Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1941)

JOSEPH A. DiPESA, local Loew’s advertising manager, ballyhooed “Philadelphia Story” in town by having a girl canvass the city with a camera, the resulting photos being displayed in the lobby of the Loew’s State and Orpheum with ducats going to those who could identify themselves. Robert Sternberg, M&P Theatres Corp. district manager, lost his mother last week . . . Mary Coleman of M-G-M was out last week because of illness . . . Elizabeth Foley of M-G-M was also on sick leave . . . Charles Kurtzman, Loew’s Northeastern division manager, has returned from a circuit jaunt. Leonard Kraska, Fine Arts house manager, reports that his first present to his one-month-old son is a flashlight. Says Kraska, he is already training the youngster to be an usher . . . Fred Lynn has been appointed chief of service at Loew’s State in Boston . . . J. B. Fishman, circuit owner, plans to be south for the next few weeks. James H. Grady, lb-year-old retired vaudeville and legit actor, died last week in a Lynn convalescent home . . . Nathan Yamins, Fall River exhibitor, and Joe Mathieu, circuit owner headquartering in Winchendon, played golf in Florida the other day . . . Maurice N. Wolf, M-G-M district manager, has been in Florida . . . Wilbur Peterson, operator of the Orpheum in Somerville, is still wearing a Florida tan. Tom O’Brien, local Monogram head booker, is pushing the Jam Handy gratis shorts to keep in the running for prizes, $25.00 on each 12 reels, that go to the exchanges which first reach the quota of playoffs on each respective reel . . . Christopher Joyce, manager of the Durfee in Fall River for Interstate, is spotting organ features at the house . . . Susanna Foster has been here in advance of “Hard-Boiled Canary.” Marty Glazer, advertising manager for the Paramount and Fenway, has had her in tow and hosted a party for her Monday afternoon. The high spot at the Capitol Theatre Supply last week was when a Western Union boy came into the offices on Wednesday and sang birthday greetings to Kenneth Douglass, Capitol head . . . Harry Asher of Producers Releasing Corp. was in New York . . . Oze Tessier, New Bedford exhib, was in . . . Ben Gold, Nashua independent, was in town a number of times last week from New Hampshire . . . Ben Cohen, formerly manager of the College in New Haven, has been transferred from India to South Africa by Loew’s, Inc. He ivas here for a stay before taking the new assignment. Sam Kurson is going ahead with plans to erect a new theatre on the site of the present Comique in Camden, Me. . . . Rumors are rife again that a new motion picture house may go up in Belmont . . . There is also talk of a new theatre in Southbridge . . . The Strand in Newport went into blackness this week as renovation activities were started. The M&P Theatres Corp. house is to be the subject of intensive re building . . . M&P also is stepping up the Marlborough in Marlborough. E. M. Loew, independent circuit owner, has been in Florida. Also E. Harold Stoneman, Interstate partner, as well as Louis Rothenberg, Morse & Rothenberg partner . . . Charles Morse, partner of the same circuit, has been cruising in the Caribbean . . . Warren Nichols, operator of the Gem in Peterborough, N. H., has been south. Peter Levesque, manager of the Fairlawn in Pawtucket for Joseph and Max Levenson, lost his mother last week. Levesque formerly managed the Strand in New Bedford for E. M. Loew . . . Edward Cuddy, M&P Theatres Corp. division manager, authorized special late showing of “High Sierra” and “Honeymoon for Three” at the Scollay and Modern in Boston on Washington’s Birthday eve. Stirling Hayden, Bostonian featured in “Virginia,’’ was grabbed by Paul Levi, Metropolitan advertising manager, during Hayden’s recent publicity jaunt here and spotted for personal appearances at the Met on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. Max Melincoff, Warner theatre head out of Boston, has been south . . . Eleanor Glazier of Producers Releasing Corp. has been directing several amateur plays . . . Capitol Theatre Supply Co. has supplied one KW lamp for the Thompson Square in Somerville . . . E. M. Loew has installed new seats in Pawtucket . . . Renovations are under way at the Empire in New Bedford, Harry Zeitz house . . . William Sirica of the Lido in Waterbury is another New England film man who has deserted this territory for Miami. Edward Garrity, manager of the Capitol in Lynn, is recovering from a serious illness . . . Renovations have been going ahead at the Producers Releasing Corp. exchange here, beginning in Harry Asher’s office . . . It has been suggested that when RKO occupies its new Arlington Street quarters, the former RKO headquarters may be utilized as bowling alleys. Ross Cropper, RKO district manager, and cohorts are pushing ahead in the current Ned Depinet Drive which concludes May 9. The local office was second in the drive at the conclusion of the first week and third at the end of the second, very much in the running. Marty Glazer, Paramount and Fenway publicity manager, tied in windows at Jordan-Marsh arid R. H. White’s, in addition to 35 Western Union windows, for “Western Union” . . . Glazer plugged “Mad Doctor” with extra ad space and bore down heavily on exploitation for the Paramount and Fenway bill, netting special stories in the press. Thad C. Barrows, president of the Moving Picture Operators Union, Local 182, plans to leave with a Red Sox contingent for Sarasota, Florida, training quarters next month . . . Ralph Snider, circuit owner, has been continuing in Florida . . . Phil Engel, Warner exploitation head in this territory, has been in New England aiding on “Strawberry Blonde” . . . Louis Ramm, Equity Film Exchange sales promotion manager, in town . . . Norah Kelley, secretary to Edward X. Callahan at 20th-Fox, went skiing in Vermont. Ben Domingo, city manager for the RKO theatres, held “Hudson’s Bay” and “The Invisible Woman” for a second week at the Keith Memorial . . . Dick Shaughnessey, national skeet champion who won the main event at Syracuse this year with 249 out of 250 and 50 straight in the shoot-off, will be featured at the Skeet Club being set up in the film district. IT'S IDEAL For Every Situation That the Gracious Showman’s Answer to The Seating Problem Just as you offer your friends at home the most comfortable chairs, you should make even more certain of your patron's comfort. They EXPECT it. THEY PAY for it. You MUST PROVIDE it. Let us show you the IDEAL solution for this important exhibitor problem. The Ideal Chair — "built to excel, not just to compete." CAPITOL SUPPLY CCL 28-30 Piedmont Street BOSTON, MASS. BOXOFFICE :: March 1, 1941 115