Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

ALBANY The box office effect of layoffs in defense centers such as Schenectady and Watervliet, plus the possibility of further business contraction there or elsewhere, have caused some deep thinking in industry circles. Belief is that Albany, a capital city and a distribution rather than a manufacturing point, will feel any general shrinkage less, proportionately, than other exchange area cities. . . . With “Hondo” booked as top feature in the Strand, the Warner musical, “3 Sailors and a Girl,” was spotted at the Ritz. . . . Variety Club, through Chief Barker Jules Perlmutter, accepted a $900 check contributed by Automobile Auction Pavilion, Albany-Schenectady Rd., from a sale of used cars, to Camp Thacher Fund. . . . Sam Shain visited this city and Gloversville. . . . J. Myer and Louis W. Schine gave a holiday party for 200 home office employees and guests in Gloversville. ATLANTA John R. Sutton, Jr., and L. K. Kasa, owner of the Vogue theatre, Orlando, Fla., have filed a $600,000 anti-trust suit in Federal Court, Jacksonville, Fla., against the following exchanges and theatres: Florida State, Costal Theatres, 20th Century-Fox, Paramount Florida Distributing Corp., RKO Radio Pictures, Columbia Pictures, United Film Exchange, Warner Bros, and United Artists. . . . Ray McCullough has been appointed manager of the Lyric and Roxy theatres in Russellville, Ala. . . . The Atlanta Variety Club held its annual New Year’s party at the club room in the Hotel Atlanta. . . . The Town Hall theatre, Baldwin, Fla., has been reopened by Babe Bushinell. . . . The 81 theatre here has installed a new wide screen. . . . The Strand theatre has closed. ... In for a visit were James E. Clay, Clay theatre, Conyers, Ga., and John Moffett, of the Moffett cricuit in Alabama. BOSTON Norman Glassman, owner of the Rialto, Lowell, has installed a new Astrolite screen. . . . Ansel Sanborn, owner of several theatres in New Hampshire, died December 26 in Wolfeboro and is survived by a son, Norris. . . . Jack McCarthy, Warner salesman, is recovering from a kidney operation at the Bon Secours Hospital, Methuen. . . . Anita Counsell, secretary to Eddie Klein at Bay State Films, is in Haines Memorial Hospital with an attack of mumps. . . . George Kraska, who recently went under the surgeon’s knife at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, is now recovering at his Brookline home. . . . Arthur Rosenbush has been named manager of the Eggleston Square Theatre, Roxbury. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Sack, owner of the Beacon Hill theatre, and two in Fitchburg, are parents of a new-born son. Burglars entered the Riverside theatre the other evening and took $175 in bills and change from a safe in the office. It was the second theatre burglary in three days. Two days earlier, the Cinema was entered by burglars who took $2,162 in cash and $548 in checks from an unlocked safe in the office. . . . The Paramount with a preview of “Money From Home” and the Center also with a preview of “His Majesty O’Keefe” did terrific business last Thursday. . . . And the same goes for the Lafayette with its presentation of “Sadie Thompson” and Shea’s Buffalo with “Kiss Me Kate” in 3-D. . . . The Center, by the way, inaugurates its first CinemaScope attraction, “King of the Khyber Rifles” Friday. . . . Charles A. McKernan, manager of the Seneca, big South Buffalo UPT community theatre, has been elected chairman of the board of the South Buffalo Businessmen’s Assn. He was president in 1953. . . . Ben Felcher, manager of the Columbia exchange and Herb Gaines, WB salesman, are vacationing in Miami Beach. . . . Howard McPherson, formerly with Monogram, has taken over the Syracuse territory for RKO Pictures, succeeding Ed Smith, retired. CHICAGO Start of the new year finds Chicago exhibitors in the forefront of the industry’s equipment revolution, with at least 30 theatres planning to play “The Robe” in its first subsequent run here and more plan WHEN AND WHERE January 27: Mid-winter convention and board meeting, Virginia Motion Picture Theatre Association, Jefferson Hotel, Richmond. February 2-4: National Allied Drive-in Theatre Association convention, Netherlands-Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio. February 2-4: Annual meeting, Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio, Netherlands-Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. February 5-6: National Allied board meeting, Netherlands-Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. March 28-30: Annual convention, Allied Theatre Owners of Gulf States, Edgewater Gulf Hotel, Edgewater Park, Miss. April 6-8: Annual convention, Allied Independent Theatre Owners of Wisconsin, Hotel Shroeder, Milwaukee. May 2-7: Semi-annual convention, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Statler Hotel, Washington, D. C. ning to install systems calculated to handle the new wide-screen techniques. . . . Industry old-timers are mourning the passing of A. George Gordon, 71, manager of the Balaban and Katz Liberty, Libertyville, 111., for the past six years. He was a veteran of more than fifty years in show business. . . . Sanford Wolff, attorney representing many theatres here, and his wife, June, became the parents of a boy, David, born here last week. . . . The Green Valley theatre, Green Valley, 111., is going to a parttime operation and will be open only on Saturdays and Sundays. . . . Lou Smerling, former midwest manager for Confection Cabinet Corporation, was a holiday visitor in Chicago, bringing his wife with him from their home in St. Paul, Minn. CINCINNATI Services were held January 3 for Rudolph Benson, 66, widely known publicist and advertising man, who died in Jewish Hospital following an operation performed four weeks earlier. . . . Local neighborhood houses again have broken into the first run category with the current showing at the RKO Paramount, Ambassador, Covedale, Norwood and Valley theatres of the Universal-International “Walking My Baby Back Home.” . . . The Cincinnati Variety Club, Tent No. 3, will conduct its installation of officers at a dinner in the Contential Room of the Netherlands Plaza, January 11. Officers of the newly-organized Variety Ladies Auxiliary will be installed at the same time. Edward B. Salzberg is the new chief barker, while Mrs. Faye Weiss heads the female contingent. . . . William C. Dodds, manager of the Northio Paramount theatre, in nearby Hamilton, Ohio, reports that a new 22 by 45 foot screen is to be installed for CinemaScope. . . . Phil Chakeres, president of the circuit which bears his name in Springfield, Ohio, distributed 17,000 complimentary tickets as Christmas gifts to school children. COLUMBUS George O. Doyle, newly-appointed city safety director, said that gambling and charity bingo would continue to be banned because he intends “to carry out the tough assignment of enforcing all city and state laws.” . . . The Uptown theatre escaped damage in a fire which destroyed a sixstory warehouse nearby. At one time it was feared the spectacular blaze would spread to the theatre and Chittenden and Reid hotels. . . . Jay McGee, manager of the Gayety, is recovering following an operation. During his absence his wife has been managing the theatre. . . . Richard S. Wolfe, 46, president of Radio Ohio, Inc., operators of WENS and WBNS-TV, died while on a West Indies cruise. . . . Marjorie White, former director of the Lake White Little Theatre and the Gallipolis, Ohio, Little Theatre, has been named publicity manager ( Continued on follcnving page ) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 9, 1954 33