Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1946)

(Continued from preceding page) a bowling league sponsored by the Cinema Lodge of the B'nai B'rith. The bowlers will meet every Tuesday evening at 10:00 p.m. at Bensingers. . . . Walter Dorff has been appointed office manager with PRC. He was formerly a booker with MGM. . . . "Red" Edinson has resigned from Essaness to become a publicity man for Eagle-Lion headquartering in Denver. His publicity post at Essaness is now filled by Edna Adams. CINCINNATI A temporary organization, to be known as Tub No. 5, of the Tub Thumpers of America, with headquarters in Boston, was formed here at a dinner meeting held at the Hotel Metropole, with a charter membership of 20 local press agents. William Green, head of the Chicago branch, presided. Rudolph Benson was named treasurer by the organization committee, composed of E. C. Hanford, Joseph Kolling and Earl Winter. Amusement and radio publicity men, as also those from kindred lines, are eligible for membership. . . . The 1,500-seat Keith theatre, in the heart of the downtown sector, has closed for a $75,000 remodeling program, with reopening scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. The house was acquired some months ago by the City Investing Co., New York, and is being operated by a local subsidiary, Playhouse, Inc. . . . John Wildberg, producer of the stage play, 'Anna Lucasta," while here during the engagement at the the Cox theatre, expressed a desire to establish a dramatic stock company here at some future date. . . . Paul Tyx has been promoted from the contract department to ■booker of the local Universal exchange, with Jerry Renner going to the contract department. ... A 400-seat house, to cost approximately $50,000, will be built at Waynesburg, 'Ohio, by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bevington, with work to be started when materials are •obtainable. . . . The Northio Paramount, largest of the three units at Hamilton, Ohio, has changed from two programs weekly to three. CLEVELAND Record heat for the season drew people by the thousands into the country over the week-end, which was a serious blow to the box office. Continued fine weather was a deterrent for the rest of the week, too. Result was that except for "The Killers" at Warners' Hippodrome and "Make Mine Music" at Warners' Lake, the scores were none too flattering. . . . Lester Dowdell, United Artist office manager, suffered a heart attack and is at Glenville Hospital. . . . The new 550-seat Char-Ve theatre in Edgerton, being built by local businessmen, is expected to be completed in December. The Scoville, Essick and Reif 1,800-seat Vine theatre in Willoughby finally opened October 31st after being under construction 14 months. . . . Leo Jones of Upper Sandusky last week acquired the Star theatre, Deshler, from Mrs. Louis Stewart, effective Jan. 1. Jones also owns the Star theatre, Upper Sandusky, Carey theatre, Carev "and the Forest theatre, Forest. . . . Warner Brothers in cooperation with The Press is running a contest in search of a name of their new 1,600-seat theatre nearing completion. . . . Fred Holzworth, pioneer of the Saturday morning special children shows at the Hilliard Square theatre, is switching to Saturday afternoon. The special morning shows at 25-cent admission failed to hold up in spite of the cooperation of the Lakewood Superintendent of Schools and the Lakewood PTA. COLUMBUS Business continues to improve following the end of the street car strike but theatres are meeting stiff competition. The big "Holiday on Ice" show, which played nine days to sellout crowds in the State Fairgrounds Coliseum, drew many dollars away from theatre box offices. Xavier Cugat and his orchestra appeared in a two-hour concert at Memorial Hall and 76,000 persons crowded Ohio Stadium for the Ohio StateMinnesota game. Completion of the 1,042-seat Livingston in the Driving Park is being held up by lack of roofing and other materials, reports contractor N. J. Mulligan. . . . Repeal of the state admissions tax was advocated by the Ohio Public Expenditures Council, made up of industrial and business firms. . . . Ohio State's football season should gross over $1,000,000 this year, for the first time in the 24-year history of the big horseshoe. DALLAS Business has picked up quite a bit now that the State Fair here has closed and recent big college football games have been played out of town. "Two Years Before the Mast" at the Majestic got a good $19,500. Suburbans had lively patronage, and only the downtown Palace was slightly off with the Marx Brothers' film "A Night in Casablanca" drawing $9,500. . . . Two houses, one the downtown Telenews, the other the suburban Village, drew business with a novel stunt of playing in the lounge the Dallas Symphony's new album of Glazounov's "The Seasons" before its release date. . . . Ed Terhune is the new field representative for RKO here. PES MOINES Two reissues, showing for five days at the Orpheum theatre here, drew the largest crowds to downtown "A" houses last week. The double feature included "Captain Cau tion" and "Captain Fury." . . . Herbert Wengel, booker for Tri-States Theatres Corp. for 13 years, resigned last week to become proprietor of a summer resprt at Lake of the Ozarks. . . . Tri-States has announced a change of managers at four of its houses — Francis Gillon is now managing the Paramount, Cedar Rapids ; Dave Alexander is in charge of the State, Cedar Rapids; Horace Spencer is manager of the Illini of Moline, 111., and William Haver is manager of the Garden, Davenport. . . . Two new men have joined the selling staff at Warners— J. R. LeVee, of Los Angeles, will take over the northwest Iowa territory, and Bill Fultz, former Republic salesman, will handle the northeast Iowa territory. . . . Central States Theatres Corp., is honoring its general manager, Harry Warren, with the Harry Warren Drive, October 24 through December 26. Warren will resign at the end of this year to make his home in Arizona. HARTFORD Connecticut theatre business is continuing about average. ... A memorial mass for Leslie C. Blakeslee, Jr., only member of Local 277, IATSE, Bridgeport, Conn., to lose his life in World War II, will be held November 13 at St. Charles Church, Bridgeport. He was projectionist at the Park City theatre, Bridgeport. Mr. and Mrs. Newman R. Robinson have opened a new theatre, the Joy, 275-seats, at West Rutland, Vt. . . . Visitors on the New Haven film exchange row : A. M. Schuman, Hartford Theatres Circuit, Hartford; Ray Palmer and Herman Goldberg, Warners' home office; Arnold Leapard, Center theatre, Hartford; Jack Schmitzer, RKO home office representative. ... At Indian Neck, Conn., on Long Island Sound, recently Sperie Perakos, district manager, and his brother, John, assistant district manager, Perakos Theatres, were on a trip to their parents' summer home. A light plane crashed into the Sound, and John and Sperie rescued the plane's occupant. INDIANAPOLIS Film business picked up a bit last week, with a boost from a three-day state teachers' convention and school holiday. All grosses were average or better and the general level was the highest of the Autumn. "Two Years Before the Mast" scored $20,000 at the Indiana and earned a moveover. Youngsters swarmed into Loew's to the tune of $16,000 for "The Courage of Lassie." . . . Plans for a new community theatre in the $5,500,000 Meadowbrook apartment project on the north side were disclosed this week. . . . Keith's, which looks like a new house from the outside, reopens November 9 with "Dark M irror." Art Baker is manager for Sam Roberts and Nick Boila, the owners. . . . While attendance has levelled off here this year, local firms now employ 12.1 per cent more workers than they did a year ago, according to the United States Employment Service. General employment rose 4.8 per cent between July 15 and Sept. 15. . . . Harry Brown has been named manager of Harry Markun's Talbott. Fred Sorrells has succeeded Joe Armentrout as manager of Carl Niesse's Vogue. Ralph (Continued on following page) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 9, 1946 43