The Independent Film Journal (1954)

MINNEAPOLIS (cont'd.) tures selected are all first-runs and the gimmick has packed the house. Admission is 25<t for adults, lOtf for kids. . . . Leslie Larson sold his interest in the Ringsted, Ringsted, Iowa, to Harold Kramer of Whittemore, Iowa. . . . About 30,000 school children in the Fargo, N". I)., and Moorhead, Minn., trade area received free tickets for the annual “ movie jamboree” held in Fargo theatres. Event was sponsored by the retail section of the Fargo Chamber of Commerce. William Knowles is the new asst, at the RKO Orpheum, Minneapolis, replacing Laverne Huntsinger, resigned. Leonard W. Wood, asst, at the RKO Brandeis, Omaha, also resigned. Merchants at Howard, S. D., are sponsor¬ ing free show’s for kids on Saturday at the Paramount Theatre. . . . Film stars Marie Wilson, Hal Pearv, and Penny Singleton were in Minot, N. D., for opening of the new civic auditorium there. . . . Northwest Theatre Service is handling sales and dis¬ tribution for “Reaching From Heaven,” produced by the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church, and Laurel and Hardy’s new film, “Utopia.” . . . Verna Henry Chaffee has taken over operation of the Roxy at Hinckley, Minn., from Henry Gangelhoff. . . . Harry Sears, local MGM press representative, is leaving the company to join Filmack in Chicago. NEW HAVEN Application for establishment of a 2,010car ozoner in the North Meadow’s section of Hartford, pending before the State Police Commissioner, will not be officially protested by the city government. A. J. Bronstein, who also heads the E. Hartford Family Drive-In, will spend over a half million on the huge project and plans an early spring opening. . . . Following promotion of Nick E. Brickates from mgr. of S-W’s Garde, New London, to Conn. dist. mgr., John E. Petroski moved from mgr. of the Palace, Norwich, to the Garde; Jack Simons from the Palace, S. Norwalk to the Norwich post, and Phil Allare upped from asst, at the Strand, Hartford, to mgr. of the Palace, S. Norwalk. P. J. (Pat) Buchiere is back with the Hartford Theat res as mgr. of the Lyric. At one time, he managed the company’s Art. . . . Mgr. Frank Lynch of the Salem Play¬ house, Naugatuck, had three high school students decorate the glass entrance doors with water color portraits of cartoon char¬ acters. . . . An art film policy, on a threeday-per-week schedule, has gone into effect at M&D’s Capitol Theatre, Middletown, re¬ ports Mike Adorno, circuit’s asst. gen. mgr. . . . DeChantal Smith, Paramount branch cashier for the past 36 years, has retired. The independent Hamilton Theatre, Waterbury is being sued by the eight major distributors, who are asking $500 each for alleged \uiderpayment on percentage films since Nov. 1952. ... A bill to legalize bazaars and raffles will be introduced at the 1955 session of the State Legislature by Democratic Reps. Mopsik and Demuth. Gov. Lodge vetoed a similar proposal in 1951. . . . Hugh J. Campbell of the Central, W. Hartford, and Mrs. Campbell are observing their 40th wedding anniversary. . . . Ray McNamara, Allvn, Hartford, was elected a director of the newly-formed Asylum St. Merchants Assn, and chairman of the the¬ atre division, Metropolitan Hartford Muscu¬ lar Dystrophy campaign. 1,500 new foam rubber seats were in¬ stalled in Loew’s Poli College, New Haven. . . . Carl Monday is the new asst. mgr. at S-W’s Strand Hartford. . . . The Palace. Torrington, and the Bristol, Bristol, op¬ erated by Irving and David Jacobson are asking child patrons to register their birth dates at the boxoffices. During Saturday matinees closest to the birthdays, children are called up on stage to receive surprise gifts from the management. . . . Carroll J. Lawler resigned as gen. mgr. of Hartford Theatres Circuit. NEW YORK Malvin Warshaw, mgr. of AB-PT’s Para¬ mount Theatre in Peekskill, wras transferred to the circuit’s Juliet Theatre, an art house in Poughkeepsie. Dist. mgr. Eugene W. Street advises that his successor in Peeks¬ kill is Fielding K. O’Kelly, who just joined the Paramount organization after 25 years with another circuit. . . . “Vera Cruz,” first motion picture to be released in the new Superscope widescreen process, will have its world premiere on Christmas Day at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway. Burton E. Robbins pres, of Cinema Lodge, reports that this year’s annual Christmas gift for patients of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in Saranac Lake will be in the form of an entertainment junket. A troupe from New York will per¬ form for the industry’s patients the night of Dec. 21. Ambulatory patients from near¬ by Ravbrook Veterans Hospital have also been invited. . . . The Bar Mitzvah of THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— December 11. 1954 25