The Exhibitor (1953)

NT-2 EXHIBITOR NE Varietymen Enjoy "Day At Races" BOSTON — In spite of a driving rainstorm, more than 100 members of the Variety Club of New England and friends enjoyed the third annual “Day at the Races” as guests of Judge James A. Dooley, president, Narragansett, R. I., Racing Associ¬ ation. Fifteen members of the Variety Club of Connecticut together with barkers from the New England tent joined in festivities which started off with cocktails in the Terrace Club and a buffet luncheon handled as usual by that genial host, Marty Winn, of the famous caterers. H. M. Stevens did a superb job of taking care of the Variety Club. Each member was given a daily double ticket, which was won by Lou Freedman. Afterwards, the members were given a police escort to the famous Squantum Club, where cock¬ tails and a most unusual 15-course shore dinner were served. Chief Barker Walter Brown was prevented by being present by the rain so William Koster, executive director, Variety Club, introduced Ed Fay, who presented Judge Dooley an engraved silver tray in appreciation of the club. Albert Clark presented Clark Mays, host of the Squantum Club, with a citation proclaiming him an “Admiral” in the Nebraska fleet. Hy Fine, New England Theatres, sent the group home happy with his jokes and stories. Judge Dooley also extended the courtesy for next year. delighted with the results of the first few weeks. Operated by radiant heat, the grille has proven popular with his patrons, and is easy to manage. Film District For the John J. Scully “Bandwagon Month” drive, the New England salesmen and bookers at U-I are making every effort to bring in the playdates to help make this drive the biggest success in history. The drive embraces the entire southeastern territory of which Scully is division manager, New England, New Haven, Albany, Buffalo, and Phila¬ delphia. On his return from meetings at the home office of 20th-Fox in New York, James M. Connolly, branch manager, called together his salesmen, bookers, and publicist Phil Engel, and outlined the plans for “The Robe” and other 20thFox features. Clarence Hill, supervisor of operations and maintenance for branch offices, was in for a day from the home office. Ben Domingo and “Red” King, RKO Theatres, arranged a screen¬ ing with Engel for “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” at the Fox Little Theatre, attended by 36 distributors from the music stores, part of the tiein with the film. Reports from the first week of “White Witch Doctor” have been very good. Those identical Anderson twins, Lennie and Larry, who confused all when they were serving at Harry’s Snack Bar, are out of the navy. They were assigned to Harvey Lembeck and Robert Strauss, arriving recently in Boston for appear¬ ances in connection with Paramount’s “Stalag 17,” Metropolitan, are seen with a cooperating Eastern Airlines hostess. the same ship while in the service, and were on the U. S. S. Missouri for 14 months as cooks. One is now back at Harry’s Snack Bar while the other is now a shipper at National Screen Service, or is it vice versa? Johnnie McGrail, U-I publicist, held a special screening of “Thunder Bay” for members of the New England Oil Council, a subsidiary of the American Petroleum Institute, and for 15 oil com¬ pany division managers. McGrail also arranged for a tiein with the feature and Socony Vacuum for window cards and stills in bulletin boards. Marcia Hender¬ son came to town for press, TV, and radio interviews, and was honored at a luncheon at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. She is a local girl. Marie Cullen has been added to the staff at Affiliated Theatres Corporation as an assistant bookkeeper, replacing Betty Hood, now living in Austria with her son, who is in the diplomatic corps. William J. Cuddy is back in his home territory with RKO as office manager, replacing John A. Downing, recently pro¬ moted to sales manager. Cuddy joined the old Pathe exchange here as a shipper back in 1922, and has had book¬ ing and selling experience. When Pathe merged with RKO, he stayed on. In 1951, he was placed in the Buffalo ex¬ change as office manager, so that when William Greenough, left, and Arthui Grayson. American Society of Magicians, Hartford, Conn., chapter, recently showed some tricks to five-year-old Paul Leigh McNamara, son of Ray Mc¬ Namara, manager, Allyn, Hartford, while helping McNamara in his promotion campaign on Paramount’s “Houdini.” A. W. Schwalberg, president. Paramount Film Distributing Corporation, is seen in New York making the film which pref¬ aced Paramount’s recent triple-feature “Jubilee Show” in 32 exchange cities. the vacancy occurred here, he was recommended for the same post in the larger Boston exchange. As his family lives in Mattapan, Mass., although three of his four children are married, he is delighted to be transferred back to his home territory. Vera Palady, secretary to Downing, continues to be secretary to Cuddy. Kenny Mayer, U-I salesman, was hospitalized for a day or so with a severe case of painful sunburn. . . . Three girls in the office force at Smith Management Company announced their engagements, Frances Conforto to Frank Ramelli; Helen LaChute, to Anthony Pawlowski, and Eileen Rosenson, to Lester Glen. I. Burt Lazarus, general manager, Theatre Chair Maintenance Company, has been a busy man completing his orders for seat repairs. All his workmen do their repairing and renovating of the seats in the theatre premises at offhours. One of the largest orders was the repairing of the 1,000 seats at Archie Silverman’s Strand, Providence, R. I. Lazarus has also put in order the 450 seats of the Jasan, East Weymouth, R. I., for the new owner, Mario Cicchesi, who changed the name of the theatre to the Victor. Cicchesi has also refreshened and repainted the entire inside of the house, has had the booth replenished, and has called upon Joe Cohen to handle his buying and booking. He reopens the thea¬ tre for business on Aug. 14. Other re¬ pairs to seats handled by Lazarus have taken place at the Strand, Ipswich, Mass., for Philip Smith; the Harbor, York Harbor, Me., for Lloyd Bridgham, and two theatres for Graphic, the Cam¬ pus, Middlebury, and Burns, Newport, both in Vermont. Seymour Schussel, IFE eastern division manager and assistant to Bernard Jacon, vice-president in charge of sales and distribution, were in for a series of meetings with IFE represent¬ ative Ellis Gordon and New England ex¬ hibitors regarding the release of the three versions of “The Little World of Don Camillo” and “O. K. Nero.” Plans are going forward for the banquet honoring Ted Williams back to the Red Sox, a $100 a plate dinner at the Hotel Statler on Aug. 17, with all proceeds going to the “Jimmy Fund.” It will be a gala occasion. August 5, 1053