The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1939)

20 news of the territory Quiz Contest: For five days, local furniture house mserted and paid for quiz ad. two column six and a half, with quiz questions ottering furniture prizes at no charge to theatre. Lobby d. splays: Tank of real water, seven feet long, two deep, three wide, with toy battle¬ ships, cruisers, subs bobbing m it; sides of tank painted with wave effect; background of picture blowups. At right intervals daily two Junior Naval Seamen stood at port arms beside display. Other lobby displays showed foot¬ ball prizes, awarded lucky ticket holders, and making close tieup with city’s champonship high school football team was then hottest subject because team was soon going to Louis¬ iana for national championship battle. Form a Word Contest: Tieup with biggest dairy distributing milk in city at no charge to theatre. Milkmen distributed 6,000 leaflets offering passes as prized for forming most words from title of picture. Street parade marching to opening of show, 90 Junior Seamen, 40 piece band, big following, on at best shopping hour. Gained newspaper stories and a radio news broadcast over local station. . . Other exploitation included contacting veteran organization bulletin boards, inviting any man who served on sub or sub-chaser to come in J. P C. Plaint ille GEORGE LeWITT returned from West Ind.es cruise. . , , i HFNRY FONTAINE is believed to have taken over the f illy, with JOHN BARNETT operat¬ ing his house only in Jewett City, and leaving the local theatre for new management. Putnam Mayor WILLIAM McCOY is the latest to place an arbitrary ban on travel ng carnivals. At a meeting of the Common Council re¬ cently, he stated lie would not allow the carni¬ vals in Putnam even if sponsored by local organizations. Stafford Springs John Panora plans to open his summer home in Niantic, Connecticut. W aterbury Congratulations go to ED FI TZPATRICK, m iger, Loew-Poh who is again leading the Loew-Poli circuit in L.ocw-Down mentions for April. Friends of WILLIAM SIRICA, manager, Lido, will be sorry to hear that he sustained a broken arm. Hamilton is all spruced up for spring. Manager BOB ZOELLER, Strand, recently in¬ vited student STEVE FRUIN, Loew-Poli, to ac¬ company him horse-back riding Sunday mornings. Among the interested visitors to "Hollywood Party” night at the Loew-Poli this week, were HARRY ROSE and his wife and MATT SAUN¬ DERS. SIDNEY KLEPF.R, Loew-Poli Meriden, dropped in to personally challenge GEORGE LOUKIDES to a game of golf. Lido has started a new giveaway. LEWIS STANLEY, usher, Loew-Poli, suddenly resigned to enter the army. State manager JULIA SMITH reports her ex¬ treme pleasure of The Exhibitor. ED FITZPATRICK, Loew-Poli, had all Waterbury "Hardy Family” conscious, with his swell "Hardys Ride High” parade and ballyhoo. MARIAN SCIASCIA, pretty usherette, LoewPoli, is simply thrilled over the part she played in the "Hardys Ride High” ballyhoo, in which she was picked to ride around town with the personable young man who portrayed ROONEY. — M. S. West Haven It is reported that MAX (CULBERTSON) TABACKMAN is discontinuing his discussions about bridge and golf, and now talks of epicure. Wethersfield PETER PERAKOS, Palace, New Britain, is contemplating a house here. MAINE Bath FRANK VANETTE, Opera House, accom¬ panied by a local reporter, attended , the New England premiere of "Union Pacific. Besides bringing back a tremendous amount of publicity, he returned with the autographs of every Cin¬ cinnati ball player, who were playing the Boston Bees at the time. Caribou "That’s My Pop” DICK FLORA is anxiously waiting for the lakes to open, so he can brag about some salmon that he has really caught. Deering Deering reopened. A summer spot, CHARLES GANELLAS is the manager. Portland HARRY BOTWICK, State manager, accom¬ panied GUY GANNETT, local newspaper pub¬ lisher, in his private plane to attend the New England premiere of "Union Pacific” in Boston. DICK