The Exhibitor (1960)

of special industry events for 1960 and his exhibitor co-chairman is Sam Schultz of Selected Theatres. . . . Allied Artists ex¬ change is going thi’ough a major remodeling job. Until it is completed confusion reigns supreme. . . . Hazel Mack celebrated her 20th year with National Screen Service. . . . Joe Shagrin, owner, Foster, Youngstown, chalked up a third grandchild when a daughter was bom to Mrs. Joe Shagrin, Jr. . . . J. Stuart Cangney, foiTner owner. Jewel, Cleveland, has moved to Jamestown, N. Y., where he is managing the Palace, a Dipson Circuit house. . . . Announcement is made but no details immediately available of a 1500-car outdoor theatre project planned to be built at the Burke Lakefront Airport. The theatre would be part of a playground, including a golf driving range, miniature golf course, kiddy park with swings, rides, etc. . . . When the officers of Toledo Theatre Managers Associ¬ ated, headed by Abe Ludacer, president, pro¬ tested to the Toledo newspapers that TV and radio were getting a disproportionate share of free amusement space, they were told the rea¬ son for this was that the movie industry was not supplying them with enough material. This is now being corrected, first by 20th-Fox, the only company which maintains a resident area publicity man, and subsequently by other distributors who have been apprised of the situation. . . . Lsu’ry Steel has joined his twin brother Bill in the operation of their late father, Jerome Steel’s theatre in¬ terests, which include the Apollo, Oberlin; StarView Drive-In, Norwalk; and others in southern Ohio. , . . Unity will take the place of compyetition in a policy to be put into effect by some 50 theatres for the first time in this area when they will show cross plug trailers urging their patrons to see “Ben Hur,” which the trailer states “is a credit *o the industry.” Although the trailer does not say where it is playing, it is generally known that “Ben Hur” is being presented in an ex¬ clusive northeast reserved seat engagement at Loew’s Ohio. . . . Ohio Drive-In Theatre Management Co. completed negotiations for the sale of its theatres to Sports Service Corp. of Buffalo. Theatres affected by the owner¬ ship change are the Miles and Auto DriveIns, Cleveland; the Dayton and Miami DriveIns, Dayton, O., and the Ecorse Drive-In, Dearborn, Mich. DALLAS “Home from the Hill” has been booked by all major Texan circuits following its screening for exhibitors, according to John Allen, MGM southwestern division manager. Thirty-three theatres will open exclusive en¬ gagements in the same number of cities start¬ ing March 17, and in April and May the film will open in 96 additional theatres. . . . Horace R. Fadls, for the past 10 years a booker here, died. He was also interested in the Red River Drive-In at Texarkana, Tex. . . . Cathie Hardin has joined the staff of Warner Bros., replacing Shirley Swafford. . . . Variety Tent 17 has announced expendi¬ ture of $35,000 to provide expanded housing facilities for the Dallas School for the Blind, where blind children are taught to read Braille and live normal, self-sufficient lives. . . . Baruch Lumet, producer of the stage production of “The Drimkard,” is preparing the production schedule for a 90 minute pro¬ jected motion picture of the melodrama. He is seeking a director for the film since he has taken over one of the roles. . . . More than $1,000 has been contributed by the Women of the Motion Picture Industry chap¬ ters to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in memory of the late R. J. O’Donnell, re¬ garded as the godfather and greatest bene¬ factor of WOMPI. . . . Duke H. Evans, 67, well known in theatre circles for his print¬ ing of theatre advertising posters, died here after a brief illness. DES MOINES Franklin Rash, Jr., has purchased the Sidney, Sidney, la., from Quentin Chapman and is remodeling the house before reopen¬ ing. Rash also operates the Colonial, Ham¬ burg, la. . . . Robert Waters has reopened the State, Hedrick, la., after making exten¬ sive improvements. . . . The Strand, Pisgah, la., has been sold to the Swain Motor Com¬ pany and will be used as a warehouse. . . . The board of directors of the Traer Chamber of Commerce, who have been operating the Traer on a trial basis since Jan. 1, have de¬ cided to continue operations indefinitely. . . . Allied Artists has discontinued its booking office in Des Moines although film shipments will continue to be handled from the Iowa Film Depot. Other business will be handled through the Omaha branch office. . . . Don Stoessel and C. W. Grimes, operators of the Avalon, West Union, la., are cooperating with the local Chamber of Commerce on a promo¬ tion to help shopping night on each Friday evening. They show a screen program that is free to any adult who presents a sales receipt from any West Union merchant. . . . Charles F. Duling, manager. Uptown and Ingersoll, Des Moines, is scheduled for a May wedding with Sharon Cogswell. . . . Glenda Carlson and Dale Belcher, both em¬ ployed by Warner Brothers exchange, have announced their engagement and a Septem¬ ber wedding. DETROIT Here for “Windjammer” is Music Hall’s new house manager, Russ Russo, former house