Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

148 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD May 31, 1930 ESS CHICAGO PERSONALITIES By JIM LITTLE WI TH conventions holding the spotlight of the whole industry this week, and with special trains huzzing in and out of town like an epidemic, the past week has been rather full. Educational’s three day convention at Hotel Congress went over big, as did Pathe’s at the Blackstone. And on the 6th and 7th ot June, at the Stevens, Columbia will convene for a two day session. OTORIES on the Educational and Pathe “sequences” will be found up in the front of the book. The story of Columbia’s conclave is in the offing, and the other conventions are in session in other cities. Therefore, being' out of immediate contact with them, we shall confine ourselves to the vagaries of the Row. * * * “The Primrose Path,” State Rights picture produced by Willis Kent, who also produced the highly successful “Road to Ruin” and later “The Pace That Kills,” opened at the Oliver theatre in South Bend, Indiana, a week ago last Saturday, and almost emulated the opening of the film in Gary. Last Saturday, May 24, the picture opened at the Davidson theatre in Milwaukee, one of the oldest legitimate houses in that city. It was especially wired for sound for the showing of “The Primrose Path.” # * * Si Greiver is to handle “The Primrose Path” in the Chicago territory. * * * Max Levy has just purchased the territorial rights for “The Woman Who Was Forgotten” in the states of Illinois and Indiana. ^ ^ ^ The Avon and Rivoli theatres are co-operating with merchants of that section in spreading the news about of the prizes to be given to the holders of lucky tickets given away in connection with purchases made in the stores. With each purchase, a ticket with a number on it is given the buyer, and the more one buys, of course, the more tickets he gets, and hence the chance of his winning one of the prizes is enhanced. * * * We were sorry to learn that the wife of Raymond Carsky, manager of the Essaness Lakeside theatre, passed away last week. We should like to extend our sincere sympathy to Mr. Carsky in his bereavement, and also that of his many acquaintances in the Row. j{« jk R. Campbell of the Essaness Theatres corporation leaves next week for a vacation trip to Canada. Whether or not he will bring it back by plane remains to be seen. However, we hope he has the best time that Canada can afford him. * * * Charles Durrell, manager of the Essaness Centre theatre, has returned from a vacation with his family. Also, Robert Knudson, manager of the Essaness Little theatre, returned last week from a vacation in Michigan with his family. * * * Vacations are in the air, and so are colds, as genial A1 Blasko, publicity director for the Essaness theatres, can attest. Between sneezes and a race for dry handkerchiefs, A1 cleared off his desk and got away to a fresh start, that is, he starts from scratch each morning. And while we were talking to Al, who seems to be the busiest man in the world, Sam Krimstein, of the Essanay Art Studio, informed us that his wandering automobile had been found — in more or less good condition. He probably owns the only three door sedan in Chicago at the present time. He doesn’t mind it being taken for an accessory store, but it hardly seems that a door could be classed as an accessory. * * * A dinner is to be given at the Stevens hotel on June 21 in honor of Tom Maloy, business manager of the Operators’ Union, at the modest sum of $10 per plate. It is a testimonial affair, tendered him before he leaves for England to be present as a delegate at a meeting of the British Trades Council. * * * John Mednikow, formerly manager of the AdWance Trailer corporation, and who relinquished this position to become manager of the Independence theatre, is now back in his old position as manager of Ad-V ance Trailer. * * * The Symphony theatre, of which Harry Willard is manager, and which used to have stage presentations along with the picture program, has cut out stage shows. * * * Max Schwartz, a most affable and pleasant gentleman who sometimes greets a stray reporter when he enters the MGM office, has a prayer which we think is most appropriate, and we feel that it should be more universal. Although we regret that it can not be quoted verbatim, the essence of the affair is this: “O Lord, give me the power to keep my nose out of other people’s business. Amen.” % * * There is more or less movement among the various exchanges, but by this we don’t mean turnover, although there has been considerable of that, perhaps more so in the last few weeks. This represents a location movement, the transition beginning with the changing of Warner Brothers activities to their new building. Now that First National already has its offices there also, B. N. Judell, who recently moved into 831, has the floor formerly occupied by First National there. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will undoubtedly begin its trek south about the last of September, and Paramount expects to move into its new building, to be located on the southwest corner of 13th and Michigan, in time to make room for Metro. Also, work is progressing rapidly on the new Film Exchange building, and is expected to be habitable by fall, which will mean another egress southward, and which will also mean that the exchange locations will be pretty well centralized. Sam Schaefer is alreadv comfortably located in his new quarters at 1029 South Wabash, where he has a most effective display room for his chair equipment. WABASH KNIGHTS J. Frank Young was born in Coal Creek, Tennessee, about — well, we’ll let you figure it out for yourselves, on January 11, 1891. During his lifetime, a more or less varied career has been his lot, but it has revolved for the greater part about some ramification of the show business. This may be somewhat misleading when you find out that his first job was driving an electric motor in a coal mine, but we’ll wager that that particular electric motor was driven as well as it could be driven. J. Frank Young Practical backgrounds in the show business are not the lot of many of those connected in some way with industry, but Frank was brought up on it, living it during the daytime and talking about it at night. You see, his Father and his Uncle, having had charge of the old K & P Opera House in Coal Creek, naturally booked all the shows that played there, and Frank’s particular job was to see that the place was presentable to the general public in the matter of cleanliness and also to scout about and round up some musician who would play for the show, providing the players did not have one of their own. Props being quite necessary for a finished performance, he used to see that everything was furnished, consisting of an assortment ranging from a jack to a piano, and possibly birds and their gilded cages. And now we come to his entrance into the film business, which has kept him occupied for many years, and which has won for him a host of friends, but we know the “host of friends” part of it would be the same regardless of what business he had undertaken. Nickelodeons were quite the rage at that time, and Frank, with the assistance of a resourceful brother, managed to get hold of an old projection machine. Among the many performances which they put on, and we can be sure that they were the best a nickel could buy, were pictures of the Galveston flood, pictures portraying the dilemma of that city when assaulted by the terrific tidal wave which inundated it so thoroughly. Speaking of the running of the machine, and just a sample of the trials and tribulations which the older operators in the business had to face, was the fact that the machine had to be cranked, not just looked at from a comfortable stool, and the film had to be run off into a beer keg (they had real and reel beer kegs in thosedays, too) after which the laborious process of rewindinig came along. Thus, after a youth filled with experience which was to stand him in good stead later on, Frank migrated to Chicago, and indulged in many and sundry pursuits, paramount among them, that of augmenting his school training. He attended the public and high schools in Coal Creek, and also spent some time at the Carson-Newman College and the Lewis Institute. But, of course, a fair lady walked into this knight’s life, and now we have Mr. and Mrs. Frank Young, and two charming “young” sters named Robert and Audrey, aged 14 and 12, respectively. As to pet peeves and like idiosyncrasies — well, no peeves ; hobbies are week-end parties at a lovely lakeside rendezvous. Football is a favorite sport, Roosevelt the one president and Mary Pickford and Betty Compson the only stars. And thus endeth a brief story which it has been a delight to put into words, and we think United Artists is fortunate in having such a man on its sales force.