The Exhibitor (1959)

22 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR August 19, 1959 ATLANTA Mrs. William Richardson, the wife of Wil¬ liam Richardson, president Capital Releasing Corp., was at home following surgery at a local hospital. . . . Phil Richardson, manager of the Lilfred, Union Springs, Ala., has re¬ sponded to the recent upsurge in attendance by replacing neon signs which had been giving trouble. ... A recent storm damaged the screen and leveled 1,000 feet of fence at the Montgomery Drive-In, Montgomery, Ala., owned by Herman Rhodes. . . . Glenn Calvert has been appointed office manager at Warn¬ er’s. He comes from Memphis. . . . “Red” Carter is new head booker at the Warner office. He replaces J. C. Steely who goes to the sales department. Sue Carr, former shorts booker, will handle features. . . . Mr. and Mrs. James Brannon, owners of the Starlite Drive-In, Thomaston, Ga., have announced an addition to the family. . . . A. H. Admas, father of Charlie Admas of the Avon, Avon¬ dale Estates, in a local hospital for treatment. . . . John Gaither has closed his Heflin, Heflin, Ala., after many years showing. . . . Linda Barnett, booker, United Artists, at home after hospital treatment following an automobile accident. BOSTON Joseph Wolf, vice-president of Embassy Pictures Corp., became a grandfather for the fourth time when his daughter Mrs. Phyllis Friedman gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Karen Sue. . . . Portsmouth, N.H., is to have a New England premiere Sep¬ tember 2 when the Warner film “John Paul Jones” will be shown at a benefit perform¬ ance in the Colonial. The benefit will be sponsored by Ye Strawberry Banke Project, an historic citizenship group dating from the early settlement days. The premiere is being handled by John Howe, manager, Colonial, a Maine and New Hampshire circuit house; Floyd Fitzsimmons, Warner’s New England publicist; and the Strawberry Project. . . . Barbara Daytz, daughter of A1 Daytz, of Daytz Theatres, will be married August 30 at the Sidney Hill Country Club to David Proctor, of Newton. ... In its world premiere, MGM’s “The Scapegoat” took in $9,000 in its first three days at the Saxon. . . . The Abington Drive-in opened its gates August 1. The theatre opened with 750 speakers and plans to add 250. Joe O’Neill is manager. . . . Mrs. Jeannete Holden, owner, Strand, Jackman Station, Me., was hospitalized recently. PROVIDENCE, R.I., NEWS— “A large ‘steam -heated’ refuge for starlings was re¬ moved from the face of Providence as the Majestic Theatre cleared away its four ton upright sign,” began a three-column feature story on the front page of the Providence Evening Bulletin, recently. . . . George R. Norton, student assistant-manager at Loew’s State, has resigned his post and will enter the Providence Police Training School. BUFFALO Dave Marshall, who has been a student assistant at Shea’s Buffalo, has been appoint¬ ed assistant manager by Shea general man¬ ager Edward F. Meade. Marshall succeeds Kenneth Croft, who has left town to assume the management of Loew’s theatre in In¬ dianapolis. . . . The cream of farflung film studios, 20 features, will be shown at the International Film Festival over in Strat¬ ford, Ontario, starting Aug. 24. A variety of shorts included bring the countries repre¬ sented to 22. Announcement of the film festival program has been made by James Hayes, associate director for the affair and production manager of Stratford Festival. “The Scapegoat,” from the United Kingdom, starring Alec Guinness and Irene Worth will open the film festival. . . . Protesting that he has been deprived of his “day in court,” a Niagara Falls exhibitor has asked for a Supreme Court order directing the Niagara county district attorney to return a large quantity of Bingo equipment seized in a raid May 30. Edward P. Burns, who conducted the Bingo game in the State, Niagara Falls, said through his attorney that he was prepared to fight any criminal charge the prosecution desires to place, but cannot do so because no move has been made to get a warrant. CHICAGO July movie tax collections by the city were $23,986. . . . Thirteen of the 45 films examined by the censor board last month were foreign. One was rejected and nine cuts were made. . . . Joseph W. Taylor, 79, retired projection¬ ist, died. . . . “Eighth Day of the Week,” a Polish film which had