Motion Picture Herald (1953)

( Continued from opposite page ) ago at two Perakos circuit houses, the Eastwood, East Hartford, and Elm, West Hart ford. . . . Columbia’s “From Here to Eternity,” held for six weeks at the downtown E. M. Loew's, Hartford, broke a 20-year record. INDIANAPOLIS Headliners at the Allied Theatre Owners of Indiana fall convention here Nov. 3-4 will include A1 Sindlinger, industrial statistician ; Bob Coyne, counsel for COMPO ; and Abram F. Myers, general counsel for National Allied Claude McKean, WB branch manager, is distributor chairman for the Will Rogers Xmas salute. . . . “So Big” will have a midwestern premiere at the Circle Indianapolis, and Palace, Fort Wayne, to coincide with state teacher conventions in the two cities. . . . Biff Elliott, star of “I, the Jury.” will be here for press and radio interviews Monday. . . . Greater Indianapolis has instituted a first run policy at Keith’s, specializing in 3-D. . . . Rex Carr, operator of the Ritz, has revived children’s film library classics for special Saturday mati nees. . . . The Variety Club will have a dinner and dance in the Hotel Antlers ballroom Oct. 17. Sam Caplan is chairman. KANSAS CITY Variety in policy among drive-ins is displayed in the fact that six of the twelve near Kansas City have midnight shows the week end of October 10; six not. Three of the midnight shows start between 11:15 and 1 1 :40 ; the other three later ( the midnight attraction being a third feature on a doublebill regular program). . . . Three theatres are in holdover weeks : the Orpheum with “The Robe,” a second week; the Vogue with “My Little Chickadee,” second week, and the Kimo with “Lili,” twenty-second week. . . . The Paramount announces “Anna” for five days — which will bring its routine back to regular Thursday starting. . . . Exhibitors over the area are noting a slight decline in September and early October patronage; which they say is seasonal with school open ings, and is pretty sure to be overcome as the year advances. . . . Kermit Carr, of the Tri-States home office, was a visitor at the Paramount (a tri-state theatre). LOS ANGELES Mike Newman, of Columbia’s exploitation staff, returned from a trip to San Francisco. . . . Selig Pitt, who managed the Uclan, Westwood, for Duetrich and Feldstein, has been appointed office manager for Mike Levinson’s film exchange. . . . Joe Hartman, for many years associated with National Screen Service as salesman, has resigned his position and has been succeeded by Fred Weimer, Arizona salesman for Republic Pictures. . . . Reggie Harper is the new owner of the Victory, San Diego. . . . Harry L. Mandell has been named vice-president in charge of domestic sales for the Filmakers Releasing Organization, by Irving FI. Levin, president. Mandell recently served as production representative for “Moulin Rouge,” and was in distribution with both Warner Bros. and Eagle Lion for many years. . . . The Valley, Camarillo, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Phil Kassin, has been equipped with a wide-vision curved screen. . . . Wes Becker and associates have opened the Marana theatre, Marana, Arizona, with the buying and booking chores assigned to the Midway Enterprises headed by Floyd Bernard. . . . Warner Bros, branch manager Fred Greenberg was back at his desk after recuperating from major surgery at the St. Vincent’s Hospital. MEMPHIS Tri-States Theatre Owners (TOA affiliate) will hold its annual convention at Hotel Gayoso in Memphis Dec. 7, 8 and 9. Leon Roundtree, Tri-States president, and the organization’s board is planning a program which will include national speakers and reports on 3-D, wide-screen and drive-in operations. . . . J. H. McCarthy, manager of Warner theatre, held an advanced screening of “Martin Luther” for 125 Memphis ministers. The picture will be shown to the public Oct. 28 at Warner. . . . M. S. McCord, United Theatres Corporation, and M. J. Pruniski, North Little Rock Theatres Corporation, were in Memphis on business and to see Malco’s presentation of “The Robe.” . . . Malco’s first few days of “The Robe,” with advanced prices and a reserved seat section, were highly successful, W. Watson Davis, manager, reported. . . . Rudolph Burger, district manager, MGM, Washington, was a visitor at the company’s Memphis exchange. . . . Tom Young, branch manager, 20th-Fox, was in New York for a company sales meeting. MIAMI Jack Miller, manager of the Shores, recently returned from a vacation spent touring Florida. Reason for the close to home holiday was the imminent return of his son from Korea. . . . With