Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1939)

Labor Day Openings Set in New Haven New Haven — Several new openings have been scheduled around Labor Day in this territory, and considerable remodeling and improvement jobs also will be completed by that time. The 750-seat theatre, under construction by Joseph Quittner and Peter Perakcs, is nearing completion. The 700-seat Park, Thomaston, now being built by Robert Schwartz, operator of the Paramount in the same town, will be ready by fall. Michael Cascioli plans to open the 900seat Forest in the Allingtown section of West Haven on Labor Day. About that time the 500-seat Windsor, newly acquired by Lockwood-Gordon-Lampert interests, and closed for remodeling, will be reopened. Some time this fall the new Windsor-Plaza Cinema, under construction by Max Schulman interests of Hartford, will be finished, as will the new J. C. Hess Groton Theatre. Whitney Theatre Co., a Bailey corporation, plans cons'^ruction of a 900-seat theatre in Hamden this summer. Some time this month Strand Amusement Co. plans to renovate the 900-seat Hippodrome, Bridgeport, which will reopen in September. The Rialto, Windsor Locks, closed over a month, has reopened after a complete remodeling. This activity is in addition to a new 750seat Avon, Stamford, and the 500-car Drive-In, Milford, opened this spring, and the renovated Bantam, Bantam, and Regent, Norwalk, reopened this summer. The Windsor, 500 Seats, Is Purchased by Three Windsor. Conn. — The 500 -seat Windsor Theatre, formerly operated by Nathan Lampert, has been purchased from the state and will be operated by the Lampert Theatre of Windsor, Inc., after complete renovation. The house has been closed. Incorporators are Arthur Lockwood of Middletown, Nathan Lampert of Colchester, and Mignon Clark of New Haven. The Max Shulman interests, operators of the Webster and Rivoli theatres in Hartford, have broken ground for the construction of a new theatre to be known as the Windsor-Plaza Cinema. Massachusetts's Labor Act Has Commission Scrutiny Boston — The Massachusetts Baby Wagner Bill, which would impose a 48-hour week and a 30-cent minimmn upon bay state businesses, has been referred to a special legislative commission for study. A report and subsequent action on the measure is not expected until the 1941 session. The Massachusetts law-making body, which has been sitting since January, expected last week to adjourn shortly. Adapts "Bad Company" Hollywood — Lester Cole is adapting “Bad Company” for Universal. BOXOFFICE : : August 5, 1939 NE Litigants in M&R Suit Agree To a Six Week Furlough Boston — The Morse & Rothenberg antitrust suit has recessed until September 11. The litigation, which involves nine separate suits, went before Master Philip Hendrick on December 21, 1938. The respective cases were filed at different times during December, 1935 and June and September, 1936. After resumption of testimony taken in September, the case will be suspended September 26 for several weeks. The trial of the suit is perhaps the longest of any film anti-trust matter. Louis Simon, Morse & Rothenberg district manager, was still on the stand when on the 125th day, prosecution and defense agreed to a six-week furlough. Simon was cross-examined by Edward F. McClennen, head defense lawyer, for more than a week. Simon outlined to the court an instance of an individual theatre acquisition by a circuit. He was talking about the Rialto in Poughkeepsie, New York, one of the houses in the litigation. He had been watching the operation of the house for about a year and a half previously, he stated. “When you gave that testimony, how much did you mean by you ‘watched that theatre’?” McClennen asked Simon. How Theatres Are Leased “When I watched that theatre, I passed the town several times,” Simon said, “and a friend of mine had a store on the main street, and I stopped over to see him. He had a ladies’ ready-to-wear store. He was talking to me, and I got talking about theatres, and he seemed to be interested, and he says to me, ‘There is a couple of theatres in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie that you ought to try to get.’ He told me about the Cameo in Newburgh.” “What I have asked you,” McClennen said, “is how much you watched that theatre.” “You asked him what he meant by that testimony,” interposed George S. Ryan, prosecuting attorney. “Is that what you meant by watching?” McClennen put. “I think he ought to be allowed to proceed without any further question after that?” Ryan objected. “He can tell what he saw and what he did,” the master ruled. “This fellow, whose name was Miller,” Simon continued, “told me that the Rialto is a very fine location, and there is a fellow running that, and the way he runs that theatre, he said, ‘I don’t think he is doing so good, and if I were you I would watch it to see if you can get it.’ “In the meantime, he also spoke about the Cameo Theatre and told me about that. I went down, and I saw that. I rode over to Newburgh, and he went with me. He said he knew the president of the bank at Newburgh, and he was going in and talk for me, which was the very first time I went in there, which I did. After we succeeded in making a deal, I paid him some money (some commission) for getting that deal. That was Newburgh. “Then he told me,” continued Simon, “that I ought to try to watch this Rialto, Poughkeepsie, because it is a very fine spot and he said, ‘You can go in there, and you will make money.’ “He also at that time introduced me to an agent in Poughkeepsie. I forget the fellow’s name for the moment. This fellow said the owner lived down in New York, a party by the name of Werner. And I went down to New York, and I met him there: went up to Werner’s office and got talking about this theatre. Rialto in Poughkeepsie Acquired “In the meantime, Mr. Werner told me this fellow that is in the theatre now is having a lot of trouble in there and everything else. And although he couldn’t give me the theatre at that time, I should keep watching and keep at it, because he thinks there will be something he will be able to do with me at a later date, and I did. “And one day this Mr. Werner called me up and told me it is coming to a close, so he is going to dispossess this man; that he is having a lot of trouble with him, and he was willing to make a deal with me. He said he has looked us up, and he liked about the reference he found on us, etc., and we finally made a deal.” “During that year I was in Poughkeepsie, possibly passing by there, and stopped off for a couple of minutes or half an hour or so just looking over the general situation of the town, etc. And I think I once went into the theatre — paid an admission and went into the theatre once during that year, just to see how the thing was running and see what information I could get. That was what I meant when I said I was watching that theatre for a year and a half.” “That was all that you meant, was it?” McClennen said. “That is what I was watching. That was approximately all I meant, yes.” “If there is anything else that you meant, what was it?” “Nothing special, other than what I told you,” said Simon. “I was watching it, the location and all that, whenever I passed. I took a little time off whenever I did pass there to see how the trend goes on it. My main object was not to see what he was doing there. My main object was to see what the possibilities are in doing business if I was there.” “Well, I want to get you to tell all that you meant by that ‘watching the theatre,’ and when you have told all, just say that you have told all. Now, have you not told all?” Simon said he could not think of anything else at the moment. “Up to the time you took the lease on it, had you been in the theatre more than once?” “Well, during the time of negotiations when the landlord actually came up to Poughkeepsie and met us there, I went into the theatre with him. I was there maybe once or twice with him, maybe. I think it was on two occasions I was there (Continued on next page) 81