Motion Picture News (Apr - Jun 1927)

M (I V -' o , 19^7 Vf73 or k and Ne\v J ersey ^^^^Su** ^jL ".71 LAST week's issue of the News carried a paragraph in tlicse cohimns wliich statctl that tlic tiriii of Rusi-iizweis and Katz, circuit theatre owners oijcratins; in Brooklyn, N. v., had hecii dissolved and that in the future Uavid Katz would carry on the business affairs of the company. We fnid that this report was erroneous, in so far as naming Mr. Katz as successor to the business, is ccMicerned. Mr. Rosenzweig did the buying and it is he that now owns the controlling interest in the ten theatres which go to make up this circuit. The above named company is also at present putting the finishing touches on the new Embassy Theatre, Liberty avenue, Brooklyn, in order to have that house complete for a Decoration Day opening and have another new theatre under construction at Liberty avenue and 133th street. The latter will be ready in the fall. The erroneous report referred to above also carried the information that both the Cross Bay and Rugby theatres had been taken over from Edw. Speigel by Mr. Katz. This also seems to have been in error. We are informed that the Cross Bay was the only one of the two to change hands, and to David Rosenzweig instead of Mr. Katz. The new organization of Long Lsland theatre owners recently held a meeting at Calderone's Strand Theatre, Hempstead, where the question of the admission of minors to motion picture theatres was thoroughly discussed. Plans for the circulation of a printed form among parents granting permission to place children in the care of a competent matron were gone into and from all reports the future adoption of this means looks very favor.ible. At the theatre men's next meeting, otTicers for the ensuing year will be elected. The last meeting of the season for the Motion Picture l-'ilm Salesmen, Inc., will be helil at the Hotel .■\stor. May 22, when a luncheon will wind up afiairs until Kail. At that time the meetings will be resumed. At a recent meeting of the above organization at the Hotel -NLingcr, a resolution was adopted which would bestow honorary membership upon certain former salesmen who have "arrived" in the industry. A certain "metallic substance" is already in the process of being prepared for one celebrity who is at present unnamed. Mergers of smaller theatre groups with the larger circuits contiiuie to help fill the air around the film curb and other places, most of the transactions serving to expand the already large and powerful .Stanley-Fabian Circuit. l-'inishing touches, whereby the Rivoli Theatre of East Rutherford and the Regent Theatre of Kearny, both houses belonging to the Harry Hecht Circuit, will be added to Stanley-Fabian, are to be put on about June L it is said. Other theatres of the Hecht circuit are reported not involved in the deal. Stanley-Fabian have also taken over the Wellinbrink circuit of three theatres in Montclair : the Wellmont, Montclair and I^ellevue. It is also lumored that Ragowsky's Strand at Portchester is about to be transferred to Exhibitor Gottesman. Lawrence Bolognino, general manager of the Consolidated Amusement Company, holders of considerable theatre property on the West Side of Xew York and in the Bronx, left last l-'riday on the S. S. Olympic for a sojourn in Europe. He is expected to return about June 15. Otto Ledercr, former proprietor of the Leader Theatre, Brooklyn, has become part owner of the Merit Film E.xchange, recently acquired by Harry Thomas. Harry Harris, Xew York City exhibitor, will o[)en his remodeled W'ashington Theatre, 14'Jth and .'\msterdam avenue, Wednesday, May 11. This makes eight for Mr. Harris. Gus N'estle is now manager of the Leader Theatre, Coney Island and Xewkirk avenues, Brooklyn. The Grant Theatre, 140th street and 7th avenue. New York City, is reported as having definitely closed. H. C. Bamberger, at one time in charge of the Senate Tlieatre, 74th street and 18th avenue, Brooklyn, is managing the Farragut Theatre, one of the A. H. Scheartz circuit. Another change in A. H. .Schwartz house management is that of the Rialto, where W. L. Edgell is now in charge. Mr. Edgell went there from the Ritz. After trying out theatre management himself for three days, the landlord of the City Park Theatre, Park avenue, Brooklyn, has decided that the business at that point is not so good after all ; so it's