Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1939)

K A\ Y C IE IE jfyjR. and Mrs. L. P. Durland and Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Jameson and son Earl jr„ left June 13 for Mexico City. They will be gone three or four weeks. Which prompts Jack Barnett, 20th-Fox cameraman, to remember that he has a date in Agua Caliente the last of July. Charlie Oliver, Universal booker, is vacationing in Arkansas with relatives and friends. Which means that Ed Solig is burning the midnight oil. Helen McLatchey, formerly with Grand National, returned last week from a cruise which took her to Guatemala and Honduras, among other places, and went to work for Monogram as cashier. Barbara Linden, who used to be with Paramount and Universal here, was back this week on vacation— wearing a diamond on her left hand. She is with the securities department at Washington, D. C. Lee Sproule again is operating the Star, Clay Center, Kas. He took over from Max Davisson, temporarily retired from the show business. Betty McGuire, secretary to Harry McClure, Fox Midwest district manager, is being sunkist in California, on vacation. Flowers are the language of sentiment. Virginia McMillan still gets them, even by wire. We suggested crumpets might appeal to her co-workers more. On the Row: George Nescher, Valley Falls, Kas., in for the Yankee-Blues game; George Shilket, Joplin, A. J . Simmons, Lamar, Mo.; Virgil Green, LaPlata, Mo. Tom Edwards of Eldon, Mo., played “You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man” the other weekend, and there was a checker on the job! Tom wonders if these film companies don’t believe in the titles of their pictures. That Bill Bradfield-Tom Wilhoit feud flared again last week. Tom calls Bill’s two-toned car a taxi. Bill resents it. The other day Tom rode with Bill to Eldorado Springs. Two days later Tom received a taxi bill for the trip from the Columbia salesman. Further road adventures of Nat Hechtman, who is getting to be the Gil Bias of Filmrow : At Brookside and Main the other evening, Nat stopped his car suddenly to avoid striking a dog that was moving leisurely across the intersection. The car behind ran into Hechtman’s car, the car behind that one into it. Hechtman alighted, and discovered that the driver of the car immediately behind was Norris B. Cresswell. The third car received the most serious damage — a banged up new fender. But everybody was happy. They had saved the dog. Visitors: A. H. Dula, Holyrood, Kas.; Sam Filson, Scott City, Kas. . . . That new air-conditioning at Variety Club really works! One Score and Ten Plus Three Kansas City — From the nickelodeon to the Neely Bill, the experience of Frank Cassil, president of the Kansas-Missouri Theatres Ass’n for a second term, has spanned the rise of the movies from a crude mechanical novelty to a powerful and influential business and art. In the 33 years during which he personally has been associated with almost every phase of the motion picture industry, the movies have accumulated troubles along with their power and prestige. In May, 1906, Cassil went to work for the Nickelodeon in Salina, Kas., then operated by Bill Price. His job was to create sound effects for the one-reelers which made up the piece de resistance of the programs in those days. He stood behind the screen. When the picture showed horses thundering over the desert, Cassil helped along the illusion by pounding cocoanut shells on a slab of rock. Or perhaps it was the villain shooting at the hero with a dastardly pistol, in which case Cassil took a yardstick and slapped it smartly down on a piece of wet canvass stretched over a frame. The program consisted of one reel, which might contain two or three subjects, and an illustrated song. The “feature” picture didn’t have titles, and another of Cassil’s jobs was to announce to the audience the plot of the story. Cassil worked for both the Nickelodeon and Princess, which had been built by Carl and Herb Thatcher. His duties eventually included operation of the projection machines, and often enough he combined the jobs of announcer and operator, leaning out of the operator’s booth to announce the story to the audience below before winding up the film. In 1910 Cassil went to Nebraska and opened the Princess Theatre at Alma. Later he built the Orpheum in Red Cloud. After operating the two houses for a couple of years, he sold out and went to Paris, 111., where he bought a “shooting gallery,” renamed it the Princess, and continued an exhibitor. The theatre burned September 11, 1913, without insurance. It was impossible to get insurance in those days. They would( Continued on next page) TRADE DIRECTORY — A HANDY GUIDE FOR THE EXHIBITOR KANSAS CITY TERRITORY EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES Peterson "Freezem" Mig. & Sales Co. Blowers, washers, spray nozzels, office and home units. Special Offer — Priced to Sell. Why Pay More? G. A. Peterson Victor 4075 316 Southwest Blvd. Kansas City, Mo. A. A. Electric Machinery Co. Ernest Amoneno, Mgr. 1117 Cherry St. Phone: Victor 8796 Central Theatre Equipment Company Western Electric Mirrophonic Sound Motiograph Projectors E. C. Leeves, General Manager 130 W. 18th St. Tel. HArrison 3345 Great Western Stage Equipment Co. 817 Holmes St. T. L. Greening, Mgr. Phone: Victor 9078 Siebbins Theatre Equipment Co. 1804 Wyandotte St. C. H. Badger, Mgr. Phone: GRand 0134 Southwest Theatre Equipment Co., Indp't Wichita, Kas. C. D. Peck, Mgr. Phone 2-2153 EXHIBITOR ASSOCIATIONS Independent Theatre Owners Association 1214 Brush Creek Road — VAlentine 2770 E. E. Webber jr„ Pres. John Wolfberg, Sec. K. M. T. A. 221 W. 18th St. — Harrison 4825 Frank Cassil, Pres. Fred Meyn, Sec.-Treas. AIR CONDITIONING National Air Conditioning and Engineering Corp. VI. 3535 213 West 19th St. — Kansas City, Mo. Manufacturing — Engineering — Installation SOUND SERVICE K. C. SOUND SERVICE Syncrofilm Sound Equipment and Service 1818 Wyandotte St. W. P. Humston HA 4783 SOUND ENGINEER ENGINEER C. R. BUTLER Sound System Installation and Service Midwest Service Corporation 2606 Monterey St. St. Joseph, Mo. Phones 2-4012—2-4115 “Service As Near As Your Telephone" SCREEN PUBLICITY ~ Alexander Film Company Motion Picture Advertising E. L. Harris, Dist. Mgr., Mo., Kan., Neb., Iowa 239 East 72nd Terrace Phone: Hlland 2694 BOXOFFICE :: June 17, 1939 55