Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1946)

zAn international association of showmen meeting weekly in MOTION PICTURE HERALD for mutual aid and progress CHESTER FRIEDMAN, Editor OP Going Ahead Last week, Arnold Stoltz, advertising and publicity director for PRC, was raised to the newly created post of special national sales representative for that, company. The promotion will be applauded by his associates as a deserving one and by every theatreman who appreciates the competition for recognition in this industry. Mr. Stoltz began his career, as have so many others, as an usher. His first managerial post was with Warners' theatres at the Mission in Los Angeles.. He had his ups and downs. He experienced the same attainments and disappointments as all of us have at times. In 1941, as manager of the Avon theatre in Utica, N. Y., he achieved his first major recognition, winning the Silver Grand Award in the Quigley Competitions. As a result of winning the showmanship title, Mr. Stoltz came on to New York as exploitation director for United Artists. He left that post a year later and returned to exhibition. Three years ago he joined PRC as eastern publicity director, later taking over that company's small advertising department. Displaying unusual talent for organization, he developed a compact and efficient promotion group built around two former theatre managers. His latest promotion is recognition for a job well done. We offer our congratulations because Mr. Stoltz is a nice person. He has also seen fit, from time to time, to single out top ranking exploitation managers from the Quigley lists and to assist them in gaining the recognition which was extended to him. Gratitude is an admirable quality. We could all use more of it. AAA have an opportunity to get things off their chests, with no punches pulled. An outside speaker is invited as guest, usually someone from one of the film companies or someone qualified to discuss important topics such as insurance, civic and fraternal work applied to theatres and other interesting subjects. "The boys really come up with some excellent ideas," says Mr. Shepherd, "and, for our New Year's shows, the last meeting was highly productive with ideas, suggestions and volunteers to help put on the campaign." AAA Done With Mirrors A newspaper item reports that a highly secret wartime production has been converted to household and commercial use. Reference is to the glass which serves as a window on one side and a mirror on the other. Theatremen will remember such a mirror in the production, "The House on 92nd Street". Maybe this was a highly secret wartime device, but we can recollect using the gadget to promote a picture called "Death Takes a Holiday" at the Tilyou theatre, Coney Island, in 1934 — -albeit a slightly different method. Patrons entering our lobby faced what appeared to be an ordinary 4x12 foot mirror, built into a shadow box. As they paused, a flasher lighting arrangement within the box illuminated a transparent spectre of death fastened to the interior surface. We have used this same device many times in theatres but cannot remember the source we learned it from. We never even suspected it was a great military secret! AAA Shepherd and His Flock The Managers Write Sonny Shepherd, Wometco manager, writes from Miami Beach to let us know the success he is having with a monthly informal meeting of managers, assistants, department heads and executives of the Wometco circuit. Breakfast is served at these meetings. There is probably no better method of stimulating enthusiasm among theatremen than with some bacon and eggs and coffee early in the morning. A different manager conducts each session, and the boys Leonard Klafta, manager of the Paramount theatre in Kankakee, III., has good reason to remember the date he joined the Round Table. His application and a notice that he was the father of a junior showman were mailed to us just seven days after the birth of his pride and joy, nine years ago. The date also commemorates his first appointment as a theatre manager. —CHESTER FRIEDMAN MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 28, 1946 47