Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

LINCOLN ■J*he annual meeting of the Nebraska IATSE will be held at the Lincoln Hotel here December 4. State secretary-treasurer M. F. “Buzz” Dewey of Lincoln, in charge of the arrangements, said business will include election of officers, including a president to succeed Conrad Kreiger of Grand Island. All is more or less back to normal now in the Irwin Dubinsky family after the excitement of the October 12 wedding of the veteran theatreman’s son Sarge and Gayle Pitsch. The bridal couple are back, too, after a ten-day honeymoon in San Francisco. Sarge, associated with his father in the Dubinsky theatres operation since his graduation last June from University of Chicago, and his bride have moved into their own home at 5635 Glade. The Saturday ceremony in South Street Temple brought home all the Dubinsky family. Sarge’s two sisters, Mrs. James Rodenberg of Miami and Bonnie, a student at University of Colorado at Boulder, were honor attendants for the bride. James Rodenberg was best man for his brotherin-law. E. Merle Gwin, Stuart Theatre manager here, is returning to Colorado where he started in the motion picture business. He’ll become Cooper Foundation’s manager for the Ute in Colorado Springs November 12. Charles Kroll, city manager there, will manage the new Cooper Theatre scheduled for a November 24 opening. The new 900-seat showhouse, equipped for 70mm films, is being built by the Meyeter Stratton Foundation and leased to Cooper Foundation Theatres. It’s going up where Cooper’s old Tompkins Theatre once stood. Another former Cooper interest there, the Trail, was sold to the First National Bank for expansion purposes. Accompanying Gwin to the family’s new Colorado Springs address will be his wife and their two younger sons, Mick and Tom. A third son, Larry, is doing graduate work at Columbia in New awaits \fou when WAHOO is the ideal boxoffice attraction to increase business on your "off-nights''. Write today for complete details. Be sure to give seating or car capacity. HOLLYWOOD AMUSEMENT CO. 3750 Oakton St. Skokie, Illinois York City. The move also puts the Gwins close to their fourth son Ken and his family, who live in Denver. M. F. “Buzz” Dewey represented Local 151, IATSE, at the recent state AFL-CIO convention held in Hastings . . . The new cashier at the 84th and O Drive-In is Helen Soukup . . . The Stuart Theatre is presenting another series of Wednesdayonly special this season — old but still very good. The opener on the 6th was “Three Little Words” with Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl and Vera-Ellen. Other musicals include Mario Lanza in “Because You’re Mine,” Fred Astaire in “Band Wagon,” Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds in “Singin’ in the Rain,” Frank Sinatra in “Till the Clouds Roll By” and Perry Como in “Words and Music.” Halloween was sure enough spooky out at the 84th and O Drive-In the night of the 31st, and Manager Dan Flanagan even shared some of his eerie sound effects in five-minute intervals with radio audiences through station KLMS mobile equipment right on the scene. The big and natural attraction was a cave, ordinarily found on summer fairgrounds, in which ghosts roamed and extraordinary sounds poured forth. This show went on at 6:30 p.m., and competed with the first film, Edgar Allan Poe’s “Twice Told Tales.” Flanagan wrote off the spooky night with another eerie offering, “Premature Burial” . . . Both the 84th and Dubinsky’s Starview put their winter heaters to work in the last week or so, especially after a cold turn arrived October 27. A lot of Nebraskans saw and heard and liked a former Nebraskan very much in evidence in the Cornhusker state the weekend of October 27 — actor Robert Taylor. It was the longest of several visits in recent years to his native state for Taylor, alias Arlington Spangler Brugh, the name appearing on his birth certificate after his birth in Filley, Neb. Taylor must have straightened out something of a friendly community disagreement during his stay here. He noted he was born in Filley but considers Beatrice his home town. He and his actress wife Ursula Thiess came to Nebraska to participate in his alma mater’s development program kickoff at Doane College in Crete. They were in Lincoln on the 26th for the University of NebraskaColorado football game where Taylor was given a half-time introduction, along with another visitor, secretary of commerce Luther Hodges. Indian Is Big Attraction In Major European Cities (Continued from preceding page) were monopolizing Zurich, Switzerland, theatres along Bahnhoffstrasse — the city’s tree-lined main shopping and business thoroughfare. The offerings: “The V.I.P.s” and “Cleopatra.” Germany likes American-made pictures, according to a U.S. wire service acquaintance, now assigned to the Frankfurt, Germany, offices. In his opinion, German pictures have a long way to go before matching American quality. With hundreds of thousands of workers imported from Spain, Italy, Greece and even Turkey, it’s a sure thing movie houses in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and England and France, to a lesser extent, will take in a good share of these take-home salaries. Seeing Rothenburg, Germany’s medieval city of wall within wall makes one want to see again “Wonderful World of Brothers Grimm.” Residents of this unique city in a modern world readily talk about the four months spent here by the Grimm company in 1961 and the return in 1962 to take aerials of the castle-spotted city. OJVI_AH_A pjazel Dunn’s modernization on the front of her Jewel Theatre at Valentine, the “Sweetheart Capital,” is the talk of the town. Mrs. Dunn has repaired the marquee, redecorated the front and installed a new sign which provides facilities for lettering the title of the picture and the stars’ names. “Bright lights inside of the sign and lights all around the sign, which appear to be running around and around, really loom up,” she said. “I am really getting the compliments on it — and am I glad!” Jack Klingel, city manager for the Cooper Foundation Theatres, announced that the new assistant treasurer at the Indian Hills Cinerama Theatre is Larry Wiley, the replacement for Larry Lewis, who moved to the Cooper Theatre downtown. Mike Gaughan is manager of the Indian Hills . . . Dick Smith, who had been with the Cooper theatres in Omaha more than eight years and was assistant manager and group salesman, left the foundation last week to join the editorial staff of The Omaha World-Herald. Dick was a journalism student and is working on the morning paper. Jim Zigenbein was given the trophy as winner of the annual tournament at the Variety Club Golf League banquet at the Omaha Athletic Club last week. Pat Halloran, who was the manager of the league during the past season, received the Andy Anderson Sportsmanship Trophy. Anderson, now deceased, was branch manager for Paramount here many years. Omaha Morals Committee Zeroing in Drive-Ins OMAHA — The mayor’s committee for the promotion of wholesome literature and movies will meet November 21 with law officials for a discussion on how to tighten policing at drive-in theatres. Douglas and Sarpy County sheriffs, police chief C. Harold Ostler and public safety director Chris Gugas will be asked to attend the session. The Rev. Clyde E. Randall, committee chairman, said the outdoor theatres “aren’t controlled as well as we think they could be.” The audiences are not checked as closely as those at indoor movies, he said. The committee also will ask the ParentTeacher Ass’n, School Ass’n and Citizens for Decent Literature to appoint committees to survey “the type of literature that is being circulated in the city,” the minister said. He also announced that the committee will circulate 20,000 more leaflets to junior and senior high school groups. Ten thou NC-2 BOXOFFICE :: November 11, 1963