Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1940)

pRED WEHRENBERG, president of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of St. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, has returned from a trip to Washington and New York. While in the nation’s capital, he attended a meeting of the executive committee of the MPTOA, of which he is chairman, and the hearings on the consent decree. Johnny Perkins, well known stage and screen comic, has moved to the Signal Hill district of East St. Louis so he will be nearer to his Playdium on Collinsville Avenue in downtown East St. Louis. Perkins, George Givot and Ben Feld appeared with George Jessel's stage show when it opened at the Missouri, September 6. W. A. McDonnell, projectionist at the Pageant, as an honorary chief of the National Firefighters Ass’n, is attending the annual convention of that body in Seattle, Wash. . . . Bob Thomsen, business ma:.ager for Local No. 143, is recovering irom blood poisoning that resulted from the b.te of a spider. The insect stimg him while he was asleep. Harvard O’Laughlin, secretary of Local No. 143, is back from a three-week vacation motor tour to the Pacific Coast. He works at Loew’s . . . Bobby McClung, one of the original “Dead End Kids,” is appearing this week at the Grand. His specialty is impersoiiations. Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey’s combined circus had a successful three-day stand at Kingshighway Boulevard and Southwest Avenue, September 6, 7 and 8 . . . Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra are to appear nightly in conjunction with the St. Louis Horse Show at the Arena, September 30 to October 5, inclusive. The Musicians Club is considering a rebuilding program. Elmer Muehlenbrock, the pianist, is chairman of the committee in charge . . . The 62nd annual Veiled Prophet parade will be held in St. Louis, October 8. Another headache for the motion picture exhibitors in the neighborhood and suburban zones. Some $15,000 was spent to decorate the Garrick, local burley ... By popular demand, Guy Robertson has remained in St. Louis to play the leading role at the Civic Theatre, St. Louis county, in “Accent on Youth.’’ Tom Mix arrived in St. Louis to begin rehearsals for the “St. Louis Cavalcade," which opens at the Municipal Auditorium cn Monday, September 16. The Kirkwood Theatre Guild, Inc., will present nine plays this season, it is announced by Tlieodore S. Hirtz, president . . More than 100 children, patients at the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children on Kingshighway, were entertained by a group of Hollywood stars. . . But He Learned About Crutches Bloomington, Ind. — Foster Harmon, director of the Indiana University experimental theatre, went to Hollywood this month to study film productions, but returned last week on crutches and without having visited the studios. It was all because of a dip into the surf at Santa Monica beach the day after he arrived on the coast. Felled by a FMDwerful wave, he suffered a broken leg. Coliseum's Use for Roller Derby Hit by Theatremen Indianapolis — Some 15 theatre owners last Friday protested to Gov. M. Clifford Townsend the use of the Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for enterprises such as the Roller Derby, which opened last Saturday night. Spokesmen for the group said that leasing of the Coliseum for the Roller Derby placed the state in business in competition with privately-owned tax-assessed theatres. It was pointed out, however, that the theatre owners have no objections to ice hockey and similar enterprises brought to Indianapolis by the Coliseum Corporation, a group that leases the Coliseum certain months of the year. i™ilD>lllA\NAIIP>01LIII^ ■y/ISITORS along Filmrow: George Mal' ]prs. Grand Bluffton; Hannon Allison and wife. Ritz. Mooresville; Howard F. Morin. Morin, Brookville; Anthony Bokas. Lido. Argos; Robert Hudson. Tivoli, Richmond; C. E. Rogers, Rio. Columbus; Joe Finneran, Elwood, Elwood; J. B. Sconce, Playhouse. Edinburg; Max Page, Sta*'e. Greenfield; L. S. Belton, Community, Greenwood; Douglas Haney, Albion, Albi''n; E. R. Crouch. Palace, Fairmount; A. McCarty. Foxy, Pendleton; Mrs. Ethel