closed again. John Phelan, former manager of Keith's Bushwick, is now at Keith's (ireenpoint Theatre. Manager Whitman, of Keith's Greenpoint, will take charge of Proctor's new 86th Street Theatre when that house opens May 16. The policy of the new Proctor will be pictures and vaudeville and it is likely to be in direct competition with the Loew circuit in this neighborhood. The Proctor house seats about 3,500. Al Moley, fast working booker and extra rabid Xew York (jiant fan of the Prudential Film Delivery offices, is of the opinion that something ought to be done ab<nit the present system of umpiring in the Xational League. He says, the home team is not getting a fair l)reak. When not handling booking sheets and snatching a few hours' sleep, Al can generally be located in a Polo Grounds seat directly behind the home plate. Several May and June theatre openings are reported from the New York headtjuarters of the Xational .Supply Company, the majority of equipment for them being furnished by this concern. Decoration Day, always a popular date for this season's opening, will witness the premieres of the new Stanley Theatre, So. Orange Sq., Newark ; Rosenzweig's Embassy, Brooklyn, and B. S. Moss' Castle at Long Beach, L. I. The West End, also at Long Beach, will open the week of May 20. Two new Simplex machines were recently supplied for the latter. The Duncan Theatre, Jersey City, had quite a severe fire last Tuesday, during which the operator suffered burns that compelled hospital treatment. Rudin and Rapp's Marlboro Tlieatre will open May 17th. Henry Siegel's Windsor Theatre, a 2,000 seat house, is scheduled for its opening during the early part of June. THF. Star theatre at .\rgyle, Minn., has been sold by Hilmer Lindberg to L. E. Gray, who operates theatres at Drayton and Bowesmont, in North Dakota. The annual Palace-Orpheum harmonica contest was recently conducted in St. Paul under the supervision of Frank Drassel. The Palace theatre, which is managed by Mr. Ryan, in Hector, Minn., boasts a new projection machine. F & R has begun remodeling the Miner theatre at St. Cloud, Minn., planning to use it for roadshows. Boyum & Bier are now managing the Peterson Opera House, Peterson, Minn., where they will show pictures Saturdays and Sundays. Max Torodor, manager of the Old Mill theatre, 10-cent house in the Minneapolis loop district, closed the house last week. C. J. Sevatius is making extensive improvements on the Casino theatre which he owns at Milaca, Miim. The interior is being re decorated, a new clcciric sign added and new roofing. O. Midbruget has given over the management of the Union Hall, Hanska. Minn., to Hans Beckas. Morley & Austsedt have sold the theatre at Goodrich, N. D., to Jacob L. Mertz, who will now operate a circuit of three towns. He had previously bought the theatres at Bowdon and McClusky from Don L. Tracv, of Carrington, N. D. George Thorpe and his son, Harvey, operators of the Peoples theatre at Crosby and the Orpheum at Ironton, Minn., are planning to build a new theatre at Ironton. The house will have a seating capacity of 400. Dorothy Hathaway, a Minneapolis girl who got her start on the stage with a Finkelstein & Ruben Kiddie revue, has given up her stage ambitions, and is now working with the publicity department of F. & R. Central Penn UNDER the terms of an e.xchange of properties between the Nathan .A.ppell .Amusement Company, of York, and the Y'ork County National Bank, whereby the Appells get the present bank site and the bank gets the old Hotel York property from the theatre company as the site for a new bank, it was agreed in the deed of transfer that no theatre shall be erected in the next fifty years on the old bank site and that no bank shall be erected on the site of the old hotel. This is for the mutual protection of the two concerns in their respective businesses in a central section of the citv. Carl Herman has been made manager of the new Roosevelt picture theatre, recently opened in the Green Ridge section of Scranton by the Comerford Amusement Company. He was previously manager of the Poli theatre, in Scranton. Announcement is made that the Lincolnway Theatre, Gettysburg, was permanently closed on .A.pril 30, and that the site will be used for a business development. It had been under the joint operation of M. A. McSherry. P. W. McStallsmith and Edward W. Thomas for several vears.