The Exhibitor (1953)

NT-2 EXHIBITOR Los Angeles Sam and Bill Russo assumed opera¬ tion of the Victory, San Diego, Cal., from the former owner, Harry Ussery. . . . Ralph Carmichaels, Paramount sales manager, resigned. . . . Alex Cooperman, Lux, checked in from San Francisco. . . . Dick Barth resigned from Goodman and Kaufmann to head his own distribution organization, Western Releasing Com¬ pany. . . . Navy booker John Evans was back from a meeting in Washington, D. C. . . . Bea Green, Sero secretary, and her husband are both in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital after suffering serious injuries in an automobile accident. . . . The National Screen Service organiza¬ tion has a two day sales-meeting, viceprexy George Dembow presiding. . . . Lela Kunze, U-I secretary, resigned to become a bride. . . . Back from Arizona was Irving Levin, Realart franchise holder. . . . The operation of the Egyptian has been taken over by J. R. McDonough, who also has the Eureka, Brawley, Cal., and the Obispo, San Luis Obispo, Cal. . . . Out-of-towners seen on the Row were Fred Siegel, Ernie Harper, and Sam Russo. Damages aggregating $5,163,000 are claimed in anti-trust actions filed in U. S. District Court by operators or former owners of the Lennox, Lennox; Bell, Bell; Valukskis, Willowbrook; Park and Hunt¬ ington, Huntington Park; and Elite, now the Beverly Music Hall, Beverly Hills, all in California. The defendants include National Theatres, Warners, Loew’s, Paramount, UA, Columbia, U-I, RKO. and 20th-Fox. Addressing more than 1,200 Catholics at the second annual communion break¬ fast of the Hollywood film industry James Francis Cardinal McIntyre said, “There is too much glamorizing of that which is wrong and sometimes it is deliberately done. Glamorizing evil over virtue never succeeds. When an indi¬ vidual of evil repute is glamorized the effect is the same. In your industry we see signs of recognition of these facts. May the influence of your work continue.” Milwaukee Miss Estelle Steinbach. manager, FoxWisconsin Downer, was appointed to a four-year term on the Milwaukee Motion Picture Commission. . . . Mrs. Ethel Wil¬ son, former manager, Standard’s Bay, is now assistant to Elmer J. dumb, River¬ side. Minneapolis “Bwana Devil” set an attendance record at the State. . . . Members of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association as¬ sumed a new role when they were guests of Warners to act as critics for “The Jazz Singer.” . . . Federal revenue from admission taxes in Minnesota dropped to $393,000 in January, compared with $430,000 in January, 1952. Recent exhibitors were: Mrs. Alfred Van Tassell, Watertown, Minn.; Clarence Kaake, Duluth, Minn.; David Deutsch, Virginia, Minn.; Mel Edelstein, Hibbing, Minn.; Ken Pepper, St. Croix Falls, Wis.; Bill Brezezinski, Greenwood, Wis.; L. L. Garnant, LeRoy, Minn.; A1 Smith, Rochester and Winona, Minn., and Robert Hobighorst, Owen, Wis. . . . Herb Greenblatt, RKO district manager, was in, as was Don Conley, RKO branch manager, Des Moines. . . . Bob Conn, 20th-Fox branch manager, Des Moines, was in. Virginia Townsend is a new stenog¬ rapher at Warners replacing Joan Peura, resigned. . . . Perry Smoot, head booker, Warners, handed out cigars for new daughter Pamela. . . . Ben Berger, presi¬ dent, North Central Allied and Berger Amusement Company, was back from a cruise. . . . The Variety Club of the Northwest inaugurated “exchange nights” when MGM presented seven acts of vaudeville. The policy will prevail every other Friday night at the club rooms. . . . Chick Evans, 20th-Fox Midwest exploiteer, was in. Radio City is using a “Magnarama” screen for “Niagara,” . . . E. E. Moyer, field representative, film laboratories, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., and his assistant, Paul Preo, were in checking on the condition of film at the exchanges. . . . MGM will have all its trade screenings in the afternoons in the future. . . . Larry Callahan, MGM auditor, was in. . . . W. H. Workman, MGM branch manager, was ill. Three members of Local 356, St. Paul, Minn, divided $172.22 as the result of a motion for summary judgment brought in county court