Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

(Continued from page 38) party with a dinner at Maison Paul. . . . Remodeling and redecorating has been completed at the Dixon theatre, Martinez, . . . Seen along Film Row : E. Stefani, the Isleton theatre, with his son, Paul. . . . M. McAlexander, from the State, Martinez; Bill Helm, Peterson theatres ; Stanley Court, of the Court theatre, Livingston ; Mario Parisi, from Ryan theatre, Fresno, and R. B. Smith, Sierra, Chowchilla. . . . The following promotions have been announced for George Mann's Redwood Theatre Circuit : Walter Eschebeck, manager, Esquire, Klamath Falls, to district manager; Dave Petersen, formerly manager of the Strand, to general manager for the Modesto houses ; James Gellaty, formerly manager of the Pelican, Klamath Falls, to assistant to Mr. Eschebeck. . . . Remodeling of the Dixon, Dixon. Calif., has been completed. SEATTLE "The Jolson Story" entered its 15th week at the Liberty, a new all-time high for the city. "Best Years of Our Lives" opened at the Music Hall at road show prices. The Paramount is showing "Boomerang." "The Locket" is at the Fifth Avenue. The Metropolitan is presenting an all-foreign double bill : from Czechoslovakia, "The Merry Wives," and the French film, "Katia." . . . Tom Aspell, Seattle branch manager for MGM, is to be transferred late this month to Los Angeles, where he will head the MGM branch there. He will be succeeded here by Sam Davis. . . . Executives and managers of Evergreen State Theatres of the Northwest met in Portland for a general meeting. . . . Fred Knuth sold his Victory theatre to Bert Curran. . . . Fred Estleman has sold the Pix theatre and purchased the Vogue theatre in Cle Elum. . . . Bookers on Film Row included : Norman Clyde, Langley; Ed Brobst, Bellevue; Milt Rinehart, Burien City; Mel Sohn, Kirkland, John Owsley, Tacoma, and Mike Barovic, Puyallup. ... A new drive-in theatre, accommodating 430 cars, is scheduled to open in Walla Walla about May 1. Its owners are G. C. Ransom, Fred Hair, and Fred Bower. TORONTO The treatres in Toronto put on their best fronts for Easter Week, and, in addition, raised admission prices for the first time in more than six years. . . . "Song of the South" was introduced at Shea's with big business, "My Favorite Brunette" drew . thousands to the Imperial, "It Happened in Brooklyn" did likewise at Loew's, there was a rush for "The Egg and I" at the Uptown, "Ladies' Man" performed splendidly at the Victoria and Capitol and "The Jolson Story" rolled on at the Tivoli and Eglinton for a third week. . . . With government price regulations swept away the theatres put up the full range of holiday prices for Good Friday and some did so for Easter Monday. . . . Famous Players, Canadian Odeon and other circuits quickly followed the Toronto Loew houses in raising regular . prices commencing with the opening of Easter bills and many of the independent exhibitors were not far behind in making longdelayed upward adjustment of price scales which had been frozen since 1941 as a government war measure. . . . Increases ranged from two to five cents, mostly in the lower brackets. . . . The seven per cent preferred shares of Marcus Loew's Theatres Limited, Toronto, were removed from trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange following the announcement that this stock had been called for redemption. . . . Theatre Properties (Hamilton) Limited, a subsidiary of Canadian Odeon which operates the Capitol and Palace in Hamilton, Ont., had net earnings of $39,222 in 1946, compared with $35,982 in 1945. . . . The Quebec censors have banned "The Outlaw" after the picture had been shown in all other eight Provinces of Canada. VANCOUVER ~~ Theatres do excellent business here when they have strong attractions to bring in the business, but grosses fall off when the films are not good. Standouts are "Jolson Story," which finished after a four week run at the Orpheum, "Trail Street" at the Strand doing big while "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" at the Capitol was off average. . . . Charles Broughton, owner of the Viking theatre, Viking, Alberta, collapsed and died of a heart seizure recently. He was 52. . . . Cascades Drive-in theatre at Burnaby, B. C, opened its 1947 season this