The Exhibitor (May-Oct 1945)

THE EXHIBITOR Showmen 's Seventh Breakfast Marks Start Of Metropolitan Area Bond Sales Effort vEu. York— The S IVar Loan in the local area got an inspirational send-off ■ .vmen’s Seventh' breakfast at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. / honor the 1,200 showmen who operate the 700 theatres in the New York area. national chairman of the drive for the War Activities Committee, v, as to be one of the principal speakers along with Ted Gamble, Treasury Depart¬ ment; Frederick W. Gehle, state chairman, War Finance Committee, and Irving Les¬ ser, general chairman for the area, and prominent theatre men. A special souvenir was distributed to the theatremen attending the kickoff breakfast through the courtesy of Charles L O’Reilly and Ben Sherman, Sanitary Automatic Candy Company. Harry Keller, radio coordinator for Uni¬ versal, has been named to serve as cam¬ paign coordinator for the Seventh War Loan drive. The Strand will stage Celebrity Auction Nights throughout the entire campaign. Each evening during the last stage show, the Strand will present stars of stage, screen, and radio, who will auction off unobtainable articles. Miss Louise Leonard, Mayfair, has com¬ pleted arrangements with a restaurant whereby it will purchase its bonds through the theatre. Similar arrangements have also been made with many hotels and factories in the garment center. The Rivoli has announced that all bonds purchased by the students and faculty of Junior High School 64 and Evening School 64, will be issued by the theatre. Coopera¬ tion for this arrangement was pledged to Monty Salmon, managing director, Rivoli, and Broadway chairman. Joseph T. Sharkey, vice-chairman, City Council of the City of New York, has agreed to serve on the executive commit¬ tee for the Seventh War Loan drive. Shar¬ key has agreed to contact all unions, and members of the City Council in behalf of the city theatre industry to assure additional ‘E’ bond sales. As the symbol of Loew’s theatres’ par¬ ticipation in the Seventh War Loan, a large reproduction, in bas relief, of the Iwo Jima flag raising was unveiled in the lobby of Loew’s State on May 3. The Iwo Jima display is a replica, in color, of the famous Joe Rosenthal photo¬ graph. It stands nine feet high, 10 feet wide, and features the Marines raising Old Glory on a platform miniature of a bombed Japanese city. Edward C. Dowden, Loew’s, acted as master of ceremonies. Among the guests at the ceremonies were a group of veterans who saw action at Iwo Jima and Nicholas M. Schenck, in, C. C. Moskowitz, Joseph r A. Doob, Marvin Schenck, Samuel Pinanski, Martin Mullins, Si FabIrving Lesser, Francis Harmon, Fred¬ erick Gehle, and John Fitzgerald. Independents' Support Assured In Area New York— With the aim of securing greater activity on the part of independent theatre personnel and the smaller circuits and exhibitors, Henry Randel, New York area distributing chairman for the Seventh War Loan met last fortnight with 65 sales¬ men from all film exchanges. These sales¬ men will work as members of his special committee in contacting the small exhibi¬ tor, and will help him to play a more active part in the Seventh War Loan. In addition to Randel, Irving Lesser, general chairman; Morris Kinzler, cam¬ paign director, and Sam Rinzler, execu¬ tive committee, addressed the meeting. Other important ideas stressed by the speakers at this meeting were the bond premieres and children premieres. “The All-Star Bond Rally” was screened. A pledge of all-out cooperation with the Seventh War Loan was given last week by the three leading labor unions identified with the entertainment groups to Major L. E. Thompson, in charge of labor rela¬ tions for the drive. From the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employes Local 1, from Local 306, and from Local 802, Major Thompson received assurance of enthusiastic aid. Iwo Jima Statue Readied In New York New York — As a symbolic tribute to the nation’s fighting men all over the world, a heroic 50-foot statue commemorating the famous Iwo Jima flag-raising episode will stand in Times Square during the Seventh War Loan, it was announced last week by Irving Lesser, chairman, New York area drive. The statue, which will be offered as a gift to the city from the nation’s theatres through the War Activi¬ ties Committee, will be an exact replica of Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the six gallant Marines who raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi. It will have an overall height of 50 feet, and will be placed 40 feet to the north of the Statue of Liberty that now stands in Times Square. The figures of the Marines will be approxi¬ mately 11 feet high, modeled to scale. The group will be on an eight-foot high ped¬ estal, which will be suitably inscribed. A flag will fly from the flagpole during the entire time that the statue is on view. The statue, which is being carved in stone, will be unveiled on May 11, three days before the opening of the Seventh War Loan. Insurance Typists Help Issue Bonds New York — For the first time a complete staff of expert typists has been enlisted for bond issuance when the selling cam¬ paign of the motion picture division, Sev¬ enth War Loan, gets under way on May 14, it was announced last week. Through the cooperation of Fred A. Bopp, superintendent, Surrender Value Division, New York Life Insurance Com¬ pany, the services of several hundred stenographers and typists will be volun¬ teered during the bond rallies of the 700 theatres participating in the New York area. Statewide (Continued, from page 4a) bond premieres, and details are now be¬ ing set up. Only a few pledges are still outstanding, and Smith anticipates that this area will be 100 per cent pledged. Charles A. Smakwitz, public relation head, Seventh War Loan, urged every theatre to decorate the marquee to let the public know that “we are in the bond business,” and emphasized the importance of displaying the slogan. Smakwitz also outlined the national campaign that has been set up. Some of the out-of-town exhibitors present were Harry Lamont, Ravena; Mrs. Tarbell, North Creek; Henry Grossman, Hudson; Sam Davis, Phoenicia; Mr. and Mrs. James Papayanakos, Gouverneur; Charles Gordon, Utica; Seymour Morris, Schine Theatres, Gloversville; Charles Wilson, Troy; Saul Ullman, representing Fabian Theatres, and Harry L. Berinstein, Berinstein Realty Company. Newark Session Represents 250 Newark — Members of the War Activi¬ ties Committee representing more than 250 theatres in northern New Jersey, met last fortnight at the Warner Theatres offices for the purpose of planning the theatres’ participation in the coming Seventh War Loan. Co-chairmen for the state committee are Frank J. Damis and Harry Lowenstein. Visiting film executives, members of the national committee, were E. K. O’Shea, eastern area distributor chairman; Jerome Zigmond, national publicity co-ordinator, and Pete Levathas, also of the national distribution committee. The meeting was opened by a private screening of “All-Star Bond Rally,” and plans for premieres, bond rallies, children’s shows, and other special events were dis¬ cussed in detail. Meetings are being held in each of the 13 North Jersey Counties. Harry A. Murphy, deputy administrator, New Jersey War Finance Committee ad¬ dressed the group. Emphasizing the need for more premieres, Adam Adams, chair¬ man, Downtown Newark Theatres Com¬ mittee, stated that three events by his committee have already been planned for the Adams, the first of which was set for May 22. By May 14, the official starting date of the new campaign, it was expected that every theatre would be decorated with appropriate bunting, flags, and war loan banners. Buffalo Area Holds Sessions Buffalo — A series of area meetings this week helped initiate trade activity in the Seventh War Loan. Among the cities in which drive leaders confabbed with exhibitors in addition to here, were Rochester, Syracuse, Bingham¬ ton, and Elmira. Fred W. Brunelle, Queens Borough chairman, Seventh War Loan, met last week with his executive committee mem¬ bers. Several outstanding stunts, to be in¬ cluded in the Queens drive, were dis¬ cussed, and other plans were formulated at this meeting. May 9, 1945