Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1941)

44 MOTION PICTURE HERALD December 6, 1941 V ariety Tents Name Off icers In Five Cities Variety Clubs this week elected 1942 officers in Minneapolis-St. Poul, Dallas, Cincinnati and Buffalo. Elections were also conducted by the Cincinnati Cinema Club and the Milwaukee Reel Club. In Albany, the Variety Club has completed plans for its testimonial, on Monday, to M. A. Silver, of Warner Theatres, at the local Ten Eyck Hotel, where James J. Walker, of New York is to be toastmaster. Chairman of the Variety Club testimonial committee is Si R. Fabian, head of the Fabian Theatre Circuit, New York, and a long-time friend of Mr. Silver's. About 500 diners are expected to greet Mr. Silver on his return to Albany next Monday night, with more than 300 reservations on hand to date. Among the early out-of-town reservations received are those of Neil Agnew, Paramount vice-president; Tom Connors, 20th Century-Fox ; Joseph Bernhard, Ben Kalmenson and Harry Kalmine, Warner Theatre Management ; George Schaeffer, Ned Depinet and Andy Smith, RKO ; J. Meyer and Louis Schine, Schine Circuit, Gloversville. Mr. Silver will shortly resign as chief barker of Variety Ten Nine, to be succeeded by Louis R. Golding of Fabian Theatres. Rubin, Manente Dinner Held With more than 250 in attendance, Nat Rubin, new manager of the Lyric theatre in Bridgeport, Conn., and Frank Manente, new assistant at the Globe theatre, in the same city, were feted at a testimonial dinner-dance Monday night at the Seven Gables Inn in Bridgeport. Each received a purse. Morris Mendelsohn, attorney for Loew-Poli, was toastmaster, and Harry F. Shaw, LoewPoli division manager ; Lou Brown, publicity chief, and Robert E. Russell, manager of the Loew-Poli, under whom both men worked until recently, presented greetings. Variety and Other Elections Stanley Kozanowski, managing director of the Rivoli theatre on Tuesday was elected president of the Variety Club of Buffalo, N. Y. He was chosen by the new board of directors at the annual meeting. Others elected are Elmer F. Lux, Buffalo branch manager for RKO, assistant chief barker ; Andrew Gibson, second assistant ; and W. E. J. Marther, secretary-treasurer for the seventh consecutive year. With the four officers other members of the board are Murray Whiteman, Matthew V. Sullivan, Jr., Syd Samson, Dewey Michaels, Ralph W. Maw, Irving Fried and Nicholas J. Basil. In Minneapolis, Raitland Frosch was named chief barker of the Variety Club of the Twin Cities, which announced that in the first ten months of the year it had distributed 95,000 quarts of milk through the Minneapolis Milk Fund and expected to hit 120,000 by the end of the year. Mr. Frank McCormiek was named first assistant chief barker ; Arthur Anderson second issistant , Charles Rubinstein treasurer, and Lowell Kaplan secretary. Other directors arc Max Torodor, William Elson, W. A. Steffes, Ben Blotcky, retiring chief barker, Eddie Ruben, Ben Berger, Roy Miller and Paul H. Mans. In Dallas, Tex., R. E. Griffith has been elected chief barker of the Variety Club, succeeding Paul Short. Other officers arc: Claude Ezell, AMP A TO HONOR VARIETY CHIEFS John H. Harris of Pittsburgh, national Chief Barker of Variety Clubs of America, and Bob O'Donnell, of Texas, first assistant Chief Barker, will be guests of honor at the AMP A luncheon next Thursday, December 11th, at the Hotel Edison in New York. The testimonial is expected to be attended by AMP A members, who will hear the story of the Variety organization, from Mr. Harris, founder and inspiration of the clubs, and from Mr. O'Donnell, whose home tent — Number 17 — has conducted many philanthropic endeavors for the children of Texas. first assistant ; W. G. Underwood, second assistant ; Ted Deboer, dough guy ; John Q. Adams, property master ; Ed Rowley, S. I. Oakley, Ben Ferguson, Herman Biersdorf, Joe Jack, Justin Mclnaney, R. J. O'Connell and Mr. Short, canvasmen; J. O. Cherry and Burt King, clowns ; Jacob Lutzer and B. C. Gibson, alternates. F. W. Huss, president of Associated Theatres, Inc., Cincinnati, was elected chief barker of the Cincinnati Variety Club this week, to succeed William Onie. Andrew J. Niedenthal and William Devaney were elected first and second chief barkers, respectively. Saul M. Greenberg was re-elected property master, and Peter Niland was named dough guy. Canvassmen, in addition to Arthur Frudenfeld, Allan S. Moritz, Joseph J. Oulahan, Harry J. Wessel and Mr. Onie, past chief barkers, are James J. Grady, Harris