Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

MILWAUKEE M’1" aukee had the distinction of having two newly constructed theatres opened during the week. The Point at Point Loomis, with Robert Groenert as manager, opened on Wednesday (9), playing “55 Days at Peking,” and the Mayfair opened at the Mayfair Shopping Center the following evening with the usual Hollywood fanfare. John Roche, manager, had “The Caretakers” on the screen. Val Wells, executive secretary of the Mayor’s Motion Picture Commission, recently spoke out against some of the foreign films being played in this area. Michael F. Mayer, executive director of the IFIDA. took exception to some of Wells’ remarks, and Wells responded thus: “After reading the quotes on my opinion and the opinion of Michael F. Mayer, I do not feel that anything further can be gained by either of us in a continuation of this matter of opinion. Members of the exhibitor portion of the motion picture industry in Milwaukee have consistently cooperated with us, and I must assume that they follow the recommendations made by the Motion Picture Commission.” CORRECTION: In that Wisconsin Allied convention coverage, the photo depicting Ben Marcus making an award, the caption should have read the award going to Walter Holt, Rialto Theatre, Kaukauna . . . Volmer Dahlstrand was re-elected president of the Wisconsin Musicians Ass’n at the semiannual conference in Oshkosh. Others elected: Loren Schelley, Eau Claire, vice-president; Roy E. Smith, La Crosse, secretary; and Harvey Glaeser, Sheboygan, treasurer. A Jack Benny benefit concert will be held at the Pabst Theatre here November 10 in behalf of the Milwaukee Symphony orchestra. A sellout would net $20,000, and mark the successful completion of a drive to raise $40,000 to pay the orchestra’s expenses ... A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Marquette University Women, was marked by the presentation of the first McElligott medallion for “advancing the educational and cultural interests of women” to actress Jane Wyatt (Mrs. Edgard Ward) and her mother Euphemia Van Rensselaer Wyatt, a New York drama critic. Something new has been added at the Downer Theatre. A dramatic reading pro T WATCH PROJECTION IMPROVE with = I ECHNIKOYE £ PRODUCTS Now! The Only ^ ANTI STATIC SCREEN XR-171 Pearl • Repels Dust r Available from your authorized Theatre Equipment Supply Dealer: Export— Westrex Corp. i ECHNIKOTE CORP. 63 Seabring St., B'klyn 31, 3 gram on the stage, and a motion picture based on a Moliere comedy will play on the same bill here October 30. The picture is “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”; the reading will be presented by Sumner Kernan, a former public relations director of the Miller and Melody Top theatres. He also was coproducer of the “Theatre for Eggheads” here. Actors Pat O’Brien and Dennis Morgan, both former Milwaukeeans, were in town for their roles in “Showboat” at the Pabst Theatre . . . Ken Hermsen has reopened the Little Chute Theatre at Little Chute on a weekend basis for the time being . . . The Rudolph at Columbus is being dismantled. The Better Films Council of Greater Milwaukee held its first meeting of the season at the Wisconsin Telephone Co., Monday (7), with a long-distance phone conversation featuring the opening session. Mrs. Marie Hamilton, film estimates director for the Green Sheet, was contacted for her observations concerning the functions of the organization for the benefit of the BFC. The preview committee announced the following movie ratings: FAMILY, outstanding, How the West Was Won. Excellent, Flipper, Summer Magic, Lilies of the Field. Very Good, Tammy and the Doctor, Mouse on the Moon, A Gathering of Eagles, Savage Sam, A Ticklish Affair, Call Me Bwana, PT 109. Good, The Nutty Professor, The Young and the Brave. ADULTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE, excellent, The Four Days of Naples, The Great Escape. Very Good, The List of Adrian Messenger, Don't Give Up the Ship, Donovan's Reef, Captain Sindbad, The Haunting, Hootenanny Hoot, 55 Days at Peking. Good, Kill or Cure, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mystery Submarine, Cattle King, Gidget Goes to Rome, The Haunted Palace. Fair, Duel of the Titans, Tarzan the Magnificent, Jason and the Argonauts, Reptilicus. Poor, The