Variety (Apr 1949)

26 PICTIJRVaS Clips from Film Row NEW YORK Pat Patterson and Roy Reid, As- ter toppers in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Berme Rubin, head of Imperial Pictures. Cleve- land, in for huddles with Astor prez R. M. Savini. „ . , , . Saul E. Rogers, film industry at- torney, will be installed as Tjewly- elected president of B'nai B'nth Cinema lodge at a Hotel Astoi dinner April 26. Jack H. Levin, g m. of Confidential Reports, Inc., will serve as chairman of the af- fair, which will also fete retiring prez S. Arthur Glixon. Other offi- cers being installed are vecpees Max B.> Blackman, George Brandt, Julius M. Collins, Hal Sanson, Harry Friedman, Leo Jatie, tiai Hodes, Marvin Kirsch, Milton Liv- ingston, Louis A. Novins, Robert K. Shapiro and Al Wilde. Howard Bonus, Palace house manager for several months, placed in charge of the theatre. Previously he had been a relief manager for RKO circuit in N. Y. Bay Connors, managing director at Palace for the last 15 years, switched to RKO Flushing. Lpngterm lease for the Acme, Glendale, L. I., closed by Joseph Selig. Frann-Lyhn Amus. Corp. is lessor on the deal for the 600- seater. Berk & Krumgold acted as 'fi'ScntS'' ■ Edward T. Carroll, formerly with RKO, added to Film Classics's Philadelphia exchange as salesman; Sidney Lefkowitz promoted to hOmeoffice ass't to Burtus Bishop, Jr., Metro midwest division chief. Lefkowitz, h.o. staffer, assumes chores formerly handled by Irving Helfoni, who is now devoting full tithe to the Coast and Canadian di- ■ Visions.;- BOSTON Arthur Frank, film buyer and Tiooker for; Lockwood & Gordon Enterprises, resigned; replaced by Jerry Crowley, former Metro and Columbia booker. Martin MuUin, head Bf N. E. Theatres, Inc.j and Louis R. Perini, Boston Braves prexy, named co- chairmen of 1949 "Jimmie Fund" for Children's Cancer Research Foundation. . I John J. Ford, of the . Maine : &: New Hampshire indie circuit, was elected chairman of the board at the annual election of officers of the Allied Theatres of New Eng- land this week. Sam Pinanski was reelected president of the as- sociation, and Stanley Sumner, Cambridge exhibitor, was reelectr ed treasurer. Other officers: Charles Kurtz- man, Loew's; Ben Domingo, RKO; Martin MuUin, Netco; Al Somerby, Old Howard, and Maxwell Melin- coff, Warners, co-vice-chairmen. Martin Mullin is chairman of (he legislative committee and appoint- • ed Frank Lydon as field secretary and Mrsi Anna Hughes DriscoU as' executive secretary to replace the late Joseph Brennan. Directors^ in addition to the above, are Ed- ward Center, Edward Cuddy, James Doyle and George S. Giles. PITTSBURGH Don C; Hayman, who operates . theatres in Bellington and Tunnel- ton, W. Va., flew west for 10-day exploitation job on Los Angeles run of Clyde Beatty's circus. This is third year Hayman, former pro- motion man with Post-Gazette here, has gone to Coast on such as- signment for Beatty. Minnie Steinberg, widow, of Mannie Steinberg, who moved to the coast with her family last month, joined Film Classics L. A. branch. Jerome, Pa., theatre returned to management of >Stephen Gironda. House had been under lease for several years to Charles Szewczyk, Boswell exhib. John Perry, Belle Vernon the- atre owner, started court proceed- ings to have himself reinstated as head of town's borough govern- ment; was ousted by . council last September. Russ Zebra resigned booker's ■ berth with Hanna Theatre Service to: go into wholesale jewelry busi- ness; being replaced by Joe Hanna. George Tice succeeds Arthur Levy as branch niatiager for Co- lumbia here effective April 18. , Tlce became a salesman in 1937. >»4 «« ♦ «« « * keby Hotel chain staff.' Will^.be succeeded by assistant manager Charles Judge, „ -i- * Jack