The Exhibitor (1954)

NT-1 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR miWS OF THK Chicago The first child of Sheldon 0. Collen, John Olaf Collen, just missed arriving on Christmas, being born the day after. . . . Robert Briggs, Alger Circuit man¬ agerial statf, died at La Salle, Ill. B and K declared a year-end dividend of $1.25, payable on Dec. 28. Total divi¬ dends for the year were $4.50 as against $4,25 in 1953. . . . Richard Cloonan, Capital Films, is dad of the new Maureen Ellen, his first child. . . . F. Dieterle, who had been projectionist at the Hard¬ ing, passed on. Robert Mangels was named Luna manager. . . . Alger Theatres moved to Peru Ill., from La Salle, Ill. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Rex H. Van Horn improved their Cozy, Augusta, Ill., with a wide-screen and CinemaScope equipment. More than 300,000 saw “A Star is Born” at the Chicago. . . . The New Vernon, operated by Southern Enterp:'ises. Mount Vernon, Ind., received a wide-screen and new projectors among other improvements. Essaness Theatres Corporation is closing temporarily the Buckingham and preparing to reopen the Willard. . . . Officers from the Fifth Army headquar¬ ters added color to the midwest premiere of “This is Your Army” in St. Louis. Stanton Kohlberg, theatre owner, pur¬ chased the interest of Essaness Theatres Corporation in the large Starlite DriveIn. . . . E. W. Johnson, 66, co-owner, Rivoli, Monmouth, Ill., died. Starting as a theatre usher in Iowa, he became a Chicago film salesman and later or¬ ganized the Monmouth Theatre Com¬ pany. . . . Robert Hyde was named Will Rogers manager. Dominic Cristallo, 60, National pro¬ jectionist, succumbed to an extended ill¬ ness. His widow and a daughter survive. . . . Theatre attendance in 1954 zoomed way ahead of the 1953 record according to city tax collection figures. The theatre tax take in 1954 was $1,203,243, and the year previous $1,044,414. Total amuse¬ ment tax collection in 1954 was $1,916,495. Richard Salkin, Jackson Park man¬ ager, had a hospital checkup. . . . Harold Eifert, pioneer popcorn equip¬ ment manufacturer and a director, Dun¬ bar Company, died. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kirby closed their La Rosa, Rose¬ ville, Ill., temporarily. The 24th annual celebration of Allied Theatres of Illinois was a success. Every ticket for the dinner, held at the Chez Paree, famous night spot, was sold days before the event. Van A. Nomikos, cir¬ cuit owner, who was general chairman, was emcee as he introduced Jack Kirsch, Allied president. Kirsch introduced to the gathering civic leaders, judges, lead¬ ing theatremen, union officials, and dig¬ nitaries including Mayor Martin Kennelly and Secretary of State Charles Carpentier, downstate theatre owner. Kirsch told of the remarkable progress made by Illinois Allied. Van Nomikos had described it as the strongest Allied in the country and said that Kirsch’s advice was being sought continually by other similar bodies. George Jessel led the entertainment bill. Assisting Van Nomikos as general chairman were Jack Clark, chairman of arrangements; Charles Lindau and Jack Rose, ticket co-chairmen; and Bruce Trinz, chair¬ man of publicity. Mrs. Laura Bumpus, World Playhouse cashier, died of a heart attack. . . . Herbert Silver was appointed New Eng¬ land manager by Radiant Screen Manu¬ facturing Company. . . . Vai’iety Club and Cinema Lodge, B’Nai B’rith, are fund raising through car raffles. Mr. and Mrs. Wendall Stead reopened their newly modernized Ford, formerly the Pike, Griggsville, Ill., to satisfactory attendance. . . . Charles Schmidt, Palace, Gilman, Ill., visited. George High, 64, veteran projectionist, Northcenter, died. He is survived by his widow, a son, two daughters, and nine grandchildren. , . . James Coston, circuit owner, and his wife visited friends in California during the holidays. Coston was recently elected president. Police Pension Board, of which he has been a member for several years. Dallas Four theatre projectionists in Corpus