The Exhibitor (1966)

Jackson said that the convention next year will be an international convention and that invitations have gone out to a number of film industry personnel of other countries. . . . John H. Rowley, president of Rowley United Theatres, has been named Texas area director for the observance of National Movie Month in October. He has named a committee of eight to assist, comprising Raymond Willie, W. E. Mitchell, Bernie Palmer, Brandon Doak, Bill O'Donnell and H. J. Griffith, all of Dallas; Earl Podolnick, Austin; and Sam Tanner, Beuamont. . . . The Dallas Times HeraldInterstate Theatres-Universal Pictures are co¬ sponsoring “Alfred Hitchcock’s 50 Movies” contest in conjunction with the showing of “Torn Curtain” at the Palace. The contest asks readers how many Hitchcock movies they can name. The first prize is $200 and there are 25 prizes of Decca sound track albums, and another group of 25 pairs of guest tickets to the Palace. . . . Evelyn Neely has joined As¬ sociated Popcorn to do general office and secretarial work. She will continue keeping books for Academy Theatres. . . . Services were held here for George Scott, a retired porter for the Paramount exchange. . . . A1 Wolf, Acme Pictures, distributor for Cinema V, returned from a business trip to Houston. He recently moved his local offices to the Mer¬ chandise Mart Bldg. DENVER A breakfast show which may have set a rec¬ ord for early morning theatre attendance was held by manager Bob Sweeten of the Interna¬ tional 70 recently on “The Torn Curtain,” Hitchcock suspenser. Bob secured the coopera¬ tion of one of the two local Denver dailies, The Rocky Mountain News, to sponsor the event, which accounted for several advance publicity breaks. A nearby coffee shop supplied orange juice, doughnuts, and coffee and catered the affair, and the $1.50 evening admission was halved for the six o’clock morning show, which was out in time for folks to get to their jobs by nine a.m. . . . Robert C. Nelson, who owned and managed the Liberty Bell in Leadville, Colo., since 1920, died recently at the age of 68. He is survived by his widow, Gladys, one daughter, a sister, and four grandchildren. Nel¬ son was active in his home city’s community affairs and had varied business interests. . . . New dates have been set for the annual Rocky Mountain Motion Picture Association fun jamboree. They are Sept. 12 and 13 instead of Sept. 13 and 14 as originally planned. Activi¬ ties include a golf tournament, stag dinner, and golf Calcutta. Co-chairmen for the event this year are Don Gallagher, Western Service and Supply Co., and Joe Kaitz, local Warners branch manager. DETROIT Carl Shalit, branch manager of Columbia Pictures here, will be retiring next month. He has been with Columbia since 1929, and after nearly 50 years in the business, Shalit checks out of his post under a new company policy which automatically puts men of 65 on the cutting room floor. Shalit came to Detroit in 1922, and “The Dreyfus Case” and George Jessel’s “My Mother’s Eyes” were the first pictures he handled here. Shalit and his wife are contemplating a six-month cruise around the world. William Wood, sales manager for Columbia, will take over the post of branch manager. HOUSTON United Artists’ Addie Addison flew in to put on a promotional campaign for “Namu, the Killer Whale,” which opens a multiple Milton Daly, UA Theatres resident manager, is flanked by Manchester, Conn., Jaycees officers Jerome Baskin, left, and Robert McGarity at a re¬ cent Jaycees benefit premiere of Universal's "Torn Curtain" marking the opening of the newly-built UA Theatre East in the Manchester Shopping Parkade. engagement on Aug. 25. . . . The premiere showing of “Blueprints of the Future” will be held at a dinner of the San Jacinto Chapter, Texas Society of Professionl Engineers, in the Houston Engineering and Scientific Society Bldg. The film, to be presented by the Houston Chapter, American Institute of Architects, describes projects designed for the Houston of tomorrow. . . . The Houston Post is con¬ ducting a contest in conjunction with the showing of “Torn Curtain” at the Metropoli¬ tan. A $100 savings bond will be given to the first person who can list the names of all of Hitchcock’s 50 films. If no one submits a com¬ pletely accurate list, the person who comes closest will be awarded the top prize. Runnersup will win a sound track album and tickets to see the new film. ... A multiple opening for “Tobo the Happy Clown” will be held here on Oct. 8 and 9. The film was directed by Wil¬ liam Rowland and stars Tobo, a European clown, who was born in the United States and whose real name is Eddie Finn. . . . A1 Wolfe, Acme Pictures, distributor for Cinema V in Texas and Oklahoma territories with head¬ quarters in Dallas, was in on a business trip. He has booked Cinema V’s latest picture “Morgan!” into the Delman, Houston. ... A feature story appeared in the Houston Chron¬ icle’s magazine supplement, Zest, concerning Paul