The Independent Film Journal (1954)

ALBANY Paramount held a housewarming in its I new offices at 545 Broadway, to which it I recently moved from Filmrow. Branch manI ager Dan R. Houlihan welcomed industry ; friends, while George Schur, director of [ Paramount branch operations, was also in town for the transfer downtown. . . . John Gardner has advertised that he has “Just completed N.Y. State’s Widest Drive-In Theatre Screen” for his showing of “The Command” at the Turnpike Drive-In in i Westmere. Gardner is the first drive-in oper; ator of the immediate Albany area to put ; in CinemaScope. First in the entire exchange | district was F. Chase Hathaway, who put t anamorphic equipment into North Hoosick. : He was followed by Jules PerlmutteFs Fort I George Drive-In, Lake George. Jack Goldberg, M-G-M manager, and Steve Perozzi, M-G-M field representative, piloted i Norma Doggett on a round of visits to news¬ papers, radio and television stations, during the starlet’s tour on behalf of the company’s 1 “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” . . . The Association of Cinema Laboratories, Inc., non-profit membership group, filed an am¬ ended certificate restating its purposes through President Neal Keehn. . . . Louis Rapp, manager of the Erie, Schenectady, ! substituted for Stanton Patterson, Leland I manager, while the latter vacationed. ATLANTA Floyd Murphy, who has been operating the 1 Strand Theatre, in Vicksburg, Miss, under a lease from Paramount Gulf Theatres, Inc., reports that he has affected a cancellation , of the lease and returned the theatre to its former owner. . . . The Lake Theatre, Guntersville, Ala., operated by Woodalls, Inc., lost between $1,200 and $1,500 when bur¬ glars cracked the safe and took the weekend receipts. C. W. Woodall has offered a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robbers. ... A severe windstorm unroofed the concession stand at the Lakeside Drive-In at Starkville, Miss. . . . William P. Raoul, 63-year-old industryite, died at his home here after a long illness. He was ' leader in the local chapter of the IATSE, of the U.S. and Canada. A robber held up the Tampa Theatre, Tampa, Fla. and got away with the day’s receipts. Assistant manager Stanley Butler was forced at gun point to open the safe. ... A fire of undetermined origin swept through the Pal Theatre, Louisville, Ga., during the afternoon performance. All spec¬ tators reached safety. . . . Mrs. Rose Lan¬ caster, 27 years on film row and for the past ten with Astor Pictures, has resigned to go with Strickland Film Co. in the television department. ... A severe wind and thuderstonn recently toppled the screen tower of the Sunset Drive-In at Paragould, Miss. Orris Collins said that he would rebuild at once and will open in September. April theatre receipts in Alabama were up five percent over March, according to the University of Alabama bureau of busi¬ ness research. The bureau reported also that receipts for last April were four percent above those for the. same month of 1953. . . . Mansford Marshall, manager of the Ritz Theatre, Sarasota, Fla., arranged a simple, yet effective promotion program with a local jewelry company which resulted in a boost for his popcorn sales. Each patron buying popcorn at the Ritz was given a coupon which stated : “The person presenting the largest number of coupons will be given an Elgin watch.” Four more South Carolina theatres have installed CinemaScope: the Fox Drive-In, Anderson ; Carolina, Bennettsville ; the J oyce, Spring Hope, N.C., and the Mars, Bakerville. . . . The Fox, a twin drive-in at Fayetteville, N.C., owned by H. B. Meisselman and man¬ aged by Clyde Stockton has opened there with twin screens. There is room for 565 cars on one side and on the other side 435-cars. Both sides have CinemaScope. ... In Pontotoc, Miss., Joe W. Chambers has opened his new 250 car drive-in. Buford Styles, Universal branch manager at Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the fol¬ lowing changes in his branch; Oliver Mat¬ thews goes as head booker, while Barbara Greenwood and Garrett Newman are bookers. . . . D. W. Fuquay is new manager of the Lake Theatre, Lake Worth, Fla. He replaces Jerry Evans. ". . . Plans for construction of a new outdoor theatre, the Wheeler on the Wheeler highway at the outskirts of Tuscumbia, Ala., have been delayed temporarily pending efforts to obtain a new site. The builder is Dan Davis, owner and operator of the Norwood and Joy Lan theatres in this area. . . . Colquit Broadcasting Co., Moultire Ga., owned by the Mills Theatre of that city, and Douglas J. Turner, have filed an appli¬ cation with the FCC to step up the power of radio station WMTM from 1,000 watts to 5,000. BOSTON Martin Berman, a newcomer to the in¬ dustry, is being groomed for the sales staff at 20th-Fox, where he will handle the Maine territory. George Skovinsky is a new student booker there. . . . Nate Oberman, MGM head booker was rushed to the Allerton Hos¬ pital for an emergency appendectomy and is recovering satisfactorily. . . . Mrs. Lillian Couture has closed the Strand, Fitchburg, but has reopened the Gem in the same city for first run product. . . . Hundreds of cars were turned away at the opening night of EMLoew’s newest drive-in on Route 128, Burlington, Mass. . . . The Katahadin Drivein, Mattawamkeag, Maine, is set to open in late August by owners Charles Moscone and Leo Bilodeau. It is being booked by Davtz Theatre Enterprises. The VFW Drive-in, West Roxbury, re¬ cently built by Redstone Drive-in Theatres, is set to open Aug. 5. It has a curved screen 120 feet wide with both magnetic and single optical sound tracks for the showing of CinemaScope films. The layout was designed by William Riseman Associates. It accomo¬ dates 900 cars and marks the city of Boston’s second ozoner. . . . The annual Variety Club Day At The Races will be staged Aug. 19 at Narragansett Park. . . . The 20th-Fox Little Theatre within the exchange building has been equipped with CinemaScope and com¬ plete stereophonic sound. The best summer business in many years was chalked up the last week in July, with “Gone With The Wind,” “Duel In The Sun,” “Magnificent Obsession,” “The Caine Mu¬ tiny” and “Living It Up” all wTell above expected grosses. Waiting lines before the houses showing these films were the rule over the weekend. . . . Officials of the Boston Red Sox and the Variety Club gathered in the offices of Governor Christian A. Herter for the signing of a proclamation announcing Sept. 2 to 16 as Jimmy Fund Time in Massa¬ chusetts. A proclamation signed by Governor Burton Cross, of Maine, sets aside the same period as Jimmy Fund Time in that state. For the first time in the motion picture history of Lynn, Mass., a film was banned after it had already begun its run. Lynn Mayor, Arthur J. Frawley ordered the Capi¬ tol Theatre to stop showing RKO’s “French Line,” labeling it “vulgar, sexy, obnoxious and not conducive to good morals.” He acted Window" at the Rivoii Theatre, N.Y.C., are (1. to r.): Montague Salmon, house's managing director; O. Roy Chalk, Foundation vice-chairman; Maj. Gen. Charles W. Christenberry; Adolph Zukor, Paramount board chairman, purchaser Joyce Presson, and Korean Consul General David Y. Namkoong. THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— August 7, 1954 25