Goldberg's Herald Pictures will send unit here to begin pro- duction on documentary, "City of Brotherly Love," which will depict life of Negroes here. . • With the housewrecking crews only two blocks away, occupants of property on south side of Vine street, industry's exchange row here, were being forced to vacate. Melrose Realty plans a 500-seat theatre near Doylestown, Bucks County. House will be leased to Joseph A. Wodock, Doylestown exhib. . . . Jack Cohen, district manager of National Screen here, resigned. Carmen theatre now has double features on Sunday when the vaudeville is off. Philly's Sunday blue laws prohibit stage enter- tainments on the Sabbath. LOS ANGELES Fo3£ West Coast reopened old Granada theatre in -Inglewood un- der new name, the Fox. House was partially destroyed by fire six months ago and has been rebuilt as a deluxer with 1,000 seating capacity. . Fox West Coast's Northern Cali- fornia' division will be managed- by Spence Leve during the ab- sence of Dick Spier, recently or- dered hospitalized for three to four 'months because of a heart attack. Leve has been co^manager of District No. 1 in the Southern California division of FWG. Fox-West Coast opened its new $400,000 FoXi Inglewood with "Mr. Belvedere Goes to College," Dick Haymes as emcee and a flock of film names as guests, including Shirley Temple, Clifton Webb, Patilette Goddard, Sydney Green- street, Janet Leigh, Judy Canova, Maureen O'Hara, Jane Powell, Bar- bara Bel Geddes, Elizabeth Taylor, Colleen Townsend, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans giving the customers an eyeful. a bally for "Alias Nick Be«l" and hosted her«t dinner and show; Lester Cowan, Paramount pro- ducer-director, here raving about new Marx Bros, picture, Love ""Tules Serkowich and E. G. Fitz- gibbons, Columbia and Paramount exploiteers, here to beat drum for ,1. — »_„ r»nnn." and Nick "Knock on Any Door' Beal." Oater Output ST. LOUIS To bolster sagging flrstrun biz here, Fanchon & Marco is bringing in two Children's World Theatre prtJductions to the big Fox. "Jack and Beanstalki" first of these, opens April 7. Construction started; on new 500-car drive-in on outskirts of Paris, 111,, for F. B. Youngblood and .Oral Pierson. Roger L. Meyer appointed gen- eral manager of houses operated by Clark and Russell Armentrout in Barry and Pittsfield, 111., and two Missouri towns. Bloomer . Amus. Co:, Belleville, 111., expects to light new 750 drive- in near there in June. ^ Dennie Campbell has purdRsed the Creal, Creal Springs, III., from C. A. and R. M. Moore of Crab Orchard, 111. Val Portwood, manager of Kera- sotes Bros. Lory, Highland, 111., elected head of Rotary Club there. Fred Wehrenberg convalescing at his home after a stay in local hospitaL ALBANY Schine Circuit, Inc., of GJoyers- ville named Fielding K. O'Kelly district manager to supervise houses in Glens Falls, GloversviUe, Amsterdam and Hudson Falls. O'Kelly, preseiit manager of Rialto, Glens Falls, and vet man- ager, continues headquarters at Rialto. Harry Corlew, his assistant, becomes manager of house. In a switch-over, the Fabian cir- cuit assumed operation of Troy, N Y., Griswald, which the Warners had held for six years. Fabian in- stalled a firstrun policy. WB re- turned the American there to sec;; ond-run. Victor Bunze, one - time Waterford exhibitor and old-time vaudevillian, taken from the American to manage the Gnswala. OMAHA National Theatre Supply opening branch in old Warner Bros, ex- change, Glenn Slipper of Los An- geles will manage. District Manager Wilham Miskell of Tristates Theatres back from New Haven, Conn, where his moth- er is seriously, ill. ; . Dundee, Ralph Goldberg's de- luxe nabe, doing so well with arty pictures that he is revamping house with