The Exhibitor (1960)

ALBANY Alan V. Iselin splashed advertising on “The First Time In The World At A Drive-In Theatre” for the showing of “Windjammer” at his Super 50 Drive-In, Schnectady-Ballston Road. The drive-in was closed for a day to permit installation of equipment used for the CineMiracle process on a 125-foot wide screen. The new Heilman, for which Iselin serves as general manager, had played the film four and one-half weeks at $2.50 top. Iselin’s scale at the 1050-car Super 50, man¬ aged by Bob Case, is adults, $1.25; children, eight to 11, 35 cents; and kids under eight, no charge. . . . Milt Levins, who left United Artists to become a salesman in another field, returned as office manager and booker tak¬ ing over from Mrs. Marcia McLean, who will work a few hours a day before retiring in September. Leon Weston succeeded Levins as UA salesman. . . . George V. Lynch, chief film buyer, Schine Circuit, and an employee since 1919, was among the 140 honored at a dinner given by Schine Enterprises in Glens Falls. . . . Fabian Strand Theatre Corporation has been dissolved. . . . SW zone manager Charles A. Smakwitz was in with Tony Williams, assistant zone manager; John Mc¬ Kenna, booker; Lou Dennis, contact man¬ ager; Edgar Goth, ad-publicity manager; and George Eisenberg, real estate manager; and held a meeting of managers of the circuit’s theatres in Albany-Troy-and Utica. . . . Joe Stowell, who recently surrendered the lease he held on the Lincoln, Troy, which is now dark, is slated to be appointed a SW manager in this area. . . . Elias Schlenger, Fabian division manager, made several trips to New¬ ark, N.J., to visit his seriously-ill mother. ATLANTA Richard Hobson, father of Mrs. Lester Neely, owner, Neely Circuit in Alabama, died at his Marion, Ala., home. . . . The wife of Martin circuit executive Johnny Harell is in a local hospital for surgery. . . . Joe Johnson, Martin Theatres’ booker, was back at work following an illness. . . . James V. Frew, southern district manager, Continental Films, returned from Memphis where he attended the seventh district meeting of IATSE. . . Charlie Kerr, Martin Theatres head booker, was back at his desk after an illness. . . . Mrs. Greer Grace, owner, College Drive-In, Fort Valley, is recuperating at home follow¬ ing an illness. . . . William A. Erwin is the new owner, Joy, Gurley, Ala. . . . J. H. (Tommy) Thompson, president, Martin and Thompson Theatres, and president, Georgia Theatre Owners, was in at Martin booking office. BOSTON C. Glenn Norris, general sales manager of 20th-Fox, will address the convention in Chatham, Mass., of Independent Exhibitors, Inc., and Drive-in Theatres Association of New England, it has been announced by gen¬ eral chairman Edward W. Lider and coordin¬ ator Carl Goldman. Norris will speak to the group during the three-day period, Sept. 1314-15. . . . William Nayor, son of Max Nayor, manager, Metropolitan, for New England The¬ atres, Inc., was married at the Essex House, New York, to Elizabeth Messing of New York. After a wedding trip, the young couple will live in New York where he is in the sports¬ wear business. NET prexy Bob Sternburg, his wife, and district manager Hy Fine at¬ tended the wedding and reception. . . . Paul Barker, former manager, Strand, Wobum, Mass., for Ray Feeley, has joined American Theatres Corp. where he is temporary man¬ ager, Mayflower, while the regular manager Vincent Price recently greeted Catherine Barth, secretary. Mystery Writers of America, at a special screening of American International's "House Of Usher" in New York. is on vacation. . . . Judson Parker, sales manager for Embassy Pictures in Boston for the past three years is transferring to the New York office to work with Eddie Solo¬ mon, vice-president in charge of advertising, publicity, and exploitation. His post at Em¬ bassy is being taken by Leonard Appell, who is transferring from the Columbia sales staff where he was city salesman for the past five years. . . . The South Shore Plaza Twin Drive-in is scheduled to open its gates in midJuly as an adjunct to the South Shore Plaza Shopping Center. Operated by Arthur Howard, president, Affiliated Theatres Corp., the new theatre will have two giant screens for a total of 2,000 speakers, one thousand on each side of the projection booth. It will be the largest drive-in in the Greater Boston area. The booth equipment is being installed by National Theatre Supply Company through its Boston office and the concession build¬ ing will have a four-lane refreshment serv¬ ice. Paul McBeath, well known theatre man¬ ager, is the director of the project, while the booking and buying will be handled by Affiliated Theatres Corp. . . . The Variety Club of New England has made a deposit on a Jet Airliner (Air France) to Paris for Oct. 15 for members of the club who wish to take advantage of a European visit. . . . The Arcade, Springfield, Mass., a B&Q Associates house, is