The Exhibitor (1951)

NT-4 EXHIBITOR ing work was done by W. W. Rucker, Rose, Melrose, Wis., a fellow exhibitor, who has been doing this work through¬ out the country. . . . Herb Greenblatt, district manager, RKO, visited Lou El¬ man, branch manager. C. L. Baldwin, Gem, Gillett, Wis., ac¬ quired a new business. He purchased the restaurant located across the street from his theatre, which he retains. Mrs. Baldwin will operate it. The A. M. La Portes and the Elmer Schwankes, Avalon, Franklin, and Park, were spending a couple of weeks at Bark Lake, close enough to Milwaukee for them to commute. . . . The Colonial re¬ opened. The Parkway, formerly oper¬ ated by Fox Theatres, is being reopened by Harry Perlewitz. owner. The Alham¬ bra, operated by Warner Theatres, closed for an indefinite period. Minneapolis Minnesota Amusement Company, sub¬ sidiary of United Paramount Theatres, purchased the controlling stock in the Hollywood and Fifth Avenue, La Crosse, Wis. The two houses have been owned jointly by E. R. Ruben’s Welworth Cir¬ cuit and Minnesota Amusement. Minne¬ sota Amusement also has completed ne¬ gotiations whereby the 484-seat O’Klare, Eau Claire, Wis., comes under manage¬ ment of Sheldon Grengs, Hollywood. Grengs closed the theatre for two weeks for improvements, and reopened on a 35-cent policy. Plans are going ahead by exhibitors, producers, and distributors for the “Movietime, U. S. A.” drive, according to North Central Allied bulletin. Five regional meetings will be held here and in Duluth, Minn.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Huron, S. D., and Grand Forks, N. D., to be presided over by area chairmen and other exhibitor, distributor, and campaign chairmen. Gertrude Weber, branch manager’s secretary, 20th-Fox, vacationed in north¬ ern Minnesota. . . . Clarence Hill, in charge of 20th-Fox branch operations, stopped in. . . . Chuck Bliss, booker, U-I, vacationed along the north shore of Lake Superior. . . . Ben Marcus, Columbia midwest district manager, was in. Recent out-of-town exhibitors on Film Row were: Ray Blakeslee, Medford, Wis.; G. F. Vondra, Mahnomen, Minn.; Louis Bednarik, Rib Lake, Wis.; Joe Rostvold, Caledonia, Minn.; Einer Bank, St. Charles, Minn., and Arnold Mayer, Hebron, N. D. . . . Gil Swenberger, Berg-er Circuit general manager, captured the championship flight in the Variety Club golf tournament at Golden Valley. A three column by 10 inch ad was placed by the Minnesota Amusement Company in dailies featuring shots of crowds attending the Radio City, where “Show Boat” was in a second week, and the Orpheum, where “Alice in Wonder¬ land” was in a second week, with ac¬ companying copy reporting that theatre attendants reported repeat visits and “unbounded enthusiasm” from audi¬ ences, crediting the outstanding business to the word of mouth plugging the two attractions were getting. The ad con¬ cluded with advice to all readers to “be sure not to miss the grandest movie¬ going of a lifetime.” Oklahoma City Theatre owners proposed to the super¬ intendent of city schools that identifica¬ tion cards be issued to high school pupils so that they may be admitted at an in between child and adult price. The the¬ atre owners also promised the city PTA to search for better entertainment for the youngsters. R. Lewis Barton, board president and owner of theatres, said “There is only one way theatre men might benefit from the plan. It might be a little easier to discipline the youngters if there were a possibility of can¬ celing their identification cards.” The proposal was tabled pending an investi¬ gation of the cost of the cards. A new wrinkle in traffic safety was tried at the Skyview Drive-In with the cooperation of the highway patrol. Each evening, a highway trooper delivered a three-minute address on safety between feature pictures. Omaha Elmer Roden, Jr., Kansas City ex¬ hibitor, at the Iowa-Nebraska Allied meeting here, said “We’re trying to boost our industry, and look what we do. In 1940 the cigaret industry and movie industry each spent about $200,000,000, advertising their products. Last year, the cigaret people spent $600,000,000, and the movie industry still spent $200,000,000.” The Chateau, Wauneta, Neb., added $72 to the Kansas flood relief fund at a free show. . . . Ferd Reuter resigned as MGM booker to join a real estate company, replaced by Frank McCorm¬ ick, Minneapolis. . . . Emma Holmes, owner, Leigh, Leigh, Neb., has been hos¬ pitalized at Columbus, Neb. William Miskell, Tri-States district manager, announced the opening of the “Greatest Movie Season Contest” last week with $3,600 in managers’ prizes. Fred Teller, manager, Omaha, heads Miskell’s district. Max McCoy, U-I salesman and 13year veteran of the film industry, is now on the 20th-Fox sales staff. Except for a year in St. Louis and World War II paratroop service, he has been with U-I and Paramount in the Omaha territory all that time. . . . Two U-I office staffers were hospitalized, Inez Miller, inspec¬ tress, and Beverly Tyler, contract clerk, who underwent an emergency appendec¬ tomy. Alice Bordy, ex-Kansas City U-I employee, is now with the office. Portland Two chariots used in “Quo Vadis” will appear at the state fair at Salem, Ore., from Sept. 1-8. Each chariot will be pulled by two horses, and driven by a toga-garbed driver in a costume from the MGM production. St. Louis In East St. Louis, Ill., a parcel of real estate involving commercial proper¬ ties at 215-223 Collinsville Avenue, in¬ cluding the 1100-seat Avenue, changed hands. Sanford Ruttenberg, a Chicago investor, bought the properties from the John C. Nullsen Investment Company. The Avenue was padlocked by Internal Revenue agents in an effort to collect a total of $23,779 in federal taxes al¬ legedly due from the theatre operating company, the Avenue Amusement Com¬ pany. Subsequently, the theatre equip¬ ment was sold at public auction. The Chase Hotel will be the scene of the 1952 annual meeting of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of St. Louis, Eastern Missouri, and Southern Illinois on Nov. 5 and 6. In connection with the annual meeting, the following commit¬ tees will serve: Entertainment of guests, Louis Ansell, St. Louis; Tom Bloomer, Belleville, Ill., and Tom Edwards, Farm¬ ington, Mo.; arrangements, Joe Ansell, Charles Goldman, John Meinardi, and Lester Kropp; banquet seating, Bill Williams, Union, Mo., chairman; Paul Krueger, St. Louis; Harry Miller, Festus, Mo., and A. B. Magarian, East St. Louis, Ill.; displays, Russell Armentrout, Louisiana, Mo., chairman, and Louis Jablonow and Frank Speros, St. Louis; T. D. Medley, Sikeston, Mo., and William Waring, Jr., Cobden, Ill.; pub¬ licity, Frank Plumlee, Farmington, Mo., chairman; Bob Marchbank, Washing¬ ton, Mo.; and Herb Benin, David F. Barrett, Russ Bovim, and Phil Nanos, St. Louis; reservations, Charles Weeks, Jr., Dexter, Mo., chairman; State Sena¬ tor Edward V. Long, Bowling Green, Mo., and Frank Speros, Mrs. Bess Schulter, and Myra Stroud, St. Louis, and ticket sales, Bill Powell, St. Louis, chairman, and Tommy James, St. Louis; Loren Cluster, Salem, Ill.; Bill Griffin, Cairo, Ill.; Lester Bona, St. Louis, and Eddie Clark, Metropolis, Ill. In Assumption, Ill., the 250-seat Scenic has been sold by B. DeHart to W. Robert Johnson. The Variety Club on Sept. 14 will stage an all-industry get-together at the Meadowbrook Country Club, Louis County. John Meinardi, district man¬ ager, Fox Midwest Theatres, is the Chief Barker, Variety Club. In Illiopolis, Ill., construction has been started on the new Illiopolis to re¬ place the old Illiopolis, destroyed in an $86,000 explosion and fire. Alvinere Toigo, manager, Esquire, Springfield, Ill., and Mrs. Toigo, cele¬ brated their 25th wedding anniversary with a picnic for the immediate family. Those recent stories about the indus¬ try in Life and Fortune magazines also had a silver lining, as Loren Cluster, Salem, Ill., recently discovered when he appeared before the Marion County as¬ sessor to discuss the tax assessment against his theatres. The tax officials decided that on the basis of what they had read, Cluster was entitled to a tax reduction. So they cut the assessment against his theatre holdings. September 5, 1951