Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

the Dundee Theatre, which has been reopened on lease from the Cooper Foundation Theatres by Abbott Swartz, a Minneapolis movie distributor in partnership with Bev Mahon as the Dundee Theatre Co. Mahon, operator of the Capri and Varsity theatres in Des Moines, said the Dundee will be similar in operation to the Varsity. Frederick, a native of Garner, Iowa, is only 21 but he says he’s a veteran of nine years experience. “I went to work in a Garner theatre when I was 12 and in the eighth grade,” he said. He was manager of the Capri and Varsity three years and asserts he has some new ideas he hopes to try at the Dundee. Among exhibitors who visited Filmrow were Nebraskans Virgil Kula, Fullerton; Ben Juracek, Albion; Art Sunde, Papillion; Sid Metcalf, Nebraska City; Phil Lannon, West Point, and Iowans Arnold Johnson, Onawa, and Vem Brown, Missouri Valley. Andrew H. Talbol, 81 Cedar Rapids, Dies CEDAR RAPIDS — Andrew H. Talbot, showman whose career ran the full course from old Wild West shows to the widescreen, died recently. He was 81. Talbot retired in 1954, after managing the RKO-Iowa Theatre here for more than 20 years. During that time, the Iowa often interrupted its movie schedule to bring Broadway roadshows and “live” theatre to residents of this eastern Iowa city. Prompted by his father-in-law, Vernon C. Seaver, also a showman, young Andy Talbot launched his career in show business in 1908. One of his early jobs was managing the Alcazar Nickelodeon in Chicago, where the Morrison Hotel now stands. For a time he was with the Seaver Wild West Show and presented such stars as Tom Mix and Annie Oakley. For a number of years, Talbot booked for the Orpheum circuit, with headquarters in New York. In 1930, he returned to theatre managing, first in Birmingham, Ala., and later in Texas. He came to the Iowa Theatre here in 1933. He was a member of the Friars Club of New York City. Survivors are his wife, the former Dot Seaver; two sons, Jack of Cedar Rapids and Andrew jr., of San Francisco, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Associated Theatres, Dubuque, Is Dissolved DUBUQUE, IOWA — Dissolution of Associated Theatres, which had operated the Grand, Strand, Orpheum and State theatres here for a number of years, became effective October 1. Under the new setup, the Grand and Strand, owned by the Grand Opera House Corp., return to their original operators. M. J. Dew-Brittain, publicity director for all four theatres under the Associated banner, now is manager of the Grand and Strand. The Orpheum, owned by Dubuque Theatre Corp., will continue to be operated by James and Nick Yiannias. The State, purchased in 1953 by the Grand Opera House Corp. and operated as the State Theatre Co., will be operated jointly by the Grand and Dubuque corporations. LINCOLN Qne of the city’s three drive-ins has reduced its schedule to a three-night weekend for the fall-winter season — the West O. This coincided more with midSeptember school opening than the advent of cooler weather which really hasn’t come yet to Lincolnland. The other Dubinsky local drive-in, the Starview, and the 84th and O are still running every night every week. A fulltime schedule also holds for the Omaha Brehm-Hruska drive-ins — the Q Twin, the 84th and Center and the Airport. Both the 84th and O and the Starview are shining up their car heaters. Out at the former, Manager Dan Flanagan wrote off a week’s run of “The Longest Day” with excellent audiences. News travels Nebraska-way from Grand Junction, Colo., that the Clayton Cheevers have welcomed another new family member— a baby girl this time. Clayton, for years in the theatre business here, now jointly manages the CooperWestmoreland theatres — the Mesa, the Cooper and the Grand Junction drive-in ... No more double careers for Ramona Zerr, nighttime cashier at the Varsity for the past five years. She’s holding on to her daytime job as a First National Bank employe. Taking her ticket office job at the Varsity will be a former employe, Linda Rina. Variety has marked Dean Ziettlow’s job as Cooper Foundation city manager the last week or two — all because of the Foundation’s cooperation in renting the Stuart Theatre for special community events. Dean was on hand for the Lincoln Symphony’s first concert of the season the first of the month and again on the 8th when the Lincoln General Hospital auxiliary staged its first big