manager for Cinerama’s Boston house. Russo was named as house manager follow¬ ing the appointment of Bill McLaughlin from the house manager post to manager of pub¬ licity and advertising in Detroit. . . . Ex¬ hibitors who are proud possessors of the main prizes awarded their efforts to promote “January Is Movie Month” here include Howard Denial, Wyandotte, $100; Fred Wal¬ ton, Berkley, $50; Jack Cataldo, Ramona, $25; and $10 honorable mentions to Joe Thomas, Booth; Augie Sermo, Cinderella; Glenn Mc¬ Lean, Madison; Lincoln Friend, Michigan; Dale Kolleen, Norwest; Marie Olcese, Vogue; and Calvin Collard, Woods. . . . Tent 5, Va¬ riety Club of Detroit, opened their clubrooms for the Free Press series. Conversations On The Arts, wherein representatives of wo¬ men’s clubs throughout the city heard a “behind the scene” explanation of the film industi'y and its local problems from Milton London and Cooperative’s Alden Smith. . . . HOUSTON Al-Ray Theatres has reopened the Lindale, recently acquired from Lindale Properties, after a $25,000 refurbishing, and renamed it the Al-Ray. Albert Zarzana is president of Al-Ray Theatre and Ray Boriski is secretarytreasurer. . . . After six weeks, “Operation Petticoat” closed at Loew’s State to make way for “Never So Few.” This was the longest run for any picture at Loew’s State since it opened Oct. 15, 1927. . . . Barbara Hines was in town to plug “Who Was That Lady?” while Donna Anderson was in on a promo¬ tion visit for “On the Beach.” . . . Frankie Avalon was a visitor here. . . . Frank Scully, author and film writer, underwent a three hour heart operation at the Texas Medical Center. Doctors said the operation was be¬ lieved to have been a success. The siirgery was to correct a heart aneurism or blister that was in danger of bursting. Surgeons also removed Scully’s gall bladder and ap¬ pendix, according to Mrs. Scully. . . . Harry B. Martin has been named chief barker of the Houston Variety Tent 34. Other officers include first assistant chief barker, J. C. Kirby; second assistant. Max Gray; dough guy, George Dietrich; property master, Fred Much; and canvasmen Joe Berlowitz, Les Hunt, Augie Schmitt, Bob Derden, Rich¬ ard McGarr, and Ben Peters. Berlowitz is convention chairman, with Bruce Layer and Peters as alternates. The local Variety Tent has moved into new quarters at the Roce Hotel in the downtown section of the city. JACKSONVILLE Carlton T. Carter has taken over the operation of the local Ribault and Air Base drive-ins which have been operated for the past several months by Irvin Sochin. The Air Base will shortly be leased to Ernie Nolan, former manager of a Fernandina drive-in, Carter stated. . . . Eddie Stern, an official of the important Wometco Cir¬ cuit in the Miami area, has temporarily taken over the film booking and buying work which was done for many years by the late Herman Silverman. . . . The Negro -patron¬ age Ebbtide, Sebring, operated by Alfonso Flores, was closed by a disastrous fire only a week after its recent opening. Flores an¬ nounced plans for the early rebuilding of the theatre. . . . Joe Drury has re-opened the Century, St. Marys, Ga., which closed last year. . . . Harold Popel, who formerly booked for the Maas Corp. theatres, is now booking for the Boulevard Drive-In, West Palm Beach, and the Magnolia and Crown Drive-In, both in Titusville. . . . Bill Gunzelman, 20th-Fox auditor from New York, came in for a few weeks to establish a new bookkeeping system at the 20th-Fox branch. . . . Harry Botwick, supervisor of Florida State Theatres along the South Florida Gold Coast from West Palm Beach to Miami Beach, came in for conferences with FST home office executives. MEMPHIS The Better Film Council selected “Wind¬ jammer” as the Movie-of-the-Month for family audiences, and “Cash McCaU” for adult audiences. . . . Edward Howard, Press Scimitar amusement editor, picked only 34 “Good-Movies-of-the-Year” for 1959. He stated at that he might be stretching a point in including some of them. In 1959, he picked 50, and in 1958 selected 40 “GoodMovies-of-the-Year.” He picked “Imitation of Life” as the worst big-budget picture of 1959, and “Girls Town,” “The Beat Genera¬ tion,” and “The Big Operator” as the worst low-budget pictures. He listed “Horrors of of the Black Museum” as the most fiendish film of 1959. . . . Miss Louise Mask, who is said to “run the coimtry’s most orderly movie house,” was featured in a Memphis paper for some of her house rules. She has operated the Luez for 24 years at Bolivar, Term. Shorts for both men and women are harmed. She keeps a close watch to see there is no talking, no rattling of popcorn bags, no parading up and down the aisles, going to drinking formtain, the candy coimter, the popcorn machine during the show¬ ing of the picture. Everyone must get all that done before they take their seats. There is no necking in the house, and no slightly intoxicated person will be admitted. Small children left there by their parents caimot leave the theatre till their parents or au¬ thorized guardians call for them. Miss Mask considers these proper rules and says that they have helped her stay in business. “Last 20 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR March 16, I960