The Exhibitor (1950)

NT-4 EXHIBITOR isters met and endorsed it. On the open¬ ing day an airplane trailed a huge advertising banner; lobby interviews were broadcast over a local station, the area was blanketed with tack cards, and 3,000 heralds were distributed door-todoor and in parking lots. The Harrisburg Drive-In opened re¬ cently. Owned by Paul and Thomas Kerrigan, Frackville, Pa., it is being managed by William “Breezy” Lazar, brother of Glenn C. Lazar, manager, Senate. It has accommodations for over 1,000 cars. . . . New carpets and linoleum are being placed in Dr. Samuel Goldstein’s Paxtang. The front of the theatre has been repainted. . . . Ted Waters, Gettysburg College student, is again working this summer at the State. Ira L. Schiffman, National and Rialto manager, is all smiles. His daughter, Barbara, was one of the 150 honor stu¬ dents of this year’s graduating class at the Pennsylvania State College. She also won national women’s honors in de¬ bating. . . . Nancy Marshall, Uptown, graduated from Catholic High School. . . . William Doyle, U-I, Eli Ginsburg, Monogram; Harry Dressier, Paramount, and Ed Gallner, MGM, were in. Lancaster The Sky-Vue Drive-In is now running “Family Night” one night a week, with the price $1 per car, regardless of num¬ ber of occupants. Parkesburg The Parkesburg is now open only on weekends. Pottstown Bids for the razing of the old Victor, purchased a year ago by the borough, will be opened shortly by Borough Coun¬ cil. The theatre has been closed for some years. Reading Byron Nelson, nationally famous golf¬ er, and his wife were house guests of Paul H. Esterly, manager, Strand, and Mrs. Esterly. . . . George R. Snell, who opened his Green Hills Lake summer theatre for his ninth season, added a miniature golf course. . . . Miss Sallie Stallman, daughter of J. Lester Stallman, manager, Astor and Rajah, and Mrs. Stallman, was graduated from Harcum Junior College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. She will enter Beaver College, Jenkintown, Pa., in September. Birk Binnard, manager, Warner, who recently visited the Mayo Clinic, Roches¬ ter, Minn., underwent a surgical oper¬ ation in Jefferson Hospital, Philadelphia. . . . One hundred and sixty-three Cen¬ tral Catholic High School graduates received diplomas at commencement ex¬ ercises in the 2,000-seat Rajah. Virginia Richmond The two newest members of the threemember State censorship board will get salary raises on July 1, from $3,984 to Pop Chalee, wife of Chief Natay, watched her husband as he recently inducted Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro, Baltimore, Md., into the Navajo tribe. The chief and his wife were on a nationwide tour on be¬ half of MGM’s “Annie Get Your Gun.” $4,632 a year. Attorney-General J. Lind¬ say Almond, Jr., said the object was to put the two “on a salary comparable to that of the chairman.” The two recipi¬ ents will be Mrs. Russell F. Wagers, who succeeded Mrs. Judith K. Roberts, and Mrs. Lollie C. Whitehead, who suc¬ ceeded Mrs. Elizabeth C. Chalkley. The two have been board members a little more than six months. Both Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Chalkley, who died late last year, got $3,984 when they were in office. Almond said J. D. Beverley, Jr., chairman of the board, was getting ap¬ proximately $4,800 a year. He said the division each year has turned in more money than it has spent. Motion picture producers pay fees to have their products reviewed by the board. Earl Bergener, Highway Express representative, is vacationing with his family at his former home in Massilon, O. He was there when his mother and father celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 18. Dewey Corbett was substituting. . . . Allen Brown, man¬ ager, Westover, took his family to Florida for a vacation. . . . Oliver Chand¬ ler, Clarkesville exhibitor, was in for special treatments, and came in to visit. With the warm weather and vacation time coming on, the monthly meeting of the Showman’s Club did not have as many in attendance as usual at the National. Present were: Floyd Stawls, Bob Eagan, Allen Brown, Ober Boyd, Stewart Tucker, Gordon Culley, Layton Ives, Charlie Hulbert, Joe Usolini, Sam Pulliam, Frank Silveri, Jimmy Ritchie, Pete Lichtman, and A1 Bernstein. . . . Fuzzy Knight made personal appear¬ ances at the Venus. . . . Bob Beamer, Pulaski, is vacationing, Raymond Swain substituting. . . . Jimmy Booth, Newport News district manager, Neighborhood Theatre, Inc., was on vacation, as were Virgil Galotto, State, Falls Church, and C. E. Harter, Ashton, Arlington. Neighborhood Theatre, Inc., Home Office: Morton G. Thalhimer and A. O. Budina visited New York City. . . . Nancy Turner was confined to Stuart Circle Hospital. . . . Morton G. Thal¬ himer, Jr., was training in the Norfolk area. He is in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps. . . . Harold Wood took his son, Bill, to Virginia Beach, where the lad entered the Junior State golf tourney. TRADE SCREENINGS Philadelphia MGM (1233 Summer) June 29, 11; “Three Little Words” (Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera-Ellen) (Technicolor). Aubrey Allegree, Lafayette, Char¬ lottesville, died suddenly on June 9. . . . Robert Pruitt returned to his managerial post at the Buckingham, Arlington. . . . In addition to his many other duties, Don Womack is now managing the Wilson, Arlington. . . . W. J. Lohr is now relief manager in Arlington. . . . Sam Pulliam, manager, Grand, is spending part of his vacation painting his house, and will then go to the beach. Roy Herkimer substitutes. . . . Colonel Robert T. Barton, attorney and counsel, Virginia Motion Picture Theatre Asso¬ ciation, was elected president, Virginia State Bar, at a meeting in Roanoke. . . . Leonard Gordon, convention committee chairman, sent out frames of film to exhibitors calling attention to the sum¬ mer convention. . . . Irene Rich and her husband have purchased an 80-acre tract of land near Charlottesville. Two hundred and fifty dollars and a revolver were taken at a break-in at the Broadway Open Air. Police said the office door was pried open, and two desks ran¬ sacked. . . . George Peters invited a number of guests to an advance screen¬ ing of “Annie Get Your Gun,” Loew’s. Herb Moody, Wytheville has given up the Wythe, and it is now being operated by Clarence and J. Hurt. . . . Stewart Tucker, State, searched all over town for a wooden Indian, finally discovering one in an antique shop. Making arrange¬ ments to borrow it, he placed it in front of the State during “A Ticket To Toma¬ hawk.” West Virginia Bartow The Bartow Drive-In, with capacity for 200 cars, opened. Lovett and Com¬ pany, Clarksburg, W. Va., equipment firm, furnished the DeVry projection and sound equipment. There is no other theatre in Bartow, although a theatre was constructed here three years ago, and burned shortly thereafter. The new operation is owned by William E. Kisier, who is also in the coal business. Other business associates are also investors. The screen was designed by Lovett and Company, which also supervised con¬ struction, and made the equipment in¬ stallation. Gray Barker, film booker and buyer, Clarksburg, W. Va., is buy¬ ing product ahead of Durbin, W. Va., the nearest town with an under-roofer. Variety Club Tent 13, Philadelphia “Fortunes Of Captain Blood” was screened through the courtesy of Colum¬ bia, and “My Friend Irma Goes West” was screened through the courtesy of Paramount. The first contingent of handicapped children going to the Variety Club camp will leave the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel on July 1, staying at the camp until July 28, it was announced last week. June 21, 1950