The Exhibitor (1951)

EXHIBITOR NT-1 NKWS OF THJB BRANCHES Cincinnati First round in the court battle by local suburban houses to retain firstruns was won when the U. S. District Coui't, Chicago, granted a temporary injunction against 20th-Fox. The in¬ junction was granted the local Valley and Covedale and the Madison, subur¬ ban Covington, Ky., pending a hearing on the application for a permanent in¬ junction on Sept. 17. It was charged in the suit that during the last 20 years, eight downtown houses here have been permitted to show first-run films ex¬ clusively; that after a nine-week period during which the films were withheld, they were released to first-run suburban houses. The three suburban houses al¬ lege this system violates the Sherman anti-trust act, and injures their busi¬ nesses. Other defendants in the suit for a permanent injunction include Colum¬ bia, Loew’s, Paramount Film Distribut¬ ing Corporation, Paramount Pictures, RKO, United Artists, Universal, War¬ ners, and RKO-Keith-Orpheum, Inc. Here for business conferences were Ben Fish, Samuel Goldwyn interests; Harold Raives, Schine Cleveland man¬ ager; Harris Dudelson, Lippert midwestern manager, and James Frew, At¬ lanta, U-I district manager. L. J. Bugie, distributor for Modern Talking Pictures and formerly branch manager for 20th-Fox and Film Class¬ ics, is now West Virginia salesman for Monogram. . . . Esther Swillenger, for¬ merly at National Screen Service and niece of Jeri Dick, Realart booker, be¬ came the mother of a baby girl. . . . The staff at 20th-Fox was glad to hear from Ann Grey, former inspectress, now liv¬ ing in Chicago. Mary Durchholz, assistant cashier, Republic, was married to Melvin Huber at St. Clements Church, suburban St. Bernard. . . . Vernon Berg, Yellow Springs, 0., exhibitor, is treading the boards in a straw-hat house at Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. . . . Vance Schwartz, Distinctive Theatres and Lighthouse Enterprises, was in New York City. Jim Tavel is temporary manager, Highland, suburban Fort Thomas, Ky., replacing Marvin Faller, who joined the armed services. . . . Midwest Theatre Supply furnished the RCA equipment for the new Starlight Drive-In, Park¬ ersburg, W. Va., owned by Lily Schneider and J. M. Johnston. . . . Marian Conley, Paramount cashier, had her sister, Catherine, Portland, Me., as a guest. Among recent vacationers were: MGM, Edna Hahn, head inspectress, and Clara Zeinz, inspectress; National Screen Service, Jane Patillo, booker, and U-I’s “Bright Victory” recently was cited as the “outstanding picture of the year” by the Third Armored Division Association at its convention in Colum¬ bus, O., and seen at the award presenta¬ tion are, from left. Colonel L. L. Doan, executive secretary to the Secretary of Defense; Frank R. Powell, president, Third Armored Division Association; Mayor James Rhodes, Charles Simonelli, manager, U-I’s eastern ad. -publicity department, and Walter Kessler, man¬ ager, Loew’s Broad and Ohio, Columbus. Marie Stocker, bookkeeping department; Paramount, Marian Conley, cashier; RKO, Katie Combs, bookkeeper, and Bill Kaufelt, booker; Republic, Lois Raab, biller; 20th-Fox, Ethel Stenger, biller, and Jim Neff, head booker; U-I, Beverley Luckinball, contract depart¬ ment, and Florence Schumacker, cash¬ ier, and TOC, Ruth Burlew, secretary to Rex A. Carr, general manager. Visitors included: Bill Luibel, Springfield, 0.; Bud Gillian, Cleveland; W. Wingate, Camden, O.; John Valakas, Harrison, 0.; Chalmers Bach, Eaton, O.; Vernon Berg, Yellow Springs, O.; J. B. Minnix, South Shore, Ky. ; Pat Evenfield, Lexington, Ky. ; K. W. Ray¬ monds, Somerset, Ky. ; Guy Greathouse, Aurora, Ind.; G. W. McCoy, Williamson, W. Va.; Chester Whitt, Stewart, W. Va.; G. C. Porter, Beckley, W. Va.; J. Woodrow Thomas, Oak Hill, W. Va., and Mr. and Mrs. Harold Moore, Fred Helwig, and E. R. Custer, Charleston, W. Va. Cleveland Large-scale newspaper ads in full color, as well as extensive radio and TV During her recent visit to Cincinnati in the interests of 20th-Fox’s “David and Bathsheba,” Carol “Bathsheba” Woods met, from left, exhibitor Maurie White, W. R. Kellog, city manager of Cincin¬ nati: E. Waldvogel, vice-mayor, and exhibitor Robert Libson, quite pleased. time-buys, will blanket Ohio for the 140 state-wide mass day-and-date openings of “A Millionaire For Christy,” which will be kicked off by the film’s gala world premiere at the Hippodrome on Sept. 12. The premiere celebration will be keyed around the return of Eleanor Parker to Cleveland. Two truckers’ strikes held up all in¬ coming and outgoing shipments except what could be handled by express and bus. Local Truckers’ 407 were out eight days, and settled for a pay increase of 10 cents for drivers, 14 cents for dockmen, a 40-hour week Monday through Friday, time-and-a-half with a fourhour minimum on Saturday, and a paid vacation based on 44 hours a week at regular rates. Over-the-road truckers based the strike on alleged employer contract violations. During the strike, films were picked up by theatre owners in town and from some surrounding towns. Express handled other shipments. No films were lost during the confused period, and, according to report, there were no missouts. Joe Rembrandt, owner, local Center Mayfield, and the Ellet, Akron, 0., re¬ turned from a week in Atlantic City. . . . Bob Wile, U-I exploitation, was here concentrating on “Iron Man,” Hippodrome. Jeff Chandler, Cindy Gar¬ ner, and Frankie Van will be in to meet the press at a get-together luncheon and the public via TV. . . . Jennie Eisner, secretary, is back from a two-week va¬ cation in Florida. . . . James E. Scoville, former member, Scoville, Essick, and Reif Circuit, now living in Tucson, Ariz., is around. Shirley Simon is the new Metro Premiums secretary. Gene Gould re¬ signed as sales manager. Dave Zussman is now in charge. The Telenews gets a new name and a new policy. It is now called the Tower, playing features on a first-run policy and with moveovers from the Hippo¬ drome, both houses being owned by Herbert Scheftel and Alfred G. Berger. Price scale will be the same as the other downtown first-run houses. Max Mink, manager, RKO Palace, says two-a-day vaudeville will return on Sept. 6. Nat Wolf, Warner Theatres’ Ohio zone manager, has once more been named chairman, motion picture com¬ mittee, 1951 Community Fund Drive. His son, Lieutenant Donald Wolf, was expected home on furlough from Fort Knox., with an overseas assignment following. Marvin Harris, well-known Toledo, O., manager, resigned as manager, USED THEATRE CHAIRS • Refinished or as they are • Large selection to choose from JOHN P. MORGAN CO., INC. 317 N. 13th ST.. PHILA. 7. PA. LO 4-0226 August 15, 1951 MIDEAST