Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

(.Continued from opposite page) the Tudor, and "The Babe Ruth Story" was at the Globe. The Strand showed "The Plainsman" and "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man," while the Rio double-billed "Cloak and Dagger" and '"Ambush Trail." . . . Clintin Vucovich has temporarily closed his Sky Chief theatre at Pensacola, Fla. . . . Charles Lanza has assumed operation of the Nila theatre, New Iberia, La., which he formerly leased to Lee Fung. . . . Cecil Kelly has opened the Cil theatre at Stamps, Ark. . . . Ben Smith has reopened his Star theatre at Morse, La., and his Grand theatre, Lake Arthur, La. . . . R. M. Savini, president oi Astor Pictures Corp., N. Y., was being greeted by his many friends on the Row upon his first visit to New Orleans in quite awhile. NEW YORK Five pictures opened on Broadway this week. They were: Paramount's "Sealed Verdict" at the Paramount theatre; Universal's "You Gotta Stay Happy" at the Music Hall; Twentieth Century-Fox's "The Snake Pit" at the Rivoli; "Unfaithfully Yours," also from 20th-Fox, at the Roxy, and Road House," a 20th-Fox picture, at the Mayfair. . . . Maurice Kurtz, former head of the theatre section of UNESCO and who was appointed secretary general of the International Theatre Institute at its congress in Prague last summer, was guest of honor Friday at a luncheon sponsored by the American National Theatre and Academy. The luncheon was held at the Algonquin Hotel. Mr. Kurtz will visit Canada and Mexico and several cities in the United States. . . . The Motion Picture Home Office Employes Local No. H-63, IATSE, will invade another Screen Office and Professional Employes Guild shop, it has disclosed. It will petition the National Labor Relations Board for recognition as the bargaining representative at DeLuxe Laboratories, a subsidiary of Twentieth CenturyFox. OKLAHOMA CITY "The Paradine Case" was previewed at the Criterion theatre October 30. . . . Capi tol theatre had a special Hallowe'en midnight show October 30, playing an extra color cartoon and musical. . . . Warner theatre staged "Fabulous Follies of 1948" October 29. . . . Uptown, Will Rogers, May and Agnew played horror shows Hallowe'en night. OMAHA There are interesting goings-on in the drive-in field in the Omaha territory. At a dozen spots there is feverish activity in late fall construction work, readying for a spring opening. Meantime, the Sioux City drive-in has closed for the year. But at Omaha, the West Dodge drive-in will run until weather forces it closed. . . . The Omaha MGM exchange again has a woman office manager with the promotion of booker Evelyn Cannon. She succeeds Fred Fejfar, promoted to salesman. . . . Carol Bisson replaces Adele Anderson as cashier at Warner Brothers. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Carl Nedley of Salt Lake City vacationed here with their son, William, promoted during the week to first booker at MGM. Carl Nedley is branch manager at Denver. PHILADELPHIA Keeping pace with the increased box office scale at the first run Warner houses in the downtown district, the three William Goldman theatres and the Fox theatre this week followed suit by adding five cents to all price categories. . . . Sam Friedman will take over Mike Weiss' exploitation post at 20th Century-Fox exchange here. He was formerly the assistant. Weiss joined the company's radio promotion department in New York City. ... A two-alarm fire damaged the interior of the first floor last week of MGM Displays Co. . . . National Screen Service closed its Washingon branch and is running its Baltimore and Capital activities from the local office. . . . Humphries Amusements, Inc., was incorporated for the operation of theatres and other amusement enterprises in the state by William Humphries, former local film salesman. . . . Variety Club held a membership meeting and election of a new crew for 1949 this week. . . . The Park, now being erected in Scranton, Pa., by Floyd Grayek, contracted for 1,300 slideback chairs to be installed in time for the theatre's