billing of suburban release films of 1950 based on their first run city release venue

Original City Venue	Chain	Films	Engage -ments	Feature Only	FO %	1st Bill	1st Bill %	2nd Bill	2nd Bill %
Athenaeum	Hoyts	24	840	2	0.24%	335	39.88%	503	59.88%
Australia	Indie	10	126	0	0.00%	10	7.94%	116	92.06%
Capitol	Hoyts	29	1491	5	0.34%	927	62.17%	559	37.49%
Esquire	Hoyts	45	2008	3	0.15%	834	41.53%	1171	58.32%
Grosvenor	Union	9	286	2	0.70%	168	58.74%	116	40.56%
Liberty	Union	41	1153	2	0.17%	393	34.08%	758	65.74%
Lyceum	Hoyts	42	1626	0	0.00%	595	36.59%	1031	63.41%
Majestic	Union	23	978	0	0.00%	498	50.92%	480	49.08%
Metro	Union	7	314	45	14.33%	265	84.39%	4	1.27%
Metro / St. James	Union	6	278	77	27.70%	199	71.58%	2	0.72%
No City Release	N/A	8	107	0	0.00%	25	23.36%	82	76.64%
Plaza	Hoyts	23	1072	32	2.99%	637	59.42%	403	37.59%
Regent	Hoyts	19	1017	7	0.69%	774	76.11%	236	23.21%
Savoy	Indie	8	262	2	0.76%	189	72.14%	71	27.10%
St. James	Union	31	1390	9	0.65%	724	52.09%	657	47.27%
State	Union	31	1358	22	1.62%	720	53.02%	616	45.36%

Feature Only presentations were really only confined to films originating from four city houses – The Metro, St. James and The State (Union) and The Plaza (Hoyts). These venues also enjoyed their films screening in high percentages in topping the bill, along with The Regent, Capitol (Hoyts), Grosvenor (Union) and Savoy (independent). Conversely, The Liberty (Union), Athenaeum, Esquire, Lyceum, (Hoyts) and the Australia (independent) all found their films more likely to be supporting features when they hit the suburbs. It is notable that, of these venues, The Liberty and Lyceum were predominantly ‘action houses’ that dealt in double features of low-ish budget genre titles that could gain enough of an audience to hold a city screen for a week but were not strong enough to sell to a later suburban audience as the prime feature on the bill. Intriguingly it was the Athenaeum that fared so poorly in this metric. At the time this theatre was screening only British product and with great success – many of its titles were held over for a number of weeks – however it is clear that suburban audiences were more interested in Hollywood titles than British ones, relegating J. Arthur Rank to propping up the bill outside of the CBD. However the Athenaeum’s 40/60% split, when reversed, it nearly identical to the 59/41% split enjoyed by Union’s Grosvenor Theatre which also dealt exclusively in British product. Was it that Union had greater faith in its audiences appreciating and patronising British films than Hoyts did? It remains something of a mystery, however soon I will do a breakdown of the performance of British films in the suburbs of 1950 and we will see that geographic location appears to have had a correlation with the selection of the bill and the day such films were chosen to play.

So receiving top billing is all well and good, but to receive it on a full week booking, or at least a Saturday night is far more lucrative than being given the prime position on a Tuesday. We will come to that breakdown shortly, but in the meantime here is the table of which observed bookings films were to receive based on their Original first Run venue (Full week, Saturday or Tuesday), with percentages added.

Observed playdates of suburban release films of 1950 based on their first run city release venue

