Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

20 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 29, 1949 REGIONAL NEWSREEL (Continued from Page 19) Again thanking you and bless everyone who had any thing to do with this, gratefully, Al Jolson." The Variety Club annual elections will be held on Nov. 7 at the VVillard Hotel. A board of governors for 1950, two delegates and two alternates to the 1950 International convention will be elected at that time. The five past chief barkers will automatically remain members of the 1950 board. The next Variety Club ladies' luncheon will be on Tuesday, Nov. 1 with Tacie Davis, and Sid Rosenthal acting as hostesses and assisted by Gertrude Burka, Kay Forst, Marie Janof and Lorene Boucher. . . . Hirsh de de Da Viez and Arnold Fine will be Kings for the Night at the Variety Club Hallowe'en Party on Oct. 29. . . . New members of A^ariety Club Tent No. 11 are Marcus Cohn, television counsel for Theatre Owners of America, and a partner in the firm of 'Cohn ■& Marks; and Irvin Wolf, Night Club Operator of the Crossroads. The Capitol Theatre had a world premiere on Thursday, October 20, of "Song of Four Freedoms" dedicated to the United Nations, and written by David Rose for the Washington observance of United Nations Week. . . . Twentieth Century-Fox played host at the Variety Club Open House Party on Saturday night, October 22. OKLAHOMA CITY The Fox Palace in Wichita. Kan., is undergoing complete remodeling, which, says I^ox Midwest Theatres Wichita Manager Ralph Q. Bartlett, will make it one of the most beautiful theatres in the southwest. Staggered bodi-form seats and a large new screen are now being installed. Besides complete remodeling of the interior, the present front will be replaced with an ultra-modern stainless-steel and porcelain front and a stainless steel box-ofifice. Palace Manager Ted E. Sheahon says the theatre will open during the remodeling process at 12 :45 in the afternoon instead of 10:45 A.M. The Novelty in Wichita has been redecorated on the inside, with indirect lighting providing new soft colors. All seats have been recovered, new carpets laid and a ladies' lounge installed. . . . Stage Shows, Inc., of Dallas, Tex., has been incorporated by Jack C. Ball, James J. Jefferies and Jack Pepper. . . . Two new public safety movies will go into production in Oklahoma City this week for showing as educational trailers in all theatres throughout the state. In Tulsa, Okla., six pretty finalists in the Radio Theatre contest for the most beautiful 15-year-old girls will be presented in person on the stage of the Delman Monday evening. One of the six junior misses will be chosen later by public vote to represent northeastern Oklahoma in the nation-wide contest. The six will be guests of the Denman and the sponsoringradio station KTliFL on the theatre's fifteenth Something New A new film plan has been inaugurated at Keith Memorial, Boston, after a poll of patrons. It will be known as RKO Variety Hour, 60 minutes of selected short subjects, color cartoons, name band musicals, novelties, and sports reviews. It will be shown as an added feature each week. FIRST IMPRINT. Moira Shearer, star of Eagle Lion's "The Red Shoes," which marked its first year on Broadway last Friday, becomes the first celebrity to imprint her hand and foot in concrete for inclusion in the pavement of Shubert Alley. Alfred Drake (right), star of "Kiss Me Kate," followed. Looking on are Jerry Dale, J. Arthur Rank publicity manager; W. C. MacMillen, EL vice-president in charge of operations, and Leon Brandt, EL director of advertising, publicity and exploitation. anniversary. One of the winners will appear on the Horace Heidt show at the Coliseum. NEW YORK New Jersey exhibitors are having a headache this week in that the reported support of the Catholic church of an amendment which would refer legislation on bingo games for church, charitable and fraternal iiurpose, to the people, may force the issue to the public in the comingelection. Theatres have felt the efifect of gambling when allowed elsewhere and prohibited to theatres. Richard F. Walsh, international president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, is turning to the political stump to support Herbert H. Lehman for the United States Senate. The lATSE district in this area is tossing a luncheon for Mayoralty Candidate William O'Dwyer. . . . Cecil B. DeMille will arrive in New York Nov. 14 to take part in the Motion Picture Pioneers dinner on Nov. 16. DeMille will receive a plaque as the pioneer of the year. Don Swartz of Independent Film Distributors, Minneapolis, Jack Zide of Allied Film Exchange, Detroit, and Max Roth of Capital Film Exchange, Chicago, were in New York this week, for conferences with Astor Pictures President R. M. Savini. BOSTON Harvard's campus — but to Harvardites it's always "the yard" — will figure prominently in an MGM picture tentatively titled "Mystery Street" which Frank Taylor will produce here, with Don Sturgis directing and Ricardo Monttalban starring. A Hollywood production crew will arrive here next week. Twelve Harvard men will be engaged as extras. University authorities, at first averse to the idea, were convinced by Dr. Allan B. Moritz, one of the nation's top experts in crime detection, that the film would not detract from Harvard's prestige. Film will have much to do with Harvard's department of legal medicine which has. helped the police of , the state to solve many crimes. Benny Gaines, of Boston and Miami, who began his amusement and theatre and hotelowning career here, has just completed the building of 372 apartments in Miami. . . . E. M. Loew, Boston theatre owner, has bought a large interest in the McFadden-Deauville at Miami Beach. . . . Myer Friedman well known to Bostonian theatre men has been made a Colonel on the staf? of Governor Warren of Florida. Eniile Coulon, Jr., will honor the memory of his father and of the old Westminster Roof by giving an "Old West" dinner party at Hotel Vendome on Nov. 2 at which time there will be present all of the old performers who once played the Westminster. INDIANAPOLIS Eagle Lion Executive Edward Hieber spent Monday here with Manager Gene Tunick and his salesmen, conducting a sales conference. Suzanne Jones has been appointed secretary to Manager Tunick. . . . The Mecca Theatre here has installed new sound equipment. . . . RKO District Manager Morris Lefko spent Tuesday and Wednesday with Manager Russell Brentlinger. . . . Oscar Alperts has taken over the interest of Sam Perk in the Mecca here. Perk has joined the sales group of Film Classics. Joe Schilling, operatoT of the Auditorium at Connersville, Ind., is confined to the Methodist Hospital here, under observation. . . . Film ' Classics Manager Sam Abrams has been confined at home several days because of a heavy chest cold. . . . Dr. E. Hammond, operator of the Englis ^ Englis, Ind., is at the Baptist Hospital, Louisville, Ky., while under observation. . . . Screen Guild Manager Larry Jacobs attended a sales meeting Friday and Saturday at the Blackstone Hotel, Chicago. Herman Booth, who has been with National Screen Service, Detroit, has been transferred to the Indianapolis office \be Kaufman, operator of the Fountain, Terre Haute, has sold his theatre to William Ernest Long. Kaufman is reported retiring from active duty because of poor health. . . . Boyd T. Sparrow, manager of Loew's here for six years, will assume management of the Warfield, San Francisco, on Nov. 15. No successor here has been named. Thomas O. McCleaster, 20th-Fox manager here, was elected chief barker of the Variety Club of Indianapolis at the annual election Monday night. Other officers named were Claude McKeen, first assistant chief barker ; William Carroll, second assistant chief barker ; Ted Mendelssohn, dough guy, and W. K. Embleton, property master. Six selected to serve on the board of directors were Herman Black, Abe Gelman, Harry Hayes, Oscar Kuschner, H. T. Liebtag and Burdette Peterson. Coincidence Displayed in the Moosomin Saskatchewan post office was a sign advertising the local theatre's showing of "Arthur Takes Over." The same day Postmaster Price left town on vacation and his son Arthur took over.