opening before Christmas. ... J. J. McFadden was assigned to the Allentown Pa., territory for RKO. . . . Guy Hunt taking over as booker for the Hunt Theatres in Southern New Jersey, replacing Leonard Casey. . . . Abraham M. Ellis, head of the Ellis Theatres Co., accepted chairmanship for the independent theatre division of the motion picture industry of the 1949 Community Chest campaign, which gets under way here next week. PITTSBURGH The newly elected board of governors of the Varieity Club Tent No. 1 here, which is composed of Bill Zeilor, Norman Mervis, Tom Troy, John Walsh, Al Weiblinger, George Eby, Carl Doser, Emler Ecker, Ben Steerman, Sam Speranza, and Pete Dana, have named Mr. Eby barker. Mr. Eby, an official of the Harris Amusement Company, will be inducted into office at the annual banquet, November 14, when John H. Harris will be honored. . . . Bill Zeilor and Mike Shapiro will be the Pittsburgh delegates to the Variety annual convention at San Francisco next year. . . . The Ritz theatre reports a heavy advance sale for the showing of "Hamlet" at road prices. . . . "Johnny Belinda" did two excellent weeks in the Stanley and was moved to the Warner for a third week. It marked the first time this year that the Warner had played a holdover. . . . Warners have announced many promotions here. . • . . Sam Laughlin goes to the Schenley, Harry Green to the Kenyon, Johnny Burns to the Sheridan and Bob O'Malley to the Warner. . . . "Walk a Crooked Mile" gave the J. P. Harris its best opening week in many months. Almost $16,000 being in the box office for eight days. However, it was removed in favor of "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands," which received rave notices. "Cry of the City" opened strongly in the Fulton and was held for a second week. SAN ANTONIO First runs : "Luck of the Irish" played the Aztec theatre. "Sorry, Wrong Number," showed at the Majestic. "Bill and Coo" and "The Secret Land" bowed into the Empire on a double bill program. "Another Part of the Forest" was the Texas attraction. ... J. Truex, manager of Azteca Film exchange here, turned in a low score for a second place tie in the San Antonio weekly golf sweepstakes at Brackenridge Park. . . . Hallowe'en midnighter at the Majestic Saturday was "Night Has a Thousand Eyes." . . . Recent Film Row visitors: Debbs Reynolds, Dallas; Barry Burke, Dallas ; Benito Silvas, Carrizo Springs ; Antonio Silvas, Asherton ; Gustave Lavenant, Dilley ; Edward Hale, Houston, and Jack Jackson, Dallas. SEATTLE Top downtown holdover was "Apartment for Peggy," in its third week at the Blue Mouse. In its second week was "A Southern Yankee" at the Paramount; "One Touch of Venus" also entered week number two at the Music Box. . . . Seattle motion picture operators celebrated their 40th anniversary with a banquet for 500 guests at Eagles Hall. . .' . The city of Bellingham became the third city in Washington to ban the showing of "Rope." Previously Spokane and Seattle had banned the film. . . . Mike Coles joined the sales staff of the B. F. Shearer Company. . . . L. J. McGinley, former Seattle branch manager for Universal Pictures in Seattle, was honored at a banquet attended by trade people throughout the state. McGinley is now vice-president and general sales manager of Prestige Pictures. . . . Among the out-of-town exhibitors on Film Row were Mickey de Leo; Port Townsend; Ed Johnson, Spokane; Billy Conners, Tacoma; Mike Barovic, Puyallup, and Joe McElhinney, Denver. TORONTO A heavy pall of fog blanketed a large portion of Ontario to put a crimp in theatre operations for three evenings because traffic was largely at a standstill. Among the sufferers were the drive-in theatres of the Toronto district, at which projection was difficult on account of the low ceiling. Half of the Toronto first runs held over programs for the week, the strongest being "The Best Years of Our Lives" at the Odeon-Toronto at the regular price scale. "The Loves of Carmen" also played a second week at Fam (Continued on following page", MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 6, 1948 29