The Exhibitor (May-Aug 1948)

THE EXH I B I TOR NT-1 KL'WS OF THE T&vufiyM JCHES f BRANCHES Cincinnati Thirty-five guests attended the screening of a special preview of “Romance On The High Seas”, in which Doris Day does her home town credit. Relatives and friends of Miss Day, as well as her former expression teachers, were included. . . Columbia opened "Superman” at the Grand on July 17, with a different chapter snown each week at every afternoon per¬ formance. The RKO Grand management started “Superman Club”, with member¬ ship cards for boys and girls. Members of the club who attend the first 14 episodes will be treated to the 15th by the theatre management. Another feature to attract boys and girls was used by the Palace. With the opening of “Pour Paces West”, boys and girls at the morning performance received, free of charge, a gift of "G. I. goggles.” An interesting promotion scheme was worked out in connection with “Easter Parade”, RKO Capitol. The theatre, along with the Times-Star, Fred Astaire dance studios, and Coney Island Moonlite Gardens dance pavilion, sponsored an “Easter Parade” dance contest at Moonlite Gardens. Prizes included a $500 complete dance course at Fred Astaire Studios for the winning couple, with $100 dance courses for runners-up. Cincinnati’s FBI chief, A.E. Ostholthoff, arranged for the showing of an atomic energy film at the Hamilton County Police Association. The Films and Recordings Center of the Cincinnati Public Library added the following to its repertoire of motion pictures on sports: “World Series of 1947”, as well as the one of 1946, “Batting Stars of Baseball”, “Aquatic Artistry”, “Football Parade of 1947”, and “Ski Skills”. These are 16mm. sound pictures which may be taken out on a library card just as books are taken out of the library. Realart’ s reissue combination, “Pardon My Sarong” and ‘My Man Godfrey”, was booked day-and-date into the Twentieth Century, Covedale, Vogue, Ritz, Bond, Park, Jackson, Hiland, Westwood, Andulus, Plaza, and Avon, and was to follow in other theatres of Theatre Owners Corporation and the White-Libson interests. Donald R. Duff was last week made general sales manager of Popular Pic¬ tures Company. Together with Lee L. Goldberg, Dull will concentrate on the circuits and theatres booked out of Cincinnati. Joseph W. Goldberg and Joseph W. Bohn are in charge of sales for the Indianapolis territory. Samuel Weiss, formerly manager in the St. Louis office and salesman in Cincinnati for Eagle Lion, has been engaged to cover the Southern Ohio and Eastern Kentucky territory. Cleveland More than 135 industry members from the Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Detroit exchange centers attended the testi¬ monial dinner in honor of Milton E. Cohen, the occasion being his appoint¬ ment as Eagle Lion division manager. Lester Zucker, U-I branch manager, was master of ceremonies. Among the outof-towners present were William Heineman, EL vice president; Max Youngstein, head, EL publicity department, and Bernie Kranz, Film Classics sales manager. It is now almost definite that War¬ ners will not renew their lease on the Lake, downtown 700-seat house. David Sandler, general manager, Theatrecraft Manufacturing Corpora¬ tion, makers of Mobiltone in-car speakers, announces that he has added parking lights to his equipment. Sandler returned from Atlanta, where he contracted with J. H. Elwell, Dixie Drive-In Circuit, to equip three new drive-ins to be located in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Under the terms of the John D. Kalafat Memorial Fund, needy students are aided in completing courses at Western Reserve University. Kalafat, president, Associated Circuit, and one of the first exhibitors in Cleve¬ land, died some months ago. Heading contributions to the fund is Ernest Schwartz, president, Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association. Funeral services were held for Charles G. Deckman, 58, who was in¬ terested in theatres and recreation spots here and in Cleveland, Florida, and Canada. He succumbed to a heart attack while vacationing in Ontario. The following theatres in the state signed sound servicing deals with Al¬ tec; Twin, Waynesville; Telegraph Drive-In, Toledo; Oak, Wigwam, Colum¬ bus; Majestic, Chillieothe; Norwood, Norwood; Little, Yellow Springs; Sky¬ way Drive-In, North Madison; Scioto Drive-In, Whel lersburg, and the Hud¬ son, Hudson. rus, 0. , is betrothed to Richard Chessin, this city. Marshall Fine, son of Meyer Fine, Associated Circuit head, joined his dad’ s circuit. YoungFine was recently graduated from the Babson Business School, Boston . Something new in the entertainment field was introduced with the opening of Dance Theatre, the first open air combination dance and movie program offered in this area. This project, operated by Dance Theatres, Inc. , is located between Elyria, 0. , and Oberlin, 0. , at the intersection of routes 58 and 113, and operated by A. W. Jew¬ ell, president-general manager. Danc¬ ing to the tune of big name bands takes place on a floor 128 feet by 88 feet, providing place for 6,000 people, and said to be the largest dance floor in this area. During the dancd intermis¬ sion, standard 35mm. shorts are shown. Picnic and playgrounds adjoin this on the 13-acre space. During the winter, commercial ice skating will take the place of dancing. Jewell states that a $1.25 admission price has been es¬ tablished. This permits patrons to remain all evening without additional cost. Cleveland will go along with the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital Fund drive. At a luncheon meeting at the Statler Hotel, presided over by Andy W. Smith, Jr. , 20th-Fox sales manager, and Charles Reagan, Paramount sales manager, members of both distribution and exhibition agreed to reach a $75,000 goal. Cincinnati accepted a like goal. I. J. Schmertz, 20th-Fox branch manager, was named chairman of the Cleveland exchange area. Alan Moritz, Columbia branch manager, was a named chairman for the Cincinnati exchange area. Martin G. Smith, presi¬ dent, Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio; Ernest Schwartz, president, Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, and Meyer Fine, head, Associated Theatres Circuit, agreed to lend their influence and effort. Marion Ralph, U-I accounting de¬ partment, is on leave of absence to convalesce from a major operation. Marie Roessel, U-I cashier, is on va¬ cation, visiting her folks in Buffalo. Carol Bryer, daughter of Milton H. On vacation were: Geraldine “Jerry” Bryer, former manager, Schine’ » Bucy Akers, aide to 20th-Fox branch head Ted Mendelsohn, U n i v e r s a L 1 n t e r n a t i o n a l Indianapolis branch manager, thanks Earl Herndon, Affiliated Circuit, for his extensive help in getting votes through playdates in the U~I Presidential sales drive. Al Blocher and Marc Wolf, Y. and W. Circuit, who also ai de d M e nde l s ohn' s recent campaign, look on. July 28, 1948 Mideast