The Exhibitor (1950)

NT-2 brought to light the statute in the Ohio Code which provides for an appeal to the Supreme Court. Walter Titus, Republic division man¬ ager, paid branch manager Irwin Pollard a short visit. . . . Republic’s “Rock Island Trail” gets its first local showing at Loew’s Stillman. . . . Nate Schultz, Monogram franchise owner, attended a Monogram meeting in New York. . . . Wade M. Carr, Manley district manager, journeyed to Kansas City to inspect the new Aristocrat Manley popcorn model. The Magic City Drive-In, Barberton, 0., built by R. H. Manley, opened. Ohio Theatre Service Corporation is buying and booking for the theatre. Vincent Lauter is manager. The third annual Film Festival was held in Cleveland College. Industrial and educational films in all classifications were shown. The festival concluded with a banquet held in the Cleveland Public Library with Gloria Swanson as guest speaker. Something new for movie men to worry about is announcement of the in¬ stallation of a ring theatre in the Allerton Hotel, where actor Ray Boyle will present a series of stage attractions. Opening attraction, starting on July 3 and running through July 15, will be “The Second Man,” starring Ian Keith and Clare Luce. Plans are to present six shows, each to run two weeks, with prices ranging from $1.80 to $3.60. One of the hotel rooms just off the lobby is being converted into a 350-seat ring theatre. The stage will be at floor level, with the seats arranged in elevated rows. The Allerton Ring Theatre has all local backing. Invitations were issued for the open¬ ing of the new, deluxe State, Cuyahoga Falls, O., built by M. B. Horwitz, Ben Schwartz, and Henry Rocker. Ray Brown is resident manager. Ruth Clark resigned as Paramount’s switchboard receptionist. . . . Mrs. Eliza¬ beth Weiss, 64, mother of Arnold Weiss, projectionist, Cedar Lee, died following illness. Her husband, another son, and a daughter also survive. William Pine, producer, and “Lalo” Rios, starred in “The Lawless,” were here screening the picture, and speaking before various groups of women’s organ¬ izations. They were also guest speakers at the closing meeting of the Cleveland Cinema Club. From Cleveland Pine and Rios went to Detroit, and from there to the coast to attend the Paramount con¬ vention. The Cleveland Paramount group at the convention included Harry Buxbaum, Jr., branch manager; Lou Averback, special representative; George Bressler, office manager; Howard Roth, head booker; Milton Hale, exploiteer, and salesmen Lester Irwin, Aaron Wayne, and Bernard Gardner. F Jerry Lipow, recently appointed to the MGM sales force, formerly repre¬ EXHIBITOR sented U-I in Panama and Santo Do¬ mingo. For the past several years he has been with Film Classics in Buffalo and in Cleveland. Two more Akron, 0., the¬ atres closed, the People’s and Tivoli. This makes four shuttered for the sum¬ mer, the others being the Allen and Five Points. In Cleveland, the Market Square closed for the summer while the Milo and Norval are open weekends. This brings to 13 the number of Cleveland houses which ceased all operations until further notice while six more are operating on a weekend schedule. Horace Shock, Lima, 0., is opening two new drive-ins, the Van Wert DriveIn, Van Wert, 0., and the Sharon Drive-In, Lima, O. The Montrose Drive-In near Akron, O., changed hands when Bob Tyrrell sold it to Theatrical Enterprises, a new com¬ pany headed by A1 Freidricks. Ohio Theatre Service Corporation will buy, book, and manage the theatre. . . . Ber¬ nard Rubin announces that Imperial is now handling distribution of a series of eight three-minute 35 mm. Jam Handy color shorts, available free of charge. . . . Gilbert Lefton, president, Academy Film Service, is now handling screen fabric replacement for Radiant Screens and also Holperize paint remover to re¬ move paint from metal surfaces, includ¬ ing marquee letters. . . . Milton A Mooney and H. E. MacManus, Co-oper¬ ative Theatres of Ohio, were in Buffalo bookinnr for the Wintner drive-ins. . . . Ray Brown, Sr., Warner Theatres’ southern Ohio district manager, and Mrs. Brown, were in Phoenix, Ariz., visiting their daughter, Dorothy. . . . Nat