MARCH 6, 1951: "ROBERTA" BREAKS BOX-OFFICE RECORDS

Sampaguita Pictures was established in 1937 and was hit by a huge fire in 1951 with hundreds of film prints destroyed. The movie, Roberta starring Tessie Agana in her first lead role as a battered child, became one of the sensational hits of the year and saved the company from bankruptcy. The movie had its Premiere Night on March 1, 1951 witnessed by a record-breaking crowd of 7,636 people at Life Theater with a 800 to 1,000 seating capacity. It went on to shatter box-office records at the tills during its regular run, with the following astronomical figures, unprecedented that time---First Day- 15,527 people; Second Day-15,962; Third Day- 19,603; Fourth Day- 14,201. Ticket rates that time: Orchestra- 1.50/ Balcony- 2.50/ Loge- 3.50.

The movie made Tessie Agana the studio's biggest draw and box-office champion and hailed as one of the biggest child stars of the decade.

Scheduled for exhibition that week are two movies from rival studios--- LVN Pictures' Pulo ng Engkanto and Premiere Productions' Kapitan Bagwis.

"Pulo ng Engkanto" (1951)- Stars Lilia Dizon, Pugo & Togo, Alfonso Carvajal/ Directed by Oscar del Rosario

"Kapitan Bagwis" (1951)- Stars Efren Reyes, Anita Linda, Lopito, Oscar Keesee, Patria Plata/ Directed by Cesar Gallardo

Hollywood movies, as always, dominated the scene with movies like "A Life of Her Own," starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland; "Operation Pacific" with John Wayne; "Branded' with Alan Ladd and "Halls of Montezuma" with Richard Widmark.