Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1948)

WASHINGTON pjarley Davidson, former Paramount salesman, came in to book for 20 theatres . . . Mr. and Mrs. Robert Levine, Portsmouth and Norfolk circuit, spent several days here en route to New York . . . Local F13 executive board held its regular monthly meeting . . . Highway Express Lines began servicing the Lincoln Park Theatre, Rockville. Md. Hazel McCarthy of Metro and her niece and nephew, Eleanor and Robby McCarthy, spent the weekend in Atlantic City . . . The Sammy Handlers went to St. Albans, W. Va., to see their new grandson . . . W. F. Rodgers, executive, was visitor . . . Elizabeth Blackstock was on a vacation. The 20th Century-Fox Dynamos held their annual picnic at the summer home of the Joe Bernheimers at Shadyside. The club presented Mr. and Mrs. Bernheimer a lawn chaise longue . . . Booker’s secretary Mary Dailey resigned and was replaced by Mrs. Carney Mahaffey . . . Evelyn Feinman was on a vacation prior to her marriage . . . Hope LaBonde has been transferred to the cashier’s department. John O’Leary’s secretary, Ruth Johnson, resigned . . . George Clanton, mayor of Tappahanock, Va., and owner of the Daw Theatre, will lead the discussion at the League of Virginia Municipalities round-table discussion with an informal talk on "Looking Ahead at Town Government in Virginia.” Meeting will be held at Old Point Comfort, Va., September 26, 27. Jean Drill resigned as Jerry Price’s secretary at UA to accept a position in New York, her home town , . . Bill Zoellner, MGM short subjects sales manager and head of the reprints and importations department, visited the local office . . . Warnerites copped most of the prizes at the Variety Club golf tournament. Paramount news, courtesy of Max Joice: Mrs. Evelyn Jones, former branch manager’s secretary, is the mother of a baby boy . . . Washington branch reports the largest number of film shipments for Paramount week in branch history . . . Jack Bryan takes over Harley Davidson’s zone while Sales Manager “Tommy” Thompson pinch-hits in Jack’s former territory . . . Russell Ricker, formerly with Paramount and more recently selling for Eagle Lion, has returned to the Paramount fold as salesman . . . Hazel Jarosik succeeds Fred Van Langen as ledger clerk while Fred moves up into the booking department. Warner Theatres; Heliodoro Maya, formerly of the art department of the Evening Star, has taken over the drawing board in the advertising and publicity department. Gordon "Zeke” Lombard, who formerly held the post, left for a position with the government . . . Peggy Andrews, formerly of the contact department, has resigned toaccept a position with the Better Business Bureau . . . Jane Zink has resigned from the advertising and publicity department to go to New York and study for a modeling career . . . Lyle Selby left to return to his home in California. New Paris Will Feature Foreign-Language Films (Continued from preceding page) “w’hat’s playing” from a directional marquee aimed at Fifth Ave. The opening was hailed as “foreshadowing a closer cooperation between the French and American film industries,” by Henri Bonnet, French ambassador to the U.S. The ambassador expressed gratitude to the organizers of the benefit performance for the donation of the proceeds to aid children in France. He described the two films shown as “good examples of modern French film production.” Those who attended the benefit opening included; Mme. Henri Bonnet, Mrs. Adolph Zukor, Georges Carpentier, Ilka Chase, Winthrop and Mrs. Aldrich, John Erskine, William Astor Chanler and Mrs. Bernard F. Gimbel. The relief organizations sponsoring the performance were: the Committee of French-American Wives, the American Friends of France, Funds for France, the Lafayette Preventorium and the Society of Free French in the United States. Mrs. Leonard B. Smith was chairman. Earlier in the day, Marlene Dietrich, Faye Emerson Roosevelt, Grover Whalen and Chancel officiated at ribbon-cutting ceremonies marking the formal opening of the theatre. Public performances of “Symphonie Pastorale” under continuous run, popular price policy started September 14. VARIETY CLUB GOLFERS — Seen above are participants in the recent golf tournament sponsored by the Variety Club of Washington at the Manor Country Club. Left to right, first row: Arthur Jacobson, Harry Bachman, Carter T. Barron, George Nathan, Harry Coonin and Herbert Sauber. Back row: Frank Boucher, chief barker; George Crouch, Jerry Price and Sam Galanty. Variety Clubs to Take Over Rogers Hospital WASHINGTON — Variety Club International directors voted on Friday to take over the Will Rogers Sanitarium at Saranac Lake and to join in an industry-wide effort to raise funds for its current needs and to start an endowment fund for the future. The name of the institution may be changed to Variety Club International Will Rogers Memorial hospital. Decision to take this step followed an allday discussion. At a morning session there was some opposition, but this fell away. At a noon luncheon Abe Montague, William E. Rodgers, Robert Mochrie, Charles M. Reagan and Morton Thalhimer described the efforts made in recent months to start a fund to prevent closing of the institution. All the sales managers said they would be willing to ask for leaves of absence to continue this campaign. During an afternoon session the Variety directors voted to recommend to individual tents that the project be undertaken. Murray Weiss of Boston, an engineer, was named chairman of a committee to make an inspection of the structure and its equipment so that accurate estimates can be made of the money necessary to put it in first-class condition. It costs $175,000 per year — or about $40 a v;eek per patient to maintain it — and estimates of what is necessary to rehabilitate it run from $50,000 to $75,000. Bob O’Donnell will appoint a committee to devise plans for fund-raising and to start an endowment fund, which, it is hoped, will make the future of the hospital' secure. This committee will work with the present sales managers’ committee on the campaign. If the plans go through, the institution will be taken over at the end of this year and a new board of directors will be named so that Variety will be in effective control. $15,000 Spent by Airline For Films in Four Years WASHINGTON — Eastern Airlines has spent about $15,000 for documentary films in the past few years an official estimated at a Washington preview of the newest, “Air Power Is Peace Power.” The short, made by Jerry Fairbanks, Inc., Hollywood, urges a strong military and civil airplane industry. The main narration is done by Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern president. The film is to be shown throughout theatres in the country if Eastern has its way. There has been some objection on the grounds the film constitutes advertising. Eastern had made other films. One encourages the use of airplanes for fishing trips. In it, a New Yorker fhes to Miami on a short vacation to go fishing. Another urges use of airplanes in hunting. At the Washington preview, about 900 government officials and newspapermen attended. Top naval, army and air force generals were there. UA Closes Foreign Deal NEW YORK — The United Artists Paris office has negotiated an agency agreement with Pathe Consortium Cinema for distribution of UA product in Algiers, Tunis and Casablanca, according to Walter Gould, foreign manager. UA formerly had its own office in Algiers. 54 BOXOFFICE : : September 18, 1948