Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

4n international association of showmen meeting weekly i MOTION PICTURE HERALD for mutual aid and progress QP iESTER FRIEDMAN, Editor GERTRUDE MERRIAM, Associate Editor V\ake Haste; Slowly Recently, for the third time in recent months, we have seen leatremen stepping up to bigger positions within the industry. 1 each case, after a trial the men were found lacking in experience. As theatremen, all were top-flight executives, thoroughly versed » their vocation. All three would some day undoubtedly have "epped up in the theatre world to positions in which their indiidual talents and skill would have precluded the possibility f failure. Nothing is more natural than for all of us to aspire to positions ffering greater personal rewards; but, until time and experience ualify us, the result of ambition can sometimes be disastrous. Failure to succeed as a manager is not nearly as costly as failig in a big executive job. As a manager, there are countless pportunities to redeem oneself. As a big executive, the scarcity f such jobs alone makes another chance remote. AAA Zurbing Vandalism Vandalism, which for quite awhile had not been heard from, ame into prominence again last week with items from several secions of the country, indicating that the juvenile menace is coninuing. Speaking before the Motion Picture Council in Cleveland, George W. Erdman, secretary of the Motion Picture Exhibitors \ssociation of that city, suggested that psychiatric clinics be istablished in schools and recommended closer cooperation among ocial service agencies and juvenile courts to improve the behavior >f teen-age children in theatres. Three theatre managers in the city accepted a suggestion that i member of the Parent-Teachers Association be assigned to 'cover" the theatres on certain evenings to obtain the names of >ffenders. In some of the larger cities, theatre owners and managers have >een successful in arousing the officials of juvenile courts to the ieed for strict penalties for offending hoodlums and vandals. In )thers, however, the courts have been inclined to treat such cases vith mild disdain, frequently taking the manager and the arresting >fficer to task for bothering with such "unimportant" misbehavior is destroying property or attempting to create panic. In a few cities and in many small towns, the solution has been ound by energetic managers, such as Mr. P. E. McCoy of the TRIBUTE More than 350 persons gathered at the New Amsterdam Roof theatre in New York, last week, to pay tribute to Gertrude Merriam at a party and dance. The affair pertained to the occasion of her marriage, last Sunday, to Howard Ernstthal, and testified to the host of friends Miss Merriam has won during 17 years with the Managers' Round Table. In attendance were executives of every film company and managers representing principal circuits and independent theatres in the New York metropolitan area and some who traveled from as far as Chicago, Washington, D. C, upstate New York and New England. Further testimony of Miss Merriam's unusual talent for making friends was evinced in scores of telegrams and letters received from theatremen throughout the nation and from the world battlefronts. Miller theatre, Augusta, Ga. Mr. McCoy's merchant-sponsored "Youth Revue", reported in last week's Round Table, has had the full support of public recreation groups in his city and has proved an effective curb on the headstrong youngsters, in addition to creating a community center of attraction for the youths. AAA ' i Spring Cleaning With the critical manpower situation that exists in the theatres today, it is heartening to note the activity which abounds as showmen set about to clear away the ravages left by the winter and the seediness which has a tendency to show up here and there under the pressure of peak business for long, wearing periods. In one, theatre lobby, last week, we found a large group of patrons gathered about a display of mops, pails, brooms, brushes, vacuum equipment, rags, soaps, polishes, a variety of paints and brushes and other implements. A card announced: "We are getting ready for our spring cleaning." Onlookers appeared more interested in the cleaning equipment than in the pretentious displays heralding the coming attractions —CHESTER FRIEDMAN DTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 31, 1945 61