The Exhibitor (1950)

EXHIBITOR NT-3 Sam Hemby, former Eagle Lion booker, is now associated with Theatre Booking Service, booking-buying com¬ bine headed by Robert Saunders and Russ Henderson. . . . Dick Eason, formerly manager, Colonial Theatres’ Rivoli, Hickory, N. C., is building a new drive-in at that spot. Tentatively called the Funland, it will be Hickory’s third open-airer. Memphis Jack Tunstill, former house manager, Malco, and lately assistant at Ellis Auditorium, is the new manager, Skyvue Drive-In, Park Avenue. He succeeds Robert Kilgore, who resigned to go with Dace Flexer Enterprises as manager, Ken, West Memphis, and two other Flexer drive-ins to be built this summer. MGM; D. H. Holmes, salesman, was vacationing in New York. . . . Ruth Col¬ lins, bookkeeper, was in Florida, and Mrs. Gloria McLemore, switchboard, was back from New Orleans. . . . K. K. King, Searcy, Ark., and C. W. Tipton, Monette, Ark., were in visiting. RKO: Jean Pigue, stenographer, was vacationing. The Lake Placid Drive-In, Waverly, Tenn., owned by Nathan Flexer, and built for 350 cars, opened. . . . The SkyVue, Ft. Smith, Ark., owned by Fred Brown, for 500 cars, opened on June 27. Miss Wildean Stubblefield, stenogra¬ pher, Exhibitors Services, was married on June 25 to Charles E. Wyett, Jack¬ sonville, Fla., at Florence, Ala. The Starlight Drive-In, owned by George Lackey, Meridian, Miss., is being constructed at Kosciusko, Miss., for 350 cars. Eagle Lion Classics: Jack Lutzer, division manager, Dallas, was in. . . . Fred Lawrence, Arkansas salesman, with headquarters in Little Rock, was vacationing. Paramount: Duke Clark, division manager, Dallas, and his assistant, Floyd Hendricks, visited. Monogram : Myrtle Bartley, head in¬ spectress, was back from a tour of Texas. Mary Aspey, in the same depart¬ ment, was vacationing, and a newcomer is Juanita King. Republic: Mrs. Lenora Rahm, office manager, was visiting her daughter in New York, and Martha Ann "Hickey vacationed at Clear Water Beach, Fla. . . . Bill Koreger, Portageville, Mo., was in. Miss Amelia Ellis, who owns a thea¬ tre in Mason, Tenn., will have her new 664 car drive-in at Frazier, Tenn., just north of Memphis, ready to open about Aug. 1. There was an all-industry meeting of exhibitors and distributors on June 26 at Paramount with the amusement tax the top subject. Bob Lee leased the Sky-lite Drive-In, Blytheville, Ark., a 300-car outdoor. Orris Collins, Paragould, Ark., sched¬ uled a press opening of his new drivein, and a full opening on the next day. Warners: Bob Pedretty, booker, was vacationing in Florida. . . . Visiting were K. H. Kinney, Hughes, Ark., and Eu¬ gene Higginbotham, Leachville, Ark. U-I: Sue Piercey, contract clerk, was vacationing. ... So was Orpha Lee Baker, same department. Bob Lee leased and opened the Skylite 300-car Drive-In, Blytheville, Ark. . . . L. H. Hindman is the new owner, Joy, Blue Mountain, Miss. New Orleans L. E. Downing’s Haven, Brookhaven, Miss., is undergoing a complete new form. The reopening is scheduled for August. It will seat 800. . . . William “Bill” Shiells is slowly recovering from illness. . . . Henry Wallace, Wallace Film Company, Atlanta, was looking for someone interested in his foreign pic¬ tures. . . . Ray Riley is now in charge of Independent Booking Company. . . . Mrs. Henry Lazarus returned from a brief business trip to Dallas. Elaine Weber, daughter of Leona Weber, Columbia inspection department, is one of six finalists in a teen-age con¬ test chosen following an audition of sing¬ ing, dancing and pianists at WDSU-TV to appear at an early date on “Teen-Age Nig’ht” at a “Pops” concert. J. H. Lutzer, Eagle Lion Classics