The Exhibitor (1959)

August 12, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 15 ALBANY Fred Haas, Faban construction engineer, was in from New York. . . . Several area drive-ins featured a “Battle Of The Sexes” bill between Bardot in “Girl In The Bikini” and Lollobrigida in “Flesh and the Woman”. . . . Justice of the Peace Sylvano J. Albano received a big surprise when Shelley Winters, often seen in pictures at his drive-in at Ravena, was arraigned before him for speed¬ ing on the Thruway. She pleaded guilty and was given a suspended sentence by Albano, who commented, “I should have recognized you.” The Justice and drive-in operator also operates a barber shop. Joe Miller and Alan Iselin celebrated anni¬ versaries, the 11th and seventh, of Menands Drive-in, Menands, and Turnpike Drive-in, Westmere, with one-night rollbacks of ad¬ mission and concession prices. . . . Twentieth Century-Fox Television Productions, Inc., a New York company, has changed its name to Twentieth Century-Fox TV International, Inc. Norman B. Steinberg filed the certificate here. ATLANTA Tommy Thompson, head, Martin Theatres in Georgia, was on a Florida fishing trip. . . . Phil Bryan, operator, Victory, Savannah, Ga., for many years, has shuttered the house to take a position outside the industry. . . . Tom Lucy, president, Exhibitor Service Company, has been released from a local hospital after surgery. . . . The Sherryl Auto Drive-In has been taken by C. J. Phillips from former owner Bill Wilson. . . . Charles Lester, re¬ cently retired as district manager, National Screen Service, and his wife and daughter are now on vacation. . . . E. P. Clay, Mc¬ Donough, McDonough, Ga., was released from a local hospital. . . . Alvin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Rosenbaum, Muscle Shoals Amusement Company in Alabama, is at¬ tending the Boy Scout Jamboree in the Philippines. . . . The girls at National Screen honored booker Shirley Smith, who is re¬ tiring. She was replaced by Karla Fastnacht. BOSTON The Abington, Mass., Drive-in has set back its opening date from July 22, as previously announced until August 15 because of un¬ foreseen difficulties, including unfavorable weather conditions and other problems. This openairer has been two years in the building and is owned by a group of men headed by a Boston attorney, Anthony Fiore. Joe O’Neill is manager with Joseph G. Cohen handling the buying and booking. . . . 20th-Fox president Spyros Skouras was in town on a brief visit for discussions with division manager A1 Levy, sales manager Johnny Peckos and publicist Phil Engel. Particular attention was paid to the New England premier of “Blue Denim,” set for the Keith Memorial, August 20th. . . . Former RKO salesman Harry Goldstein re¬ turned to New England for the summer months. . . . Cary Grant, starring in MGM’s “North By Northwest” at Loew’s Orpheum, spent a day in town to publicize the film. . . . The 1959 Jimmy Fund drive kicked-off July 20 with a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Braves at Fenway Park with every ticket sold and every ad¬ mission turned over to the Fund. Co-chair¬ men are James E. Mahoney and Curt Gowdy with Bill Koster, director. State Chairmen are Douglass Amos, Ray Kiniry, Ralph Tully, Ernest Fitzgerald and Edward M. Fay. . . . Wil¬ liam Elder, newly appointed division manager for Loew’s Northeastern Theatres, which in¬ cludes Loew’s State and Orpheum, Boston, William Elder was recently appointed division manager for Loew's Northeastern Theatres. joined the Loew organization as an usher in New Haven, Conn., in 1929. Subsequently, he became a doorman, assistant manager, and, later managed Loew’s Theatres in Harrisburg. Indianapolis, Kansas City, Columbus, Pitts¬ burgh and San Francisco. He comes to Bos¬ ton from the Golden Gate City where he has been managing director of Loew’s Warfield. He succeeds Charles Kurtzman, who leaves Boston after a 19-year tenure to assume spe¬ cial assignments in Loew’s New York home office. Morris Simms, city manager, Olympia and Capitol for New England Theatres, Inc., and Harry Zeitz, owner, State, New Bedford, Mass., were instrumental recently in promot¬ ing from the New Bedford Standard-Times a promotional movie page in the newspaper’s roto section. BUFFALO Eight Buffalonians will become movie stars early next month when the new local com¬ pany, Saber Motion Picture Productions, Inc., shoots its first film, an 85-minute fea¬ ture entitled “Draw To An Inside Straight.” The Buffalonians scheduled to make their debut in the film are Janet Gross, Hugo DiGiulla, Louis De Giulo, Jr., Pat Fagan, Joey Giambra, Frank Mulay, Jack Diamond, and Sydney Pastor. The producers of