The Exhibitor (Aug-Nov 1948)

14 THE EXHIBITOR PEOPLE Albany — The resignation of Leo Rosen as assistant general manager, FabianKellman Drive-In Theatres, and the sub¬ sequent appointment of Leo Young was announced last week. Rosen entered a hospital for an operation. Young was formerly RKO exploiteer in Buffalo, Al¬ bany, Philadelphia, and other spots, and also was a district manager with the Snider Circuit. Washington — Lieutenant Colonel John E. Horton has been named chief, Motion picture unit, Pictorial Section, Public In¬ formation Division of the Army, it was announced last week. Lieutenant Colonel Horton, formerly in the industry on the coast, will assist the trade in all matters concerning the army. He succeeds Major Stuart Palmer. New York — New duties for two of his staff were announced last week by Charles Schlaifer, director of advertising and pub¬ licity, 20th Century-Fox. Under the change, Ira Tulipan, trade publicity repre¬ sentative, and Lou Frick, press book editor, exchange positions. New York — The appointment of William M. Pizor, Screen Guild foreign depart¬ ment, general manager, as vice-president of the company was announced last week by Robert L. Lippert, president. Pizor’s headquarters remain in New York. Singer Leaves Business Omaha — Will Singer is leaving show business after 52 years in every phase from play production, vaudeville to films, it was revealed last week. Singer has headed the RKO-Brandeis, formerly the Brandeis, since 1934. Before his arrival, the house had a spotty record, and never had been open steadily for an entire year. He built it into one of the most successful small houses. It has 1,100 seats. Singer stepped out on Aug. 3, being re¬ placed by Larry Caplane, who comes here from Columbis, O., where he managed the Grand. Caplane started with RKO in 1933 at Cleveland, and served three years over¬ seas in World War II. A. J. Kearney Dies New York — The trade last week mourned the death of Alexander “Dick” J. Kearney, assistant general manager. Shea Theatrical Circuit. Kearney, who passed on at the age of 69 at Medical Arts Hospital, came to New York in 1901, and as general man¬ ager-booker for the late Mort Shea booked many well known entertainers. He is sur¬ vived by his wife, two brothers, and three sisters. S-W Offer Progresses Philadelphia — It was divulged last week by William Ehrenberg, who heads a syndi¬ cate of business men and bankers, that a preliminary offer of $5,000,000 was to have been made last weekend to StanleyWarner Theatres for their purcnase of houses in the local area. It was divulged, at the same time, that David B. DeMany, furrier; Mrs. Robert Iodine Brown, society matron, and James Cromwell were some of the parties interested. NCA-20th-Fox Plan Waits For Complaints MINNEAPOLIS— North Central Allied invited exhibitors last week to call on the NCA-20th-Fox concilia¬ tion committee if he “feels that he has a grievance against Fox which he cannot adjust himself to ... ” NCA reported that after one month of the plan, “there have been no com¬ plaints which the committee has been able to label meritorious and process as originally planned.” Four complaints are before the com¬ mittee which, however, were regis¬ tered before the actual launching of the conciliation plan. To non-subscrib¬ ing producers and distributors, “big or little,” NCA said that “the door is wide open to come in for ‘the water’s fine’.” Ben Berger’s headquaiders an¬ nounced that possibly the reason for lack of complaints is that Fox “is bending over backwards” to eliminate cause for grievances. P.A. Powers Passes New York — P. A. Powers, 84, died last week at Doctors Hospital after a brief illness. A multi-millionaire motion picture pioneer, he maintained homes here and in Westport, Conn. He had been president of Powers Film Products Company, Ro¬ chester, N. Y., also was treasurer of Uni¬ versal Motion Picture Company, and had also served as treasurer of the National Association of the Motion Picture Indus¬ try. He is survived by his daughter and a sister. It was while working with the late Thomas A. Edison that he first became interested in the motion picture industry. He produced some of the first animated cartoons, and made a fortune backing Walt Disney’s initial Mickey Mouse films. He was married and divorced twice. ''Television Booms" San Francisco — Television has boomed beyond the expectations of even the most optimistic leaders in the industry, accord¬ ing to Frank M. Folsom, executive vicepresident, Radio Corporation of America last week. He declared that by the end of the year, the industry should produce more than 850,000 receivers and more than 60 television broadcasting stations expect to be in operation. Cur¬ rently, about 400,000 television sets are in the hands of the public, and 31 tele¬ vision stations are on the air. Folsom predicted that, with the public’s enthusiastic acceptance of television, the industry in 1949 can be expected to turn out 1,600,000 receivers, representing a potential retail business of more than $400,000,000. May Taxes Up Washington — The U. S. Bureau of In¬ ternal Revenue reported last week that general admission tax collections in June, on May business, amounted to $31,639,479, almost $4,000,000 over the $27,829,982 taken for the same month in 1947. This was the first time in three months that current year figures were higher than comparable 1947 collections. Screen Guild Lists 1948-49 Productions New York — Robert L. Lippert, presi¬ dent, Screen Guild Productions, Inc., an¬ nounced last week following a regional meeting attended by franchise holders, bookers, and salesmen from Albany, Bos¬ ton, Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, that the 1948-49 product would consist of “The Mozart Story”; two exploitation specials, “Harpoon” and “I Killed Jesse James”; six ‘Boxoffice Win¬ ners,’ “The Return Of Wildfire," “Grand Canyon,” “Last Of The Wild Horses,” “Police Force,” “The Blackmailers,” and “The Ravagers”; eight ‘Showman's Group,’ including “The Prairie,” “S.O.S. Sub¬ marine,” “Shep Comes Home,” “Jungle Goddess,” “Redwood Empire,” “Sky Liner,” “The Return Of The Saint,” and “City Hospital”; the ‘Anniversary Group’ of eight, including “Rimfire,” “Police Wo¬ man,” “Great Truck Mystery,” “Trail’s _End,” “No Escape,” and others; six Lash La Rue westerns, divided into two spe¬ cials, “Son Of Jesse James” and “Son Of Billy The Kid,” and four others; six proven pictures (reissues), and 12 Hopalong Cassidy western reissues. Arthur Greenblatt presided. WB Offices Realigned New York — Wolfe Cohen, vice-presi¬ dent, Warner Brothers International, an¬ nounced a realignment of the company’s sales supervisory staff at the opening ses¬ sion last week of a two-week sales meet¬ ing of the company’s Latin American heads in the home office. The entire territory will be divided into three divisions, Atlantic, Pacific, and Caribbean, with a division manager in charge of each. Ary Lima who has been supervisor over Brazil, Argentine, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, will be district manager for the Atlantic division, comprising those same territories, with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. Peter Colli, who has been supervising the Caribbean area, will be manager of that division, which includes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, British and Netherland West Indies, and the Guianas. He will head-office in Havana. New appointee is James V. O’Gara, until recently eastern sales manager for Re¬ public in the U.S., who has been named manager. Pacific division, including Mex¬ ico, Panama and Central America, Colom¬ bia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, with headquarters in Mexico City. Max Milder Mourned London — Max Milder, whose long illness forced him to retire after 17 years as man¬ aging director of Warner Brothers Pic¬ tures, Ltd., in England last month, died at his home on Aug. 1, at Netherfield House, The Heath, Weybridge, Surrey, England. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Madelaine Milder. Milder had been in the industry for 36 years, the last 30 of which were with Warners. He was eastern division do¬ mestic sales manager before going to England in 1931 as managing director for the company’s interests there. August 11, 1948