slide-back chairs. Byron Hopkins sold his Scribner at Scribner Neb. to John Brandt after two years operation. Tristates is negotiating for more drive-in, spots in the Omaha ter- ritory. . TOLEDO New Paulding theatre, Paulding* O., reopened March 10 with Pauld- ing Co. Memorial Hospital fund benefit. House replaces the pld Grand, destroyed by fire in 1946. Tom .Belford named manager of new Port, Port Clinton, O., just opened. William and Elsie Logan, opera- tors of RoUercade Skating Rink here, purchased Defiance (0.) Drive-In on State Road 66 from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brinkman. Liberty, Lancaster, O., owned by Erwin Briner;: reopened after be- ing remodelled following January fire. CLEVELAND Cleveland Motion Picture Exhib? itors paid tribute to late John D. Kalafat, who was one of its offi- cers, by setting up a $6,000 loan fund for medical students at Wes- tern Reserve University here. The circuit operator died April 5, 1948. Built at estimated cost of $400,- 000, the new Avon Lake will be- come the 25th theatre of the As- sociated Theatres circuit which has tentatively set April 16 for open- ing the house. Theatre, a 1,200-seater, is locat- ed in nearby Avon Lake, O. CHICAGO Jerry Weiss transfers to booking department of Schoenstadt circuit. Censor board reviewed 119 films, rejected none, but tagged adults only, "Lost Happiness," "Susan Spina," and "Rozina, the Love Child," all imports. North . Centrel ■ theatre closes April 7 for remodeling. Roland Kay Stonebrook, managing direc- tor, who has been ill for a month, will reopen house. : Wally Dorff joins Republic book- ing staff coming over from Selz- nick. ■ ■■ Balaban & Katz circuit took over Broadway Strand. : Henry Spanos, head of Film Studios of Chicago, back after month in hospital. RKO Palace remodeling with new marquee, seats and carpets. Ray Carsky in sick-bay for gall- stones. ■ ■ ■ ■ ... North avenue and Harlem drive- ins opened April 1, as did Skyhi 66 and Starlite." NEWARK New bill introduced in the New Jersey state' legislature^would set up city censor bodies fo'r-this city and Jersey City. Measure is the idea of Newark police topper. Chances of the two-city censor bill being enacted into law are re- garded as slim. PHILADELPHIA ' Nate Mllgrlm, former booker for Affiliated Theatres, has gone into DeLuxe Premiums. National Film Service, Inc., made arrangements wijth Motion Pictures Sales Corp., of N.Y., to provide physical handling. Thomas Speck,' manager of Trans-Lux, resigned to join Kir- MINNEAPOLIS Dick Powers transferred hy United Artists from Milwaukee to sales staff here, replacing Al McGlincey, resigned. Liocai'nabes. starting to play up dittnerware ahd other giveaways over screen attractions. Cooking schools also returning and duals arc greatly on increase. Art Anderson, Warners' branch manager, in St. Mary's hospital re- covering from virus pneumonia.' State theatre found 80-year old woman who never had seen film as WASHINGTON Work started on new projection room which will be an adjunct of Motion Picture Assn, headquarters here. Structure will be only one story, with a second floor to be added later. Room will have 70 permanent seats. PROVIDENCE Maurice. Druker moved from Cleveland's . State to manager of the Loew's. State here recently. Joseph Samartano, former manager here, took avev city nianagership of Baltimore, DES MOINES Harris and John Wolfberg; hold- ers of Realart Pictures franchise in this territory, set up a local office, with Robert Herrel as man- ager. CINCINNATI Starway drive-in of Frankfort, Ky., and Odeon theatre, Augusta, Ky., new accounts of Theatre Own- ers Corp., local booking combine. ATLANTA March of Dimes campaign reaped $26,458 from patrons of Georgia Theatre Co. Continued from page V mount, Screen Guild, Equity, six apiece; 20th-Fox, five. Other com- panies and indies have lesser num- bers. ■.