The Exhibitor (1966)

ALBANY Neil Heilman announced that 20th-Fox’s !! uThe Bible would have its northeastern New York premiere on Christmas Day at the Hellman on a road-show basis. . . . Encyclopedia Brittanica Films, Inc., New York, increased its capital stock and changed its name to Encyclopedia Brittanica Educational Corpora¬ tion, in papers registered with the Secretary of State. . . . Mrs. Wadad Boumansour’s Plaza, Malone, which recently underwent moderniza¬ tion, is now known as the Cinema Plaza. War¬ ners’ “My Fair Lady” was a recent attraction there. . . . A1 Labounty is operating a new 250seater at a shopping center in Manchester, Vt. He formerly conducted the Playhouse there. His wife is associated with him in the cinema. . . . Exchanges reported that the former Schine Mohawk, Amsterdam, had been bought by Brandt Theatres, New York, owner of the Tryon, five-year-old house in the Rug City. It was said the Mohawk, managed by F. L. O Kelly, would go dark, leaving Amsterdam with one open house. The two had been oper¬ ating on weekends and splitting product. . . . Herbert Nitke was reported to be negotiating for the Paramount, Glens Falls. His Panther Theatre Corporation now operates the Rialto, a former Schine situation, in that city. The Paramount has been an ABC Paramount first , run. BUFFALO Fred A. Keller, managing director since 1962 of the CircleArt and GlenArt theatres, the former in Buffalo and the latter in Williamsville, has been appointed director of instructional communications in the Erie County Technical Institute. . . . “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” was brought back for a “special limited engagement” on Nov. ! 9 and 10 in four Buffalo theatres, the Abbott, Bailey, Rivoli, and Unity, and these western j: New York cities, Aurora, East Aurora; Glen i Art, Williamsville; Palace, Hamburg; Palace, | Jamestown; Rapids, Niagara Falls; and Star, Tonawanda. . . . Joseph Schuler, Jr., who j! designed all of Jo-Mor Enterprises, Inc., new houses in the Rochester area and Loew’s in Pittford, N.Y., has hit the jackpot. Schuler will redo Loew’s New York City showcase theatres, the State and Capitol, both among the biggest film palaces on Broadway. . . . Variety Club Women held a luncheon meet¬ ing in the Tent 7 clubrooms. The highlight was a Hollowe’en mask contest. Mrs. Kenneth A. Reuter was chairman, assisted by Mrs. Joseph F. Schaefer. . . . Chief barker A1 Petrella, Buffalo Variety Club, announces that the weekly Bingo games in the Genesee are turning in goodly sums to aid in Tent 7’s various charity activities. . . . Sunday film showings, abandoned two years ago at the Dryden, Rochester’s George Eastman House, chiefly for lack of attendance, are being given another chance. The free programs, a feature of the museum since its beginning, have been resumed with the presentation of the 1921 Danish classic, “Leaves of Satan’s Book.” Re¬ peated requests from the devotees of the former week-end films led to the decision to try again, according to Beaumont Newhall, George Eastman House director. Visitors under 16 must be accompanied by their parents. . . . Harold Bennett, chairman, Va¬ riety Club’s heart committee, announces that the hydro-therapy chair lift, originally in¬ stalled alongside the Sir Billy Butlin Sunshine Pool during the 1964 Buffalo Variety Inter¬ national convention has been donated to the N.Y. State School for Handicapped Children at West Seneca, N.Y. . . . An organ concert in the Rochester Auditorium the other night Columbia's slogan for "The Professionals" was re¬ cently projected onto the Huntington Hartford Mu¬ seum, New York, by the newly developed Publicity Searchlights Projecta-Beam in a promotion for the film at the Victoria and Fine Arts theatres. It was displayed on many prominent structures across the city. helped to raise money to aid in the installa¬ tion of the old RKO-Palace theatre pipe organ in the Auditorium. . . . The Variety Club of Buffalo will hold a Monte Carlo-Eas Vegas festival in the Delaware avenue clubrooms Nov. 19. Richard Aaron is chairman. There will be prizes galore, and guest tickets will be given for the various local theatres. . . . Dewey Michaels, veteran Buffalo showman and long-time Variety Club member, pre¬ sented the spectacular production “Festa Italiana” in Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium. . . . Frank