the reappearance of goblins and pumpkins, the Wometco neighborhood theatres will again stage their annual costume parade with prizes for the youngsters. . . . Mel Haber, house manager of the Miracle, returned from a vacation trip to New York, where he picked up his wife and children who had been spending a holiday with her family. . . . Key Biscayne in the Miami area has been the scene for some shooting of a series of TV dramas by the William G. Beal Productions, Inc., of Pittsburgh, with John Bessor at the camera. . . . Variety Children’s Hospital will be the beneficiary of a new 13-week “Key to Happiness” merchandising campaign, which is being arranged by television station WTVJ, according to Mitchell Wolfson, president. Project is expected to raise about $20,000, which is needed for a complete rehabilitation center at the hospital. MILWAUKEE It was rather quiet along film row this past week with many exhibitors attending the National Allied Convention in Boston. . . . Through terrific promotional work, Estelle Steinbach, manager of the FoxStrand theatre here, knows theatre will be filled for every performance of “Martin Luther” for the first two weeks which started October 15. . . . Letters were sent to 360 congregations with special exchange tickets. . . . The Fox-Jackson and Venetian theatres have reopened. MINNEAPOLIS Upper Midwest premiere of “The Robe” at Radio City theatre last week was termed a “huge success” by Harry B. French, president of Minnesota Amusement Co., operators of the house. The 4,030-seat theatre was sold out for the premiere, French said. . . . Roy Disney, business manager for Disney productions, was at the RKO exchange. . . . Casper J. Chouinard, former city salesman for Warners, has been named an account executive for Television Programs of America in the Upper Midwest. ... A “grass roots” program for the betterment of small business will be presented to Gov. Sigurd Anderson of South Dakota in the near future by William D. Mitchell, the administrator of that state’s Small Business Administration. ... A wide screen has been installed in the RKO Pan, according to Harry Weiss, RKO Theatres district manager. . . . Leland Davis has been named new assistant at the RKO Iowa, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. . . . The policy of the Arion, neighborhood house, in not having any screen ads or commercials was written up in Time magazine. . . . Officials of the Minnesota Amusement Co. will attend the annual meeting of AB-Paramount Theatres at Shawnee, Pa., Oct. 18-21. NEW ORLEANS J. E. Adams’ East Forest drive-in, Petal, Miss., has opened. It accommodates 300 cars. . . . Monogram-Southern personnel are all set to win the Number 1 spot in the company’s national manager’s drive, here called the Henry Glover’s Drive, which will get under way October 31 and run through Jan. 30, 1954. ... In one of the many preopening newspaper announcements, the Do drive-in saluted 20th Century Fox for “The Robe” and Columbia Pictures for “From Here to Eternity.” The message acclaimed both magnificent examples of entertainment. . . . Edward Kaffenberger, Paramount’s shipping department, is well on the road to recovery after an appendectomy at Mercy Hospital. . . . Southern Amusement Company, Lake Charles, La., assumed ownershipoperation of Surf Twin Screen drive-in in that city. It was built and operated by Percy Duplissey, Matthews Guidry and Roy Navarre. Theatres Service Company, who will do the buying and booking, also acquired the buying and booking for Chas. Lamantia’s Ritz, Bogalusa, La. OKLAHOMA CITY “Vicki” is now showing at two theatres, the Harber and Plaza. . . . “From Here to Eternity” is now in its 2nd week at the Center theatre. . . . The Criterion Theatre, did not open until 4:30 p.m. to allow preparation for “The Robe” Inaugural Premiere started at 4:45 p.m. . . . George Fisher, MGM branch manager in Oklahoma City, returned this week from Culver City, Calif., headquarters where he attended a studio conference. . . . “The Moon is Blue” was shown for six weeks at the State and Center theatres in Oklahoma City. . . . During the showing of “Mr. Scoutmaster” at the Ritz theatre, Shawnee, Okla., Boy Scouts in uniform were admitted at special prices. OMAHA F. V. Turney, editor of the Wakefield, Neb., Republican, got a break in connection with National Newspaper Week when the Strand theatre played “It Happens Every Thursday.” Editor Turney advised his readers "to see the movie and learn “a little ( Continued on following page) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 17, 1953 35