Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1943)

October 2, 1943 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW 49 ★ ★ REGIONAL NEWSREEL — Continued ★ 1* RKO house. The Strand Theatre at Cedar Rapids has reopened with shows scheduled for every evening and for continuous runs on Saturday and Sunday. The polio ban at Dubuque, Iowa, has been lifted with the opening of schools and churches following a twoweek ban during which 17 cases of infantile paralysis were reported. One of the Dubuque theatres, the Varsity, was temporarily closed during the ban. Funeral services were held at Centerville, Iowa, for Frank H. Richardson, 76, former technical editor of the Motion Picture World and Motion Picture Herald, and author of Blue Book of Projection. He died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he had been ill for the past two years. R. C. Fraser of Des Moines, has been named assistant advertising manager of Tri-States Theatre Corp. of Des Moines, it was announced by Dale McFarland, advertising manager. Fraser has been associated with Parrot films in Des Moines for 17 years and recently returned from Hollywood where he was associated with Technicolor, Inc. ' Winners in the Tri-States exploitation campaign on ■■ i'ne Moon Is Down" were feted with a dinner and presentation of their prize checks at the Des Moines club with executives of TriStates and 20th Century-Fox on hand for the occasion. Maurice Crew of Waterloo won the $200 first prize, Eddie Forester of Des Moines $100 and Jerry Greenebaum of Moline, 111., and Orville Rennie of Cedar Rapids, tied with $50 for third place. The premiere of Warner Brothers' Technicolor "Women at War," based on the Women's Army Corps, was held at the Des Moines Theatre Sept. 29 with admission price a purchase of a $100 war bond. The Iowa premiere of Warners' "Thank Your Lucky Stars" was held at the same time. The two films were shown continuously for a 24-hour run, breaking all precedents in Des Moines. Six women, two of them wives of service men, are completing a six-weeks' training school course to become theatre managers for TriStates Theatre Corp., Des Moines. It is the first school of its kind in the Middle West. DETROIT The Detroit Variety Club opened its Variety Canteen for another season last Sunday by entertaining 50 sailors from the Naval Armory. Charles Perry, chief barker of the Detroit tent, and Mrs. Perry were host and hostess for the first affair. Under the established policy, other members of Variety and their wives will take turns in receiving guests from the armed forces each Sunday night until the close of the season next Easter. Helping to entertain were 50 girls from the film exchanges. Arvid Kantor is chairman of the Canteen committee. Frank Wetsman is co-chairman, Asher Shaw is entertainment chairman and Irving Berlinsky is in charge of food. Robert Benchley and Mrs. Benchley were in town last Saturday for the wedding of their son, Robert, Jr., to Elizabeth Dickinson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Shelden S. Dickinson. Benchley, as usual, stole the show. He and Mrs. Benchley arrived at Christ Church Chapel in a shining limousine, but when their car failed to show up after the ceremony, they rode away in a battered gray coupe. Victor Mature was the big attraction Monday at the start of the Four Freedoms Show in the J. L. Hudson Co. department store. A huge parade sparked the show, which is being sponsored at Hudson's in the interest of the Third War Loan. After -the parade, it required a detachment of military police to keep a crowd of HOLLYWOOD VISITORS. Monte Salmon, manager of the Rivoli, New Ycrk, and Mrs. Salmon visited the Universal studios during their California vacation. Photo shows them with George Raft, one of several stars In U's Charles K. Feldman production, "Three Cheers for the Boys." admirers from tearing the Coast Guard uniform off Mature. Two big War Bond premieres were held in Detroit this week. Bond buyers who made their purchases at downtown and neighborhood picture theatres received free tickets to the premiere of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Wednesday night at the United Artists and Wilson theatres. All seats were reserved for bond buyers. Other bond buyers received free tickets to the first showing of "Sahara" Thursday night at the Fox and Adams theatres. Earl J. Hudson, of United Detroit Theatres, headed the Detroit committee in charge of the bond-selling drive. Others on the committee were David M. Idzal, Charles Perry, C. L. Buermele and James Sharkey. Ann Arbor, Mich., is considering a curfew for minors, with the Cty Council due to weigh the facts in favor of the night-time restriction at its Oct. 4 meeting. The proposed measure would bar children from the streets after 10 p.m. unless they are accompanied by their parents or guardian. The Texas A. and M. Club of Detroit elected Capt. A. B. Muller, of the Detroit ordnance district, president of the club last Saturday then adjourned to see the first showing of the film "We've Never Been Licked" in the Fox Theatre. The picture was inspired by Texas A. and M. and was filmed on the campus. INDIANAPOLIS John R. Boyce, operator of the Strand Theatre, Warsaw, Indiana, has purchased the Conrad garage "building on East Center Street to be used as a site for a new theatre building he plans to erect at the conclusion of the war. The property is "L" shaped in dimensions, 44 x 132 ft. on Center Street, joined on the rear by a 66 x 66 tract fronting on Indiana Street. Mannie Marcus, president of Marcus Enterprises, operating theatres in Ohio and Indiana, is planning a trip to Los Angeles, Cal., in the very near future. Rex Carr, manager of Marcus Enterprises, was in Ft. Wayne during the week in the interests of the company's theatres there. W. C. Gehring, Western sales manager, 20thFox, and Eddie Collins, his assistant, accompanied by Ward Scott, district manager, conducted a three-day session here making out expectancy sheets for the company's new season product, and conducting sales conferences. Seen on Film Row during the week were Pete Panagos, Chicago; Edward Campbell, Louisville, Ky. ; Bob Hudson, Richmond ; Harry Douglas and Mrs. Douglas accompanied by their son, Joe; Roger Wright, Akron; and Jack Van Borssun, Terre Haute, L. G. McGinley, manager of Universal Pictures exchange, and Marc Wolf, of the Y. and W. Circuit, will be guest speakers at the Shelbyville, Ind., Rotary Club at the regular monthly meeting. According to Sam Abrams, manager of the PRC exchange here, the Switow Circuit, Louisville, Ky., and the Premier Circuit of Evansville, Ind., have purchased the company's new season product. Ann Flynn, of the 20th-Fox office staff, and Lieutenant Samuel S. Robinson, who is stationed with the Air Corps at Greensboro, North Carolina, are being married October 2. T!ie wedding ceremony takes place in St. Benedict's Roman Catholic Church in Greensboro. Ted Mendelssohn, formerly associated with the sales staf? at the local Universal exchange, and later promoted to the office of manager at Detroit for the company, will be inducted into the Army October 7. Marion Roberts, Paramount office staff, is confined to the Coleman Hospital here by a minor operation. The local Paramount exchange has purchased $25,000 worth of war bonds from a local bank to help meet the Marion County quota. Universal exchange has been informed of a serious accident to Andy Anderson, Kentucky Circuit operator, and his assistant, L. B. Fuqua, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident during the past week. Anderson, it was said, sufYered slight injuries. MEMPHIS The Peabody Theatre, which has been closed for several weeks, after an explosion due to change of refrigerant in the cooling system, is again open after complete reconditioning of the cooling system, which has been inspected and passed by the city's engineers. The theatre has also been renovated and redecorated. John Eaton, owner, was indicted by the Shelby County Grand Jury on a second degree murder charge, due to fatal injuries received by the maintenance man at the time of the explosion. The case has not been set for trial. {Continued on Page SO) WAHOO America's Finest Screen Game HOLLYWOOD AMUSEMENT COMPANY 831 South Wabash Avenue • Chicago, llh'nois