The Exhibitor (1966)

a visitor here to promote the film. . . . ^Valter Slezak will be guest speaker for Friday Forum on Nov. 18 at Cinema I in North Park. This is the first of six programs scheduled for the 1966-67 season of Friday Forum. All will be presented at Cinema I at 10:30 a.m., approxi¬ mately one a month from October to May. Slezak will speak on “Show Business is No Business.” . . . Bill Travers and Virginia Mc¬ Kenna, seen in “Born Free,” were visitors on behalf of the film at the Delman. . . . James Francis Gillespie retired on May 30 as ex¬ ploitation representative with 20th-Fox. Gil¬ lespie has been serving the southwest and por¬ tions of the southland for 20 years. Fie has been in show business 60 years with touring shows, the jazz age, and roadshow movies. . . . Dallas News amusement editor William A. Payne is scheduled to visit the set of MetroGoldwyn-Mayers “The Dirty Dozen,” being filmed in London. Trini Lopez, Dallas singer is in the cast of the film. . . . Alan Arkin and Norman Jewison were in Dallas to promote “The Russians Are Coming.” A sneak preview was held at the Majestic. . . . “Shane” has opened a multiple run at 13 area theatres. . . . Prints of a double bill at the Denton Road Drive-In were reported as stolen to local po¬ lice. The films were “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Silencers” and were valued at $2,000. DENVER Norman Neilsen, manager, new Continental, which has been showing “The Agony and the Ecstacy” since its opening three months ago, has opened “Oklahoma” for a hard ticket run. The reissued film had its original showing here at the famous old Tabor Opera House, now razed. . . . Marvin Goldfarb, Buena Vista district manager, has been in Albuquerque setting up Disney bookings in that area. . . . An Early Bird screening of “Madame X” is being set especially for secretaries at the Cen¬ tre here. The film is to start at 7 a.m., and the gals will be invited to partake of a 6:30 breakfast prior to the show. Picture will be over at 8:45 so they can be on the job if their bosses resent late arrivals. ... A police car chasing a motorist in a stolen car rammed into the side of a car being driven by 69-year-old Jack B. Crouch, projectionist at the Esquire, killing him. . . . Back at the local United Art¬ ists branch here as office manager is Toni Dyesterhuis. ... A bronze medal was awarded Cully Marshall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Marshall (he is Columbia salesman) for the boy’s prowess in the Aurora Relays held recently in the suburban city. DE5 MOINES Carl Schwanebeck, Knoxville, has purchased the Iowa, Winterset, from Eben Hayes. Schwanebeck operates the Grand and Knox¬ ville drive-in, Knoxville. . . . The Strand, Dubuque, has reopened after an extensive re¬ modeling program. . . . Variety Tent 15 at Des Moines has appointed a new project com¬ mittee headed by A. Don Allen as chairman. Ser\’ing with Allen will be former Des Moines mayor Charles lies, Myron Blank, head of Central States Theatres, and Abe dayman. The Des Moines Wriety Club has one Sun¬ shine Coach in operation and a second bus on the way. . . . The 13th international conven¬ tion of W'OMPI will be held in Des Moines at Hotel Savery from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. Betty Hemstock, Central States Theatres, is convention chairman, and serving with her on the planning committee will be Leone Mat¬ thews, Tri-States, and Elorence Work, Central States. L to R— Worcester Mayor George A. Wells greets Emile Dauphinais, president, Lincoln Plaza Center, as Chester L. Stoddard, vice-president, C-M-R theatres, and Leo Lajoie, resident manager for new 900 seat Plaza indoor theatre, to be built by ABC in Worcester, Mass., area this year, look on. HOUSTON The Houston Post is conducting a contest in conjunction with the showing of “The Last of the Secret Agents” with Allen and Rossi at the Majestic. The contest, “Your Favorite Joke,” will be judged by Allen and Rossi and will provide a $100 U. S. Savings Bond to the winner. Runnersup will receive free passes to the movie. ... A number of Hollywood celeb¬ rities attended the opening of the new Hous¬ ton Music Theatre. Art Linkletter was master of ceremonies for the telecast. . . . Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle, wrote an essay on the frus¬ tration of bad movie prints. He went to a drive-in and remarked on how bad the print was on the screen. . . . Cornel Wilde appeared on stage of the Majestic in conjunction with the opening of “The Naked Prey.” . . . The Houston Post is conducting a contest for boys and girls 14 and under in conjunction with “Around the World Under the Sea,” sched¬ uled to open at the Metropolitan on June 9. Grand prize winner of the contest will receive a free trip to Miami Beach for the world pre¬ miere of the film. Entrants are being asked to spell out the reason when they would like to see the world premiere showing at Miami Beach. The first 1,000 entries automatically win passes for two at a special preview of the film. JACKSONVILLE Marty Shearn, manager, Elorida State The¬ atres’ Center, has had a fine response from church people of many denominations who have requested his discount coupons for at¬ tending showings of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” . . . WOMPI members who provided an industry service by serving as hostesses at several advance screenings of “Born Eree” in the Preview Theatre were lo¬ cal WOMPI president Mary Hart and inter¬ national vice-president Anne Dillon, both of FST; Joyce Malmborg, Celia Brugh, and Violet Davis, Allied Artists; Kitty Dowell, Eleanor Moon, and Sandra Easley, MGM; Ida Belle Levey, United Artists; and Claudia Taylor and Barbara Hutchinson, FST. . . . Marvin Skinner, who recently joined the FST booking staff, has relieved Tom Sawyer in the work of scheduling distribution screenings into the Preview Theatre, and Sawyer now heads the booking department. . . . WOMPI members are busy collecting used household goods, furnishings, and clothing for an all-day rummage sale at the Brentwood Housing Project. . . . Bob Capps, MGM manager, spent several days calling on exhibitors in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. . . . Jayne Mans¬ field came here for a singing performance at the Civic Auditorium and to publicize her country music motion picture, “Las Vegas Hillbillies.” . . . The San Marco Art Theatre rounded out an engagement with “The Shop on Main Street,” winner of the best foreign film Academy Award, and opened with an English offering, “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off.” ... A lavish advertising pro¬ gram for the opening of “Doctor Zhivago” at Sheldon Mandell’s Eive Points included color signs on the sides of a city bus fleet. . . . “Blindfold,” which attracted wide public no¬ tice when it was filmed in the vicinity of nearby Ocala last year, opened on the screen of the downtown Elorida. MIAMI, FLA, The San Carlos, Key West, was the scene of the world premiere of “The Devil’s Sisters,” latest release of Thunderbird International Pictures. The film was shot at the Empire Studios, Davie, Fla. ... A sports car Gym¬ khana will be held on Palm Springs Mile, the busy business street in front of the Palm Springs Theatre, Hialeah, in connection with the show¬ ing of “Fireball 500.” The Miami Sports Car Club is running the Gymkhana with the ap¬ proval of the Palm Springs Merchants Asso¬ ciation. . . . Sympathy was extended to Fred Lee, manager. Coral Ridge, Ft. Lauderdale, in the death of his mother in Jacksonville. . . . Hayes Garbarino, manager, Florida, West Palm Beach, held a screening of “Born Free” to honor the 10 top students in each of the 84 Palm Beach County schools. . . . Hal Cum¬ mings, manager. Lake, Lake Worth, secured the sponsorship of the opening night of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” by the Palm Lake Baptist Association. . . . Elvis Presley’s $35,000 custom-built gold car was touring shopping centers in Dade and Broward Counties to pub¬ licize the opening at Elorida State Theatres of “Erankie and Johnnie.” ... A special theatre party was held at the Coral, sponsored by Radio Station WQAM, on “Trouble with Angels.” Screenings were held for the local Catholic Diocese prior to opening at the Coral, Coral Gables. Student members of the Miami News “Teen Scene” page were guests at a screening of the picture in the Elorida State Theatres screening room. . . . The father of Martin Balsam, winner of the Academy Award for his supporting actor role in “A Thousand Clowns,” was the guest of manager Jimmy Barnett at the Olympia, downtown Miami, to see the picture. MEMPHIS Erank Patterson reopened the City, Junc¬ tion City, Ark. . . . Eilm Transit has received word from Jack Braunagel that he has opened a drive-in in Helena, Ark. . . . Lamar, Air¬ ways, Park, Malco, Northgate, New Daisy, Plaza, and Memphian cooperated in the show¬ ing of the two films presented by the Ameri¬ can Cancer Society. A Memphis physician participated in the free program at each the¬ atre, and nurses served as ushers. . . . The Ku Klux Klan’s demonstration against the showing of “A Patch of Blue” created great interest in the picture and admiration for the Plaza for showing this picture of one human being’s sympathy for another. Presently, Ken Godere, manager, is considering holding the picture over for a fourth week. Letters to the editors of local papers have been pub¬ lished praising the Plaza for showing the film. The New Daisy, a house in the heart of famed Beale Street, has booked “A Patch of Blue” beginning June 4. . . . The local WOMPI had its May dinner meeting at the Variety Club. Plans were made for the annual banquet for the installation of officers and the honoring 16 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR June 1, 1966 |