against Wilfred Perper, Oxford, St. Paul neighborhood house, which closed a year ago. The action, not contested by Perper, grew out of the closing of the house and the alleged failure to give the necessary two weeks notice to the projectionists as provided in the union contract. . . . E, R. Ruben, president, Welworth Circuit; his son-inlaw, Larry Bentson; Emanuel Sgutt, Fargo, N. D., and Joe Floyd, Sioux Falls, S. D., exhibitor, filed articles of incorpor¬ ation for a broadcasting station at Grand Forks, N. D. Oklahoma City Mr. and Mrs. Carl Taggart, Rick, Southwest City, Mo., advised that their account has been transferred from Kansas City to Oklahoma City. . . . Bernard J. McKenna, Jr., Allied Theatres, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., announced that thei-e will no longer be a midweek change in the Royal, Tulsa. . . . Irtwin Tucker, Sun, Pauls Valley, Okla., lost a print by a booth fire. R. Lewis Barton, Barton Theatres, assumed charge of his Redskin and Agnew, and they will no longer be handled by Video Theatres. . . . R. E. Sterbenz, Follett, Follett, Tex., has sold his theatre to E. J. Tarbox. . . . Henry Simpson, manager, Princess and Walmur, Bristow, Okla., recently purchased these two theatres from Mrs. Kathryn Hend¬ ricks. Visitors were: Herb Boehm, Rook and Ann, Watonga, Okla.; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gillespie, Spring, Roaring Springs, Tex.; Ruby Jones, Ritz, Jake, Shawnee and Crest, Stillwater, Okla.; Claud Thorp, Dorothy, Royal, and Rietta Drive' In, Henrietta, Tex., and Gem, Ryan, Okla., and George Pomeroy, Frontier. Omaha Four ambassadors from Hollywood were on the list of Omaha visitors, Audie Murphy, Jesse White, Susan Cabot, and Renate Huy, to promote “Gunsmoke” at the Orpheum under direction of U-I publicist Jim Boyle. The presentation of “Bwana Devil” at the Omaha has been delayed until late in March, following about a month the sterio-techniques offering at the State. M. Biemond, Nebraska exhibitor 30 years and owner-operator of theatres in Ord, Neb., for 25 years, sold the Ord to Alvin and Ed Christensen. Alvin Christensen, who became manager for Biemond last year, previously was in the business in Missouri and Texas 14 years. . . . At Broken Bow, Neb., Howard Kennedy announced grading for his drive-in will be finished by the end of the month. Howard Brookings, Oakland, la., thea¬ tre owner, has closed his holdings at Walnut and Carson, la., and Charles Lathrop closed his theatre at Neola, la. . . . Lynn Pitts, Paramount salesman, suffered a bruised leg. Mrs. Rosalie Epstein, wife of Jack Epstein, Epstein Theatres Corporation, died. . . . The 20th-Fox staff received word from Roy Casey, who left after 20 years to join the Seattle exchange, that he was met on his arrival by S. A. Woodson, veteran Omaha Film, Row member now in Seattle. . . . Visitors at Republic were Paul Webster, division chief, New York, and Ben Elrod, in charge of the Hollywood television pic¬ tures, Chicago. A. G. Miller, who runs the theatre at Atkinson, Neb., has been running a memory contest on his screen, showing photos of residents taken 20 years ago. Patrons identifying the 15 slides receive prizes. His son, Pat, is en route from Korea after receiving wounds in action. St. Louis In Clayton, Mo., a suit for an injunction to halt picketing of the LaCosa, St. Ann, St. Louis County, was filed in the Circuit Court, against 12 officers and members of Local 143, by Hugh Graham, owner. The petition by Graham, who operates the theatre under a sublease from the building owner, the Charles F. Vatterott Construction Company, charged that the union and the individual defendants named tried to enforce “feather-bedding and makework practices” on the theatre management. He stated that he tried to hire a member of Local 143 to serve as projectionist at the theatre before it was opened for business on Nov. 5, 1952, but the union demanded that he employ two projectionists. The petition further con¬ tended that there is only one hour’s work for a single man. The strictly confidential and executive inaugural session of the grievance com¬ mittee of the Motion Picture Theatre February 25, 1053