the film, Robert Barron, who has appeared in a num¬ ber of Hollywood feature films, and Charles J. Stevens chose their actors for interesting faces instead of big names. The film will be shot in Buffalo and western New York. Saber plans to produce three or four full length features a year. Stevens, author of the story to be filmed, hopes to make a motion picture based on the life of the Very Rev. Msgr. Franklin M. Kelliher, head of Buffalo’s Boys Town. Confident of producing a succession of films, the executives of Saber are asking western New Yorkers with acting experience or interesting faces to send photos and brief accounts of their stage roles to Saber Motion Pictures, Inc., Prudential Bldg., Buffalo. . . . Ed Bellew was in setting up a schedule of activities for the visit to the city of Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, current teen-age idol and one of the stars of Warner Bros.’ “Yellowstone Kelly,” an early attrac¬ tion at the Buffalo Paramount. . . . When “John Paul Jones,” starts at the Center Theatre, it will have had the benefit of an excellent advance campaign put on by Ar¬ thur Krolick, Charles B. Taylor, and Ben Dargush. Some of the features of the build¬ up were 50 A-Board color posters put out by the local Navy recruiting office, a tie-up with the local Saturday Evening Post dis¬ tributor on the Post story, “The Real John Paul Jones,” which involved the distribution throughout western New York of hundreds of posters playing up the story and the motion picture; several thousand book marks distributed in all the Buffalo and Erie county public libraries and featuring books on Jones as well as the theatre and playdate; contests on two radio stations; and a big ad and radio spot campaign. . . . Kirk Napier is the new chief of maintenance at the Buffalo Paramount, succeeding William Donback, who is leaving for new fields in California. Ardis Smith, drama and motion picture edi¬ tor of the Buffalo Evening News is back at his desk following a three-week tour through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. . . . Ben Dar¬ gush, manager, Center, has made a tie-up with the local U.S. Navy recruiting office through which the latter is placing special “John Paul Jones” posters in some 25 special A-Board frame locations in and around Buffalo. . . . George H. Mackenna, general manager, Basil’s Lafayette, got some excel¬ lent publicity in the Buffalo Evening News, when he arranged with that sheet to have its newsboys as his guests to see “The Big Circus.” . . . The Monroe, Schine’s de luxe Todd-AO community house in Rochester re¬ opened with Disney’s “Darby O’Gill and the Little People.” Prices for this attraction range from 50c to $1. CHARLOTTE W. G. Enloe, city manager of the North Carolina Theatres at Raleigh, N.C, has been reelected mayor of Raleigh. . . . The con¬ cession stand at the Forest Drive-In at Ral¬ eigh, N.C., was broken into, and cigarettes, cigars, and chewing gum valued at $29 were stolen. CHICAGO Mrs. Wanda Zelkowshi, of the Central Film Distributors sales staff, is the mother of triplets, two boys and a girl. . . . Tony Valenti was named Capri manager. . . . The Woods is advertising: “Federal Judge Julius Miner has ruled that the refusal of the police commissioner of Chicago to license the ex¬ hibition of the motion picture “Anatomy of a Murder” on the grounds that obscenity was illegal. Therefore “Anatomy of a Murder” without any eliminations or changes is now showing at the Woods.” . • • Waldo Bail, neighborhood ad man and publicist for Balaban and Katz, who has been with that or¬ ganization for 34 years, will retire Aug. 1. . . . The Roxy, Ramsey, Ill., closed for several months, was purchased for re-opening under the management of Raymond Williams. . . . The Grove, Elgin, Ill., was reopened by Publix Great States Theatres after a thorough remodeling. . . . The Roxy, Coulterville, Ill., closed since last fall, was reopened under the management of Vernon Holtz. . . . The Palace observed its sixth Cinerama anniver¬ sary. . . . Dave Badtke was named manager of H&E Balaban’s, Commodore. . . . The Park Heights Theatre Corp. has made zoning ap¬ plication for a 1600-car outdoor at Lincoln highway and Cicero ave. . . . The Biown Theatre, Inc., is remodeling a building in Mount Sterling, Ill., for a new movie house. . . Frank Mannarelli, manager, United World Film Exchange, recently announced the arrival of a daughter. CINCINNATI Despite the mid-summer heat, both roofed houses and drive-ins throughout this area are reporting excellent attendance figures. The top films currently available get the credit for this business upsurge. . . . Judith Anne, daughter of Louis Wiethe, owner,