Original City Venue	Chain	Films	Engage	Week	Week %	Sat	Sat %	Tues	Tues %
Athenaeum	Hoyts	24	840	88	10.48%	335	39.88%	417	49.64%
Australia	Indie	10	126	16	12.70%	55	43.65%	55	43.65%
Capitol	Hoyts	29	1491	171	11.47%	850	57.01%	470	31.52%
Esquire	Hoyts	45	2008	173	8.62%	920	45.82%	915	45.57%
Grosvenor	Union	9	286	102	35.66%	81	28.32%	103	36.01%
Liberty	Union	41	1153	327	28.36%	417	36.17%	409	35.47%
Lyceum	Hoyts	42	1626	143	8.79%	649	39.91%	834	51.29%
Majestic	Union	23	978	347	35.48%	409	41.82%	222	22.70%
Metro	Union	7	314	211	67.20%	68	21.66%	35	11.15%
Metro / St. James	Union	6	278	217	78.06%	36	12.95%	25	8.99%
No City Release	N/A	8	107	23	21.50%	50	46.73%	34	31.78%
Plaza	Hoyts	23	1072	113	10.54%	523	48.79%	436	40.67%
Regent	Hoyts	19	1017	184	18.09%	609	59.88%	224	22.03%
Savoy	Indie	8	262	69	26.34%	135	51.53%	58	22.14%
St. James	Union	31	1390	896	64.46%	286	20.58%	208	14.96%
State	Union	31	1358	633	46.61%	375	27.61%	350	25.77%

From this table we can see that, with Tuesdays either approaching 50% or higher, the Athenaeum and the Lyceum were the venues where the Tuesday – Thursday split was the period where you would be most likely to see those venues’ films in the suburbs. For films that originally screened at the Metro and / or St. James, their films would be screening in the suburbs on a Tuesday simply because they they had been booked for the entire week. The other strong disparities belong to Hoyts’ Capitol and Regent theatres which approached 60% of their screenings on the Fri-Sat & Monday block.

Let’s dig a little further by analysing only the times the 1st run city venue films had a top billing in the suburbs. The table below lists these and the percentages provided are of their total bookings (ie: not confined to top billings).

Observed 1st billed playdates of suburban release films of 1950 based on their first run city release venue (plus % of total engagements)

Original City Venue	Chain	Films	Engage	Week 1st	%	Sat 1st	%	Tues 1st	%
Athenaeum	Hoyts	24	840	34	4.05%	143	17.02%	160	19.05%
Australia	Indie	10	126	3	2.38%	1	0.79%	6	4.76%
Capitol	Hoyts	29	1491	88	5.90%	533	35.75%	311	20.86%
Esquire	Hoyts	45	2008	43	2.14%	348	17.33%	446	22.21%
Grosvenor	Union	9	286	48	16.78%	48	16.78%	74	25.87%
Liberty	Union	41	1153	153	13.27%	127	11.01%	115	9.97%
Lyceum	Hoyts	42	1626	18	1.11%	192	11.81%	385	23.68%
Majestic	Union	23	978	190	19.43%	227	23.21%	81	8.28%
Metro	Union	7	314	209	66.56%	66	21.02%	35	11.15%
Metro / St. James	Union	6	278	216	77.70%	35	12.59%	25	8.99%
No City Release	N/A	8	107	10	9.35%	6	5.61%	9	8.41%
Plaza	Hoyts	23	1072	69	6.44%	327	30.50%	273	25.47%
Regent	Hoyts	19	1017	153	15.04%	471	46.31%	157	15.44%
Savoy	Indie	8	262	30	11.45%	114	43.51%	47	17.94%
St. James	Union	31	1390	460	33.09%	162	11.65%	111	7.99%
State	Union	31	1358	381	28.06%	187	13.77%	174	12.81%

From the table above it is clear that Hoyts’ Lyceum and Plaza were most likely to warrant a Tuesday night 1st run screening, as was Union’s Grosvenor Theatre. For Saturdays it was Hoyts’ Regent, Capitol and the indie Savoy. Unions’ MGM venues took most of the 1st run weeks when they reached the suburbs.

Let’s take a look at when City first run venue features arrived in the suburbs in support mode: Once again the table below lists these and the percentages provided are of their total bookings (ie: not confined to top billings).

