The Exhibitor (1954)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR NT-1 Nli'WS OF THE Philadelphia Crosstown Police foiled a break into the Presi¬ dent. One of the burglary suspects sur¬ rendered; but the other made good his escape. Police caught them trying to break into a rear exit door. Several A. M. Ellis neighborhood thea¬ tres, as well as some Stanley Warner neighborhood houses, are now holding cooking schools as matinee draws. Sid Blumenstock, Paramount adver¬ tising manager, was in for the opening of “White Christmas,” Randolph. The New Penn, recently closed, may be dismantled as a theatre. Bill Kanefsky, manager. Studio, is handling a 10-minute free subject in color, “Inflation,” for the 20th-CenturyFund. The reel may be obtained through Jack Jaslow. Ted Schlanger, SW Philadelphia zone manager, left for a short visit to Tampa, Fla., to see his new granddaughter, born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Sugarman. William I. Greenfield reopened the newly refurbished and redecorated Riviera, Manayunk. Vine Street John P. Byrne, MGM eastern sales manager, was in at the local exchange. John (Jam Handy) Golder was around again. . . . Harry Brillman, Screen Guild, was enthused over Filmakers’ “Private Hell 36” going into the SW Stanton. He said that the first release of American Releasing Corporation, for which Screen Guild has the area franchise, will be “Fast and Furious,” with John Ireland and Dorothy Malone. Condolences are extended to Lillian Boehmler, Warners’ contract clerk, whose mother passed away, and to Mar¬ ion Wojhar, Warners’ general clerk, whose father died. Plans for the 40th anniversary dinner to be tendered Ulrik F. Smith, Para¬ mount branch manager, and Oscar Morgan, Paramount short subjects general sales manager, were progress¬ ing nicely. The affair will be held at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel on Nov. 8 by a group of exhibitor friends and officials from Variety Club, Tent 13. Dave Rosen is handling “The Strat¬ ford Adventure,” with Alec Guinness. District of Columbia Washington Highlights from the campaign on “White Christmas,” RKO Keith’s, were the promotion of a new $1,000 juke box, which was stocked with records from the picture and played for 10 days in advance and during the showing. The Lou GofFman Heads Philadelphia Variety PHILADELPHIA — Louis J. Goffman, a member of the law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and SolisCohen, was elected chief barker. Variety Club, Tent 13, at a meeting of the crew. Others chosen were Max Gillis, A A branch head, first assistant; Harry Romaine, Progressive Elec¬ tric, second assistant; George Beattie, William Goldman Theatres, dough guy; and Mickey Lewis, National Theatre Supply, property master. playing of records on the outside of a theatre is prohibited here, but this was circumvented by using the line “Give Your Less Fortunate Neighbor A White Christmas. Give To Your Community Chest.” Special screenings were set up for disc jockeys and TV personalities, newspaper people, and record dealers. A tieup was made with the popular Billy •Johnston TV show over WTOP-TV. A Santa Claus drawing’ contest was fea¬ tured and Johnston gave as prizes al¬ bums from “White Christmas” pro¬ moted from the Super Music Stores, plus two $25 dresses for the ladies promoted from Lansburgh’s department store. This store ran an 800 line ad on opening day plugging the picture and the Natlyn dresses which are replicas of dresses worn in the picture. In addition, the store devoted two windows to the film, and also used inside the store displays. Stickers were placed on all juke boxes in the area plugging the song “Count Your Blessings” and the opening. A tieup was also made with Super Music Stores whereby they ran a full page ad in the show section of The Washington Post Sunday before opening. They also gave additional window displays in two main stores. Decca Records issued a life-size cut-out of Bing Crosby plug¬ ging his anniversary album. Arrange¬ ments were made with Decca distributors to place 18 inch circles plugging “White Christmas” on 50 of the cut-outs in the best locations in the territory. Circles, of course, carried theatre and playdate. The doorman was dressed up as Santa Irving Berlin, second from left, was in Philadelphia recently to engage in ad¬ vance newspaper and radio-TV promo¬ tion on Paramount’s “White Christmas,” the first film in VistaVision. He is seen here with, left to right, George Beattie, William Goldman Theatres; Bud Hissner. Academy, Lebanon, Pa.; and Ulrik F. Smith, Paramount branch manager. Claus and Christmas atmosphere was created at the theatre. Santa visited the newspaper critics and also served as live street bally. The newspapers were liberal with space on this feature, due to the unseasonably hot weathei and the idea of Santa Claus and “Christmas” coming to town. Some beautiful models were worked into the Santa stunt and termed his “helpers.” Many other window dis¬ plays were obtained and dash cards used on streetcars, placing of street banners, etc., were other facts of the campaign. Sid Blumenstock, Paramount adver¬ tising manager, was in for the opening of “White Christmas,” Keith’s. Richard O. Schmidt, with the Army and Air Force Motion Picture Service for over 30 years and most recently Washington regional manager, has been named New York regional manager. Delaware Wilmington Ben Shindler, Ace, announced the ap¬ pointment of William S. Kaminski. . . . The Kerry was the area’s first drive-in to close for the season. . . . The Brandy¬ wine Drive-In held a car give-away. . . . Lewis S. Black, city manager, SW Thea¬ tres, was contacting the trade for con¬ tributions to the United Community Fund of Northern Delaware — H. L. S. Maryland Baltimore Leon Back, head, Rome Theatres, and president. Allied Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Maryland, is about to become owner of a new radio station. He is presi¬ dent, 1360 Broadcasting Corporation, and the FCC has already granted a con¬ struction permit. Stanley Baker, head, Hicks Baker Theatres, is a grandfather for the first time. His daughter, Mrs. John Recher, Hagerstown, Md., became the mother of a son at Washington County Hospital. Mayer F reidman is the Rialto’s new manager. He formerly was at the Wind¬ sor. . . . Harry Daniel, Boulevard, is on a motor trip to Texas for a visit with his mother. . . . Jerome L. Cluster, Capi¬ tol, has returned from a Miami Beach, Fla., honeymoon with his bride, the former Miss Dolores McVey. Max Cohen leased the Windsor and, after redecorating it, reopened to cater to Negro patronage. . . . Lucien Mercier is a new assistant at the Branch DriveIn, Clinton, Md. . . . Mike Leventhal, Capitol, and Jack Whittle, Avenue, were in Washington. Otis Matthews, Rialto projectionist, returned to recuperate from surgery at Doctors’ Hospital. . . . Gregory Kamen, York, is receiving condolences of friends. His wife passed away while a patient at Luthern Hospital. The Maryland State Board of Motion Picture Censors granted Columbia “the privilege of deleting” a term offensive to the Negio race from one of its films, according to chairman Sidney R. Traub. In the picture, “Bamboo Curtain,” the November 3, 1951^ PHILA.-WASH.