Wolf, Warner Theatres’ Ohio zone mana¬ ger, launched a summer managers’ drive at two meetings, one with the southern Ohio managers in Lima, the other with the northern Ohio manager in Cleveland. Detroit Sol Sloan, owner, Radio City, Ferndale, Mich., sought a court injunction to prevent the Ferndale, Ferndale, from “conspiring” to obtain half of the firstruns. Sloan wants all the first-runs. He claims he is entitled to them because his theatre is bigger. Tom Ealand owns the Ferndale. Four years ago, Ealand wasn’t getting any first-runs. He filed an anti-trust suit claiming that the dis¬ tributors were conspiring to give them all to Sloan. Since the suit was filed in April, 1946, the distributors have been giving him half of the first-runs, even though the case has not yet come to trial. It is Sloan’s claim that this situ¬ ation now constitutes a conspiracy against him. He claims he has been damaged to the extent of $200,000 by not being able to get all the first-runs, but he didn’t ask to recover the money. He indicated he’ll be satisfied if the court just forbids Ealand to stop trying to get first-runs. Actor Donald Crisp was here. . . . Earl J. Hudson was reelected vice-presi¬ dent, Detroit Civic Light Opera Associ¬ ation. . . . Mrs. Gladys Pike, Film Truck Service, is vacationing in Los Angeles. . . . Bernard Whiteman, Korman Theatres, is the proud father of a baby boy. . . . Producer William H. Pine was beating the drums for “The Law¬ less.” . . . Joseph Miskinis closed the Alden for the summer. . . . Russell Turel is managing the Seville. . . . The annual golf tournament sponsored by the Vari¬ ety Club of Michigan will take place at the Birmingham Golf and Country Club on June 26. . . . Ben Cohn is reported to be taking over the Crystal and Sen¬ ate from Saul Korman. The drafting of an ordinance which would outlaw construction of drive-ins within the city limits of Detroit was asked of Corporation Counsel Fran G. Schemanske by City Council. Council¬ man Edward D. Connor told Council that a nationwide survey had revealed that drive-ins adjacent to built-up areas had resulted in floods of complaints. The proposed ordinance is to be introduced within a few weeks, and a date set for a public hearing. In town recently ahead of “The Law¬ less,” producer William H. Pine took a crack at theatre owners. “Part of the I’eason why people are staying away from the movies is the condition of many of the theatres,” exploded Pine. “The buildings are old, run-down. They need paint. The carpets are dingy and torn. The seats are hard. Producers are knock¬ ing themselves out to give the public better movies, but the theatre owners won’t keep up their houses. The trouble is that not enough owners are showmen.” Discovery of 535,000 feet of nitro¬ cellulose film lying unprotected in the basement of a Detroit fan of early flickers spurred a drive for new pro¬ tection on film storage. Fire Marshal Edward H. Hall declared the move was to make the film storage ordinance stand alone instead of coming along as the shirt-tail of the inflammable liquids ordi¬ nance. The proposal calls for detailed specifications for the construction of film storage vaults, inspection rooms, pro¬ jection rooms, and other departments of film exchanges, together with the equip¬ ment and maintenance. The cache of old films was discovered by investigators checking a neighborhood on a leaking gas complaint. Trade in theatres is brisk this season with new circuit alignments rapidly shaping up. In the latest move Jack Broder, Realart president, disposed of his Detroit holdings which he built up to a successful circuit in the last 10 years. Remi Van Houdt, an outstater, moves into the Detroit scene, taking over Broder’s Castle, Dunbar, Rainbo, Rex, Seville, and Time. Mayer Reznick and David Flayer will remain as part¬ ners in the Rex as they were with Broder, and Lloyd Turrell will remain as supervisor. Also major is the deal in which the Krim brothers are turning over the large Lasky to the Saul Kor¬ man Circuit. Nate Talcott, managing the Apollo, will manage the Lasky, as the Apollo is being transferred by Korman to the Newman-Cohen Theatre Com¬ pany. June 21, 1950