Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

58 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD December 6. 1930 w DO YOU REMEMBER, SAYS SID DECKER, CHICAGO PERSONALITIES By JIM LITTLE /%ND now, instead of the tired "shopping" lady saying "Let's have lunch and /-A then go to the Palace" after a hard morning of prowling around counters ■*■ -^ and looking at this and that, she will say "Let's go over to the Palace and have lunch and see the show." And while the "stunt" is on, we rather think that will be a very interesting topic in many conversations about noon. Briefly, here is what it is all about. Through tieups with various companies, such as a tea company, a bread company, etc., each day at lunch time, and each evening, at supper time, sandwiches and tea will be served to the patrons of the RKO Palace here. Tired from a morning "looking around," the shopper may go to the Palace, park her troubles in a tasty sandwich and a cup of delectable tea, and then see the program. And the same goes for the tired little office worker at the end of the afternoon. Somehow or other it sounds like a great idea. No bother to find a place to get a snack, or no trouble deciding on what to have. Just go and get it and then see the show. A boost for the theatre, a boost for the companies in the tieup, and certainly a big boost to the estimation in which the theatre is held. The gentleman who is responsible for this is George Brown, director of exploitation and advertising for the RKO houses in the midwest. He's only been here a few weeks, but he's starting off with a bang. * sK * We understand from Ben Judell, who, — well, we'll come to that — that the Liberty production, "Ex-Flame," is to go into the Woods (flame in the woods. That ought to spell "forest fire") the latter part of December. Also "The Phantom of the West" is all ready for the serial "dishes." And now, what we were going to say is that Ben's charm on his watch chai — no, it's a ribbon — is most unusual, and very interesting. It's his initials in three different kinds of gold. * * * Eddie Quillan, whose Pathe pictures have received "post-screening" plaudits because of his splendid acting and charming personality, dropped into the Pathe exchange Arliss Wins Plaudits Of Chicago Club Women George Arliss certainly is held in a most favorable light by the members of the Chicago Woman's Club, judging by the way in which they received the picture showing the recent awards made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Clinton S. Wunder, executive manager of the organization, who is making a tour under the auspices of the Federation of Women's Clubs, addressed 500 members of the Chicago group one day last week at the very beautiful club headquarters on 11th street. The picture, showing the presentation ceremonies, caused a good deal of interest, and when George Arliss was shown, receiving *' -„r~'rf f~r hi<; excellent work in "Disraeli," the house came down. to say hello. With him was his Dad, whom we had the pleasure of meeting not so long ago, with some of Eddie's brothers and his very lovely sister, Marie. They only stopped a few moments, just between trains, as Eddie was in a hurry to get to Pittsburgh, where he was to make a personal appearance in the Stanley, in connection with his picture "Night Work." * * * Harry Gold, executive of United Artists, was in town last week, spending some of his time at the exchange offices. * * * Now that we've mentioned United Artists, we really should mention Cress Smith, who as usual, was off on another of his flying trips, this time to Minneapolis. And Sam Gorelick, who is certain to say "What's New?" unless you beat him to it, failed to get the first word the last time we were in. A siege by legions of exhibitors had worn him out, his desk ton was cracked from the weight of the contracts, and as for Morris Hellman, — well, he wasn't around, and_ we missed watching the gyrations of the cigar that he so tenderly clasps, the inevitable cigar that resembles an orientator when he is talking over the telephone. * % % The Eden theatre, located at 436 East 61st street, was to have formally opened on December 6, the feature being "Three Faces East." It was formerly called the Vernon. Equipped with DeForest sound, it is all set to go after them, and with Lou Snyder as manager, there doesn't seem to be any logical reason why they won't pile in. Sidney H. Zurakov is secretary of the Eden Amusement corporation. * * * Lou Ellman, branch manager of Pathe in Milwaukee, dropped down last week to say hello, and, incidentally, attend the game at soldiers field, the game that everyone found to be "all wet." With him was Jack Shapiro, salesman for Pathe in that town, and together they sat and suffered. And who but Eddie Richetto was to be found sitting out on a wet bench watching the mad scramble in the mud. He is pretty well thawed out by now, and — well, anyhow, we understand that the touchdown as the camera caught it is more thrilling than it was at the field (if you could find it) and that those people who relied upon their radios and newspapers probably saw a more "comfortable" game than the poor souls who wrapped themselves up in linoleum and shivered for a couple of hours. * * * And suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, who should pop into Tess Heraty's (pardon, please, Mrs. Brady's) office but Oscar Florine. Upon saying hello we realized that we hadn't seen each other since we rode 1,000 miles an hour on one of the North Western crack trains, watching a picture projected by one of those remarkable When Sam Schiller had his exchange in the Schiller building, using the building cut on his letterheads — when Ike van Roukle was managing exchanges for the General Film company — when the Bijou Dream (Sig Fuller, manager) was one of the big houses in the Loop — when the Laemmle Film Exchange was located on Lake street — and Pop Plough was at his Anti-Trust Exchange — when Abe Balaban was running the Circle theatre on 12th street — when Maurice Choynsky was ballyhooing in front of his picture house on South Halsted street? Those were the happy days. We are indebted to Sid for writing up this interesting little paragraph, and we hope it will inspire some of you who can reminisce about early film days in Chicago to write up a few "way back whens" and send them in. They're a lot of fun and everybody likes to read them. RCA contrivances, which Oscar swears by. It seems that Oscar dropped down the other morning, car all groomed, ready to start off on one of those perigrinations that takes him to the far corner of the states which bound this noble "sovereignty." Everything was ready, and for some reason or other, he looked in his pocket. $12, exactly. After some debating, he decided that such a meagre sum was hardly enough to carry him through a month, but what was most perturbing was the fact that he had had considerably more than that the night before. And finally it came to him — he'd slipped it under the little box on his dresser. But — he had a lot of fun trying to figure out when and where he had been robbed, and incidentally, he postponed his trip a day. H* % % Walter Brown, well liked and admired by everyone that has ever had the privilege and pleasure to know him, has resigned, we understand, from the staff of Electrical Research Products. Walt was connected with the Chicago office, and as yet has not announced his new connection. Herb Washburn, who ranks ace high with everybody who knows him, and ace high with everybody who don't know him because those that do know him say he's ace high with them, wandered along the Row on one of those cold days last week, throwing helloes right and left, and getting them all back and more, too. We didn't see him, but we'll send ours now. Hello, Herb. May we offer our sincere sympathy, and the sympathy of those that may not get a chance to offer it (we know they'd want us to), to the Bland Brothers, whose mother has passed away. Nothing Definite As Yet on Double Features Nothing definite as yet has been accomplished in doing away with the double feature "racket" which has swamped some of the neighborhood houses of Chicago, and which is causing a bit of consternation in some circles, according to Jack Miller, president of the Chicago Exhibitors' Association. However, we understand that efforts are being made in the direction of bringing back single features, which "held the screen" prior to this.