having 70mm equipment installed by Massachusetts Theatre Equipment Com¬ pany, with Edie Comi supervising the proj¬ ect. . . . Smith Management Company is en¬ tering the bowling alley field with the first building to be opened in August at Welling¬ ton Circle, Medford, while ground will be broken the first of July for another in West Roxbury. NEW HAMPSHIRE NEWS— Wreckers have torn down the Bristol, Bristol, and Chamber of Commerce members have not decided whether to try to have another theatre con¬ structed in town. . . . The Aetna Life In¬ surance Company has filmed a movie en¬ titled “Stamp Out Operating Room Staph” at the Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro. The movie shows how the hospital has wiped out post-operative infection among surgical pa¬ tients. . . . The Concord Drive-In recently had a dusk to dawn show with free pony rides for children, free pearl earrings for women, and an auto show for the men. ... A Three Stooges picture ring was given to all children on Friday and Saturday nights at the Rochester Drive-In, Rochester. . . . Nashua’s Board of Aldermen has passed an ordinance reducing local theatre licenses from $200 to $150. Armand Pepin, theatre man¬ ager, requested the reduction because of the low attendance in the first of the year. This cut is $50 less than the original request but there may be a further reduction next year, it was stated. . . . Weekly movies have been started in the town hall in Bristol to provide entertainment for residents and summer vis¬ itors now that the Bristol is no longer in operation. BUFFALO The Columbia, a link in the old Gammel chain, and an adjoining two-story frame building, have been bought by the Thorn¬ ton Oil Company of Cincinnati. The struc¬ tures will be razed to make room for a discount gasoline station. The Columbia thea¬ tre building was owned by 278 Jefferson, Inc., headed by Ben Kape. . . . Comerford Thea¬ tres have reopened the Capri, Binghamton, N.Y. The theatre has been completely re¬ decorated and refurbished. . . . Michael Ellis, Jr., first assistant chief barker, Tent 7 Variety Club of Buffalo, has been elected president, Board of the Buffalo Council on World Af¬ fairs. . . . Seymour Morris, director of ad¬ vertising and publicity for the Schine thea¬ tres circuit, who headquarters in Gloversville, was astonished and amused the other day at what he read about himself in a Rus¬ sian newspaper. Morris, a frequent Buffalo visitor, showed a note enclosing a clipping from a Miami News which told of the tall tale spun by Soviet visitor Daniel F. Kraminov. Morris was one of the hosts when Russian officials toured the U.S.A. last year, stopping at some of the Schine hotels for which Morris is also public relations director, including the McAllister, Miami. At one function, Seymour sat next to Kraminov, a quiet fellow with whom he couldn’t seem to drum up a conversation. But the story that Kraminov spun for the Soviets’ home con¬ sumption was something to read. To start with, Kraminov described the well-groomed, youthful-looking Morris as “an elderly man with a red face as if sunburned and sparse hair that was carefully placed over a bald spot.” Then the Soviet visitor went on to spin a tale of what he was told by his “hotel owner” neighbor, all about American life that is divided into three parts as private, business, and social, of how the amount of money a man makes is the important thing and how dog eats dog in the U.S.A. “I never heard anything more ridiculous,” said Mor¬ ris. “All I asked him was if he planned to come to Miami for a vacation some time. Then I asked him what hotel he was going to stay at. He just dummied up and I never talked to him again.” Colonel Bill Shirley, who had been exploit¬ ing for United Artists in Atlanta while re¬ cuperating from an illness, is now back on his old stamping grounds in Buffalo, where he is working on “The Apartment,” current at Shea’s Buffalo, and “Elmer Gantry,” soon coming to town. . . . Construction of a $4,000,000 Bausch & Lomb, Inc., of Rochester plant in Chili, N.Y., loomed nearer the other day with the purchase of an 85 -acre parcel of farmland by the optical firm that devel¬ oped the CinemaScope lens. . . . There is a real flash on the Center building in the form of a 18 by 35 foot banner, covering almost the entire second floor. The mammoth banner is flashing the word that Edna Ferber’s “Ice Palace” is now being shown on the Center screen. Manager Ben Dargush is getting a lot of favorable comments on the giant sign. . . . Bill Abrams, booker at the local Columbia exchange, has been elected one of the three New York state delegates to the IATSE con¬ vention, which opens Aug. 1 in Chicago. Bill is business agent for the Buffalo CE-9 Exchange Employes Local, IATSE . . . Do¬ lores Rubin, Hollywood script supervisor, was in Buffalo the other day doing some tub* July 20, I960 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 13