The Exhibitor (1959)

March 4, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 17 BUFFALO The curtain’s going up on the Broadway Theatre League of Buffalo. The directors of the League have voted to file articles of in¬ corporation through their counsel, Stanley Falk, to sign a contract with Basil’s Lafay¬ ette for a series of three or four performance engagements. . . . Children who attend the Rehabilitation Center of the Children’s Hos¬ pital were guests of manager George A. Mason, Century, at the preview presentation of “Sleeping Beauty,” the night before the regular opening. . . . When Cara Williams was in town the other day to help promote “Don’t Steal Anything Small,” manager George H. Mackenna of Basil’s Lafayette got some splendid publicity through a tie-up with Sattler’s, where Mackenna arranged to have the star appear. A trip to Florida was offered to the person who made the best snapshot of Cara while she was in the store. The store used large ad spaces on the tie-up. . . . Clint LaFlamme, manager and steward at Tent 7, Variety Club of Buffalo, is cele¬ brating his 24th year of service with the club . . . Frank Dana, a former member of the Buffalo United Artists sales staff, is the new manager of the local branch of Rank Film Distributors of America. Dana succeeds Bert Freese, who resigned. . . . Russell Tripi, for¬ merly a shipper at the National Screen, Clark Film, and RKO offices, is now employ¬ ed in the mailing department of the Buffalo Board of Education. Tripi at one time was an exhibitor, having operated the Casino. Sharon Carhart and Jane Kinsman are two newcomers in the local distributing end of the industry in Buffalo. Both have just joined up with the booking department at the Para¬ mount exchange. . . . Leon Weston now is covering the Rochester and Syracuse ter¬ ritories as a member of the sales staff of the Buffalo office of United Artists. . . . Mayor Herbert Fitch of Penn Yan, N.Y., cut the ribbon at the reopening ceremonies in the Elmwood. The house had been closed by fire that swept the balcony section New Year’s Eve. Also attending the ceremonies were Lou Hart, Schine zone manager; C. V. Mitchell, manager, Elmwood; Jerry Fowler, Geneva group manager; and John Sczerla, homeoffice manager, Schine Circuit, Gloversville, N.Y. An audience of 1,000 attended the reopening. CHARLOTTE Theater ushers would be exempt from a proposed $1 an hour minimum wage law proposed in a bill introduced in the North Carolina State Legislature Feb. 20. . . . Charlie Lewis, manager, Center, Durham, N. C., presented the annual Center trophies to the players on the Duke University and Durham High School football teams who were voted the most valuable by their fel¬ low players. . . . The Joint Finance Com¬ mittee of the North Carolina Legislature was told Feb. 18 that there are many inconsis¬ tencies resulting from exemptions to the state’s sales tax law, including the taxing of pop corn when it is sold in theatres but not when it is sold in dime stores. The statement was made by State Revenue Com¬ missioner James S. Currie. . . . Herman Gillis, formerly manager, Imperial, Asheville, N. C., has been named manager, National, Greensboro, N. C., succeeding John Bate¬ man, who has become manager, Winston, Winston-Salem, N. C. . . . Hal H. (Gus) Jor¬ dan, operator, Center View Drive-In, Dunn, N. C., also has taken over the operation of the Pineville Road Drive-In, Charlotte, be¬ ing associated with H. B. Meiselman of Charlotte in the latter enterprise. He has been identified with the motion picture and film industries in the Carolinas for years, being a salesman for the Charlotte branch of Warner Brothers for a long period and later serving as manager of Allied Artists’ Charlotte office. CHICAGO A $250,000 remodeling operation for the Regal was announced by South Parkway Building Corporation, which takes over man¬ agement of the house upon expiration of the current lease Feb. 28. The 3,000 seat theatre, a showplace on the south side since 1928, will remain open during the remodeling. George L. Brandt, managing director, an¬ nounced that Si Griever will have charge of film buying, and Chailes Hogan will secure live talent for stage show presentations. . . . E. Runkle was named Anta manager, Shelbyville, Ill. . . . Ben Lowrie, Columbia district manager, became a grandfather. . . . Frisina Amusement Company has remodeled the Job, Pawnee, Ill., for an early opening. . . . Walter C. Vance, 51, Elm projectionist who had been ill for six months, died. . . . Leroy Kehrer bought the Georgetown Drive-In, George¬ town, Ill., for spring opening. . . . Arnold M. Johnson was elected president and Nat Leverone chairman of the board of Auto¬ matic Canteen Company, which is preparing to widen its hot food service in the theatres. . . . Lawrence Stewart was named Rhodes manager. . . . John Roberts was named Frolic manager. . . . N. S. Barger, pioneer theatre owner, recovered from an eye operation. . . . Alfred Morrow was appointed manager of the Automatic Candy