Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

Heavy Rhode Island 'Mikado' Campaign Providence — RKO-Albee went in heavy in putting across “Mikado.” First came a cocktail party at the Biltmore with the town’s elite invited to a preview. Then the formal opening, with the state attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, Mayor Collins of Providence and other state and municipal officials present. Division Manager Harry MacDonald and Jack Granara came down from Boston for the affair and Harry Mandel and William Englund traveled up from New York to take it in. Music store, colleges, singing organizations and Little Theatre groups were all contacted on the Gilbert and Sullivan angle, and heavy advertising space used in newspapers for some days prior to the opening. The result was a capacity house for opening night and better than average business through the week. Likelihood of legitimate attractions coming into town this summer seem slight after the business done by Ethel Barrymore’s two-day stand in “White Oaks” at the Playhouse. Attendance was very discouraging at both evening performances and the matinee, despite good press reviews in local dailies following the opening. Meanwhile, summer theatres in the state are readying for opening, with a couple of them announcing film stars for guest appearances during the season. Matunuck’s Theatre-By-the-Sea lights up June 26 with Associated Producers’ Co. as the tenant and Glenda Farrell booked to premier a new play by Allen Rivkin and Leonard Spiefleglas “Date Line, Geneva,” during the season. The Lippitt Playhouse opens June 10. Newport Casino’s playlist for the season is not yet announced. RKO Boston Vaude Shift May Hold for Summer Boston — The RKO Boston will be shifted to a three-day vaudeville policy on June 9 by City Manager Ben Domingo. It will mean a drop of one day weekly from the present operating policy. The possibility looms that the former first-run, which now is combining flesh with latter-run double features, may remain right through the summer. It would be the first warm-month session the house has endured for several years. Boston Film Scribes to ' Young Lincoln Debut Boston — Boston film critics will attend the Springfield, 111., premiere of 20th Century-Fox’s “Young Mr. Lincoln” Tuesday. Scheduled to entrain for the Midwest are Joyce Dana of the Record, Helen Eager of the Traveler, Marjory Adams of the Globe, John Beaufort of the Monitor, John Hutchens of the Transcript, Elinor Hughes of the Herald, Peggy Doyle of the American, and Prunella Hall of the Post. As " Mikado " Bowed — At the RKO Albee premiere in Providence of “ The Mikado ” the state and city were adequately represented thusly: TOP — Lieutenant Governor and Mrs. James O. McManus pause with Harry McDonald, Hew England district manager for RKO. CENTER — Hector Paquin, secretary of state, and William Englund, RKO personnel director, with McDonald. BOTTOM — McDonald again, this time with Mayor and Mrs. John Collins of Providence. Phil Fox Heads Buffalo Branch for Columbia Boston — Phil Fox has been promoted to the position of Buffalo branch manager for Columbia. Fox, Columbia city salesman here for some years, was made Albany branch manager some months ago. He recently married a Boston girl from a film family, the former Ida Perlstein. Warn Hartford Loew's Picketing Impends Hartford — IATSE and operators’ union officials have notified E. M. Loew’s Theatre that picketing would be resumed at once at the theatre on Asylum St., unless Loew met the AFL units in a bargaining conference. The notification follows a union victory in the supreme court, nullifying the superior court anti-picketing injunction handed down last year. Judge Cornell of the superior court had found that picketing was orderly and peaceful, but had concluded that the union’s strike had failed at the time the injunction proceedings were heard. The union claimed picketing was seriously injuring the business at the theatre by the management’s own admission. Prior to the strike, E. M. Loew is alleged to have stated he would not deal with either an AFL or CIO union. N. H. Billboard Measure Vetoed by Governor Concord, N. H. — A bill aimed primarily at billboard restrictions has been killed here in the first veto ever made by Gov. Francis P. Murphy, who is serving his second term. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Lawrence Ellery of Keene, passed both branches cf the legislature, where such action usually has administrative support, but was turned down by the governor. The house of representatives then sustained the veto by a unanimous vote. It was proposed that a survey be made of roadside conditions in New Hampshire, with recommendations for “protection and improvement” to be submitted when the solons meet again two years hence. Committee Report Against Tax Transference Plan Concord, N. H. — An unfavorable report has been made by the house ways and means committee of the legislature on a measure to levy a 15 per cent tax on tobacco products to make it possible, with other sources of revenue, to eliminate the direct state tax on theatre buildings and other real estate, which now brings $1,200,000 a year. Tire committee report was divided, 14 to 6, and hot debates were anticipated as a result. CoJbe Launches Open Air Theatre in Salisbury Boston — Robert Cobe, former Republic branch manager in New Haven and later Grand National manager here, has opened the Salisbury Beach Open-Air Theatre. The latest New England drive-in parks close to 900 automobiles and is situated on the heavily traveled 1-A route along the North Shore. Joseph Burchini, who had an early hand in the first New England open-air house, at Weymouth, has been associated in the Salisbury project. 96 BOXOFFICE :: May 27, 1939