week. It is reported that a drive-in will be built at Victoria this summer. The Cascade is the only drive-in in Western Canada at present. . . . William Cole has been granted a permit to erect a $70,000 moving picture house at Yellowknife in Northern Alberta. . . . Ivan Ackery, manager of the Orpheum theatre, pulled off another one of his kiddie matinees Saturday morning and packed in 3.000 juveniles. WASHINGTON Washington theatre business was given a boost at the box office this week when four new pictures opened at first run theatres. The only holdover was "The Best Years of Our Lives," for a fourth week at RKO Keith's. New entries were: "Pursued," at Warner's Earle ; "The Guilt of Janet Ames" at Warner's Metropolitan ; "It Happened In Brooklyn" at Loew's Palace ; "I'll Be Yours" at Loew's Capitol ; and a carry-over of "13 Rue Madeleine" at Loew's Columbia. . . . Jack Goldberg, MGM sales manager, recently promoted to manager of the Albany exchange, was given a farewell reception by the Pep Club. The reception also served as a welcome to Jerry Adams, now branch manager of the local exchange. . . . Webb Heck has chalked up 57 years at the job. An employee at Warner Brothers Opera House in Frederick, Md., Mr. Heck came to the Opera House in 1890; serving in that theatre as property man, scenic artist, makeup man and stage manager. . . . The testimonial dinner held March 31 for Sam Wheeler, recently appointed general sales manager for Film Classics, was one of the finest ever held in Washington. "Dillinger" in Chicago Monogram's "Dillinger," produced by the King Brothers, has been booked for its first Chicago showing and will open day and date May 29 at the Oriental and Biograph theatres. The censor board had held it up two years. Sees 50 Hours Of Television on NBC in 2 Years Within the next two years the National Broadcasting Company will be televising 50 hours or more a week, of which 10 to 20 hours will be devoted to the presentation of newsreels, information films and documentary subjects. This was the prediction of Edwin S. Mills, assistant director of NBC Television's film section, in New York this week. Mr. Mills is also a producer of motion pictures and "live"' shows for the company. Elaborating, Mr. Mills said: "Television will be the ideal outlet for the documentary and information film producers who are now having difficulty in getting theatrical distribution." To enhance the value of these subjects television will employ news commentators who will present an analysis of news events as relevant motion pictures on the subjects are shown.'' Currently NBC is producing and televising two newsreel issues a week — one 15minute program on Monday evenings which is sponsored by Esso and presents news events concerning metropolitan New York, and an NBC sponsored 15-minute reel on Thursday nights which is concerned with national and world events. Nearly all of the material for these reels is photographed by NBC camera crews. Despite rumors to the contrary, Mr. Mills said, NBC has made no plans to distribute its television newsreels to theatres, and has set no policy on selling its film material. However, in a few cases, he said, the television company has sold film footage to producers after NBC has used them on the air. Set Plans for Television Institute April 14-15 The "Television Institute," a two-day session devoted to recent progress in that industry sponsored by The Televiser magazine, gets under way at the Hotel Commodore in New York April 14. Invitations to attend the different panel discussions as well as the exhibit section have been sent out to more than 1,000 franchised television dealers in the New York and New Jersey areas. The program calls for 51 speakers to attend seven panel sessions and four seminars. Two luncheon meetings have been planned. Of particular interest to the motion picture industry will be scheduled talks on "Film's Role in Television," "News, Documentary and Special Events Films," "What About Commercial Films," and "Booking Films for Video." Buys New Mexico Theatre J. A. Weiss and Son, Los Angeles, have purchased the Mission theatre at Mesilla Park, N. M., and will make a number of improvements to the front of the house, including a new marquee. 40 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 12, 1947