Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1938)

Air Lines Provide Needed Transport (Continued from preceding page) United in Westerly, R. I., were reported under water. Known dead in the Westerly region alone had kited to 104 by Saturday. Many people were still missing. Decker Maintains Service Train service between New York and Boston was resumed Saturday when buses were employed to bridge areas where tracks were demolished. It took from eight to nine hom-s to travel the route which is ordinarily run in five hours. Planes set an all-time international record for air traffic between two cities, when Thursday and Friday, 3,500 passengers were transported between New York and Boston in 100 flights. With transportation facilities close to a standstill, Decker’s Film Exchange Transfer trucks continued on 24-hour-a-day schedules to keep pickups and deliveries moving throughout the territory. Every haul went through, Decker told Boxoffice. No trucks had been reported lost up to Saturday. Open-Air Pancaked A1 Herman, Universal divisional manager, was marooned on the train 27 hours on attempting to proceed here from New York. A tree fell in front of the Opera House in Lebanon, N. H. The Capitol in Springfield was reported flooded to the seventh row. A makeshift open-air theatre in Springfield was pancaked. Early information from Montpelier, Vt., was to the effect that the roof of the Playhouse had been severely damaged. This theatre is operated by the Maine and New Hampshire Theatres Co. Meyer Rosen, film district poster man, was on his way from Providence to Boston Wednesday. He encountered Lew Frey, operator of the Roosevelt in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, working with others trying to push trees off the road. “Give Me a Sailor” The ladies and men’s room in the Bijou at Springfield were filled to the ceiling with water. A1 Anders recently put in the quarters at a cost approximating $7,000. Raymond Title’s Art in Springfield was reached by flood waters. The Jefferson, Louis Cohen house, was flooded. Flood waters immersed the York and the Capitol in Athol. Both theatres are operated by Abe Garbose. The York was playing, appropriately enough, “Give Me a Sailor.” The Town Hall in Orange, Phil Markell He Would Have Come Back Boston — And there's the instance of the cautious exhibitor who decided not to go to Florida until the hurricane season was over. house, was flooded. The Athol-Orange district was one of the hardest hit in Massachusetts. A 100-mile-an-hour wind and rushing flood waters cut it off from the outside world for three days. The only communication was by amateur short wave. Jerry Tabb of the Theatre Service and Supply Co. was standing outside the film district equipment shop during the height of the hurricane. Tabb was watching the wind bend the sign atop the nearby Gas Building. Edward Comi yelled at him from across the street. The next instant the Theatre and Service Supply Co. sign dropped a few inches behind Tabb. George Beede, Westboro Theatre owner, suffered roof damage at both his home and at the Strand. Failure of power handicapped restoration efforts. The Strand will probably be closed two weeks. Providence Flood High Martial law became widely spread throughout New England over the weekend. Damaged areas were closed, to sightseers, as highways were opened. Fire danger increased among the wreckage. Looters were shot in some instances. As additional reports reached the weather bureau, the department reported that wind velocity a 100 miles or more from the center of the hurricane was greater than at the center. This high speed raked increased danger. In Providence, water reached the three globes which take the place of a marquee outside of Fay’s Theatre, Edward Fay house. An air-conditioner was blown off the roof of the Majestic, another Fay house. Carpets of the Carlton, recently taken over from Fay by Loew’s, Inc., were out drying late last week. Water reached the arcades of the Empire. (Because of conditions, it was impossible for this publication to check many of the above reports before they were rushed to Kansas City to meet publication deadlines.) Portland Visitors Portland — Filmrow visitors: Harvey Bragdon, who operates Odeon Hall at Bethel, Me.; Roland Stanley of Kezar Falls, and a Mr. Bamberger, formerly of the Paramount Theatre, Springfield, Mass. 19th lor "Sonata" Boston — It’s the regular story at the Fine Arts. The George Kraska house has again held over “Moonlight Sonata.” The Ignatz Paderewski vehicle is now in its 19th week. Guaranteed Seat Salvage Why Buy New? WILLIAM S. KOSTER WILLIAM S. KOSTER SEAT RENOVATION 1 | SEAT RENOVATION | 12 Piedmont St. — LIBerty 3803 — Boston 12 Piedmont St. — LIBerty 3803 — Boston Hurricane's Full Damage Unknown (Continued from preceding page) chise for 24 hours, inviting all lines with equipment at Newark, N. J., to operate between there and Boston. Arthur Sharby, northern New England circuit owner, was marooned in the district Thursday and asking incoming truckmen for news regarding his outlying theatres. Staffs Make Deliveries Tom Bailey and Edward X. Callahan at 20th-Fox detailed poster boys and salesmen to deliver film in private automobiles. Other exchanges followed suit. James O’Brien, business manager of Theatrical Stage Employes, told Boxoffice that local stagehands had not been called upon to alter their routines because of the storm. Philip Lavine, general manager in New England for the Philip Smith circuit, told Boxoffice that damages to Smith’s New England houses were nil. The Strand and Broadway in South Boston were kept closed Wednesday evening, mainly as a precautionary measure. Both the Strand in Ipswich and the Greenwich in East Greenwich, R. I., were darkened because of power failure. The Greenwich was still closed Friday. Probably the most severely damaged theatre in the E. M. Loew circuit, with the exception of the independent tycoon’s open-air theatres in Lynn and Providence, was the Colonial in Newport. Early information received at the Tremont St. offices of the chain was that the roof of the Newport situation was torn off. The Capitol in Providence was closed because of lack of power, the Loew office told Boxoffice. The Ware in Beverly was out for the same reason. So were the Liberty and State in Webster. E. M. Loew’s Capitol in Pawtucket was said to be the only theatre running in the Rhode Island city late last week. Skylights of two local E. M. Loew houses, the Gayety and the National, were broken by the hurricane. Power Dislocates Many Much of the Western Massachusetts Theatres circuit of Nathan and Sam Goldstein was temporarily darkened by the catastrophe. On the closed list, because of lack of power, were the Strand and Victory in Holyoke, the Strand in Westfield, and the Paramount, Broadway, and Arcade in Springfield. John Glazier, Western Massachusetts Theatres, Inc., Boston executive, told this publication Friday that he had been unable to contact the Calvin and Plaza in Northampton. The theatres were believed closed. David Fessenden Perkins, stage and theatre veteran and manager in the isolated college town for the Goldstein interests, had not been heard from. The Herman Rifkin office also reported Friday that it had been unable to get in communication with Rifkin ’s Academy 74 BOXOFFICE :: October 1, 1938