The Exhibitor (1950)

NT-4 EXHIBITOR Winter Park U-I’s Horace Denning’, Joe Lipson, A1 Horton, and the staff of the Winter Park Drive-In recently staged an all-out pro¬ motion campaign for “Comanche Terri¬ tory.” With “Comanche Queen” Jeanne Carmen featured, the ballyhoo paid off. Georgia Macon William Kemp is no longer manager, Bibb. Miss Marie Winters, Savannah, Ga., office, Wise Theatres Company, has been acting as temporary manager. . . . M. C. Pearce, Jr., has been named assis¬ tant manager, Ritz. Pearce joined Lucas and Jenkins Theatres in 1944, left for the army and later college in 1946, and returned to the company in 1949. In order to build up “The Adventures of Sir Galahad,’’ the Ritz printed mem¬ bership cards to the Sir Galahad Club. If members see the first 14 chapters, and have their cards punched at the door, they are allowed to see the last chapter free of charge. Louisiana Shreveport Bossier City, across Red River from Shreveport, with a population of over 15,000, is to have two drive-ins, accord¬ ing to announcement by the builders. One of these is to be built by Don George. The new outdoor theatre for aproximately 680 vehicles, will be erected on Highway 80 just east of the Kickapoo Plaza Courts. Name will be the Bossier City Drive-In. This will be the first drive-in venture for George, who already operates the Don and Venus, Shreveport, the Davis, Bossier City, and the Don, Alexandria, Va. The other drive-in is to be erected by C. A. Knight, Bogalusa, La., on a 10-acre site east of the city limit on the south side of U. S. Highway 80 across from the Glendale sub-division. Knight, connected with the theatre business off and on for the past 15 years, said his drive-in would accommodate 600 cars. George H. Mercer, owner, Grove, is building a $135,000 drive-in at the inter¬ section of Mansfield road and 70th Street. It will accommodate 600 cars, and will be located on 18% acres. In announcing his plans, Mercer also said he is contemplating the construction of another new theatre on 70th Street. The Grove, owned by Mercer, is also located on 70th Street. Mississippi Jackson Commercial zoning of a lot at the corner of Lindberg Drive and Rosslyn Street for the purpose of erecting a drive-in was requested of the City Com¬ mission by W. P. Bridges and Leroy Roell. North Carolina Gastonia The State reopened after having been closed for over a month for repairs and remodeling. Lew Herb Continues To Visit Charlotte ("Lew Herb gives a further report of his travels in Charlotte — Ed.) Continuing our tour of the Charlotte exchange center, we dropped in at MGM where we saw a few of the same smiling faces here during our last visit, Jacques Reville, branch mana¬ ger; salesman Barney Ross, Tom Bailey, and Dick Huffman, and a new man, Bill Ussery, who had just joined the staff. A newcomer to the iudustry, he was rapidly learning the many ramifications in¬ herent with the job. The booking staff is pretty much the same, composed of Frank Savage, C. L. Autry, Aubrey Dole, Hugh McDonald, and Jim¬ mie Slaughter, who, incidentally, is the star hurler for the Film Row softball team. Another new face around the office is Arthur Sklar, transferred from New York to handle the office mana¬ ger’s post. Eagle Lion was pretty much the same, with Hal Keeter in the driver’s seat, and the 20th Century Fox office was still under the able direction of J. E. “Hv” Holston, who is wellknown in the territory. Our next calls took us into the offices of the booking agencies, with our first stop the newest of these, the Saxton Theatrical Agency, under the able direc¬ tion of Robert “Bob” Saxton, located at 215% West Third Street. This office opened in September, 1949, and was handling about 25 accounts when we stopped in. A Virginian by birth, Saxton has been in the Charlotte territory for about eight years, and broke into the picture business with Universal, where he spent several years as a booker, after which he went to work for Hank Hearn, and stayed with him for five-and-a-half years until he set up his own agency. Johnny Wood, another ex-Hearn man, who spent a few years with Exhibitors Service, is also connected with Saxton, and between them they make an able, efficient team, and give their accounts a complete service, which also includes help in exploiting certain programs from time to time. Our next stop was at Theatre Equip¬ ment Company, on Poplar Street, where we chatted with Bob Saunders, who operates this theatre supply store, hand¬ ling DeVry projection and sound equip¬ ment. Saunders is one of the pioneers of the drive-in in the Carolinas, and saw its potential early. With courage and foresight, he hitched his wagon to its star, with the result self-evident throughout the length and breadth of this territory. Back in 1946 when there were only three other drive-ins in the two Carolinas, he built one at Hickory, N. C., in partnership with J. P. Mull, and the success led to many more all over both states until there are approxi¬ mately 250 outdoor theatres in operation now. Saunders either built or sold equip¬ ment to a good portion of these, and today has an interest in seven openairers. In addition, he also has a booking and buying organization, and serves about 60 accounts, many of them driveins, which he was instrumental in get¬ ting started in one way or other. This booking organization, called the Theatre Booking Company, is located in the same building as Theatre Equipment Com¬ pany, and is headed for Saunders by Russ Henderson, who became associ¬ ated with him in 1945 after he returned from the army. Henderson has been in distribution since 1934 when he started as a shipper with MGM, later became an ad clerk, and then a booker, and remained in that post until he went into the service. Another booker, Bob McClure, has been here since 1946, after he finished a stint with Uncle Sam, and his previous experience was with the Universal of¬ fice, where he spent a few years. The junior member of the booking staff, Bill Harward, joined Saunders in 1948. Despite having been a victim of polio during the war years, Harward fought his way back to health, and handles his share of the load with ease. The balance of the staff consists of Nancy Cornell, the comely miss who handles the dictation and correspond¬ ence department, and F. D. Middleton, accountant, the man who writes the checks. Our next visit was to another indus¬ try veteran, Hugh Sykes, who operates another booking and buying service in the Film building, 300 West Third. He operates under the name of Queen City Booking Service, and was the first booker in the territory and possibly the country. He first started to book for theatres back in late 1939, but had to give it up when he went into the navy in 1941. In the motion picture business since 1932, he started his career at the old Broadway when it was under the direction of Warners. He eventually drifted into distribution by transferring to the shipping department for Warners, and eventually worked his way up to the booking staff. He reentered the exhibi¬ tion field again by joining the WilbyKincey organization as a booker, and stayed with that company for five years, after which he went into business for himself, until the war intervened. Upon being discharged from the navy, he resumed his career again by goingon the road for Screen Guild, but re¬ signed from that post when he saw the need for a booking service, and reen¬ tered that field again, and today handles over 50 accounts with the aid of R. E. Kidd, booker; Hazel Resnick, cashier, and Margie Thomas, shorts booker. Kidd came here from the Atlanta territory, but both Hazel Resnick and Margie Thomas have been around Film Row for some time. The former was formerly connected with RKO, Eagle Lion, PRC, and National Theatre Supply for a short time before joining Queen City, and, in addition to her duties there, is also the secretary, Drive-In Theatre Owners of the Carolinas. Margie Thom¬ as was formerly connected with MGM and Warners, and is well-known by exhibitors. Lew Herb July 12, 1950