The Independent Film Journal (1954)

BUFFALO (cont'd.) for the arrival of a boy, named Peter James, | at the home of his son, Robert T. Wall. Clarence Miller, recently a motel operator in Niagara Falls, has opened the Orleans | Drive-In on Hyway 31, three miles west of Albion. . . . The Capitol in Binghamton is operating nights only for the first time since its opening. . . . Mike Perna, who recently sold the Old Academy to Marine Trust Co., has purchased the Keith Theatre on lower Main St. for a reported $65,000. Veteran exhibitor Jim Bailey is mgr. of the Keith. H. & E. Balaban Theatre Circuit, with headquarters in Chicago, Ill., are working on plans to reopen the 1200-seat Astor Theatre in Syracuse, N. Y., which they took over recently. . . . Glometer Corp.’s North Tonawanda plant will be sold at public auction, probably July 19. The company is being re¬ organized under the Federal Bankruptcy Act and will move into a smaller plant, according to atty. Owen B. Augspurger, Jr., who says motion picture screen material is being pro¬ duced by them. CHARLOTTE Alvin Glazebrook was appointed mgr. of the Colonial Theatre, Valdese, N.C., to suc¬ ceed Kenneth Benfield, now mgr. of the Colo¬ nial at Hickory. . . . The managerial post at Summerville Theatre, Summerville, S.C., from which Albert H. Betel's resigned, went to John T. Nickalson, who owns a theatre in Rockwell, N.C. . . . Mergers at Para¬ mount: Starr Carriker, asst, to booker Sam Sanders, wed to Harry Connell; shipper Howard Burnette and Juanita A. Blanchard. . . . A. B. Huff of the Paramount Theatre, Kinston, N.C.., is new owner of the Eden Drive-In. . . . George Ebersole, 20th-Fox sales rep., celebrated his 35th year with the company. . . . Herbert Peake and William Walker are new student bookers at M-G-M. . . . Shirley Gibson joined the booking dept, at Screen Guild. CHICAGO The 54 Outdoor Theatre, Kankakee, was opened by Alliance with Martin Pinkstaff as mgr. Alliance also operates the Starlit there. . . . First day’s receipts of $7,000 for world premiere of “Not As A Stranger” broke opening day records at the B&K United Artist Theatre for the year. . . . Marks Bros, decided to add permanent seats for walk-in trade at the Sunset Drive-In near Skokie, and 1500 lawn chairs to their 2500-car Bel Air Outdoor theatre going up at 31st and Cicero Ave. on the southside. . . . 20th Fox has adopted a summer schedule of opening at 8:30 and closing at 4:30. . . . B&K’s an¬ nual golf tournament booked for Nordic Country Club, July 26. At 25th annual meeting of Allied Theatres of Ill., Jack Kirsch was reelected pres, for a term of three years; Van Nomikos was elected v.p. and Benj. Banowitz, secy.-treas. Hary Nepo was again appointed sgt.-atarms. . . . Ill. state sales tax of 2^2%, just passed by legislature, applies to concessions sales only. Chicago tax on concessions upped to 3%. . . . Wm. Rausch named mgr. of Gt. States’ Princess Theatre, Joliet. ... New Chicago mgrs. are Stanley Dumbroski at the Halfield Theatre and Phil Higgins at the Harper. Story Properties, Inc., headed by atty. Arthur B. Sack, previewed its first film, “No Place to Hide” at the Brandt Theatre in Raymond Willie (left), asst. gen. mgr. of Inter¬ state Circuit, and ad-pub director Frank Starz get acquainted with life-sized, color cutout of Jimmy Stewart as he appears in Columbia's "The Man From Laramie." The cutout, linked with a recording playback in Stewart's voice, was placed in lobbies of the Majestic theatres in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas, and the Worth in Ft. Worth. Harvey, Ill. Picture was filmed in color in the Philippines. . . . Single feature programs will be the policy at the reopened Evanston Theatre in Evanston, also the Calo on N. Clark St., which will feature special chil¬ dren’s programs on Saturday. . . . Hector Bishop, mgr. of B&K’s Coronet in Evanston, is back on the job after a hospital stay. Eddie and Sam Trinz celebrating 50 years in show business. Bruce Trinz of third gen¬ eration is active mgr. of their Clark Theatre, Chicago. . . . Mimi Lubliner, wife of mgr. Lubliner of the Lubliner Trinz circuit is in London with her sister Jan Sterling, who is making a film there. . . . Starlite Drive-In, under Kohlberg mgmt, has a combination admission of $1.25, which includes the twin bill and 36 holes of miniature golf on ad¬ jacent course. . . . McViekers Theatre opened