The Film Daily (1940)

Wednesday, January 31, 1940 DAILY FINAL CIRCUIT DEALS CLOSED BY RKO-RADIO {Continued from Page 1) the Ned Depinet drive for billings. These deals practically wind up RK ^/coverage of major circuits for the ~Iy39-40 program. The new deals include the Wehrenberg circuit, St. Louis; Black Hills Amusement Co., Denver; Goldberg Circuit, Omaha; Delft Theaters, Michigan; Danze Circuit, Seattle; Blumenfeld Circuit, San Francisco; Marchesi Bros., Illinois; Affiliated Circuit, Philadelphia; John Harris, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio; Moe Horwitz, Cleveland; Allen's Circuit, Ontario; Interstate, New England; Lichtman Circuit, Washington; White-Libson, Cincinnati; E. M. Loew, New England; Pitts Circuit, Washington, and Schulte Circuit, Detroit. Narragansett Track Drops Passes; Exhibs. Jubilant Providence — Rhode Island theater men received with pleasure the announcement by James E. Dooley, president of Narragansett race track, that daily and season passes will be abolished at the track this year and a 50-cent grandstand and $1 club house admission scale established. In former years passes were as common around the track gates as flys around the stables, though passholders had to pay a service charge. Doyle Forms New Corp. Albany— Capital stock of $10,000 has been authorized in charter papers issued Doyle Pictures Corp., Rochester, with Edward J. Doyle, Brighton, William B. Leonard, Rochester and Raymond W. Staub, Brighton as incorporators. Arkansas to Tighten Dp on Fire Prevention Laws; Seven Theaters Destroyed in 10 Days Little Rock, Ark. — The recent destruction by tire of seven film theaters in this state within a period of 10 days brought a statement from State Fire Marshal Guy E. Williams that strict adherence to the rules governing fire prevention in theaters will be required. All theaters, he stated, are being inspected and new houses will not be allowed to operate until they have been approved. Ohio ITO Members Advised RKO Screens "Abe Lincoln" Against Daily Tax Report For Exhibs.; 1,500 Attend Wilkinson Succeeds Father New Haven — George H. Wilkerson, Jr. has been elected treasurer of Connecticut MPTO, succeeding his father, George H. Wilkerson, recently deceased. The new officer operates the Wilkinson, Wallingford. Stores as Box Offices Hartford — Loew's have taken vacant stores in the center of the city here and in Springfield for the GWTW reserved seat sale since theater space was inadequate for a special booth. {Continued from Page 1) the department that ITO members have been instructed not to comply with the request, which was made in the admission tax forms. In advising the members, Wood wrote that the department did not have the right to demand this information in a form "that is burdensome to the taxpayer and which is readily obtainable through an audit of the taxpayer's books. 200 at Testimonial Dinner Pay Homage to Kellenberg Pittsburgh — More than 200 exhibitors, film men, members of the local Variety Club and American Legion attended the testimonial dinner given in honor of C. C. Kellenberg, sales manager for the local 20th Century-Fox branch, in the Urban Room of the William Penn Hotel here Monday evening, in celebration of his twenty years association with that company. C. J. Latta, chief barker of the Pittsburgh Variety Club and assistant to Harry M. Kalmine, zone manager for Warner theaters in this territory, was toastmaster, and Edward J. Sterling, state commander of the American Legion, was master of ceremonies. Ira H. Cohn, branch manager for 20th Century-Fox in this city, presented Kellenberg with a monetary gift in behalf of those who attended the banquet. Trane Co. Installation In New U of W Theater Chicago — The Trane Co. has supplied the heating and air conditioning equipment for the new 1,300-seat Memorial Union Theater at Madison for the University of Wisconsin. Two 4,000 CFM Trane suspended type commercial air conditioners were installed. Corbett & MacMurray were the architects, with Charles Moore in charge of the construction. C. A. Hooper & Co. were in charge of the ventilating and air conditioning installation. Fort Worth, Texas — A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lowell T. Bodiford in Harris Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 24. Father is manager of the Parkway Theater in Fort Worth. Books "Birth of Movies" The Comerford Circuit has booked the Alliance Films short, "Birth of the Movies" through the Alliance franchise holder, International Distributing Company in Philadelphia. Peckham With Excellent Detroit — Ralph Peckham, former branch manager for Grand National here and at Buffalo, is joining