Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1939)

B €> § T O M DHIL FOX was feted by industry friends, including a large Boston contingent, at the DeWitt Clinton in Albany, Monday. The former local Columbia salesman, now exchange manager in the New York key point, will soon marry Miss Ida Perlstein of Everett, connected both with the exhibition and distribution segments of the industry. Jerry Carey of Medford, supervisor of building plans for the state, died last week. Sam Liftman, formerly with the National Theatre Supply and more recently in the flower business, has moved his posy emporium from the fUm district and is now located at the Elliot Flower Shoppe, 87 Massachusetts Ave. The film district dinner-dance, sponsored again this year by the BostoTi Cinema Club, will be held at the Cocoanut Grove, March 19. Committee chairmen, appointed at a business meeting last week, included Harry Martin, Bill Cuddy, Tom Fermoyle, Sam Berg, Dave Grover, Charles Repec, Jerry Govan, Abe Barry, and Cyril McGerigle. F. W. Franke, Universal auditor, was in town last week . . . The Opera House in Princeton, Me., has darkened . . . John Harrington of the Monogram home office was recently in town . . . Nate Furst, local Monogram executive, spent much of last week in the New Haven area. Dutch Millett, former Publix executive now an independent operator at Bridgeton, Me., has appointed Herbert Higgens his Boston represeritative. George S. Ryan, entered another antitrust suit in the legal lists last week, filing a $100,000 action in behalf of Edmund G. Pollard. Locale was the Maine theatre operator’s situation in Riunford. The test case involving the legality of Bank Night in Plymouth and Norfolk counties will be heard in superior court in February, District Attorney Edmund Dewing has assured George S. Ryan and Roy E. Heffner. Heffner arranged for the test setup at the Key Theatre which he operates, in partnership with Pat McGee, in Middleboro. Jeanne Finklestein was welcomed back to the offices of Specialty Pictures this week following a Bermuda cruise . . . Matt Donahue, M-G-M booker, has opened a bachelor’s apartment on Shawmut Street. Mrs. Gertrude Beatrice Bartlett Kirby, motion picture actress when celluloid was seen but not heard, agreed last week to pay $135 for nursing services to her stepmother whom she never saw. Judgment PERSONAL BOOKING SERVICE r Direct representation in the exchanges for I >our theatre — seven days a week. \ HERBERT HIGGENS I 250 Stuart Street I HANeock 5788-5790 \ I{ O S T O N was recorded in superior civil court in Salem. Louis Cohen, Western Massachusetts exhibitor, and Mrs. Cohen have added a daughter to family ranks . . . The Community Theatre in Liberty, Me., has closed because of poor business . . . Edward Renick, local M-G-M salesman, is home from the hospital and convalescing. Robert Higgens, son of the theatre booker, has returned to studies at Shadowbrook. Young Higgens was seriously ill. Now 18 years old, he is heading toward official admittance in the Jesuit ranks 13 years from now. An injunction to permit the showing of “Unashamed” was refused by Suffolk superior court here last week, by Judge Abraham Pinanski. He promised the Cini Grand Films, Inc., a speedy hearing on the matter. Katherine McGovan of M-G-M is mourning the death of her mother. Mayor Maurice Tobin has announced that the new Boston tax rate will approximate $45. The present $41.30 levy tops all rates in the country’s large cities, with population more than 500,000, and exceeds the average adjustment elsewhere by 49.5 per cent, local theatre owners note unhappily. A niece of George Bailey, operator of the Strand in Winoonski, Vt., is convalescing from a serious illness. An executive board meeting of the Exchange Employes Local was scheduled for last Thursday. A long awaited general meeting, to follow a confab held during May two years ago, is in the offing. Romelo Vanni has renovated and added, seats to the Park in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire . . . The Lyric Theatre in Waterbury, Vt., has been closed and dismantled. Dick Ruben is distributing Excellophone to theatres desiring hard-of-hearing aids. Ruben has already installed systems in Dorchester, Reading, Saugus, Rockland, and in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The tariff for the forthcoming Cinema Club dinner-dance will be $5 per couple . . . Dr. Willis H. Carrier was honored here at an air-conditioning convention last week as ‘‘the father of air-conditioning." He was a special guest. Renewed pressure is being brought this year for legislative enactment of a measure to set a $25 per thousand limit on real estate taxation. Star Enterprise, Inc., a Boston amusement business, has been incorporated in Massachusetts with a capital of 100 shares of no par stock. Incorporators are Robert B. Wenner of Malden, William F. MacKernan of Melrose, and Irving T. and Nellie F. Gurney of Middleboro. Jack Granara, RKO publicist, is publicizing “Son of Frankenstein” at Keith’s 'Continued on page 65) Billboard Measure Being Studied Concord, N. H. — Theatre operators are considering the effect of a measure introduced in the legislature, which, if passed, will regulate billboards, signs and other forms of outdoor advertising. Under the bill, sponsored by Rep. Lawrence C. Ellery of Keene, it would be unlawful for any person, with certain exceptions, to “erect or maintain any billboard or sign for outdoor advertising in any highway or park within 500 feet of the nearer side line of any public street, parkway, boulevard, roadway or square.” Any billboard with an aggregate area of more than 25 square feet also would be prohibited. The measure doesn’t apply, however, to signs or devices which advertise or indicate either the person occupying the premises on which the same are located or the business transacted thereon, or which advertise the property for sale or to let.” A first offender would be fined $100, and if the billboard or sign wasn’t removed within 20 days following conviction, the violator could be assessed up to $500. Kraska Will View Film Series in Florida Boston — George Kraska of the Fine Arts Theatre, has departed for a sojourn of Florida. Leonard Kraska, regular house manager, wlU take over during his absence. Kraska planned to make it what he called a “busman’s holiday” by taking in a foreign fUm series being screened at Palm Beach by Paul Anglan, formerly of Boston. The imports will include Kraska’s own film, “Slalom.” “The Story of a Cheat,” “King Solomon’s Mines,” “Ballerina,” “As You Like It,” “Under the Red Robe,” “Carnival in Flanders,” “Grand Illusion,” and the world premiere of “Newsreel Cavalcade” from 1897 to 1939 are also scheduled for showings there. Metropolitan s First Two Due in Few Weeks Boston — Sam Davidson, Cameo Screen Attractions head, expects the first two films on his newly acquired Metropolitan Picture Corp. lineup in the local vaults within the next few weeks. “Port of Hate” is anticipated approximately February 15, while “Daughter of the Tong” is due here March 1. Foreign Film Survey by Boston UA Exchange Boston — The local United Artists exchange is engaged in making a survey of the local standing of foreign films. 62 BOXOFFICE :: January 21, 1939