BATES, WGAN, and a reporter also flew to the premiere. A direct broadcast by private wire was made to Portland, in which Bates inter¬ viewed a number of the celebrities connected with the picture. Botwick’s campaign on this picture also fea¬ tured trolley car dashes, window displays, outdoor billing, heavy radio plugs over WGAN and WCSH in Portland. Probably for the first time, BILL BENJAMIN, National Screen salesman, took the measure of FRANCIS GOOTCH, Uptown, Bath, manager, in 18 holes of golf. He now has his eye on HENRY NEVEAUX, Mutual, Saco, as his sec¬ ond victim on the comeback trail. Visitors to town were BILL BENJAMIN, Na¬ tional Screen salesman; BILL DeROCHE, former Warner salesman; CHARLES ISREALSON, Wells Beach, Otis Paige, Lincoln, Damariscotta. BILL ROMANOFF, chief of service, State, plans to take the exams for the State of Maine police force May 22. Rangeley A. RIDDLE, Lakeside, visited Boston recently. H. C. RIDDLE, Lakeside, has been vacation¬ ing the past three weeks. He visited the World’s Fair and the balance of his time was spent play¬ ing golf in and around Boston. W at erville JIM O’DONNELL, Haines, travelled to Boston for the New England premiere of "Union Pa¬ cific.” A local reporter accompanied him, for stories on the opening. Wells Beach Casino, Wells Beach, Maine, has reopened under managership of I. ISRAELSON. MASSACHUSETTS Amesbury JIM RYAN, special police officer, Strand, for a long period, has been appointed a regular pa¬ trolman on the Amesbury department. His brother, JOHN F. RYAN, succeeds him in the theatre position. JAMES O’LOUGHLIN, former Lawrence resi¬ dent, manages the Strand. Attleboro AL MacEVOY has been digging a well. At last report he had dug 250 feet without striking water. Reports of oil are expected. Bridgewater AL RUDENSTEIN has a new marquee at his theatre. MIKE GORFINKLE, Columbia, was "outawork” last week with a strained back. Brockton MARTIN MULLEN, SAMUEL PINANSKI, visited Brockton recently, accompanied by WILL¬ IAM SPRAGUE. They were welcomed in this city by managers CAHILL and KELLEY, Brockton, Rialto. Manager HICKEY, Colonial, believes that his system, with the only Brockton theatre to be air-conditioned, will bring the patrons dur¬ ing the summer months. FRANK MURPHY, Brockton, Massachusetts boy, received congratulations on promotion to managerial post at Loew’s State, Syracuse, New York. Frank is son of Deputy Fire Chief JOHN MURPHY. Very active in Kiwanis is manager JOHN J. CAHILL, Brockton. RUTH THOMPSON, Colonial cashier, also is the proprietress of the Stanley Shoppe. For the first time in years marquee of the City was dressed up in advertising. Kiwanis will stage two operas there. Seen at the Boston circus; JOHN DOHERTY, operator, Brockton, with his children. MRS. ALEC HURWITZ, wife, second man, Brockton, is now visiting with relatives in Greenfield. Fall River JIM KNIGHT, Strand, had a benefit perform¬ ance for the Jewish Folk School May 3. CHARLIE FEINBERG, Capitol, gave his house May 8 to ALBERTO FREITAS, editor. Fall River section, Diario de Notcia, Portugese daily newspaper published in New Bedford, for the showing of Portuguese films. This is the seventh time that Editor Freitas has hired the Capitol for similar programs since October. Fitchburg HERMAN CLAMAN, manager, Universal, dis¬ tributes 100 toys and games to children at Satur¬ day matinees. Theatremen here interested to hear of some un¬ usual exploitation stunts by TOM SORIERO, once manager, Cumings, and now manager of United Artists’ Downtown. Los Angeles. BEN RITTER and his orchestra, comprising 15 young Fitchburg musicians, were an added at¬ traction at performances at the Fitchburg. Holyoke Manager PAUL KESSLER, Suffolk, used a news¬ boy tieup to ballyhoo "Newsboys Home.” Street boys selling the Transcript-Telegram carried signs on their back, "I’m going to the Newsboys Home at the Suffolk. Youngsters wore them for three afternoons — and they attracted a lot of attention. Newsies saw the show as guests. May 17, 19)9