the staff of Excellent Pictures as city salesman. RKO yesterday held a preview of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" for New York exhibitors at the Hollywood Theater. Approximately 1,500 persons attended. Among those present were: Bob Wolff, RKO Radio's New York branch manager; Max Gordon, coproducer of the film; Charles Bryant, general manager of the Walter Reade Circuit; Walter Reade, Jr., am and Harold Rinzler, Randforce Circuit; Arthur Mayer and George Hoffman of the Rialto Theater; Charles Steiner, De Luxe Circuit; Laurence Bolognino and Al Suchman, Consolidated Circuit; Abe Leff, Bronx Theaters; Morris Jacks, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Justin, Walter Reade Circuit; J. Thompson and Harold Klein, Cocalis Circuit; Al Lewis and Fred Schwartz, Century Circuit; David Weinstock and Emanuel Hertzig, Raybond Theaters. Oscar Larger, Charles Moses and Herman Pett, Moses Circuit; Mayors McMahon and Doerch of Montclair and Caldwell, New Jersey; Otto Rettig, Ormont Theater Company; Mr. Smith, St. Cloud Circuit; A.Hochberg, Associated Theater Owners of New Jersey; Dave Snaper, Jr., Snaper Circuit; Maurice Spewak, Carteret Circuit; H. B. Stern, Stern Circuit, Bob Mapletoft, Moe Kridel and family, Kridel Circuit; Doc Emmott, Newbury Circuit. Kodachrome Arc Projection Improved by New Carbon A new type of carbon, said to produce illumination much higher in red ray content than heretofore available in arc lamp projection, is announced by Bell & Howell Co. and is said to be of major importance in the projection of 16mm. Kodachrome film. All Kodachrome film is especially corrected for projection with incandescent light, which is high in red content, and when this film is screened with arc lamp illumination, which is deficient in red, there is a slight coldness of color. With the introduction of the new type carbon, this deficiency has been overcome, says Bell & Howell, and the colors in Kodachrome will screen in their true warmth and tonal values. Projection of black and white film remains unchanged. MOUNT LEE TELECASTS TO START BY SUMMER Ark. Theater Burns Clarendon, Ark. — The Paramount Theater has been destroyed by fire which started from an overheated stove. J. W. Crabtree, theater owner, said losses totaled about $2,000. Telecasts will start in about six months from the new Don Lee television site, atop Mt. Lee, Los Angeles, Harry R. Lubcke, director of television of the Don Lee Broadcasting System, declared here yesterday. Reliable signal range of from 80 to 100 miles is anticipated when the present power of one kilowatt is doubled, as the Mt. Lee site is one and half times higher than the Empire State Building, the present highest tele site. Present program schedules of ten and a half hours of live and film entertainment weekly will be augmented by W6XAO, when the new quarters are completed. Lubcke also revealed that, contrary to the general impression that no major picture companies will co-operate to the extent of giving or renting films for television use, two major companies have made repeated offers to the West Coast experimenters to use their pictures. While current issues will not be made available, the Don Lee station may have access to older pictures. In discussing television program structures, Lubcke emphasized that "Contrasts in program content" are vital. He declared that Thomas Lee, head of the Don Lee network, puts great stress on this factor in attempting to build larger television audiences. Lubcke said that he considered program "content" more important than the mere form used, such as pictures, variety, plays or outdoor pick-ups. About half the entertainment televised by W6XAO is film, while the remaining half is live. Hammons Says Write-downs Contributed to GN Losses (Continued from Page 1) conducted yesterday before Referee Peter B. Olney, Jr. Hammons stated that he had obtained no salary from GN since December, 1938. It was revealed that GN lost $616,111 in its first 39 weeks of operations. Hammons claimed that a substantial part of this loss was due to writing down films' valuation. Transactions between GN, Skibo Productions and Arcadia Pictures were touched upon. Saul E. Rogers, attorney for Hammons, asked the return from the Trustee of the records of Educational Pictures. Examination of Hammons will continue on Friday. Officials of the National City Bank will be examined today on a loan of $25,000 received by GN from that bank several months ago. Champion Fan? Pueblo, Colo. — Nation's fan championship is claimed by Miss Irene Scroggs, of this city, who since 1915 has seen approximately 4,000 films. That's an average of 160 yearly. Any challengers?