-. ■ Paramount has two of its own in current release, "Whispering Smith" and "The Paleface," and also one from Pine-Thomas, "El- Paso." "Street of Laredo" is awaiting release," and coming up are "Copper Canyon," "Montana Rides," "Where Men Are Men." Screen Guild has backlog of three and three being prepped. Equity has "Ride, Ryder, Ride" in current release, teeoff of series; "Roll, Thunder, Roll" finished; and four other "Red Ryder" yarns to go in near .future. All are In Cinecolor. 20th-Fox has pair finished, "Sand" and "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend," and three to do, "Horse Opera," "Zapata," and untitled Northwest Mounted Police storv. On its releasing schedule Is Nat Holt indie, "Canadian Pacific." Holt also is prepping "Cariboo Trail." Eagle Lion's "Red Stallion in the Rockies'' has just gone out in ret lease. Awaiting early release is "Tulsa," with "The Big Cat" still to go out. Latter two are in Tech- nicolor, ahd "Stallion" in Cinecol- or, giving E-L full program of color.', Film Classics has Martin Mooney's "Daughter of the West" awaiting release, and Albert J. Cohen has "The Renegade" on his future production schedule: for re- lease through this company. AlUcd Artists has "Massacre River" fin- ished by Windsor Pictures and ready for distribution. Metro has trio coming up-—"Am-: bush," "Devil's Doorway," "Out- riders." Just finished is Samuel Go 1 d wy n' s "Roseanna McCoy,'' which RKO will release, feud story of the Hatfiields and the McCoy'f which may be classified; as a west- ern. Don Barry will put "Rose of Tennessee" into production as ah indie in July, first of six westerns to be made during next two years. UA Tops Crime Fix On the Hollywood crime front,' United Artists leads off with total: of nine pictures either in backlog,; shooting or prepping. Paramount, Columbia apd Warners follow with six apiece; Metro,;flve, 'Universaii, RKO, Republic, four each; 20th- Fox, Eagle Lion, three; otheri with one apiece. UA's lineup include, in backlog, "Cover Up," "Impact,", "The Crooked Way,'' "Too : Late ft* Tears," "Jigsaw," "T w 11 i g h t." Shooting are "Red Light" and "Quicksand," and prepping^; "By Hook or Crook." Paramount^finished, "Rope of Sand;" "Chicago Deadline," Pine-^ Thomas' "Special Agent;" shooting, "After Midnight," "File On Thelma Jordon; prepping, -'Dead Letter." Columbia—in release, "Knock on Any; Door;" in backlog, "The Lone Wolf and His Lady," "The Devil's Henchmen,'' "The Under- cover Man," "Johnny Allgero;" shooting, "The Blank Wall;" prep- ping, "Beyond These Walls." Warners—-backlog, "Flaxy Mar- tin;" prepping, "White Heat," "The Miami Story," "Women Without Men," "Murder, Inc.," "The Hood- lum." Metro—finished, "Scene of the Crime," "Border Incident;" prep- ping, "Manhunt," "Side Street,'' "Death in the Doll's House." U-I—in backlog, 'Illegal Entry," "City Across.the River;" shooting, "Partners in Grime;" readying, "Tehacchapi, the Story of Molly ,X.": RKO — completed, "The Win- dow," "Weep No More," "They Live By Night;" lensing, "The Big Steal." ; , Republic---awaiting release, "Hideout," "Street of San Fran- cisco ;" coming up, "Flaming Fury," "Post-Office Investigator." 