Observed 2nd billed playdates of suburban release films of 1950 based on their first run city release venue

Original City Venue	Chain	Films	Engagements	Week 2nd	%	Sat 2nd	%	Tues 2nd	%
Athenaeum	Hoyts	24	840	54	6.43%	192	22.86%	257	30.60%
Australia	Indie	10	126	13	10.32%	54	42.86%	49	38.89%
Capitol	Hoyts	29	1491	83	5.57%	317	21.26%	159	10.66%
Esquire	Hoyts	45	2008	130	6.47%	572	28.49%	469	23.36%
Grosvenor	Union	9	286	54	18.88%	33	11.54%	29	10.14%
Liberty	Union	41	1153	174	15.09%	290	25.15%	294	25.50%
Lyceum	Hoyts	42	1626	125	7.69%	457	28.11%	449	27.61%
Majestic	Union	23	978	157	16.05%	182	18.61%	141	14.42%
Metro	Union	7	314	2	0.64%	2	0.64%	0	0.00%
Metro / St. James	Union	6	278	1	0.36%	1	0.36%	0	0.00%
No City Release	N/A	8	107	13	12.15%	44	41.12%	25	23.36%
Plaza	Hoyts	23	1072	44	4.10%	196	18.28%	163	15.21%
Regent	Hoyts	19	1017	31	3.05%	138	13.57%	67	6.59%
Savoy	Indie	8	262	39	14.89%	21	8.02%	11	4.20%
St. James	Union	31	1390	436	31.37%	124	8.92%	97	6.98%
State	Union	31	1358	252	18.56%	188	13.84%	176	12.96%

And there we have it – The Athenaeum, Australia, Lyceum and Liberty were all to find that more than a quarter of their suburban engagements were destined to be spent in the doldrums of the Tuesday-Thursday bloc on the lower half of the bill, propping up more (supposedly) lucrative titles. Neither the Metro, nor the Metro / St. James simultaneous release had a single title fall into the Tuesday second billing category and the Capitol, Grosvenor, Regent, Savoy and St. James had around 10% or fewer of their suburban bookings relegated to that position.

What does all this mean, if anything? To me it appears that the distributors knew well in advance what films would commandeer the prime suburban slots long before they were exhibited outside the city and this was already predetermined by the city venue initially selected to screen them. A MGM film was almost guaranteed prime weekly top billing on Union’s suburban chain whilst, at the other end of the spectrum the films sent through the Lyceum were almost always bound to end up as suburban support features and often lingering in the desperate Tuesday – Thursday slots.

Prior to this study I would have assumed that the ‘prestige’ value of certain titles would have counted in their suburban deployment, however I also assumed that there was some ‘fiddling’ between the time a film screened in the city and the time it went to suburbs. For example, an unpromising title may end up generating a large city crowd which resulted in a large number of suburban top billings. Conversely, a highly anticipated feature may flop with audiences in the city, curtailing its suburban expectations. But no, it would seem that such programming decisions were made well in advance and if a film screened at the Metro it would enjoy the most beneficial of toplining (often full weekly) engagements. If you played at the Lyceum then most likely you would find yourself on second feature duty and too often on a Tuesday night.

If would seem to be that the Exhibitor’s Faith index was corrupted by this pre-booking mindset. One must pity the poor feature that was selected to screen at the Lyceum, for, no matter its quality, it was basically destined to be relegated to second place on the bill most times it hit the suburbs. Conversely, if it were a Metro (therefore MGM) release, if it was a topliner in the city it would enjoy a similar outcome in the ‘burbs. Now of course it is difficult to retrospectively estimate the box office potential of any one film, but I would think that certain Lyceum titles – had they been well promoted – could have succeeded in finding an audience as a top-biller. And on the other hand we can only surmise as to whether certain MGM titles went unwatched as top-billed product as they wound their way through the suburbs. Now as I am using the top and bottom of the EF ladder here the same can be applied with varying rates of supposition to all venues.

To conclude, were it to be the case that a Hollywood Studio would receive a greater percentage of profits as a result of its booking value in Melbourne suburbs, the films of MGM and, to a slightly lesser degree, Paramount and Fox, would in 1950, be delivered far more revenue than those of, say, RKO and United Artists (most others fell between). This was a predetermined outcome with some titles well hobbled before they even reached the suburban starting gates. Any notion that there was an egalitarian system which selected the placement of films (within the week and the billing) is a fallacy. Instead, it was not just determined upon the city venue where it first screened – it was decided long before that.