Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

£)AVE ROSENBAUM came down to Filmrow from Elizabethtown in the Adirondack Mountains. He operates the Capitol in that popular summer resort town . . . Others from the North visiting the Alley were Vivian Sweet of the Star in Salem, Johnny Milligan of the Broadway in Schuylerville (Milligan recently returned from a vacation in Miami), Ollie Mallory of the Starr in Corinth, Frank Williams, booker for the Benton circuit of Saratoga and other points. Mohawk Valley exhibitors included Charles Gordon of the Olympic in Utica; Morris Slotnik, Utica resident and operator of the Strand in Waterville, and the Star in Oriskany Falls; Harold Tyler of the Delphai in Chittenango; Morris Schulman of Clarks Mills; Morris Silverman and Johnny Gardner, of Schenectady. Percy Quigley of Coxsackie was one of the Hudson River valley contingent. Ditto Henry Frieder and Henry Grossman, operating three theatres in Hudson. Dan Houlihan, 20 th Century-Fox hooker, accompanied Branch Manager Moe Grassgreen and Salesmen Benny Dare and Dan Remer to the company’s Chicago sales convention . . . Betty O’ Hare, assistant hooker, who had been hospitalized for an operation, returned to her desk and took over for Houlihan . . . Charley Smakwitz, assistant zone manager for Warner Bros. Theatres, back from Miami, so bronzed that a local columnist squibbed he had the coloring of a beachcomber. Typer added that was no plug for Charles Laughton’s latest film, Smakwitz being with Warner and “The Beachcomber” being English-made. Smakwitz did not come home while picture was on the screen at Fabian’s Palace. Edgar S. Van Olinda, whose name appears on picture reviews in the Times Union, returned to work after being in the hospital for a throat operation. Van is one of Albany’s best known singers; also a music impresario . . . Jean Downs of Grand National has a voice with a smile. She is a sister of Eileen, secretary to Lou Golding, Fabian division manager, and also pleasant of voice . . . Jim Evans, Paramount shipper, is driving a new car . . . Phil Straus, Pine Plains operator, has opened a dine and dance inn in Amenia called the Brookside . . . Howard Secor, Warner shipper, is president of the local exchange union. Bill Murray, Grand National office manager and booker, met the 20th CenturyFox convention special from New York, to have a brief chat with his brother, Norbert, booker in 20th’s Boston office . . . Jimmy Spadaro of the Shadowland in Ellenville is well again . . . Joseph Engel arrived in Albany Monday to assume charge of the Universal exchange. He succeeded A. Gerald Leary, who has been in poor health recently and will take a rest . . . Bill Kennedy of the Lyric in Rouses Point has returned from a vacation in West Palm Beach, Fla. . . . Two new rest rooms have been installed by Mrs. Inez Ferguson in her theatre at Copake . . . Lafayette ILase ) Quinlan, Chateaugay exhibitor, has recovered from an illness . . . Doris Andrews of Metro IL B A N politan in Boston is making steady recuperation in bracing air of the Adirondack Mountains. The drop in prices paid milk producers is reported on Filmrow to be another reason for poor business in dairy sections of northeastern New York. Farmers say they are now receiving less than cost. Iron mines at Mineville and Lyon Mountain are also operating part time . . . One cheerful bit of news is that Republic plans to spend several million dollars on a new smelter and breaker at Port Henry. This would furnish employment to many in construction work as well as in mining. Indicates a brighter future for the industry in upstate New York. Albany and Schenectady will get the heaviest picture exploitation in many moons when Cecil B. DeMille arrives on Union Pacific’s streamlined train, with four ancient UP coaches on the rear end, to plug Paramount’s film of same name. The train, the first turbine generator driven type developed by General Electric Co., will be in Albany May 3-4-5, and in Schenectady, the GE city. May 6. “Union Pacific” opens at the Palace, Albany, May 5, several days later at Proctor’s in Schenectady. DeMille is the biggest Hollywood ■name booked for a personal appearance here during the past year. Of special interest to exhibitors in this district is the fact Richard Kennedy, son of Bill Kennedy, Rouses Point theatre owner, worked on turbine system train of the UP for General Electric in Schenectady . Kennedy is an electrical engineer. Bernard Mills, Republic branch