20th-Fox — completed, "ThieveiS Market," "House of Strangers;" prepping, "21 Bow Street." E-L-^ readying, "Trapped," "Port of New York," "12 Against the Uil- derworld." Frank Seltzer is prepping an indie without release, "Blood Money;" and Martin Mooney's "Until I Die" will go out under Film Classics banner when made. Film Classics also has "C-Man" completed; Equity has "Parole" in current yrelease and "Aliniony" just finished. Screen Guild re- cently completed "Arson, Inc;/' and Alliecl Artists has *'Bad Boy" in first release. Vcdn«i»clay, April 6, 1949 MIAMI VARIEH CLUB TAKES OVER KID HOSP Miami, April 5. Members of the Greater Miami ■ Variety. Club, Tent No. 33, has voted to take over the operation of the South Florida Children's hospital now under construction. . Hospital will be completed about Jan. 1,1950. New board of trustees will be named by the Variety club and the name of the hospital will be changed to Variety Children's Hospital of Florida. Property consists of 22 acres of land and a building valued in ex- cess of $800,000. It is slated to open with 72 beds which will be upped to 90 when funds permit.. > S. Y. Tent's Drive After several months of organ- izing activities. New York's new Variety Club, Tent 35, has thrown open its doors for new members. Max A. Cohen, chief barker, re- tiorts .more than 200 applications have been received. Additionally, membership of 300 New Yorkers are being transferred from- other i tents throughout the country. Top Grossers , Continued from page 4 j (RKO) the fboxollice champ for February, being particularly sturdy early in March when business was comparatively stronger for all pic- tures than later in the month, "Knock on Any Door" (Col), which ■ looms as a nice bet, took seventh ; while "Red Shoes" (EL) was eighth. "Down to Sea in Ships" (20th) Wound up niilth. "So Dear . ta My Heart" (RKO) snagged 10th money. Many Medlocres The month had a big list of pic- tures which did not pile up much money because of the generally Offish tone at the boxoSicci Best of these were "Hamlet" (U), "Nick Beal" (Par), "Life of Riley" (U), "Command Decision" (M-G), "Wake of Red Witch" (Rep) (sec- ond In February), "Enchantment" (RKO), "Fighting O'Flynn" (U) and."John Loves Mary" (WB), Although extensive bookings for new, big product likely will wait • until Easter, several promising pic- tures were unveiled during the month; Most , promising of these to date appears to be "Take Me Out to Ball Game" (M-G), which was rolling in good to sock fash- ion in final week of March. "Kiss In Dark" (WB) launched last week, also shapes up as a solid moneymaker.. "Little Women" (M-G), on strength of its lone play- . date at N.Y. Music Hall, also looms big. "Ma and Pa Kettle" (U) did sturdy to smash trade in two ini-' tial playdates. "Canadian Pacific" (20th) also did nicely on first dates on the Coast. "El Paso" (Par) fared better than expected on sev- eral first playdates. "Bad Boy" (Mono.) did fairly well on prelim dates" but fell back sharply after that. Bringing back "Johnny Belinda''- ; "Sierra Madre" by Warners to cash in on Academy awards^ for these, two brought spotty results last week. "Red Pony" (Rep) managed some okay coin, being brisk to strong in some locations. "Force of Evil" (M-G) was uneven during the month. "Portrait of Jennie" (SRO) was doing uniformly stout to great biz in its few scattered sit-, uations. "Paisan" (Indie) did remarkably big trade early in the month, via a batch of bookings in small-seat- ers. "Symphonic Pastorale" (In-; die); another foreign-make, like- wise attracted attention by sock trade in small arty spots and ex- tended-run dates. Par Revamping as Continued from page t ssSBt Wirthwein has bids from other film companies. With Clark taking over, his divi- sion, has been revamped to com" prise the Dallas, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Kansas City and St. Louis exchange territories. .That of J. J. Donahue, central division manager, has also been reshaped to include Chicago, Indianapohs,, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha and Des Moines. Other three divi« sions stay put as presently consUj tuted. "~S Braly has been with Par fPrJW years, last 29 of them as distnCC manager.