Christi, Tex., were charged by police in connection with bombings in local thea¬ tres. The two most recent bombings occured at the Avalon and the Del Aire Drive-In here. Both theatres were badly damaged, and both have been bombed on previous occasions. A board meeting of the Texas DriveIn Theatre Owners’ Association was held in the north room of the Hotel Adol¬ phus yesterday (Jan. 11), Associate members in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, were invited to attend. Denver More exhibitors are expected to be in Denver Jan. 12 and 13 than at any other time in the past. There are three events that will bring this about. First is the MGM Workshop, on Jan. 12 then the COMPO luncheon for state legisla¬ tors and other officers, and finally the dinner-dance given by Variety Tent 37, the two latter events on Jan. 13. All of the events will be held at the Silver Glade room in the Cosmopolitan hotel. Robert Selig, executive vice-president. Fox Inter-Mountain Theatres, went to Los Angeles on business and pleasure. . . . The force at U-I is fast getting into the Charles Feldman drive, which runs from Jan. 3 to April 30, and the exchange expects to land among the top few. The local .sales force of Mayer Monsky, branch manager, and salesmen Frank Green, Les Laramie, and Gene Klein were briefed in the drive at the sales meeting held in Kansas City. lATSE Local F-29 elected officers for the year. They include Floyd Brethour, president; Frank Monaco, vice-president ; Herman Reule, treasurer; Kathryn Becker, secretary; Louis Kolocheski, ser¬ geant-at-arms; and George Mayo, busi¬ ness agent. . . . Carl Mock spent Christ¬ mas in Chihuahua, Mexico. lATSE Local B-29 elected the follow¬ ing officers for the year, William Fenske, president; Robert Boland, vice-president; Ida Schultz, secretary; A1 Anderson, treasurer; Paul Kauzlarich, sergant-atarms; Jack Pattison, business agent; and Elmer Finch, chairman of the board of trustees. Howard Campbell, who has been office manager at Warners from the time he was mustered out of World War II, and has been salesman the past few months, has resigned to become booker for the Westland Theatres in Colorado, Lincoln, Neb., and Oklahoma City, Charles J. Bell, brother of Earl Bell, Warners branch manager, died in Los Angeles. He "was also in the film busi¬ ness a few years back. . . . Carl Schaffer, owner. Pastime, Broadus, Mont., has opened a new 300-seat Tug, Ashland, Mont. This opens Ashland to films for the first time. . . . Fox Inter Mountain Theatres has sold the 650-seat Bison, McCook, Neb., and the 850-seat Para¬ mount, Cheyenne, Wyo., to Carlin Smith. ... As a result of grappling with a burglar who had broken into his apartment in 1946, Councilman Ed Mapel, owner. Gem, is now forced to use a cane. Des Moines Last July the Carson Business Club, Inc., of Carson, la., with a population of 596, decided to do something about hav¬ ing a movie house. The community had been without a theatre for over six months when Howard Brookings, Oak¬ land, closed the doors for lack of patron¬ age. The Business Club felt a movie house would help their own businesses so they rented the building and equipment from Brookings. Every businessman in town donated $10 towards the project. Volunteers even sell and take tickets. Only the projection operator is hired. After six months of operation the club reports it has been making money on the venture and the profits will be used to donate funds toward a memorial park. Also the businessmen say business is better when the theatre is open Wednes¬ day and Saturday nights. Oliver p’arus, owner of the Iris thea¬ tre at Riceville, la., has changed his mind about closing the theatre. He had announced he would close the house on Jan. 1, but now has decided to remain open indefinitely with shows four nights a week. . . . Burdette Ross has closed the Lamont, Lamont, la., indefinitely be¬ cause of lack of attendance. . . . Earl Peters has purchased the theatre at Hartley, la., from Earl Bid'us who is moving to Texas. January 12, 1955 MIDWEST-WESTEEN