Klepper, who appeared in Hollywood as Jack Houston in western series. Klepper resur¬ rects the days when he battled the boys in the black hats every weekend at his Pigalle beer garden when he runs old Monogram cowboy films and other studios’ westerns to good re¬ sponse from his patrons. JACKSONVILLE Carroll Ogburn, Warner Bros, branch man¬ ager, has informed Florida’s exhibitors that they now have a four-minute supplement to “The Land We Love,” a two-reel Technicolor short subject which is being given free distri¬ bution by Warner Bros, as a public service for the U. S. Government. The supplement is called “Our Armed Forces in Viet Nam.” Some exhibitors, Ogburn stated, have found the two-reeler so attractive to their patrons as an added attraction that they have booked it for repeat runs. . . . Charles J. King, AIP branch manager, and Mrs. King are vacationing at Pine Bluff, Ark., visiting their son, an Army major stationed there, and his family. . . . Tom Sawyer, Florida State Theatres executive, and Mrs. Sawyer (Rita) have a fourth child, a girl weighing six pounds and 15 ounces at birth in Baptist Hospital. . . . Harold Turbyfill, buyer and booker for Preston Henn Theatres, and Mrs. Turbyfill became the par¬ ents of a son, David T. Turbyfill, weighing eight pounds and nine and a half ounces at birth in Holy Cross Hospital at Fort Lauder¬ dale. ... A wedding of wide interest to industryites was that of Miss Nancy McClure, daughter of W. A. “Bill” McClure, Universal branch manager, and Mrs. McClure, to James Giroux in the Christ the King Catholic Church in nearby Arlington. A reception followed in the home of family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Woodford, and the young couple went on a brief honeymoon in downstate Florida before moving to a Navy base near Monterey, Calif., where Giroux is stationed. . . . Kent Theatres has changed the name of its Island Beach Drive-In at Cocoa Beach to the Merritt Island Drive In. ... Four Kent theatres in this area, three outdoorers and an indoor, teamed up to present a first-run program consisting of the north Florida premiere of “Maya” and the re¬ issue of “North by Northwest.” . . . Walt Meier, manager of FST’s big downtown Flor¬ ida, packed in the patrons with a sneak pre¬ view of “Arrivederci, Baby!” for Paramount during his run of “Assault On A Queen.” WOMPI group served as hostesses. . . . Sunny Greenwood, Universal booker and former WOMPI president, and her visiting cousin, Bebe Bowers, school teacher from Buffalo, N. Y., had a busy weekend as Sunny moved into a new apartment complex on the southside. . . . Official WOMPI delegates named to represent the local WOMPI members at the group’s September convention in Des Moines are president Mary Hart and Edwina Ray, former interim president. The backup alter¬ nate delegates are Dorothy Zeitlinger and Mildred Land, both of whom have held sev¬ eral important WOMPI offices. A third full delegate will be Anne Dillon, currently serv¬ ing as WOMPI’s international vice-president. . . . The Highway Drive-In, Fort Lauderdale, formerly operated by Joe Fink, is now a unit of Plenn Theatres. . . . The Lyric, Dunnellon, a unit of MGM Theatres, was forced to close as a result of a state highway widening pro¬ gram, and the circuit may relocate the Lyric in a new location, it is reported. . . . The Barn Door Dinner Theatre Circuit of Richmond, Va., plans to erect units in this city and Or¬ lando which would bring its total to nine facilities. Investment here is expected to be in the range of $100,000 for a buffet dinner setup for patrons plus live theatrical “in the round” versions of Broadway stage hits at prices rang¬ ing from $5 to $7 per person. Casts of the Barn Door plays and musicals, it is reported, mingle with patrons to serve as hosts and hostesses at the buffet dinners. MIAMI, FLA . Capital Film Laboratories, Inc., which processes film for studios shooting in south Florida, reported profits of $83,034 on sales of $2.59 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, up from $54,048 on sales of $2.13 million the prior year. . . . Construction was slated on St. Petersburg’s first twin, which would occupy over five acres on the southeast edge of Central Plaza. The estimated cost of the Florida State Theatres house is $325,000. Robert Collins is the architect. FST already operates three downtown St. Petersburg the¬ atres — the Florida, State, and Cameo. . . . The Dec. 21 opening of “Hawaii” at the Colony, Miami Beach, is to be sponsored by the South¬ east and Miami units of the National Council of Jewish Women. . . . Walter Resce, Rain¬ bow Pictures, Coral Gables, and Ben Chap¬ man, Ivan Tors Productions, North Miami, were named vice-presidents of the Florida Motion Picture and Television Producers As¬ sociation. The FMPTPA is sponsored by the Florida Development Commission and Florida Council of 100 to further production in Flor 16 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR August 24, 1966