with “This Island Earth” in a tieup with Salerno McGeowen Biscuit Co., allowing youngsters a free admission with a paid adult ticket on presentation of a box front from cookie package. Jerry Field, now handling publicity for the local Disney exchange, has booked “Lady and Tramp” for two week runs in Great States theatres, which normally are one-week houses. . . . White Palace being reopened by S. Rob¬ erts with new name of Palace Theatre. . . . J. H. Keeney & Co. have developed a new type coffee vender which dispenses 300 cups of hot coffee, with one man handling the job. . . . Eddie Silverman, Essaness circuit owner, bought “Nick the Greek” story for early filming. He has set world premiere of “Phenix City” for late July at his Woods Theatre. CINCINNATI Louis Sher, theatre owner in Columbus, Yellow Springs and Cleveland, O., also Louisville, Ky., has taken over the Waco Theatre, Huntington, W. Va., and will op¬ erate it as an art house. . . . Ralph McClanahan, exhibitor of Irvine, Ivy., was in Washington, D.C. on theatre business. . . . J. E. Isaac, Sr. informed Filmrow offices that effective July 1, the following theatres would be under control of Cumberland Amuse. Co., Whitesburg, Ivy.: Nova, Cum¬ berland; Benham, Benham; Lynch, Lynch; Alene and Whitesburg, Whitesburg, Weddington and Liberty, Pikeville; and State* and New in Appalachia, Va. George Turlukis opened his new, 1400-car Valley Drive-In at Hamilton, O., which was equipped by Mid-West and has in-car heat¬ ers for year-round operation. Concession stand, set up by Berio Vending, has an automatic coffee dispensers. They also serve pizza pies. . . . Nick Shafer of Mid-States Theas. deferred a business trip to N.Y. until after the 4th of July. . . . Theatre Owners Corp. now buying and booking for Guy Pauley’s Ravens Auto, Ravenswood, W. Va., and C. D. Weakley’s Walnut Hills D-I, Lewisburg, W. Va. Asa Hay’s Park Drive-In, Maysville, Ivy., is proceeding on schedule and should be ready for operation by Aug. 1. . . . Gustave Boudot, UA office mgr., elated over arrival of a grandson. Gus has a granddaughter aged 2. . . . Allied Artists getting many of the key runs set on their first CinemaScope attraction, “Whichita.” . . . Heads of the “Audience AAvards” poll committee here are F. W. Huss, Jr. for exhibition, and James Abrose for distribution. Joseph Alexander of RKO Theatres, and Carl Ferrazza of Keiths will head the committee on news¬ paper publicity. At recent meeting, Ralph Russell of Canton outlined details and some 100 theatres pledged support. Wm. Bein of National Screen called attention to the pack¬ age deal his company is making available to theatres for $25. Max Tull redecorated and installed wide screen facilities in his screening room in the Palace Theatre building. . . . Millersburg Theatre in Millersburg, Ivy. may reopen soon under new management. . . . Leon Hisle, who has been managing the Kentuckian Theatre, Liberty, Ky. for his father-in-law, Ralph Cundiff, plans to reenter Duke University to study hospital administration. CLEVELAND New appointments on Filrow include Lester Dowdell as Warner booker, replacing Virgil Jones who was transferred to the Boston office; Tony Reiman as office mgr. and head booker at Columbia, replacing Ann Walker who was recently married. Reiman was for¬ merly with United Artists. . . . John McKay, asst, booker at Columbia, was married to Joanne Alcorn. . . . The Mozart Theatre in Canton closed indefinitely; also Steuben¬ ville’s Olympic for the summer season. According to mgr. Frank Manente. the Stillman Theatre did a sensational business on the return of “Wizard of Oz.” A special matinee was held Saturday afternoon for children from all orphanages in the area, as guests of the theatre and the Cleveland Lions Club. Incidentally, congratulations to Man¬ ente on the arrival of a new baby girl. . • • Ralph Staub, producer of Columbia’s “Screen snapshots” was in town making a film on the Variety Club’s work in the cerebral palsy field. lie spent a day with the staff and pupils of the C.P. Foundation School here. DALLAS Claude Ezell plans a July 21 opening of the Park-Air Drive-In, San Antonio, for¬ merly known as the Hi-Park, which had a 500-ear capacity. Completely rebuilt, it will now accommodate 1000 cars, has a 40x80' curved fiber-glass screen, new generators and THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— July 9. 1955 25