Motion Picture Herald (July-Aug 1935)

94 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 2 0, 19 3 5 Mi J* C. jENriNs-liis CoLruM M Des Moines, Iowa Dear Herald: This town was originally an Indian trading post but the Indians moved out when the Paramount, Des Moines and other theatres moved in, and from then on the town began to grow until today it is a city of no ordinary dimensions. We met Mr. Lionel Wasson, who is director of advertising for Central States Theatres Corporation, which is under the management of Harry Weinburg. We were told that Mr. Wasson was soon to marry a lady who is now connected with MGM at Omaha. Doggone the luck, why do these tall cornhuskers insist on coming over to Nebraska and picking out our finest women ? Why don't they go down in Kansas or South Dakota and get 'em ; they are almost as good in those states. Harry Schumal, the MGM manager at Omaha, ought to look out for these boys from the state of the "Tall Corn" ; they have no Indian blood in 'em but some of 'em might be Swedish (which wouldn't hurt 'em a bit). We also met Mr. J. W. Carter, who operates The Service Theatre Supply Co., a comparatively new service company at Des Moines and, from what we could observe, we are inclined to believe that this company is equipped to handle all kinds of supplies and do all kinds of repair work connected with theatre operation. It might be well for you theatremen to look this company over. Mr. Carter at one time got his instructions under our friend H. A. Van Housen of Omaha, and when Van trains 'em you can bet they have been trained. V If we should ever come to Iowa and not go to Indianola and meet Mr. Will H. Eddy, who operates the Empress theatre, we'd feel like we ought to move back to Patagonia, where we belong. Mr. Eddy is not only a theatreman who knows the business but he also knows a lot of other things, among them being that the radio crooners should move out to that "Shelterbelt" and serenade the blue pelicans with their lovesongs, which ought to incite Mother Pelican to lay more eggs. V Score One for Oskaloosa J. C. Stack of the Rivoli theatre at Oskaloosa has been there in the theatre business for a long time. This indicates that Oskaloosa knows a good thing when she sees it, for if it wasn't for the Rivoli theatre offering the best there is to be had in entertainment just where do you think the Oskaloosa folks would go ? They couldn't go to Neligh ; that would be too far. Oskaloosa is to be congratulated. V The Broadway theatre over at Brooklin is operated by M. A. Favor, a tall corn husker who is still running at large with no charges preferred against him. But why •should there be ; he is giving Brooklin a line of shows that ought to be good enough for anybody. And besides that it looks like they would harvest enough wheat and oats around Brooklin to feed every family and horse in Iowa. Should you ever happen near Brooklin drive over there and go to the Broadway and see a good show. V They have a radio here in this hotel that ought to be sent to the dry cleaner's or the blacksmith shop. Last night we heard eleven selections on it. Ten of 'em were love songs sung by national crooners, and after that they told us about the good qualities of The Bill Mud gasoline and blue pills for dyspeptic people and then we took a dose of salhepatica and went to bed, and this morning we feel pretty good. V Another Marion Marion, Iowa, isn't the town where former President Harding was born. Should Marion, Iowa, claim that, Marion, Ohio, would probably get pretty sore about it, but Marion, Iowa, has enough to brag about without going into back history. She has H. C. Mershon, and his Garden theatre, and that is enough for one town to holler about. H. C. says that the Motion Picture Herald should be in every well regulated theatre. You bet your socks, H. C. ; again you are correct. V Say, Horace, we are pretty dense, we are going to admit that right now to save any argument, but what we'd like to know is, just what is this "New Deal" we hear so much about? Is killing five million pigs to raise the price of bacon to 35 cents and ham to forty cents a pound part of this "New Deal?" Is plowing up of thousands of acres of cotton, to cause the price of cotton shirts to go up 45 per cent, a part of the "New Deal ?" Is the paying of farmers for letting their land lie idle and not grow wheat and then spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build dams to irrigate more wheat lands. Is that a part of the "New Deal"? Is building a "Shelterbelt" a hundred miles wide and a thousand miles long out in the agricultural slums "to bring rain." Is that a part of the "New Deal" ? Our neighbor has an Airdale that is going to have pups some time this summer. Is that a part of the "New Deal"? We don't know, we are asking for information. V Mind on His Business E. W. Hageman, who operates Independence's popular playhouse, still has his mind on the business and both feet on the ground and still has the goodwill of the showgoing folks of Independence, and that means that business at the Grand theatre is so far out of the red that he has thrown the red ink bottle away. E. W. has known us for a long time but he isn't bragging very loud about that. V If all the theatremen in Iowa were as sociable as M. R. Blair of the Regent theatre at Cedar Falls (and we don't know but what the most of 'em are) we'd try and persuade our wife to move over into Iowa and give the officers over west of the "Big Muddy" a rest. M. R. is pretty close to Waterloo with his theatre, and that's one thing which makes it pretty tough on Waterloo. Anyhow, we had a nice visit with him. V The Iowa legislature has at least one man who has been instrumental in keeping the state from running hog wild trying to dig all her taxes out of the theatremen, and that legislator is E. O. Ellsworth of the Metropolitan theatre at Iowa Falls. Just what would have happened to the theatre boys over here had it not been for the watchful eye of Mr. Ellsworth is something of a conjectural nature. Our guess is that they would have had more taxes saddled onto 'em, and the Lord knows that they have enough already. Iowa Falls is to be congratulated, not for Mr. Ellsworth alone, but also for another illustrious citizen, Mr. Middleton, who operates the Rex theatre. Gosh all fishhooks, that town is pretty well hooked up for prominent people. Wish we could say that for some towns over in Guam. If we thought you were not already tired out we might close this with a little poetry, but being the president of "The Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals," therefore we are going to put in another week or two over here in Iowa and then head for Wisconsin, and some brick cheese, and we hope that Fred Hinds of Whitewater will have his bulldog tied up. COLONEL J. C. JENKINS The HERALD's Vagabond Colyu mnist Pathe News Staff Was Shifted to Cover Flood Virtually the entire camera and sound staff of Pathe News in the east was rushed by every possible conveyance from New York, Buffalo, Albany and Philadelphia to cover the flioods which swept through New York state and part of Pennsylvania last week. The crews were concentrated in Binghamton, Syracuse, Hornell and Albany, from which points they used automobiles, airplanes and boats to film the flooded areas. Many times, according to reports, they risked their lives, and on several occasions were able to effect rescues. Havana Operator Leaves Manuel Soils, who, with his father, operates theatres in Cuba, left by plane Wednesday after a 10-day visit in New York, during which he completed arrangements for the opening of the Teatro Alhambra, recently built in Havana, seating 2,000. The opening has been tentatively set for September 1. To Handle "Time" Sales James F. Sharkey has been named special representative attached to the home office of RKO Distributing to devote his time entirely to developing sales on the "March of Time" reel, working under the supervision of Harry Michalson, short subject sales manager.