The Exhibitor (1959)

18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR July 15, 19 59 CANADIAN Highlights By Harry Allen, Jr. ACQUISITION of a substantial block of shares in Consolidated Theatres, Ltd., Montreal, has resulted in changes in its operation. The shares were Ms taken by United Amusements Corp., Ltd., and Famous Players Canadian . 'MS >'* Corp, Ltd. United Amusements Corp., in which Famous Players is an important shareholder, will take over the operation of the Consolidated theatre interests. These interests include the Princess Theatre property, a lease on Her Majesty’s Theatre, Montreal legitimate house, and the Corona in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. It operates the Capital, Palace, Loew’s, and Imperial, Montreal, under a management agreement with Famous Players. Through associated com¬ panies, Consolidated Theatres is also interested with Famous Players in the operation of the Orpheum and Alouette, Montreal, and the Victoria, Classic, and Sillery, Quebec City. The changes announced by Lester Adiman, elected successor to J. Arthur Hirsch as pres¬ ident of Consolidated at a meeting of the board of directors last week, also resulted in John J. Fitzgibbons, president of FPCC, becoming chairman, and William Lester, president of United, vice-president and general manager. Other officers drawn from Famous Players, United, and Consolidated are Angus MacCunn, secretary; R. W. Bolstad, treasurer; and George Arnott, comptroller. Also directors are Thomas Cleary and George Destounis. The result of the changes will be a consolidation of manpower and resources, better to meet the competition from TV and provide the latest and best French and English-lan¬ guage pictures to theatregoers in Quebec, said Lester. SHOW BUSINESS opened its heart to get behind the annual Variety Baseball Game to raise $35,000 for the Heart Fund, despite rain which kept attendance to 5,256. The whole proj¬ ect was under the leadership of Frank Strean and stacked up as the most promising of its history until the weather played a dirty trick. A car was donated, and a fine show was provided by A1 Siegel in cooperation with Joe Poster and Dave Bessin of Theatrical Attrac¬ tions. The souvenir program was put together by Bert Brown, while Harry Sullivan was re¬ sponsible for the stage and Ed DeRocher looked after the ticket sales. The club also picked up a $500 cheque, the result of a theatre night by the Hamilton Theatre Managers Associ¬ ation. The presentation was made by Don Edwards and Joe Dydzak. The night was held at the Dydzak Drive-In at Clappison’s Corners, donated for the cause. . . . Variety Club was recipient of $500 willed to it by the late Jess Kaplan, a customs-broker who did much work for the film industry. . . . Early returns from the seven Canadian locations which carried the closed-circuit telecast of the Patterson-Johansson fight indicated that the gross will be over $55,000. Meantime, every one of United Artists’ 80 print-order for Canada of the fight has been booked solid three days after the bout, reported Charles S. Chaplin, gen¬ eral manager of United Artists. . . . The seven Russian films being distributed by as many film exchanges in the United States are being handled in this country through Artkino Films, which is distributing them through Astral Films, Ltd. . . . Assistant manager Wayne Campbell, 21, Odeon Palace, Hamilton, was arrested for the conversion of $1,847. The theatre was closed following a fire deliberately set, destroying the office of the manager, Gordon Gotts. Campbell’s arrest followed discovery of 22,000 tickets and some theatre records that had been thrown over the side of the Hamilton mountain. Trust Suit Seeks $450,000 MINNEAPOLIS — Bert and Freeman Par¬ sons, who operate the Eastman, St. Cloud, Minn., last fortnight filed an anti-trust suit against the major distributors and AB-PT in U.S. District Court. It is claimed that a conspiracy exists be¬ tween the circuit and the distributors to discriminate against the Eastman in favor of two circuit houses, the Hays and Para¬ mount, St. Cloud. Financial damage to the Eastman is claimed, and $450,000 in treble charges asked. The Parsons acquired the Eastman from AB-PT when the circuit had to give it up to comply with terms of the consent decree. A system of competitive bidding used by the majors among all three St. Cloud theatres was abandoned some time ago. NTA Coast-Bound NEW YORK — The home office of National Telefilm Associates, Inc., will be moved co Beverly Hills, Cal. on Oct. 1, it was an¬ nounced last week by Ely A. Landau, chair¬ man of the board. The new NTA west coast offices will be consolidated with those of National Theatres, Inc., which acquired NTA recently. Head¬ quarters will be in a new office building in Beverly Hills. Col. Production In High Gear HOLLYWOOD — Columbia Pictures’ sum¬ mer production activity went into high gear July 13, according to Samuel J. Briskin, vice-president in charge of studio operations, when three features started before the ca¬ meras. Two of them, “Who Was That Lady?” and “The Gene Krupa Story,” are being made at the studio, while the third, “Gul¬ liver’s Travels,” is filming on location in Spain. Canadian TOA Leads Battle Against Pay-TV NEW YORK — The story of how residents of Galveston and Dallas, Tex., swamped their City Councils with protests against applica¬ tions for Cable Pay-TV franchises, is being told to Canadian newspapers by Canadian theatremen. As part of their campaign to acquaint the j public with the costs of Pay-TV, and the J probable impact upon free commercial tele¬ vision, Canadian exhibitors, under the lead i| ership of Joseph Strauss, president, Canadian j chapter of Theatre Owners of America, are sending their newspapers factual material on j public reaction to Pay-TV proposals in the United States. Canadian TOA is spearheading a campaign to bring Pay-TV data to the attention of the Canadian residents and legislators, in view of the fact that Famous Players Theatres of Canada has announced its intention to run I a Cable Pay-TV this fall in Etobicoke, a I suburb of Toronto. The initial reports on Galveston and Dallas ! relate how applications for Cable-TV fran j chises were submitted to the respective City Councils by syndicates of private individuals, and how the Councils in both cities were swamped by protests and refused to act on I the franchise requests. In Galveston, more ] than 14,000 mailed protests were received in a week; in Dallas, the total was nearly 100,000. Solomon Leases N.Y. House NEW YORK — Berk and Krumgold, the¬ atre realty specialists, announced last fort¬ night that they have consummated a long term lease for the 800 seat Tribune, located I at Park Row and Frankford Street, New ] York City. This theatre occupies a unique spot in I that it is the pioneer movie house in the I downtown financial district and is located in 1 the old New York Tribune Building. Due I to the reconstruction of the Brooklyn Bridge ] approach, and the demolition of the old New I York World Building, the lobby had to be J moved and rebuilt on Frankfort Street im I mediately adjoining Park Row. It is the only I motion picture theatre in the downtown I financial district, and until recently enjoyed j most of its patronage throughout the normal I business hours. This is now being amplified by the great amount of housing projects to the east of Park Row which have brought a large residential population into the area. The lessee is Solomon Enterprises, Inc., headed by Murray Meinberg, while the lessor is Arthur Enterprises, Inc. Plans for the mammoth promotion of United Artists' "Solomon and Sheba" were discussed re¬ cently at the Plaza Hotel, New York City, by, left to right, William J. Heineman, vice-president in charge of distribution; Roger H. Lewis, national director of advertising, publicity and exp oita. -.on; director King Vidor; and Arnold M. Picker, vice-president in charge of foreign distrib ution.