Corporation. . . . George Hoffman was named B and K office manager succeeding Jimmy Shields, resigned. . . . The annual Valentine party of the Variety Club held in the clubrooms was a gala event. . . . Lester Stepner, manager, Evanston, was pre¬ sented with a citation by the PTA in ap¬ preciation of his efforts in good citizenship and maintaining a wholesome atmosphere in his theatre; for presenting special programs for children; for the cleanliness and disci¬ pline in the theatre; and for his cooperation with parent and civic organizations in the community. CINCINNATI 20th-Fox’s comedy, “Rally Round the Flag, Boys,” drew an enthusiastic audience to the suburban Valley for its area premiere, with all proceeds being donated to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital, Saranac Lake, N. Y. The program included a concert by the Bentley Post American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, a display of flags symbolizing various American wars, and presentation of a new American flag with 49 stars to the Legion post by Brig. Gen. Carter Clark, retired. Also, Phil Fox, Columbia branch manager, area chairman, Will Rogers Memorial Hospi¬ tal fund, spoke briefly. . . . With spring weather hoped for soon, numerous area drive-in operators have been in recently to complete their early season booking sched¬ ules. . . . “Spook” films were booked into all Chakeres Circuit houses for midnight screenings on Friday, March 13. . . . The former suburban Cheviot has been leased to a neighborhood merchants’ group for a park¬ ing lot. CLEVELAND Adrian Awan, 20th-Fox publicity repre¬ sentative and area distributor Academy Awards promotion chairman, held a meeting of local distributors to explore ideas on how to broaden previous campaigns so as to reach a greater number of people. It was suggested that the annual Plain Dealer Sweepstakes Awards be extended to theatres in cooperation with the Plain Dealer. It was also suggested that the Texas Variety Auxiliary plan be adopted, with Auxiliary members conducting a telephone campaign urging people to listen to the awards TV broadcast. Frank Murphy, Loew theatre division manager, is exhibitor chairman. He has named as co-chairmen Joseph Alexander, RKO Theatre, Cincinnati, and Walter Kessler, manager, Loew’s in Columbus. . . . Fremont, Findlay, and Ottowa were the only towns reportedly affected by the recent floods. In Findlay, the theatres owned by Walter Steuve were not flooded though half of the downtown area was re¬ portedly under water. Fremont was closed to traffic for several days, while in Ottowa, the Hollywood and Rex reportedly had water in their basements. DALLAS The Dallas Chapter of Women of the Mo¬ tion Picture Industry is sponsoring a lunch¬ eon for Sheilah Graham in the Variety Club. Miss Graham will be visiting Dallas to talk about her recent autobiography, “Beloved Infidel,” which is being turned into a motion picture with Jerry Wald as producer. . . . Woman viewers of Julie Benell on WFAATV who conducts a daily home economist show will hold a “Julie Benell Preview Party” at the Palace. The film, “Separate Tables,” will be shown as a sneak preview. The showing is being made through Inter¬ state Theatres and Julie Benell. . . . More than 800 persons outside the industry attend¬ ed an invitational screening hosted by the local WOMPI chapter held at the Village of “Tempest.” The local chapter has been con¬ ducting screenings of this type for more than a year as a step to stimulate interest in at¬ tending motion picture showings. . . . The old Capitol, long a theatrical landmark in the city is being torn down to make way for a parking lot. It was closed about a year ago after being the home of Spanish language films. DES MOINES The women’s committee of the Variety Club had as guest speaker Dr. Ron Leshelt, staff physician at Raymond Blank Memorial Hospital. Dr. Leshelt explained to the ladies of Variety the diagnosis and treatment of cystic fibrosis, a children's disease for which there is no known cure. Dr. Leshelt was in¬ troduced by Woodrow Praught, chief barker of Variety Club Tent 15. and Dick Frank, chairman of the men’s division, Cystic Fi¬ brosis Committee. The Variety club has established a Variety Children’s Fund for Cystic Fibrosis. This money is to be used for the purchase of several pieces of equip¬ ment used in the treatment of this disease and the purchase of drugs on doctor’s pre¬ scription to assist those financially unable to provide for the treatment of this dread disease. HOUSTON The premiere showing of “Separate Tables” starring David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, and Rita Hayworth was held at Loew’s State with a special tie-in with KTRK-TV which also staged a special stage show. The station’s “Soundtrack” show, its regular morning studio party which is seen from 7 to 10 a.m., was telecast from the stage of Loew’s State with the picture following. Howard Finch, host of the TV program, pub¬ licized a plan whereby the women viewers were able to obtain free tickets.