The Exhibitor (1953)

EXHIBITOR NT-1 REWS OF THE New York City Crossfown H. M. Richey, MGM exhibitor relations head, returned from a vacation at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. . . . Dan S. Terrell, MGM publicity-exploitation manager, returned from a visit on the coast, where he conferred with Howard Strickling and other studio executives. . . . James Perkins, managing director, Paramount International in England, left for London following a sojourn here. J. Louis Geller, well known exhibitor, was elected to the presidency of the Kings County Grand Jury Association, Brooklyn. Geller is a vice-president, Con¬ solidated Theatres, Limited, of Canada, and a director, Royal Industrial Bank of Fifth Avenue. James A. Fitzpatrick, producer, “MGM Traveltalks,” sailed on the Caronia for a South American tour. Plans for “Brotherhood Week” were well underway in the exchange area, according to Michael Edelstein, exhibi¬ tor chairman. Fred Herkowitz, assistant to Edelstein, issued the first of a series of “Exchange of Ideas” bulletins to all circuit heads in the metropolitan area. Manager Leon Kelmer and publicist Pat Grosso collected Brooklyn’s first “Brotherhood Week” contribution from that Borough’s first citizen, John Cashmore, and had him sign the honor roll. In similar manner, managers Sam Fersten and James S. McCarthy in¬ vaded Boro Hall, Queens, and collected from President James Lundy. Supreme Court Justice Nicholas M. Pette also was among the first Queensites to sign. In Harlem, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell signed the Brotherhood Honor Roll for manager Vincent Liguori, and Senator Seymour Halpern, Queens, not only signed up but officiated in changing a Jamaica Street to “Brotherhood Boulevard.” Ray Malone represented the managers. Harry K. McWilliams, president, AMPA, announced that the organization would honor Ed Sullivan for his efforts in promoting motion pictures through his “Toast of the Town” TV show at the AMPA luncheon on March 19. George Ettinger, in charge of radio and tele¬ vision for Columbia, will be chairman of the meeting. The eight NATO Wacs touring in con¬ nection with “Never Wave At A Wac” returned to New York from Atlanta. They remained to complete a heavy schedule of radio, television, press and magazine interviews, and photo layouts before flying back to their home countries. The Skouras Circuit recently held a con¬ test among its greater New York man¬ agers for the best exploitation campaign on MGM’s “Lovely To Look At” with prizes totaling $250 to be distributed among the first four winners. Here, the winners are assembled for the distribu¬ tion of the awards by Spyros Skouras, Jr., head of the circuit as Emery Austin, MGM exploitation assistant to Dan S. Terrell, extreme left, and Saal Gottlieb, MGM Metropolitan New York district manager, next to Austin, look on. Skouras, third from left, presents the awards to Jules Koenig, Beacon, Port Washington, second prize, a $75 bond; Max Cooper, Cove, Glencove, first prize, a $100 bond; John Endres, Calderone, Hempstead, fourth prize, $25 in cash, and Mrs. Diana Gordon, Palace, Bergenfield, N. J., third prize, a $50 bond. David Lewis, regional director, Con¬ tinental Europe, Loew’s International Corporation, returned to his head¬ quarters in Paris. Herb Steinberg, Paramount publicity manager, and Rosemary Clooney, star of “The Stars Are Singing,” returned from a week-long eastern seaboard tour. A permanent metal plaque paying tribute to Adolph Zukor as “the man whose vision and foresight brought fame and glory to 14th Street and created a historical landmark in entertainment” will be unveiled on March 3 on the site of Zukor’s first “Automatic Vaudeville” Penny Arcade on Union Square, to cele¬ brate the 50th anniversary of the open¬ ing of the entertainment emporium. Services were held for Mrs. Catherine Ritter, 80, mother of Marie, secretary to J. Robert Rubin, at Stenger Funeral Chapel, Brooklyn. The federal statutory court was asked by George Alger, trustee, Metropolitan Playhouses stock held by RKO Theatres, to grant a three-year extension for the disposition of the. shares by RKO. Alger Fred Schwartz Century President NEW YORK — Fred J. Schwartz was elected to the presidency of Century Theatres, succeeding the late Albert A. Hovell. Moved up from assistant treasurer to succeed him as vice-president was his brother, Leslie Schwartz. The new president of Century has long been active in exhibition and at present is serving as OMPI chairman. said there is a lack of acceptable bids for the 56,488 4/5th shares of Class “A” Metropolitan stock owned by RKO Theatres. Mort Blumenstock, Warners’ vicepresident in from the coast, was laid up with the grippe. Spyros P. Skouras, Jr., president, Skouras Theatre Corporation, is running as chairman, amusement division, for the 1953 finance campaign, Greater New York Councils, Boy Scouts of America. Others who serve are Charles B. Moss, vice-president, B. S. Moss Corporation, co-chairman; and Herman G. Place, president, General Precision Equipment Corporation, chairman, motion picture and theatrical equipment committee. Harold Mirisch and G. Ralph Branton, Allied Artists vice-presidents, arrived for a series of sales conferences with home office and eastern sales executives. Solicitation of funds for the 1953 cam¬ paign of the Boy Scout Councils of Greater New York took place duiing “Boy Scout Week.” Charles Boasberg and Leon Bamberger, RKO, headed the industry-wide committee set up to assist the organization. Jack Ellis was added to the committee as co-chairman, film exporters and importers group, along with Phil Lewis. . . . David Golding, director of advertising and publicity, Samuel Goldwyn Productions, returned from an extended tour of five Texas cities, where he set campaigns for “Hans Christian Andersen.’’ Perry Lieber, national director of publicity and exploitation, RKO, re¬ turned to Hollywood following a visit to reorganize the company’s eastern publicity and exploitation departments. Mervin Houser, assistant to Lieber, arrived from Hollywood to assume tem¬ porarily the duties of publicity director of the New York office. George Jessel, producer of 20th-Fox’s “Tonight We Sing,” planed in from Hollywood to be present for the premiere at the Radio City Music Hall. . . . Edward E. Sullivan, 20th-Fox publicity manager, planed to Hollywood to parti¬ cipate in conferences with Harry Brand, studio publicity director, and other studio executives on upcoming releases. The gala premiere of UA’s “Moulin Rouge,” Capitol, climaxed one of the strongest ballyhoo campaigns ever con¬ ducted by United Artists. The glittering premiere, attended by 1,000 notables and sponsored by the Damon Runyon Memorial Fund for Cancer Research, was covered by the press, radio, and television. WJZ-TV covered the premiere festivities with an on-the-spot half-hour telecast that had Zsa Zsa Gabor, acting as mistress of ceremonies with com¬ mentator Art Ford. The National Broad¬ casting Company television network also covered the event on Dave Garroway’s top-rated “Today” show, and “The Voice of America” broadcast the ceremonies to France. Stephen Wiedemann, former manager, Westrex Corporation subsidiary, Westrex Company, Alpine, returned. . . . February 18, 1953 NEW YORK