International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1946)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT By HARRY SHERMAN THEATRE circuits throughout the country have adopted pension and group-life insurance plans for projectionist employes. When a projectionist has completed a certain number of years in the employ of a given circuit, he is eligible for retirement under the pension plan. His retirement income, together with his social security allotments, enable him to live comfortably for the rest of his years. It is a different story, however, for the union official who hasn't a theatre job but who devotes his entire time to union duties. When his day of retirement rolls around he has no pension plan to fall back on, and unless he has been prudent in his younger years and made provision for the proverbial "rainy day," he is very much out of luck. In keeping with its reputation as being the forerunner of a number of progressive ideas (many of which have been adopted by other local unions), Buffalo Local 233 recently voted a pension for Bert Ryde, business agent of the local for the past 20 years, to take effect upon Ryde's retirement from office. An excellent idea, we think, and the members of Local 233 are to be commended for their thouehtfulness. • Dan Quinones, one of the oldest members of San Antonio Projectionists' Local 407 and a member of the 25-30 Club, opened an automobile supply store in San Antonio in partnership with his son, Dan, Jr. • William P. Covert, second vice-president of the I. A. and business agent for Toronto, Canada, Local 173, was reelected canvassman of Variety Tent No. 28 of Toronto. For the benefit of the unenlightened, a canvassman in Variety Club circles holds a post similar to that of an executive board member of our own I. A. — one that Covert is pretty familiar with. ® Two of the delegates to the I. A. Convention in Chicago last July who sampled and enjoyed the hospitality of the Chicago local unions — Morrie Seamon, secretary, and Jimmy Murphy, business agent of Treasurers and Ticket Takers Local 751 — were afforded an opportunity recently to show their appreciation of the swell treatment they and all the other delegates received. They extended a glad hand to Gene Atkinson, business manager of Chicago Local 110 and general factotum of all KINGSTON, ONT. LOCAL 528 FETES MEMBERS AND GUESTS AT ANNUAL BANQUET Among those attending Local 528's annual banquet last month at the Hotel Quinte, Belleville, Ont., Canada, were the following: Front row (left to right): George West, Mrs. Roy Smith, Mrs. Barrett Fralick, Blake Gordon, and Fred Bendell. Second row: Mesdames George Forhan, Sr., George Clapp, J. I Her, T. A. Mascaro, J. Anderson, W. Beach, Fred Bendell, R. Davy, Blake Gordon, the Misses Dofoe and Cummings. Back row: George Forhan, Sr., George Clapp, J. Her, George Forhan, Jr., T. A. Mascaro, J. Carraddi, W. Austin, Roy Smith, W. Beach, R. Davy, A. Sweet, Mrs. Kerwin, W. Fawcett, Mrs. Gordon Prettie and Mr. Prettie, and Barrett Fralick. convention activities, when he and Mrs. Atkinson visited New York several weeks ago, and tried to make their stay in this city as pleasant as possible. © While tinkering with his radio (being a radio ham in his spare time)' Z. A. Sax. secretary of Local 159, Portland, Ore., made contact with another ham in Orlando, Fla., who. at Sax's request,, made arrangements for a two-way conversation via amateur radio and telephone with J. B. McGee, business agent of Local 631 Orlando, Fla. The McGee and Sax families met in Chicago last summer and hit it off pretty well together. The radio contact was quite a thrill for both families. • A memorial mass was held last month for Lieut. Leslie C. Blakeslee, Jr., member of Local 277, Bridgeport, Conn., who was killed in the battle of Tarawa, November. 1943. More than half the membership attended the services which were held at St. Charles Church at 8 o'clock Sunday morning, November 17. • Because of pressing demands made upon his time by his official duties as business manager of Local 499, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.. Ed Batey resigned as president of the Poughkeepsie Trades and Labor Council, which office he held for the past ten years. Despite stiff opposition, Batey has succeeded in retaining two-men shift operation in all theatres in his jurisdiction, with scales ranging from $65 to $70 per week, per man on a 5-day week basis. © We stopped off at Syracuse several weeks ago on one of our periodic trips around the country and dropped in at: the Novelty Theatre to visit with our good friends, Eddie Whitford and Larry Granger, members of Local 376 and projectionists at that theatre. We were amazed when we saw the cubbyhole that passed for a projection room — it couldn't be any larger than 6 square feet, barely large enough to hold two projection machines. Access to this firetrap can be gained only by climbing a ladder from the street (we learned that several men fell out of this so-called projection 22 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • December 1946.