The Exhibitor (1966)

NEWS CAPSULES \l/ FILM FAMILY 'h ALBUM FORMS FOR THIS PACE CLOSED AT 5 P.M. ON MON., NOV. 21 v)/ BROADWAY GROSSES Go Id Bands Jack Keppner, an employee of the Connecticut Transportation Authority and the son of Morris Keppner, partner in the Burnside The¬ atre Corporation, East Hartford, Conn., was married to Sylvia Gloth of Springfield, Mass. Arlene L. Rapp, State employee, married draftsman Wayne Shapiro. She is the daugh¬ ter of Philip Rapp, Fabian Schenectady man¬ ager, and a niece of Louis Rapp, manager of Proctor’s at Troy. The ceremony took place in Ohav Sholom Congregation, Albany, N. Y. Obituaries Harry G. Arthur, 71, the head of Arthur En¬ terprises and the past president of the South¬ ern California Theatre Owners Association, died in his Los Angeles home of apparent heart failure. He was also a member of the Motion Picture Pioneers and a vice-president of the Principia Corp. Surviving Arthur are four brothers, five sisters, his wife, two sons, and nine grandchildren. Oscar P. Beard, 66, IATSE projectionist in Jacksonville, Fla., for 40 years, died after a long illness. He is survived by his widow, a sister, and a brother. Hugh J. Campbell, 76, retired manager of the first-run Central Theatre, Hartford, Conn., died of a heart attack. He began his 50-year exhibition career as an usher in Philadelphia, subsequently serving as manager of numerous Warner Bros, theatres in metropolitan Hart¬ ford, including the 4200-seat State. He is sur¬ vived by five sons and two daughters. Ken Crabtree, manager of the Surf Drive-In, Freeport, Texas, died. He was associated with John Long’s LCL Theatres for many years. He is survived by his wife, who aided him in the operation of the Surf. Harry J. Farwell, 80, the husband of Greater Detroit Motion Picture Council president Grace Farwell, died in Highland Park Hos¬ pital after a long illness. Harold Kay, manager of the Lake Theatre in Painesville, O., died. He was a member of the Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio and will be remembered by that group as a dedi¬ cated exhibitor and a hard-working com¬ munity leader. Phil Nemirow, 51, Loew’s city manager in Toronto, Canada, died suddenly. Before he was in charge of Loew’s Canadian operation, he was associated with the RKO Theatre in Providence. He is survived by his wife and two sons. John Pival, 52, long time veteran of both theatre and radio, died by drowning at his winter retirement home in Florida. In 1938, after having been manager of two theatres, he stepped into radio with his own program on old WMBC, in Detroit. In radio, he held positions as radio director, station manager, and vice-president. Transamerica Corp. Plans To Acquire United Artists NEW YORK — John R. Beckett, president of Transamerica Corporation, and Robert S. Benjamin and Arthur B. Krim, chairman and president respectively of United Artists Cor¬ poration, announced that an agreement in principle had been reached contemplating a tax-free exchange of shares offer by Trans¬ america to the stockholders of United Artists. Subject to the necessary legal approvals and formalities by both companies, Transamerica will offer to each United Artists stockholder an alternative choice of either one share of Transamerica common for each share of United Artists, or a package consisting of onehalf share of its common and one-eighth share of a new $4.80 cumulative preferred stock. The preferred stock will carry a cumula¬ tive dividend of $4.80 per share, be non-callable for eight years, be callable thereafter at $104.80, and be convertible into Transamerica common at $30 per share. Each full share of preferred stock will be entitled to one vote. In the opinion of counsel, the exchange of stocks will be tax-free, and an Internal Reve¬ nue ruling to this effect will be requested. The proposal, which would bring Trans¬ america into the field of leisure-time services for the first time, followed many months of investigation by both managements. Such fac¬ tors as Transamerica’s earning stability, divi¬ dend record, insurance in force, and book value, and United Artists’ earnings potential for growth in leisure-time fields and its film library, both managements feel, make the pro¬ posal an attractive one for the shareholders of both companies. It is intended that United Artists will be¬ come a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans¬ america with no change in its present manage¬ ment or operating policies. United Artists will be represented on the Transamerica board and Transamerica on the United Artists board. Transamerica, with assets of about 2.5 bil¬ lion dollars, is a diversified service organiza¬ tion and a major supplier of life property and title insurance. It also has substantial opera¬ tions in the fields of personal finance, com¬ mercial loans, land development, mortgage banking, and industrial and consumer leasing. The parties are presently engaged in the preparation of formal documents looking to¬ ward the consummation of the transaction. EXTRA CALENDARS Requests for additional copies of MO¬ TION PICTURE EXHIBITOR’S 1967 booking calendar must be accompanied by 10 cents for each calendar ordered. Due to the volume of requests, we can not acknowl¬ edge those orders that do not include such payment. We will continue to fill orders until the limited supply of extra calendars is exhausted. Waiting For Turkey Day NEW YORK — Broadway theatres waited for Thanksgiving while registering generally satisfactory business with primarily holdover and hard-ticket attractions. The only new attraction was “The Defector” at the Astor. “PENELOPE” (MGM). Radio City Music Hall, with usual stage show, registered about $135,000 for the second week. “HAWAII” (United Artists). DeMille maintained a strong pace with $43,000 for the sixth week of this roadshow engagement. “THE BIBLE” (20-Fox). Loew’s State con¬ tinued well with this hard-ticket attraction with $49,000 for the eighth week. “DR. ZHIVAGO” (MGM). Capitol tallied $23,000 for the 48th hard-ticket week of this successful epic. “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” (20th-Fox). Rivoli reported $28,000 for the 90th week of this amazing roadshow engagement. “THE DEFECTOR” (Seven Arts). Astor reported $20,000 for the opening week of Broadway’s only new show and Montgomery Clift’s last film. “THE PROFESSIONALS” (Columbia). Victoria maintained a good pace with $30,000 for the third week. “IS PARIS BURNING?” (Paramount). Criterion continued at capacity with $50,000 for the second roadshow week. “THE LIQUIDATOR” (MGM). Warner took in $13,500 for the third week. “ALFIE” (Paramount). New Embassy grossed $15,000 in the 13th week. The exchange offer will be made as soon as all legal requirements have been met, includ¬ ing registration of Transamerica’s preferred and common stock under the Securities Act of 1933. GOODBYE, GEORGE! MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR has lost a valued member of its editorial “staff and the motion picture industry has lost one of its best friends. We were privi¬ leged to work with George Nonamaker for many years. He was a gentleman and a gentle man. He was also an excellent re¬ porter and an astute observer of the motion picture scene. As feature editor of the publication, he helped make departments such as the yel¬ low Servisection and the Exploitation sec¬ tion invaluable aids for every theatreman who subscribed to our publication. We will miss him deeply as co-worker, friend, and decent human being who lived quietly and with a minimum of fuss, did his job well, and brought a large measure of happiness to those whose lives he touched. Goodbye, George! JAY EMANUEL November 23, 1966 4 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR