The Exhibitor (1950)

NT-4 EXHIBITOR Charles H. Lewis, manager, Carolina, Durham, N. C., recently named the “hardest working father” in the Durham Rotary Club as part of the Father’s Day promotion program of the Durham Mer¬ chants Association, is shown feeding his son, Eugene, as Charles, Jr., takes note. Manager P. E. McCoy, Miller, Augusta, Ga., recently used this miniature train display for the RKO-Disney cartoon, “The Brave Engineer.” Concealed under the disolay was a record player which aired “Casey Jones” while the train traveled constantly, its stack smoking. Florida Miami U-I had a staff of 38 in recently when shooting scenes started for “Under the Gun,” starring Richard Conte and Aud¬ rey Totter. . . . Wedding bells on June 24 in Chicago are part of the vacation plans of Coral manager William Hall. . . . A welcome addition to the staff of Paramount Enterprises is Joe Sweeney, down from Jacksonville, Fla., to do the booking. . . . The planned presentation of Sunday stage shows at the Wometco Boulevard Drive-In resulted in exten¬ sive auditioning of hillbilly bands. Wometco’s film buyer Herman Silverman came to a parting of the ways with his gall bladder. MSami Beach An FBI investigation of unauthor¬ ized 16 m.m. exhibitions at hotels with “hot” prints during the past season ORDER YOUR COPY NOW of the ALL NEW 8th ANNUAL EDITION 1949-50 THEATRE CATALOG >!5c“ The Theatre Industry’s “ Book-of-the-Y ear ” Lew Herb Covers That Bainbridge Bow (Lew Herb reports on his Atlanta travels. — Ed.) Back on Atlanta’s Film Row, we dropped in at Wilson-Moore Enterprises, owned and operated by Jimmy Wilson. He was formerly connected with the Wil-Kin Theatre Sup¬ ply for 10 years, and left there two> years ago to go into business for himself. He and Char¬ les Moore were asso¬ ciated in this endeav¬ our, which includes a complete booking and buying service for ac¬ counts, not only in film but in advertising and necessary supStith, another ex-WilKin employee, is now connected with Wilson, and handles most of the film booking, while he handles the supply end as well as the public relations, etc. He is the local dealer for the Ballantyne Company, and is able to offer the “Turn-Key” drive-in to prospective cus¬ tomers. In addition, he carries the new Lorraine carbon. Our next call took us to the 10th Street, where Roy Avey, head, Community Circuit, makes his office. He was building a deluxe drivein on the Bankhead Highway, Route 78, between Atlanta and Douglasville, Ga. This new open air theatre, a very deluxe resulted in the recovery of 16mm. films from individuals who were giving the exhibitions. The films have been turned over to Sargoy and Stein, special counsel for the major distributors in copyright matters, for return to their respective copyright proprietors. A1 Brandt, Flamingo, petitioned City Council to restrain hotels from showing motion pictures in competition with theatres. St. Petersburg Frank H. Bell, district manager, Flor¬ ida State Theatres, revealed that admis¬ sion scales in some of its houses have been cut. Louisiana Lafayette Lois Butler. Eagle Lion film star of “Boy From Indiana,” visited when the film opened at the Nona. A parade escorted her. North Carolina Greensboro A new metal fence has been installed around the South Drive-In on the High Point Road. Manager C. B. Washam savs playground equipment for children will be installed this summer. Both the South Drive-In and North Drive-In, on the new Reidsville Road, are units of Dixie. installation, was named the Bankhead Drive-In. This was the theatre that was rumored to be installing theatre television. Avey explained that the co¬ axial cable would run very close to the theatre, and when and if theatre tele¬ vision is practicable, he will consider us¬ ing it. Until then, the extent of the tele¬ vision at the Bankhead Drive-In would be the set in the concession stand. He was also building another deluxe drivein to be called the Peachtree, near Chamblee, Ga., expected to open about July 1. The next visit found us looking over Fred Coleman’s Star-Light Drive-In in the company of Fred and Alpha Fowler. A tour of the area showed that there are about a dozen new housing projects underway. The Star-Light is completely paved, and the ramps are spread further apart than is the usual custom. The manager lives right on the grounds, in a home built by Coleman. His office is also located here, in a wing of the house, and the concession supplies for the Eastpoint Amusement Company are also handled from here, both storage and de¬ livery. Coleman put on a giant Easter egg hunt at the Starlight on the Sat¬ urday before Easter, and 2000 kids turned out for the affair. Everyone had a good time, including Coleman, and the goodwill derived is without parallel. Other goodwill builders by some drive-ins were Easter morning services held in some of them, and included in that category was the Stewart Avenue Drive-In, one of the Dixie Circuit’s openairers. According to manager Oscar O’Farrell, a nice crowd turned out for the services, and all of the theatre’s em¬ ployees were on hand, of their own free will. He is justly proud of his employees. O’Farrell formerly handled the Pied¬ mont for the same organization, and prior to that time operated one of the drive-ins in both Charlotte and Greens¬ boro, N. C. In the booth of this theatre we ran into another old friend, projec¬ tionist D. H. Ergle, formerly at the Tower. We met another projectionist, Don Wilmouth, who operates the ma¬ chines at the SkyWay Drive-In, Oak Ridge, Tenn., who was in town looking over equipment for a drive-in of his own he is contemplating putting up just out¬ side the Atomic City. At New Orleans, en route to the recent world premiere of Warners’ “Bright Leaf” at Raleigh, N. C., Mr. and Mrs. James Brown and WB star Donald Crisp were cordially greeted by James Dostal, right, RKO Theatres city manager. Lew Herb plies. Mai’garet June 21, 1950