boss, visited Schine circuit headquarters in Gloversville. A mecca for all exchange managers . . . Late Saturday night shows are being emphasized by area theatres . . . For instance, the Palace, Albany and Proctor’s, Troy, Fabian houses, captioned Saturday’s copy, “Late Show Tonite. Last Feature 10:29.” Late Saturday shows are being played up elsewhere, too . . . Exhibitors complained that Lent was a contributing factor to poor business, although many film men declare Lent does not dent the boxoffice as of yore, especially if good pictures are programmed. It said that Troy is the city to feel the Lenten pinch Incorporations NEW YORK Concord Films, Inc., New York. Purpose: Motion picture and theatrical enterprises. Capital: 100 shares, no par value. Incorporators: Martin J. Lewis, Hans Rosenwald, S. S. Neuberger, 154-56 W. 55th St. Attorneys: Neidle & Taylor, 522 Fifth Ave. No Percentage Pictures Theatre Corp., New York. Purpose: Motion picture and theatrical business. Capital: 100 shares, no par value. Incorporators: Murray Ginsberg, Beacon; Harold J. Klein, Ellen Bozonelis, 276 W. 43rd St. Attorney: Monroe E. Stein, 276 W. 43rd St. Vedis Films, Inc., New York. Purpose: Motion picture films, etc. Capital: $10,000, $100 par value. Incorporators: Bernard J. Gottlieb, Barend Broakman, Hotel New Weston; Janet S. Wolf, 3 Silver Birch Drive, New Rochelle. Attorneys: Kurz & Kurz, 112 E. 42nd St. AustroAmerican Pictures Corp., New York, has effected a change of name to New York Maid Glove Co.. Inc. A certificate of change was filed with the secretary of state by Attorney A. Townsend Kaplan, 66 Fifth Ave. most, because its population is 85 to 90 per cent Catholic. Some theatres of the area close on Good Friday. Filmrow was sorry to learn that the mother of Tom H. Bailey, popular district manager for 20 th Century-Fox, had died in Oklahoma City . . . Bailey and Bill Sussman, eastern division manager, were recent callers on M. A. Grassgreen and staff of the local exchange . . . Francis P. O'Hare, brother of Elizabeth O’Hare, assistant booker for 20 th Century-Fox, died in the Troy Hospital, Troy, while Miss O’Hare was in a local hospital recovering from an operation. A wife and three brothers also survive. Matt Beier, home office representative of United Artists, was in Albany last week for the purpose of contacting exhibitor accounts . . . Manager Bob Rosenthal is getting out a breezy one sheeter, “Ritz Talk” for the Warner house . . . Joe Weinstein, Warner theatre zone assistant booker, was in his old haunts on Filmrow recently. Exchange attaches thought he had not been up since the WB theatre organization moved last September into downtown quarters at 79 North Pearl Street. Morris Slotnick, of the Strand in Waterville, and the Star in Oriskany Falls, has returned from a hospital in Syracuse . . . F. W. Mausert of the State, Glens Falls, on a visit to New York City. Incidentally, one of Mausert’s hobbies is woodworking, done in a specially equipped cellar. Miss Beatrice E. Sullivan, for sometime operator of the San Souci, now the Family, Watervliet, and still owner of the property, died at her home in Watervliet after a brief illness. A sister survives. The theatre had been leased from Miss Sullivan for seven or eight years. Sam Milberg now conducts it . . . Alan Sirrine of the Empire in Port Henry and the Rialto in Mineville, entered the hospital in Plattsburgh for a minor operation . . . Rossi Brothers will keep the Strand, Schroon Lake, dark until May 1. Means a month’s closing. They are said to have been the first operators to attempt all winter operation in the Adriondack Mountain town. It is a popular summer resort. Mrs. E. Woldenberg has taken over the Clinton in Clinton and will open it Easter Sunday, according to Filmrow reports. Morris Schulman closed the house, located at the seat of Hamilton College, two months ago. Mrs. Woldenberg formerly operated a theatre in Morrisville. Although the Legion of Decency is said to have removed “Yes, My Darling Daughter” from the Class C list after Warner Bros, had changed it to meet the approval of the board of regents of New York State, the name of the film, with “revised version” in parenthesis, is among those “condemned” in the latest issue of the Evangelist, Albany Catholic weekly . . . C. R. Rosenberry, Knickerbocker News critic, handed “Let Us Live” such a strong notice that Fabian’s Grand used a quotation from it in advertising the Columbia film. BOXOFFICE :: April 8, 1939 30-G