southern division manager, was in on his round of exchanges conferring with George Pabst, manager. . . . Bill Cobb, president; Milton White, and Roy Reed, Exhibitors Poster Exchange, were on a weekend fishing trip to Grand Isle to reel in the big sheephead, spade fish, and red snapper. Exhibitors seen going in and out of exchanges were: Wilbert Jolly, Weeks Island, Miss.; Ed Ortte, Biloxi, Miss.; A. L. Royal, Meridian, Miss.; Toto Guidry, Ville Platte, La.; Milton Guidry, Lafayette, La.; Bill Tucker, Wisner, La.; S. J. Hawkins, Delhi, La.; Max Connett, Newton, Miss.; Frank Ollah, Albany, La. ; Lefty Cheramie, manager, Rebstock, Golden Meadows, La.; Dick Guidry, Galliane, La.; O. J. Gaude, Port Allen, La., and Roy Pfeiffer, Baton Rouge, La. Norma Saltzman, Monogram Southern inspectress, the song bird of Film Row, devotes several hours three or four nights weekly entertaining the shut ins at charity and veterans’ hospitals as well as the old folks confined to institutions. Jim Davis, Drive-In, Houma, La., opened the spot recently. . . . Raymond Gremillion, Southeastern Theatre Equip¬ ment, checked in after finishing RCA in¬ stallations in the drive-in in Prentiss, Miss. . . . The Joy Drive-In, Shreveport, La., opening was postponed. . . . Curtis Willard was in buying and booking for the Victory, Loxley Ala., which he said his boss H. A. Childress, recently pur¬ chased from the McLendon Circuit. The Allied Theatre Owners of Gulf States, Inc., proposal to abolish the Louisiana state amusement tax, on the state legislature calendar now in ses¬ sion, scored round one, said M. J. Artigues, general manager. The favorable report received from the Ways and Means Committee was read to members at the monthly meeting. Every member pledged continued support to have this nuisance tax repealed. Joy’s “25th Anniversary Boxoffice Drive” opened with a bang. The first week grossed far more than anticipated. Mrs. Justine Harvey, manager, Joy, Melville, La., came in first with boxoffice receipts. She is in the lead with 114 points. Cecil Howard, booker, with .942, and Willard Kaminer, New Joy, Jackson, Miss., exceeded by 132 points in concession sales. Joy N. Houck, presi¬ dent, Joy Theatres, Inc., commemorating his silver arfniversary in the exhibition industry, and his associates are singing praises of the gang’s ability and the spirit of showmanship put back in har¬ ness again, the same he worked and fought for for 25 years. On July 1, “Doc” A. O. Ott will bow out, and E. E. McMillan, Franklinton, La., will take over the Ott, Kentwood, La. . . . The Coliseum, one of the Mrs. Henry Lazarus neighborhood houses, is being completely remodeled. The stage equipment and carpets were supplied by Hubert Mitchell Industries, Inc., and the luxurious new Ambassador chairs by American Desk Manufacturing Com¬ pany, Temple, Tex. G. J. Broggi contracted with the Prentiss Drive-In, Prentiss, Miss., to do the buying and booking. A bulletin of the Allied Theatre Owners of the Gulf States, Inc., takes MGM to task for what it claims to be a 37% per cent asking minimum on “Annie Get Your Gun.” The bulletin asks that “for the benefit of all concerned, let’s go back to the ‘live and let live policy,’ and allow MGM and its ‘friendly policy’ to take its rightful place among the exhibitors of the territory.” Maurice J. Artigues, general manager, signed the bulletin. Arkansas Hot Springs The body of Joe Howe, 33, veteran Strand theatre coowner, missing since he left alone recently on a fishing trip on Lake Hamilton, was discovered by searchers who have been dragging the lake for two days. Searcy The Dixie Drive-In, on Highway 67, opened recently. July 5, 1950