Terror. ADULTS AND MATURE YOUNG PEOPLE, very good, Wrong Arm of the Law, The Thrill of It All, For Love or Money, Spencer's Mountain, Bye Bye Birdie. Good, Trial and Error, Maid for Murder, Tne Slave, It Happened at the World's Fair. Fair, Beach Party, The Castilian. ADULTS, excellent, Hud. Good, Room at the Top, Love and Larceny. Cleopatra. Fair, The Balcony, No Exit, The Main Attraction, Island of Love, The Girl Hunters, Murder on the Campus, Dementia 13, The Stripper, Irma La Douce, The L-Shaped Room, Toys in the Attic, Mondo Cane, Wall of Noise. Poor, Women of the World. The Peter H. Albrecht Co., theatrical equipment firm here, has signed a $1,430,000 contract for stage equipment at the new Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Albrecht will design the machinery, pulley system and other equipment for scene changes in the opera house. The equipment includes 109 machines that will be placed on a steel platform 120 feet above the stage level, the machines to be operated by push buttons, to raise a backdrop, a tree, a chandelier, a ceiling, etc. Paul Birkle, president, said his firm had also done stage equipment at the Carthage and Oshkosh State colleges, Northwestern University, and draperies for the new Marine Plaza, and the Art Institute in Chicago, and has just received a contract for equipment at the new CBS-TV studios in New York. yyy/A/A/£4PO/./S rt Bean’s 52 Hi Drive-In in Harvey, N.D. wrecked six weeks ago by a savage prairie windstorm, has been repaired and is once again open for business . . . The Rotary Club of Detroit Lakes, Minn., is sponsoring showings of six films in MGM’s Heritage series. Planned as a community venture, the showings will be held in the local Lake Theatre. Tribune entertainment columnist Will Jones has been on a week’s vacation and exhibitors say they miss his influence. An affirmative nod from Jones can really make a picture’s run in Mill City a success. Observers of the area’s state of cultural and entertainment soundness point approvingly at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre group’s recent announcement of its season’s gross receipts. Patrons placed over $720,000 in the organization’s tills during the summer season just past. Ted Mann’s showing of “Madame Butterfly” at his Academy house on October 17 was the beginning of an opera series prompted by the smashing success of his previous operetta lineup. “Aida” will be the second film in the current series. Ted also treated his patrons this last week to a sneak showing of “Take Her, She’s Mine” in addition to the regular screening of the Academy’s present run, “The Leopard.” Minneapolis Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n has recently instituted a “Dial-aMovie” information center for Mill Citians. A call to the center’s number brings a prospective moviegoer a rundown on all films currently showing in the city, rated as to standards of acceptability by Parents’ magazine, the Green Sheet and the Legion of Decency. Charles Winchell, president of Minnesota Amusement Co., and Ev Seibal, director of publicity and exploitation, were saluted in a full page welcome ad which 20th-Fox sponsored as part of the promotion for its New York merchandising conference on “Cleopatra.” Plaque for Showmanship To Circuitman Toilette BEAVER DAM, WIS.— Henry B. Toilette, vice-president and general manager of the Marcus Theatres Management Co. and part-owner of the local Wisconsin and Beaver outdoor theatres, was awarded a plaque for his many contributions in the field of showmanship at the 30th annual convention of Allied Theatre Owners of Wisconsin in Milwaukee recently. Toilette was presented the plaque by Jack Armstrong of Bowling Green, Ohio, president of the national Allied States Ass’n. Circuitman Toilette is well-known here both as part-owner of the local theatres and for many years as former district manager for Fox Theatres. Ex-Theatremcm to SES TOLEDO — Martin J. Smith, former vice-president of the East Side Amusement Co. and secretary-treasurer of Hoffner & Smith, has joined the local staff of the Ohio State Employment Service. ENDLESS BURNS THE ENTIRE POSITIVE ROD Save Carbon Cost RCVOIUTIONUT PRCJ( CTOR £ W#it Coo it Thtotr# S«rvi(t ltll H.W. IUIMT POtTUNO. 0*1 CON Call — »*n* — *irc — for • d«moot»'Oti©« NC-4 BOXOFFICE :: October 21, 1963