The Exhibitor (May-Aug 1948)

THE EXHIBITOR NT-1 NKWS OF THE Cincinnati Tent 3, Variety Club, holds its annual spring dance at the Netherland Plaza on June 5. Latest standings in the Monogram billing drive as announced by Presi¬ dent Steve Broidy, and including the sixth week, had the local branch among the leading six exchanges. Irving Sochin, branch manager, u-I, was visiting the Chakeres Circuit, Springfield, 0....A1 Kolkmeyer, head booker, U-I, was on vacation. ... Co¬ lumbia has a new booker, Buddy Tucker ....Estelle Schilferth, MGM booker, was transferred from the local office to the booking department in Seattle, where she will live with her mother and sister .... MGM booker Clifford Garbutt returned to work from having an appendectomy. Don Hall, MGM’ s shipping department, has a new daughter, Margaret Ann, a little sister for his twoandahalf year old boy Jerry. ... Charlie Fine, who has been living in Miami, paid a visit to Film Row. He ran the Empire for years. His son now operates the house. J.H. Lutzer, division manager, Film Classics, came to Cincinnati from his Dallas headquarters, and accompanied Lev Bugie to Springfield, Columbus, and Dayton, 0. meeting Mike Chakeres, Chakeres circuit; j. Real Neth, Neth circuit, and exhib Keyes, Victory, Dayton, 0. Since the Cincinnati office of 20th Century-Fox recently joined the eastern division, Ray Moon, division manager, and Joe St. Clair, assistant division manager, from the home of¬ fice, visited the local offices. Midwest Theatre Supply announced the opening of its new store in Indi¬ anapolis at 448 North Illinois Street. In charge of operations for the present is J. Charles Clickner. A garden project of the Prudential Insurance Company of America will include a theatre to accommodate 1200 persons among the group of 32 build¬ ings at Reading Road and Seymour Avenue, Bond Hill. The theatre will be placed in the business section where the two streets intersect, and will involve some changes in the lay¬ out originally mapped. Thomas Emery’ s Sons, Inc., will manage the project, which will comprise the largest non¬ public apartment development in the city’s history. Designer of the build¬ ings is Harry M. Price, architect, assisted by Willard C. Pistler, con¬ sulting engineer. The entire project will be watched with interest by the trade, as it represents something new in the area. Cleveland Downtown theatre attendance, ac¬ cording to report, was on the skids. Even the big pictures were not meet¬ ing expected boxoffice returns. The neighborhood drop is said to be less than. the downtown drop, indicating a trend to attend lower admission the¬ atres. Benjamin Cohen, a native Cleve¬ lander, has been appointed manager, Telenews, where he succeeds Charles Burris, recently promoted to head the company’s sales and publicity de¬ partments, with headquarters in New York. Cohen comes here from Cincin¬ nati, where, for the past five years, he has been strand manager. Herman Weiss, who was assistant manager in Clevelana, moves to Detroit as as¬ sistant to Norman Wheaton, Downtown Telenews. A home size Philco television has been installed on the mezzanine floor of the RK0 Palace by Max Mink, RK0 theatres city manager. An attendant is on hand to serve patrons with tele¬ vision programs. The RK0 Palace on June 3 has “Duf¬ fy’ s Tavern”, with Jane Russell as visiting guest, for a week’ s engage¬ ment. On June 18, Jack Benny will bring his entire radio show to the Palace stage. In addition, “Dr. I. Q. ” opened a sevenweek engagement at the Palace. Nate Gerson, Monogram office mana¬ ger and head booker, and Mrs. Gerson drove to California for a vacation ....Also westward bound were Walter Olds, Argus, Inc., and Mrs. Olds, visiting their daughter in Phoenix, Ariz. They will go to California be¬ fore returning home. Nat L. Lefton, retired independent distributor, returned from his Florida home fora week’s visit before opening his summer home in Michigan. The new 1800-seat deluxe theatre on Lake Shore Boulevard, being built by the owners of the Shore, is tenta¬ tively called the Erie. Construction is progressing slowly. .. Leroy Kendis, -Associated Circuit, recently operated on to correct a spinal injury, is making a rapid recovery. Leo Adler, United Artist auditor, is dividing his time between the Detroit and Cleveland offices.... Norman Moray, Warners short subjects sales manager, was a visitor. H.L. Tracy, Temple, Willard, 0., a veteran exhibitor of more than 25 years, died at his home. He had been ill several months. Paul Lukas spent a week as the guest of Sam Haas. He came here to see his dentist. ... Frank Yassenoff and H.L. Schwartz are building a new drive-in on Harrisburg Pike, outside Columbus, 0. They are installing Mobiltone incar speakers, manufactured by Theatrecraft Corporation. Oscar Ruby, Co¬ lumbia branch manager, attended the company’ s sales meeting in New York. Detroit Eddie Jacobson completed a run of eight weeks at the Forest with "The Art of Love” and “Bedroom Diplomat”, from Al Dezel Roadshows. ... Earl J Hudson, president, United Detroii Theatres, has been reelected vicepresident, Detroit Civic Light Open Association. Spyros Skouras, president, 20th Century-Fox, was in to huddle with David Idzal, managing director, Fox ....Jess Veldman, office manager, 20th Century-Fox resigned after 21 years with the company. Wilson Elliott, assistant manager, Royal, is recovering from a serious back operation at Harper Hospital. The operation is due to injuries in¬ curred as a prisoner of war in Germany ....The Nightingale Club Bowling League announced that National The¬ atre Supply team had taken the champ¬ ionship award. ... Robert Goldstaff resigned as house manager, with Lee Tucker, assistant manager, taking his position. Another new drive-in is under con¬ struction, the Dearborn Drive-In, with a capacity of 1,000 cars, at Ford Road and Kinloch Avenue. Owner is James H. Ross, a newcomer to show business. Bookings will be handled by Allen Dowzer It is expected to be completed in July. J.H. Methner, owner, Gem, Beaverton, Mich. , announced that he is going to build a theatre in Sanford, Mich. . . . A 400-seat theatre is being built in Harrisville, Mich., by H-V. Rule, Houghton Lake, Mich. .. Forrest Martin, Sun, Marion, Mich. , is a proud papa of a new baby boy weighing over eight pounds. E.J. Pennel, Bronson, Mich., has begun construction of a new theatre on East Chicago Street to be known as the Coliseum. He hopes to have it ready for a September opening. Eddie and Milton Jacobson plan to reopen the Rialto, Gr&nd Rapids, Mich. , with a new name, the new Fox ....Gus Embach, former city salesman for Republic, has moved to the seventh floor, working for Jack Zide. Eddie Hochstim, branch manager, Columbia, was visiting Ed Johnson at the Washington, Bay City, Mich. Ben Robbins, U-I branch manager, went with salesman Bill Waldhoz to Petoskey, Mich. , visiting Harry Lev¬ inson at the Hollywood. Carl Johns, Cheboygan, Mich. , was giving his Kingston lobby a new coat of paint. In a realighment of the distribution setup, Albert Dezel Productions will now serve Omaha and Des Moines terri¬ tories from its Chicago and Kansas City offices. A new Kansas City office now serves Omaha and part of Iowa under manager Walter Lambader and booker Nina Bridges. The Favorite Films franchise for St. Louis has June 2, 1948 Mideast