Luckett, Indiana, Scottsburg; F. W. Brauer. Strand, Paoli; Myers Flater, Citadel, Bloomfield; Harry Vonderschmitt, Indiana, Bloomington; Mrs. Nova Vonderschmitt. Diana. Noblesville; Ed Donahue, Grove, Beach Grove; Sam Grimes Cr'e Brazil; K. E. Maurice, Wabash, Clinton: Joe Schilling, Auditorium, Connersville; Gilbert May, Dream, Corydon; D. D. Lee. Rex, Montezuma; D, G. Steinkamp. English, English. Mannie Marcus. Eastern. Fort Wayne; Dick Vlastos, Fowler, Fowler; John J. Doerr. Alliance Theatre Corp., Chicago; Frank Reimer, Emboyd, Fort Wayne; Harold V. Neese. Beverly. Brazil; John Micu. State. Fort Wayne; John M. Dixon, Flora, Flora; Harold G. Reckley. Chateau. Greencastle; Art Clark, Didiana, Bloomington; Dallas E. Cannon. Kent, Kentland; Merrill Moore. Palace, Kokomo; Sam Neall. Sipe, Kokomo; L. T. Moore. Orpheum, Mitchell; Mrs. William J. Haney. Milan. Milan; A. B. Thompson. Ritz, North Vernon; S. W. Goodman. Marion. Poseyville; Roy Harrold. Princess. Rushville; Nick Paikos. Diana. Tipton; C. C. Wallace, Boone, Thorn town; Jesse Stucky. Savoy, Warren; C. W. Massey, State, Worthington; Roy Kalver, Adams. Decatur; William Passen and wife, Amusu. Jasonville, and Harry Van Noy, Paramount, Anderson. Ernest Tamler of the Rex will start his second dish giveaway September 25 with bakelite ovenware each Wednesday and Thursday nights for the ladies . . . G. L, Heinrich, booker and office manager at RKO, came back from a recent fishing trip with a story about catching two bass with one cast. It was so convincing everyone except Roy Churchill, RKO manager, believed it . . . Milton Ettinger, booker at Universal, spent his vacation at Barton Lake . . . H. L. Hancock, salesman, and George Landis, manager of the local Fox office, spent last week at Shafer Lake with their families. R. U. Baker, formerly with Paramount in Didianapolis and now in Milwaukee with same company, visited old friends last week when he was in town for a visit. Nick, Weslon Trial Is Heard in St. Louis (Continued from page 83) the 12th count alleges that Nick and Weston conspired to interfere with the free flow of commerce in motion picture fi.m in violation of the Sherman act. They are charged with seizing control of Local Union No. 143 and Local B-1 of the Film Exchange Employes’ Union and using them to threaten strikes and “make excessive, unreasonable, ruinous and bogus demands for wage increases” not with a view of obtaining benefits for the union members but to coerce theatre owners into paying them money for their personal profit. The defendants also threatened, so the indictments charge, to compel theatre owners to hire unnecessary workers and intimidated the said theatre owners “by threats of personal injury, violence and the use of force.” Theatre Owners Pay As part of the said threats it is alleged that Nick and Weston surrounded themselves with “men of known bad character, of violent and vicious disposition and of long-known criminal records.” The alleged payment of $6,500 by theatre owners in 1937 reportedly to avoid an increase in the wages of projectionists, is the basis for five of the counts. The next five relate to the Co-operative Sound Service Supply Co., which it is charged was incorporated in the interest of Nick and Weston and which alone was allowed to make sound equipment repairs in the projection rooms of theatres in St. Louis and St. Louis county. Another count charges that $2,000 was obtained in 1937 by Nick and Weston from the Fanchon & Marco Service Corp. and the St. Louis Amusement Co. to forestall demands which would have prevented the reopening of the Orpheum. Throughout the indictment, Nick and Weston are frequently charged with acting not to gain legitimate objectives for the members of the unions but to obtain money and other considerations for their personal use and profit. TRADE DIRECTORY — A Handy Guide for the Exhibitor ■■ CHICAGO THEATRICAL PRINTING A. B. C. PRINTERS, INC. WE PRINT EVERYTHING THEATRICAL 1225 South Wabash — Chicago For lowest prices Call — VIC 3458 SIGNS MARQUEES AND MAINTENANCE White Way Electric Sign <S Maintenance Co. Tom Flannery, President 315-17 W. Walton Street Phone DELaware 9111 86 BOXOFFICE : : September 14, 1940