Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

(Continued from preceding page ) will present a New Year’s Eve midnight show, offering Alec Guinness, local favorite, in ‘‘Captain’s Paradise.” SAN FRANCISCO New managers on the street are Walter Chenoweth who went from treasurer of the Curran to manager of Cinerama, and assistant manager Wendell Thurman who returned to United Paramount Theatres and will be stationed at the Paramount. . . . The Paramount has ordered CinemaScope equipment. . . . The State has been renovated and outside of the building steamcleaned and fitted with permament floodlights. It reopened Christmas Day under UP banner. Manager Eugene Sabo III has taken Cashier Amelia Kittleson and Louisa Toni (upped to cashier) from the Paramount for his box office attendants. . . . Sid Cahen went from the New Fillmore to manage the Vista at Rio Vista. . . . Charles Oliphant is expected back in the shipping department of National Screen Service as soon as he is discharged from the Army in February. . . . Business in San Francisco was generally good on Christmas Day. The Paramount with ‘‘Here Come the Girls” and the St. Francis with “Cease Fire” were busy. . . . The Fox in fourth week “How to Marry a Millionaire” reported good business and Cinerama, opening Christmas Day, sold out. TORONTO Sam Hebscher has resigned as manager of Odeon’s Palace, Hamilton, first run house, to become manager of the Hamilton Forum. He will also act in an advisory capacity for the buying of TV film for Hamilton TV station in which his boss, Ken Soble, has an interest. . . . Harry Hurwitz was re-elected president of the Winnipeg district of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. J. Biggerstaff is back as vice-president and A. Feinstein as secretary-treasurer. . . . Gerry Collins has returned to his post as director of publicity for Loew’s theatres here, taking over the spot vacated by Jim McCracken’s resignation. Collins’ post as manager of the Uptown goes to Gerry Mooney, assistant manager at London Loew’s. . . . Charlie Cashman, wellknown industryite, returned as deputy reeve in the municipal elections. VANCOUVER Groups of teenage vandals are giving theatres plenty of grief over the holidays and go out of the way to make trouble for theatre staffs especially. . . . 10,000 British Columbia loggers from up north are in town for Christmas to spend the festive season with their friends and relatives. . . . Maynard Joiner of Famous Players was elected vicepresident of Vancouver Tourist Association. . . . The Capitol and Cinema Christmas parties were held at Love’s Supper Club. . . . Theatre Properties (Hamilton) Limited has purchased five Vancouver suburban theatres (the Windsor, Alma, Kerrisdale, Regent and Victoria Road), all under long leases to the Famous Player chain, from General Theatre Investment Company Ltd., headed by Paul Nathanson, son of the founder of Famous Players. Price was $1,100,000. . . . George Annable opened his 500-seat Jewell theatre at Stettler, Alberta. ... A new suburban theatre built by Rueb and Kian, the Jasper, a 550-seater, was opened in Edmonton, Alberta. WASHINGTON “Julius Caesar” has finally been booked in Washington, to open at the Playhouse theatre, bebruary 1. . . . The Variety Club installation ceremonies have been changed to January 4 in the club rooms at the Willard Hotel. International chief barker Jack Beresin will be present. . . . The Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen elected Martin Kutner, Columbia, president; Sidney Eckman, MGM, vice-president; Jimmy Whiteside, Columbia, secretary-treasurer. . . . The Ontario theatre will have a premiere of “Cease Fire” January 14, under the sponsorship of General Matthew B. Ridgway. . . . Frank M. Boucher, president of the District United Cerebral Palsy Association, announced that Harry F. Bachman, president of the Circle Amusement Co., will be chairman of the 1954 fund campaign. Bachman will attend a regional meeting of the national association January 9-10 in Miami. FCC Cites Obstacles To Pay TV WASHINGTON: Substantial legal, engineering and public policy questions must be determined before the Government could okay any subscription television system, the Federal Communications Commission said this week. Issuing its annual report for the fiscal year ending last June 30, the Commission noted that it had pending various proposals to authorize pay-as-you-see television. “In addition to the basic policy question whether the authorization of a subscription TV service would serve the public interest,” the report said, “substantial legal questions must be determined, particularly, whether such a specialized service is ‘broadcasting’ within the meaning of the Communications Act, or common carrier or some other special radio service. Also, there is the engineering problem of where such a service could be squeezed into the crowded radio spectrum.” Other features of the FCC report were these : As of October 31, there were 545 commercial television stations authorized and 315 actually on the air. There were also 22 educational TV stations authorized, of which four were on the air. As of June 30, there were 601 applications pending for new commercial TV stations. Of 398 new TV stations authorized during the 1953 fiscal year, the first year after the lifting of the freeze, 256 were in the new UHF band and 142 in the VHF band. The report noted that during the year the Commission had disposed of the film industry’s request for special theatre television frequencies, holding that this service should be performed by common carriers using existing common carrier frequencies. COLUMBIA PICTURES ANNOUNCES THAT PRINTS OF THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR EXCHANGES FOR SCREENING CHARLES STARRETT in THE STRANGER FROM TEXAS reprint BiLL TEX ELLIOTTRITTER in BULLETS FOR BANDITS reprint CHARLES STARRETT m OUTLAWS OF THE PANHANDLE reprint BILL TEX ELLIOTT -RITTER in THE LONE STAR VIGILANTES reprint SING ME A SONG OF TEXAS with THE H00SIER HOTSHOTS HAL MclNTYRE and his ORCHESTRA reprint MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 2, 1954