benefit show, “Fashion Capitalized,” with both afternoon and evening performances. There were dazzling settings, high fashions, young and adult models and the governor’s wife, Mrs. Frank Morrison, as production advisor for the skit-studded presentation. Walter Jancke, Nebraska Theatres city manager, followed the University of Nebraska Cornhusker grid team to Minneapolis for their victorious game with the University of Minnesota. He made the trip with radio KLIN friends — Jack Callaway, Bob Zenner and Hal Joiner . . . The Lincoln Golden Age Club members who joined others from Cooper Foundation’s Golden Ager groups in Omaha to make a threeweek tour of Europe returned to Nebraska October 9. The 27 Golden Agers, all 60 or over, made the trip by air with Mabel Smith of Allied Tour and Travel in Omaha as their tour director. Dean Ziettlow, already thinking of the Lincoln Golden Age Club’s Christmas season party, is hoping some of the local travelers have returned home with some good pictures to show at the holiday gathering. Although Lincoln has about 5,750 Golden Age members, the active list produced by club membership renewals shows 3,200 to date, according to Ziettlow. The State Theatre will close December 2 for its big interior remodeling job with a scheduled reopening Christmas Day with “Sword in the Stone.” After that will come “Lawrence of Arabia.” Some work already has started on some exterior re modeling on the downtown O street theatre. This includes sanding the upper portion of the stone surfaces and preparing the lower half for its new mosaic tile cover. All th’s will blend in with the marquee, modernized about a year ago. Also starting before the closing date will be the moving of the boxoffice from its recessed location to the sidewalk line. This will provide a roomier lobby. Actor Robert Taylor and his wife Ursula Theiss will be on Doane College campus at Crete, Neb. October 25 to help launch a $5million campaign for his former alma mater. Taylor, a native of Nebraska, first began his acting career while a student at Doane . . . Scheduled for a mid-October showing at the Varsity Theatre is “Jungle Rampage,” the third attraction released under this year’s new Great Plains Boxoffice Builders program. 'V.I.P.s' and 'Lilies' Milwaukee Leaders MILWAUKEE — With two new indoor theatres opening this week and a halfdozen regulars reporting far above average grosses, exhibition here is looking up. “Lilies of the Field” enjoyed excellent patronage at the Tower and Oriental for a combined percentage mark of 215 for the opening week. “The V.I.P.s” had the best percentage in town, however, for its sec ond week at the Riverside. (Average Is 100) Downer — Murder of the Gallop (MGM), 2nd wk. 100 Palace — How the West Was Won (MGM Cinerama), 26th wk 175 Riverside — The V.I.P.s (MGM), 2nd wk 225 Strand — Cleopatra (20th-Fox), 14th wk 175 Times — In the French Style (Col) 150 Tower, Oriental — Lilies of the Field (UA) 215 Towne — Sword of Lancelot (Univ); The Traitors (Univ) 100 Warner — Shock Corridor (AA); The Gun Hawk (AA) 150 Wisconsin — The Condemned of Altona (20th-Fox); Marilyn (20th-Fox) 90 layne Mansfield Picture Makes Splash in Balmy Minneapolis MINNEAPOLIS — The talk of Filmrow is the success of “Promises! Promises!” a Jayne Mansfield picture that rode into town unheralded but for the space given it in that certain magazine. Except for the hard-ticket shows, Jayne outgrossed everything in town with a 150 opening at the Gopher. “How the West Was Won” led the field at a steady 160, and “A New Kind of Love” debuted handsomely with 135 per cent, but otherwise a balmy, blueskyed Minnesota Indian summer spelled average and below houses for the week. Academy — The Leopard (20th-Fox), 2nd wk 90 Campus — Greenwich Village Story (Shawn) .... 90 Century — Cleopatra (20th-Fox), 16th wk 100 Cooper — How the West Was Won (MGM Cinerama), 31st wk 160 Gopher — Promises! Promises! (SR) 150 Lyric — A New Kind of Love (Para) 135 Mann — The Caretakers (UA), 2nd wk 90 Orpheum — Rampage (WB) 90 State— The V.I.P.s (MGM), 3rd wk 70 St. Louis Park — The Thrill of It All (Univ), 12th wk. 80 World — Irma La Douce (UA), 14th wk 100 Double Chore for Previn HOLLYWOOD — Andre Previn, currently musical director on “My Fair Lady” at Warner Bros., will also serve as musical director on the recently completed “Dead Ringer,” which stars Bette Davis, Karl Malden and Peter Lawford. BOXOFFICE :: October 21, 1963 NC-3