The Exhibitor (1952)

8 EXHIBITOR Me/ Konecoff's NEW YORK THERE’S nothing much in which we were involved last week. We did go out to Brooklyn on official business to check on the reported activity of Indians in the borough and to confirm the validity of the small¬ pox injection we took so that we could get back into the country after visiting Haiti on behalf of 20th-Fox’s “Lydia Bailey”. We’ll go into more detail about this latter item next week, everything else being equal. Concerning the Indians, they were scheduled to ballyhoo the local premiere of “Battle At Apache Pass,” at Loew’s Metropolitan, which, for the uninitiated, is the first-run in Brooklyn. When we arrived, they were drawing goodly num¬ bers to the lobby and front of the house with war whoops, dancing, etc., for the benefit of a photographer, and they did a nice job answering questions for youngsters and oldsters. One of the Indians, Joe Geronimo, even had some old geezer come up to him, and relate how he once knew his father, the great chief, but then anything can happen in Brooklyn. Our disillusionment came when a couple of the younger In¬ dians reached in somewhere ’neath their decorated costumes, and took out packs of Chesterfields for smoking. We think the least they could have done would be to smoke a pipe of sorts. TRANSLATING NOTES: Leon Brandt, director of advertising, publicity, and ex¬ ploitation, Lopert, will represent that com¬ pany in a similar capacity for the release of Lopert’s “Outcast Of The Islands”, “Tales Of Hoffmann”, and “African Fury”, formerly “Cry, The Beloved Country”, by United Artists, which has taken on the general distribution. . . . Radio City Music Hall went out of its way to catch stray customers by tieing in with the New Haven Railroad to have a special show train bring in residents of various New England communities. Eight hundred seats were filled, and the experiment was a success. Aboard were President and man¬ aging director Russell Downing and Mrs. Downing, producer Leon Leonidoff, Rus¬ sell Markert, Florence Rogge, Fred Lynch, some Rockettes, and others. . . . “Songs For Sale”, the CBS TV show, featured among its numbers an item composed by a pair of 20th Century-Fox lads. The song is entitled “Kiss Me Goodbye” with lyrics by Herman Raucher, advertising depart¬ ment, and music by Bill Stutman, pub¬ licity department. . . . When “The Atomic City” opened, we were told that there was a uranium hunt, with envelopes of ore distributed. All but 100 were filled with ordinary sand. The others had uranium ore which, when tested and checked, en ( Continued from page 13) Jack Beresin, head, ABC Vending Corporation, and trade leader, was named International Chief Barker last week at the Variety Clubs Inter¬ national convention held at Las Vegas, Nev. Jack Beresin Heads Variety Clubs Int. Las Vegas, Nev. — Jack Beresin, Phila¬ delphia, Tent 13, was unanimously elected Chief Barker at the 16th annual conven¬ tion of the Variety Clubs International last week. Beresin is president, ABC Vending Corporation, and nationally known for his efforts in behalf of the “Heart Fund.” In his acceptance speech, Beresin pledged his full support to the clubs locally and internationally. George Hoover was unanimously elected for First Assistant Chief Barker, John Rowley, Dallas, Second Assistant Chief Barker; Murray Weiss reelected Property Master, George Eby, reelected Dough Guy, and Jack Chisholm, Toronto, elected Press Guy. Marc Wolf was made honor¬ ary Main Guy, a post he will hold for life. Bob O’Donnell was elected Variety’s representative on COMPO, with Wolf as alternate. The election committee made a motion that the executive director shall handle all elections at international conventions, and that each office will be nominated and elected separately, and not in one group. Mexico City was selected as the 1953 convention city, Colonel William McCraw was reelected executive director, and John Harris paid tribute to Duke Clark for his work. Miss Helen Keller was given the Humanitarian Award at the closing dinner. With the dedication of the Variety School of Specialized Education, the 16th annual convention got underway. On the program was the Girls’ Kiltie Band from Fort William, Canada, sent by the Canadian government at no expense to the convention. Following the dedication, the first busi¬ ness session of the convention was then brought to order by Wolf, International Chief Barker, who rendered a brief report of his year’s activity. Father McCarthy, Philadelphia, delivered a short talk and the invocation, followed by a brief talk by Senator McCarran and the mayor. Annual reports were given by First Assistant Chief Barker Beresin; Second Assistant Chief Barker Hoover, Property Master Weiss; and Press Guy Charles Lewis. The financial report was given by Eby, International Dough Guy, followed by executive director McCraw. Then Konecoff Grosses Dropping In Broadway Sector New York — With mainly holdover prod¬ uct, grosses in most of the Broadway firstruns slipped down a bit last weekend. According to usually reliable reports reaching Exhibitor, the breakdown was as follows: “MARA MARU” (WB). Warner, with stage show, slipped to $20,000 for the second week. “MACAO” (RKO). Paramount, with stage show, opened to an estimated $60,000 for the first week. “BELLES ON THEIR TOES” (20thFox) . Roxy, with stage show, claimed $40,000 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the opening week heading toward $65,000. “SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN” (MGM) . Radio City Music Hall, with stage show, had $70,000 in the till for Thursday through Sunday, and the sixth, and last, week was expected to tally $105,000. “THE GREEN GLOVE” (UA). Criterion was down to $12,000 on the second week. “RED MOUNTAIN” (Para.). Globe dropped to $12,000 on the second week. “THE ATOMIC CITY” (Para.). Mayfair looked forward to $15,500 on the opening week. “MY SIX CONVICTS” (Col.). Astor claimed a drop to $9,000 for the sixth week. “TOMORROW IS TOO LATE” (Burstyn) . Loew’s State was anticipating $14,000 on the fourth week. “THE MARRYING KIND” (Col.). Vic¬ toria dropped to $12,000 on the eighth week. “MY SON JOHN” (Para.). Capitol claimed $15,000 for the fourth, and last, week. O’Donnell gave an inspirational talk about the past and future of the clubs. The convention voted to continue its interest in the Will Rogers Memorial Hos¬ pital, and to help the annual “Christmas Salute”. Discussion of publicity values as regards the tents was also held at the sessions. Films will be taken of charitable activities of each tent, with the complete subject to be shown in local tents and at other functions. Albert Rowswell, chairman, Humanitar¬ ian Award committee, was thanked for his good work. “Pappy” Dolsen, Dallas, spoke on ways of encouraging attendance in the clubrooms. The Las Vegas, Nev., tent awarded a trophy to London for coming the greatest distance to the convention and to Dallas for having the greatest attendance at the meeting. Endorsement of COMPO was also voted by the meeting. The annual “Heart” reports by each tent were read so that the three-man board of judges could select the tent which was entitled to charity citation award for the most outstanding charity job of the year. Handling the session were Morton Gerber and Edward Shafton. The Charity Citation winner was Tent 18, Dayton, O., for Variety Manor, a chil¬ dren’s guidance center. A special committee selected the Dallas and Philadelphia Heart pages in the ( Continued on page 19) May 7, 1952