B. Quinlivan, Dipson district man¬ ager, and Barbara Quinlivan, president, Women of Variety, are celebrating the birth of their second grandchild, Joan Marie O’Con¬ nor. Friends are hoping for the quick recovery of Chuck O’Connor, the father, who is in the General Hospital. . . . The South Buffalo Business Men’s Association is bringing Santa Claus to south Buffalo on Saturday, Nov. 19, and the association has arranged with man¬ ager Harry E. Lotz to hold a holiday song festival in the Seneca on Dec. 18. Church and school choirs are being invited to par¬ ticipate. . . . The Buffalo Variety Club is get¬ ting lined up for another telethon, and it again will be aired over channel 7, thanks to fellow barker Bob King of WKBW-TV. Nate Dickman, past chief barker, and permanent Telethon chairman, soon will announce the various committees of the event. CINCINNATI A heavy snowfall didn’t dampen the festive opening of “Fortune Cookie” in a benefit per¬ formance for Variety Tent Three’s Sunshine Coach fund, Nov. 2 at Times Towne Cinema. The parade which always precedes a Times Towne opening was canceled, but patrons had fun, including Ralph Pries, first assistant presi¬ dent, Variety Clubs International. The fund was swelled by about $4,000. Following the film’s presentation, patrons were entertained at a beautifully appointed champagne party in the theatre’s lounge. . . . Dale Stevens, Post and Times-Star movie critic and entertainment editor, was guest of honor at a luncheon in Vernon Manor given by the city’s film and theatre fraternity. Stevens leaves the Post & Times-Star to join the Detroit News. . . . Disney’s “Cinderella” will be the featured attraction for the eighth annual “kiddie show” at Chakeres’ State Theatre, Springfield, O., Nov. 19, presented in cooperation with the Catholic Parish News Associates. Admission is a can of fruit or vegatables for the Thanks¬ giving and Christmas baskets which are an¬ nually distributed to needy families by the Dominican Sisters of the Poor. In addition to the feature, there will be several cartoons and an attendance drawing for special prizes. . . . Mitchell Blachschlager, owner of Academy Drive-In, is in Jewish Hospital. . . . Calvernia Jacobs is new Universal staff member. . . . Charles G. Ackerman, president of Glenway Chevrolet Co. and formerly general manager for Ackerman Enterprises, operators of Covedale Theatre, died Oct. 28 while on a Canadian hunting trip. CLEVELAND Most of the area drive-ins are either closed or down to week-end operation for the winter. . . . Associated Theatres opened their new Midway located in the Midway Mall between Lorin and Elyria. . . . Sympathy is extended to the family of Harold Kay, Painesville exhibitor, who died from a heart attack. He was manager and co-owner of the Lake and the Mentor Drive-In and was active in the local theatre scene over 30 years. . . . Loew’s State will close after the Thanksgiving holiday to be converted into a Cinerama house . . . . “The Sound Of Music” is still rolling at Loew’s Ohio, now in its 83rd week. . . . The Palace will go hard ticket again when Paramount’s “Is Paris Burning?” comes in on Dec. 22. COLUMBUS , O. General Cinema Corp. is opening its second and third de luxe suburban theatres here Nov. 16 — University City Cinema in University Shopping Center, near Ohio State University, and Great Western Cinema in Great Western Shopping Center, at the western edge of the city. General Cinema’s first suburban house, opened several weeks ago, is Town and Coun¬ try Cinema in Town and Country Shopping Center. Lou Michael is local GC representa¬ tive. Inaugural attraction at the new houses and Town and Country Cinema is the Dean Martin feature, “Texas Across The River.” . . . Major exterior construction on the two new Loew’s de luxe suburban theatres here has been completed. It is hoped to complete the two houses by the holidays. Celebrating Its 5th Year In Motion Picture Distribution BOX OFFICE ATTRACTIONS, INC. presents THE MOST TALKED ABOUT FILMS IN THE WASHINGTON, 0. C. AREA! ★ THE ENDLESS SUMMER ★ MORGAN ★LEBONHEUR ★ ALLEY CATS ★ ADAM and EVE ★ AGENT 38-24-36 ★ THE GiRL FROM TOBACCO ROW ★ THE FARMER’S OTHER DAUGHTER 6th Floor phone: 347-3151 Warner Building 347-3221 13th and "E" Streets N.W Washington, D. C. Sheldon Thomberg, Pres I November 16, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 17