The Exhibitor (May-Aug 1948)

NT-4 THE EXHIBITOR TRAVELLING AROUND WITH LEW HERB (Lew Herb, traveling representative of THE EXHIBITOR, continues with his leisurely tour through 4he southern ar ea.—Ed, ) After our return from a little trip to Arkansas and Southeast Missouri, we dropped in at the regular monthly Meeting of l|ocal 144, and met the officers and members. M.S. Stroler, projec¬ tionist, Loew’ s State, president, and E.L. Hurt, also at the same theatre, is business agent. R.J. Hora is vice-president, with J.H. Elcan acting as recording secretary. W.A. Griffin, one of Lew Herb the projectionists at Loew’ s Palace, holds down the post of secretary-treasurer. This is one of the old locals, and many of its members boast over a quarter century of ser¬ vice. Its membership is around the 60 mark, and its employer-relationship record is one of the best. Our brief visit to Memphis rapidly drawing to a close, we decided to spend the balance of our time on Film Row, and ran into quite a few out-of-town exhibitors. One of the first was “The Duke” from Dumas, Ark., Duke Studstill, who recently opened the Duke, a colored house, in that community. He has been a projectionist for the past 10 years or so, and just went into business for himself. Things haven’ t been breaking for him as he expected, but he is going to persevere a while longer, and may make a go of it. While sipping a cup of coffee, we met Ed Smith, who operates the V-Theatre, Altheimer, Ark. He, too, was com¬ plaining about business, laying a lot of it to the hard winter just passed, and currently to the underlying dis¬ sension in his community, much of which he blames on the current political situation. He claims if it gets any worse, he was going to close his house. This, however, is an old problem in this territory, and will probably ease in due time. We also had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Ann Hutchins, who op¬ erates the State and Dixon, Corning, Ark. , and who books and buys for .sev¬ eral other houses in that territory. Also in town for the day were M.E. Rice, Rice, Brownsville, Tenn., and Arthur Rush, Houston, Houston, Miss. , plus the usual array of localites. This terminated our visit here, and the next morning found us on the road again, heading east, towards Nashville. Taking the advice of a well-meaning film salesman, we struck cross-country instead of heading north to Jackson, but soon found out that the road re¬ commended to us was under repair. We had planned on visiting several of the smaller towns on the other route, but we were only able to make two of them. The first of these was Whiteville, where we stopped off to say “hello” to C.H. Thomas, who operates the Carlton in that community of about 700 people. Thomas took over the house in April, 1947, and has been getting along very nicely. This is his first venture into show business, but he has been located in Whiteville for some time as a mortician. He finds the thea¬ tre business very interesting, and a little “livelier’’ than his former vo¬ cation. Our next, and final, stop on the trip was in Bolivar, where Louise Mask opened her new theatre, the Luez, last March. This is a beautiful, modern air-conditioned house, replacing a smaller theatre she had been operating for the past 12 years. Her new thea¬ tre is all new, from top to bottom, except for the machines in the booth, practically new, only a year old. They are the only things she moved over from the old house, which has been abandoned as a theatre. The new show place is up to date in every respect, and includes a “cry-room” for chil¬ dren, and a portion of the balcony is reserved for colored trade, which she did not have in the old house. She is a very conscientious operator, and oversees the physical handling of all details herself. She, too, has show business in her blood, and thinks it is one of the finest careers a woman can follow. Continuing again on our original route, we came to Henderson, where we found the streets torn up, in the midst of a paving job, as was the road beyond there. Having no re¬ course other than to head north again, we did, and eventually found our¬ selves in Nashville, capitol city of Ten n e s s e e . After parking our rolling home, we headed downtown, and found ourselves in front of Loew’ s Vendome, where we soon became acquainted with Tommy Delbridge, who manages. He has worked in many different cities throughout the country, both for Loew’ s and at one time for Wilmer-Vincent-Fabian. He came to Nashville about five years ago, and has become one of the com¬ munity’ s biggest boosters. We next found ourselves in the of¬ fices of the Crescent Amusement Com¬ pany, talking with R. E. Baulch, presi¬ dent of the organization, since the death of the founder, the late Tony Sudekum. Baulch, son-in-law of the late founder, is a quiet, soft-spoken man, who carries on the policies. Sudekum started many years ago. He joined the organization almost a quar¬ ter century ago, as an accountant, and worked his way up. He is aided in the the operation of this large company by Kermit Stengle, also a son-in-law of the late Tony Sudekum. Together they make a good team, one of which the deceased would be the first to laud, were he alive today. His sudden death, two years ago, was a blow to everyone who knew him, and his friends were legion. He was one of the most beloved, and respected men in Nashville. His is the usual American success story, such as the type that must have inspired many of the Horatio Alger stories of an earlier day. From a humble beginning in a little bakery shop, run by the family, he emerged as one of the great men of Tennessee and the mid-south. From a start of one small theatr.e in 1907, his death found his organization op¬ erating theatres in Tennessee, Ala¬ bama and Kentucky. Nashville is also the headquarters for several other circuits, one of which is the Bijou Amusement Company, headed by Alfred Starr. Dropping in at their offices, we were soon seated with Evan Sprott, general manager for the company. Here we found another energetic personality, who, after 30 years in the industry, is still a young man, with a keen interest not only in his own organization, but in the future of the whole industry as well. His entry into the Bijou organization started with the concession phase of the business, but he has since covered all phases, and today is the key man in the organization. The remaining cir¬ cuit operation whose headquarters are located here, is the Rockwood Amuse¬ ment Company, formerly located in the same building as Crescent, but just recently moved into new quarters at 20th and Church Streets. This company is headed by Willis R. Holder, a com¬ parative newcomer to exhibition, hav¬ ing only been in it for the past six years. He has, however, a broad busi¬ ness background, and was active for many years in the investment field. We found him in the midst of an ac¬ cumulated backlog of work with which he was trying to catch up, after a siege of illness, precipitated by a heart-attack that put him out of action for some time. He is just returning to health again, and is only devoting a few hours daily to his office, but expects to be back on the job again, full time, within the next few weeks. ELKIN (Continued from page NT-2) has been repainted, redecorated, and re-equipped, with new seats, drapes, screen, sounding system, marquee, carpeting, and even wiring. Sams ac¬ quired the lease of the Lyric building from Mrs. G.T. Roth, and brought Charles Utley, recently manager, State, Statesville, in as manager. Utley has had 18 years of experience in the theatre business. Garland W. Morrison, Elkin, has been named projectionist and chief of main¬ tenance. He has served with the Amuzu , Lyric, and State. TROUTMAN The Roxie, owned and operated by W. C. Kelly and James W. Hill, held its formal opening. The house has a seat¬ ing capacity of around 300. South Carolina A I KEN A new drive-in is being built here. CHARLESTON A drive-in is under construction here. FLORENCE A new drive-in with 500-car capacity is being constructed here. July 7, 1948