Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1962)

A TTENTION! Central and North Central Drive-In Theatre Owners and Managers LET US DO YOUR DRIVE-IN SCREEN PAINTING ROCHESTER, WISCONSIN or phone 242J, Waterford, Wis. DEAN NOBLE NOBLE AERIAL SERVICE No ladders, scaffolding, swings or other outmoded equipment to mar the surface of your screen HEIGHT IS NO PROBLEM! The picture above shows Noble painting the huge "41 Twin Outdoor" screen. This 103 foot high tower puts every square inch of your screen within easy reach — nothing is missed or overlooked. YOU WILL SAVE TIME! The portable 103 foot aerial tower comes in ready for action. There are no ladders, rigs — no ropes to worry about. No danger of falls, etc. We know how the job should be done, and we do it that way! YOUR MONEY GOES INTO YOUR SCREEN Not for paying workmen climbing all over your screen, not for setting up and tearing down oldfashioned rigging. There is no waste motion. Our aerial tower allows us to reach corners, crevices usually overlooked when working from shaky swing stages or scaffolds. ASK OUR CUSTOMERS: We have painted some of the largest and finest drive-in screens in the country. Names on request. DON'T DELAY-NOW IS THE TIME— FOR APPOINTMENTS To Get Your Screen Ready for the New Season Write or Wire M/LVlMt// CEE ^Jrs. S. V. Abramson was re-elected to a two-year term as president of the Better Films Council of Milwaukee County. Also re-elected were Mrs. George Holzbauer, vice-president; Mrs. Robert A. Hunholz, recording secretary; Mrs. Leslie Dively, corresponding secretary, and Mrs. Gilbert C. Loeser, treasurer. A dispute with Local 18 of the stagehands union here caused promoter Clair Richardson to cancel two Sunday performances of the San Francisco ballet. Richardson said he would refund money on tickets purchased at his Skylight theatre. Tickets purchased from the defunct Variety theatre (which was promoting the ballet before Richardson took it over) were to be honored at other Skylight attractions, he said. The ballet was to have been staged at the Oriental theatre. This is the second time he has had labor difficulties at the Oriental. Richardson said the ballet’s “yellow card,’’ called for 13 men to set up the show, six to work the show and 13 to take it down. “But,” he said, “the local stagehands union ‘arbitrarily and with no contract’ with him or the Oriental, was charging double time for the seven men who would not be working the show.” He admitted this had been done before, but that he was going to make a stand against it. John Shanberge, head of the union, says double time has been charged here for about 20 years, it is fair, and added that the shows in question were on Sunday. Don Ameche, star of stage and screen, has been getting the red plush treatment here during his engagement at the Swan theatre, where he has the lead in “The Reclining Figure.” In addition to a number of receptions in his honor both here and at Kenosha where he left when he was 12, radio station WRIT has him doing a series of interviews with Lee Rothman, the station’s assistant manager. Rothman is the Variety Club’s first assistant chief barker. mimL^pous J^on Alexander of Minnesota Amusement’s advertising department has been in St. Luke’s Hospital, St. Paul, recuperating from yellow jaundice . . . Don Urquardt, manager of Warner Bros, in Denver, was in for the funeral of Art Anderson . . . William Madden, MGM midwest district manager, was in. Pat West, daughter-in-law of Martin Weinberger of Weinberger Decorators, appeared on the Groucho Marx show on television March 8 . . . Mary Max, biller at MGM, spent a weekend in Madison, Wis., visiting Kathy Burns Josie, onetime bookers’ clerk at the exchange . . . Jim Eshelman, manager of the Uptown Theatre, was elected second vice-president of the Uptown Commercial Club, organization of businessmen in the Hennepin and Lake area. Charles Winchell, president of Minnesota Amusement Co., and Henry Greene, general manager of Minnesota Entertainment Enterprises, attended Show-A-Rama in Kansas City . . . Outstate exhibitors on the Row were Jim Skeim, Crosby; “Doc” Reynolds, Princeton; A1 Davis, Wood Lake; Don Quincer, Wadena; Roy Mullen, Cambridge, and Pete Campbell, Walhalla, N.D. The auxiliary of the Variety Club of the Northwest met Wednesday (14) in the clubrooms at the Pick-Nicollet Hotel. The speaker was Gustaf Eckstrom, astrologer, whose topic was “The Solar System and Its Influence on Women.” There also was personal analysis. Marie Wolpert, auxiliary president, was in charge of the meeting. Proceeds of the recent Parade of Quartets concert February 10 at Northrop Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota went to the Variety Club Heart Hospital research equipment fund. This was the 15th “Parade” with over $65,000 having been given to the Heart Hospital by the organization sponsoring the concerts. Tom Burke, head of Theatre Associates, was vacationing in California . . . David Seng has closed his theatre at Karlstad temporarily . . . Don MacFarlane has reopened the Iris Theatre at Velva, N.D. OJVjAIHA |£en Claypoole, who has been booker for Warners here for five years, has been named salesman for Paramount in Nebraska and parts of South Dakota and Iowa. He started with Warners as a student booker in Des Moines and was with Universal about a year there . . . The Page Theatre, which is owned by the Page, Neb., community will reopen at the end of the month . . . Another community-owned theatre, the Stuart at Stuart, Neb., is planning an Easter opening. Ben Marcus, division manager for Columbia, hosted a cocktail party for Iowa and Nebraska film folk attending the Show-A-Rama at Kansas City. A few of the Nebraskans and Iowans present included John Dugan, Des Moines, United Artists; Frank Larson, 20th -Fox, Omaha; Howard Kennedy, Broken Bow exhibitor; Sid Metcalf, Nebraska City exhibitor; Russell Brehm, Lincoln, Center Drive-In; Mr. and Mrs. Carl White, Omaha, Quality Theatre Supply, and Bob Collier, Golden Spike Drive-In. Earl Nansel, who operates the Broadway Theatre at Council Bluffs, says business is picking up all the time. His theatre was closed for about ten months, then reopened last June after being remodeled and redecorated, so has had to rebuild its patronage. This is his second year at the convention . . . Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hummel of the Scribner Theatre in Scribner, Neb., were among the “repeaters" in attendance . . . Mr. and Mrs. Robert Collier attended from the Golden Spike Drive-In at Omaha. Collier formerly managed the Claco near Kansas City. Ralph Falkenberg jr., exhibitor at Lexington, had a rough time battling icy roads on a drive to Omaha to meet his sister who was coming in from Boston . . . Wilber Adams, S&M Service, was back in the territory after a four-week illness . . . Exhibitors on the Row included Nebraskans Howard Kennedy, Broken Bow; Frank Hollingsworth, Beatrice; Charles Thoene, Lyons; Sid Metcalf, Nebraska City; Ernie Van Wey, Gothenburg, and Phil Lannon, West Point, and Iowans S. J. Backer, Harlan, and Arnold Johnson, Onawa. NC-4 BOXOFFICE :: March 19, 1962