been banned by the censor board was reinstated on recommenda¬ tion of John Melanaphy of the city corpora¬ tion counsel. . . . Milt Simon retired after 26 years as 20th-Fox salesman. . . . The Polo, Polo, Ill., was purchased by Bob Ward from Steve Stanich. . . . Harry Lustgarten, vicepresident of B & K in charge of the booking department, recovered from a virus attack. . . . Sol Gold, of Allied Artists exchange, re¬ turned to his desk after hospitalization. . . . The California is scheduled to reopen next month with Polish films. . . . The contest held by B & K and the Chicago American on how many miles Cary Grant traveled in “North by Northwest” brought more than 15,000 mail responses. . . . The Oriental management has leased the Harding from Phillips Circuit which has been operating the house since B & K discontinued. CINCINNATI Despite the continued hot humid weather, attendance in roofed houses and drive-ins in this area has been very high for the summer season, to date. Among recent crowd pleasers have been “The Nun’s Story,” “The Horse Soldiers,” “The Big Circus,” “Anatomy for Murder” and “Hercules” . . . Because of the industrialization of the area, the neigh¬ borhood Victor, which has been in continious operation for 43 years was permanently closed August 1 by owner Garland C. Jones . . . J. W. Hoffman, Greenup, Ky., will re¬ open the Hunter, Aug. 28. The house has been closed for several months . . . Kickoff for the annual Will Rogers Memorial Fund was held recently in 20th -Fox screening room for exchange managers, salesmen and exhib¬ itors. H. Russell Gaus, MGM exchange man¬ ager, is chairman for the managers’ division and James McDonald, TOC Booking Agency, chairman for the exhibitors . . . Jack Finberg, UA exchange manager and Charles Schroeder, UA sales manager, attended a divisional sales meeting in Washington, D. C. . . . WKRC-TV’s screen viewers in this and other cities served by the network are as¬ sured for several years of a continuous flood of dated films, with the purchase of 700 older Paramount films for about $1 mil¬ lion by WKRC. CLEVELAND Mrs. David Rosenthal, wife of the UA branch manager, is a Mount Sinai Hospital patient for diagnosis of an undertermined infection. . . . Paul Gusdanovic, veteran local theatre owner who retired from active participation in the business when he leased his houses to General Theatres, is home from the hospital where he underwent surgery and is reportedly resting comfortably. . . . Leon Enken, owner of theatres in Warren, O., entertained the area branch managers and their wives at the Youngstown Country Club. . . . A1 Boudouris and associates, own¬ ers, Miracle Mile Drive-In, Toledo, O., have purchased the Telegraph Drive-In from the Ohio Theatre Management Company, headed by A. E. Gordon. Sale became effective im¬ mediately. . . . The Royal, Oak Harbor, O., long owned and operated by John, Lucille and Justin Knopp, closed. This leaves the town of 2500 population without a theatre. . . . Cedar-Lee, neighborhood house and unit of Community circuit, is undergoing a face¬ lifting job, necessitated by a recent fire in a nearby bowling alley. . . . William Burnside, owner, Idol, Lodi, O., who recently instituted a policy of charging 50 cents for children under 12 years old when not accompanied by an adult, reports that the switch was en¬ thusiastically received. DALLAS Albert Flores has joined the United Artists film exchange here. . . . Robert J. O’Donnell and Edwin Tobolowsky made an extended tour of the country in the interest of Mc¬ Lendon Radio Pictures’ two high grossing features, “The Killer Shrews” and “The Giant Gila Monster.” They visited Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, Toronto, and San Antonio. The Mc¬ Lendon double bill broke all records at the Majestic here for the last 12 months. . . . Announcement has been made here of the At the recent “world screamiere" of “The Tingler," a Columbia release, at the Broadway Capitol, Detroit, are seen, left to right, Woodrow Praught, head. United Detroit Theatres; William Castle, producer-director of the film; L. W. Byerle, head film buyer. United Detroit Theatres; and Milt Zimmerman, Columbia branch manager in Detroit. The “screamiere" was preceded by a two-hour “Dance of the Tingler" party in front of the theatre, and on the right are seen some of the participants in a "horror" masquerade contest.