Dudelson, Nat Kaplan, Albert Kolitz, Albert Weinstein, Mr. Huss, Mr. Niedenthal, Mr. Devaney, Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Niland. Mr. Moritz, who was reelected national canvassman, also was chosen delegate to the national convention, together with Mr. Niedenthal. Mr. Onie and Mr. Devaney were named alternates. The installation dinner was held Monday. Cincinnati Club Elects Rudy Knoepfle, Republic salesman, has been reelected president of the Cinema Club of Cincinnati, and Peter Niland was reelected as secretary and treasurer. Al Kolitz was named first vice-president, succeeding Marc Cummins, and Leg Bugie was chosen second vice-president, replacing Joseph McKnight. Trustees selected were : Irving Sochin, Milton Furian, William Devaney, John Eifert, Ross Williams and Mr. McKnight. The Reel Fellows Club of Milwaukee, an association of motion picture film salesmen, working in the Milwaukee district, was formed October 4th, 1941. At a meeting held November 22d, it was announced that 100 per cent of the men eligible for membership had been enrolled. Officers for the year 1942 were elected as follows : R. W. Baker, president, and G. W. Edgerton, secretary and treasurer. One of the highlights of the forthcoming sixth annual banquet on December 14th of the Philadelphia Variety Club will be the presentation of a check in the amount of $4,000 to be presented by the retiring Chief Barker Earle W. Sweigert to Dr. Herbert Stoddard, superintendent of Philadelphia public schools. The money is to be used to expedite and partially support medical work among spastic cases of infantile paralysis. On Wednesday, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Philadelphia Varietv Club, at a luncheon session, presented a check of $1,000 to the Willis Martin Orthopedic Hospital to be used in spastic work lor paralytics. Joseph Lawrence Acquires Salt Lake City Paramount Competition for Intermountain Theatres' single feature showhouse in Salt Lake City, the Centre theatre, developed during November when the Joseph L. Lawrence Enterprises leased the old Paramount theatre, which had been operated for several years by Intermountain, and opened on Thanksgiving a remodeled, renamed "Paramont" theatre, as a single feature playhouse, playing first run films. The old Paramount, under control of Intermountain, was closed for a considerable portion of each season, opening only at the height of the season and for outstanding road show attractions. However, the theatre has an excellent location in the state capital and is in the ranks of first-class showhouses. David K. Edwards, assistant to Mr. Lawrence, and new manager of the Paramont, said RKO films would be run at present, although probably not as a permanent policy. The outstanding road shows will play the Paramont, and he announced that the "Man Who Came To Dinner" would play in the theatre December 19 and 20. The Lawrence circuit operates the following theatres in Utah cities : Murray and Iris in Murray, the Holladay in Holladay, the Academy in Provo and the Rialto, Southeast, State in Salt Lake City. "Fantasia" General Release At Popular Prices General release of Walt Disney's musical, "Fantasia," through RKO, is near, according to Roy Disney, business manager of Disney Productions. The probable time is late January. The policy will be continuous run, at popular prices. ■ The picture will contain the same music, but Disney engineers, it was reported, have prepared the film for showing with a single sound track instead of the Disney-RCA "Fantasound," which required special theatre equipment. The picture has played only a few key cities. It is now playing in England, South America and Canada. In its general release, it will be shortened to approximately 85 minutes. In present form, it runs 135 minutes. Mark N. Y. U.'s New Film Department New York University's new motion picture department was to be recognized Friday with a reception to which film industry executives have been invited. Scheduled to speak for the industry was J. Robert Rubin, vice-president and general counsel for MGM: for the University, Harry Woodburn Chase, chancellor. Expected to attend were Barney Balaban, Austin Keough, Joseph Hazen, Bertram Bloch, others. William Mason Promoted William Mason, ex-district manager in Eureka, Calif., for a statewide Mann Circuit, has been promoted to assistant general manager of the chain, under owner, George Mann, with headquarters in San Francisco. He succeeds D. P. Isabelle, who resigned to operate his own house, the Vacaville in Yacaville.