Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

( Continued from preceding page ) of radio station WVKO here. . . . Frank Marzetti reopened the Indianola after the North Side neighborhood had been closed for several days for remodeling. A new lounge and concession stand have been added. DENVER Lem Lee, of the Lee Theatres, announces that they will open their new “Wadsworth Indoor drive-in theatre” in a Denver suburb on Feb. 15. The theatre will have space for 900 cars, along with a 600-seat building for walk-ins, or for folks who come in their cars but prefer to indoor seats. There will be two acres of parking for indoor patrons. The setup will cost about $325,000. . . . Business at the New Year’s eve shows was not all that was looked for, with most houses merely running a midnight show of the film being currently shown. Flowever, those that had a special film on pre-release arrangement, did a fine business. . . . Ray Davis, Fox Inter-Mountain Metropolitan district manager, was m.c. on a half hour program on KLZ one evening last week. The program has a prominent person act as m.c. each week. DES MOINES The Sutherland theatre building and equipment at Sutherland, la., is to be put on the auction block Jan. 18 by Donald C. Flenry, owner. Henry, who will keep the theatre open until the sale, has taken a position with a manufacturing firm in Illinois. . . . The Manilla Theatre at Manilla has been closed for an indefinite period by L. R. Howorth, owner and manager. Howorth blamed a drop in patronage for the closing. He did not say if or when he plans to reopen. ... A man who worked in a Shenandoah theatre in 1910 is back in Shenandoah again employed at a theatre. He is Percy Thomas, whose father, Ed Thomas, operated the Airdrome theatre, a forerunner of the present-day drive-in houses. Thomas has a post now as projectionist for the Page. At the Airdrome, Thomas hawked popcorn and ice cream cones. . . . Lois Stroud, NSS biller, was married to James Lattimer in a ceremony at her home. She will continue on her job at NSS. . . . Another holiday wedding was that of Lt. Bob Peterson, son of RKO salesman Henry Peterson, to Miss Marilyn May Music in a candlelight ceremony at Union Park Methodist church. DETROIT Year’s end found the Fox with record long runs. The big 5,500-seat house closed “The Robe” New Year’s Eve with sixteen weeks under the belt. “Moulin Rouge” started the trend last May with a six week run. “Pickup on South Street” in August also hit six weeks. Previous long record was set in 1947 when “The Egg and I” held four weeks. . . . Marilyn Davis who saved two boys she was sitting with received a (season’s pass to the UDT Birmingham (Mich.) theatre. Birmingham Kiwanis and manager Richard Sklucki did the presentation. . . . IATSE Local B-25 re-elected Nellie Arnold president. A general increase of $4 retroactive to Dec. 1952 has been awarded local exchanges. . . . Jake Gross is back at the Fisher. He had been in California for some time. HARTFORD The 850-car capacity drive-in theatre being built by Perakos Theatre Associates at Plainville, Conn., will have a 114-foot wide screen, largest of its type in Connecticut, according to Sperie Perakos, general manager. An Easter Sunday opening is planned for the $200,000 project. . . . Opponents of the proposed Fred QuatranoJohn Sirica drive-in theatre at Watertown, Conn., have disclosed plans for request of a permanent injunction. . . . Douglas Amos, Hartford district manager for Lockwood & Gordon Theatres, is on a month’s vacation in the Caribbean area. . . . Sam Rosen of Rosen’s Film Delivery, New Haven, is vacationing in Florida. _ . . Joseph Giobbi, manager of the Crown Theatre, Hartford, will be married in February to Miss Loretta Dominie of Hartford. . . . Bernard E. Levy, formerly associated with Amalgamated Buying and Booking Service, and at one time Hartford division manager for Fred E. Leiberman Theatres, is now in the furniture business in the territory of Springfield, Massachusetts. INDIANAPOLIS Lawrence J. McGinley, former U-I branch manager here, became general manager Jan. 1 of the Fourth Avenue Amusement Company, half owner of Greater Indianapolis and operator of houses throughout Indiana and Kentucky. . . . Services were held here Jan. 5 for Mrs. Gertrude McCleaster, who died Dec. 31 in Florida. She was the mother of Tommy McCleaster, 20th-Fox district manager. . . . First-run theatres opened the New Year with a bang. “Knights of the Round Table,” “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” and “Hondo” are expected to gross above $25,000 each for the week. . . . Dean Brown, manager of the Lyric, has added a hillbilly show to his regular program on Sundays only. JACKSONVILLE Billy Wilson, former theatre manager in Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, and Orlando, has been named manager of the Carib, new deluxe indoor house of 1,200 seats opened in Clearwater on Christmas day by the Carl Floyd circuit. . . . Tom Wingate has replaced Bob Ancell as manager of the Palms theatre, West Palm Beach. . . . Kenneth Holson is managing the Paramount theatre in Palm Beach, which re-opened for the winter season on Christmas night. . . . Another re-opened theatre, the Delray, Delray Beach, is under the management of Arnold Chester Holt. . . . Jerry Evans has replaced Jerry Mayburn as manager of the Lake theatre, Lake Worth. ... Ted Young is now managing the Warner theatre, Ft. Lauderdale, ir place of Tom McConnell, who resigned. . . . Ben Newman, New York City confectioner who serves a large group of Florida theatres, visited Mr. and Mrs. Harry Botwick of Florida State Theatres. . . . Nelson Grunther, New York City, vice-president of the Banner Candy Company, was vacationing in nearby Sanford. . . . Film Row was quiet over the year-end holidays, with many persons bedridden as a result of a local epidemic of the flu virus. . . . Fred Hull, Metro branch manager, pleased his staff with raises and promotions for the following : Max Stetkin, Robert E. Capps Sr., Alfred Terranova, Sarah Keller, Ross Allen, Charlotte Ayers, and Charlie Turner. KANSAS CITY Three editorials in recent issues of the “Kansas City Star” (and its morning edition, “The Times”) comment on film industry events and situations. One is adverse to the idea of censorship of films in Kansas City and anywhere. Another remarks on “top films and processes,” hopes for more top productions in 1954. The other comments on the record of the late Felix Snow, union official — “He was a credit to unionism.” . . . The “polio” fund drive has started in Jackson county, with Senn Lawler of Fox Midwest campaign chairman. . . . The Paramount theatre provided, as usual, a special one-day attraction for New Year’s Eve — “Money From Home.” . . . The funeral of Felix Snow, business manager for 28 years of the local of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Motion Picture Operators, third vice-president of the International, was largely attended, by film industry representatives and others. . . . KCTY, the single UHF TV station at Kansas City, -which started operations June 6, 1953, has been sold to Du Mont. . . . Archie Josephson, early-day leader in motion picture theatre operations in and near Kansas City, who died December 30 in Hollywood, is remembered for two companies : the Josephson Amusement company and the Josephson-Finkelstein circuit. LOS ANGELES Joe Sarfaty, Warner Bros, salesman, is resting at home after undergoing surgery. . . . Frank Shindler, RKO office manager, has been promoted to sales manager of the company’s San Francisco office. No successor to Shindler has been named. . . . Lou Astor, Columbia home office executive, flew in from New York. . . . Tom Muchmore, Canoga Park exhibitor, has assumed the operation of the Arroyo, Los Angeles. . . . Jack Sherriff, Realart, returned from a business trip to Ojai. . . . Ted Karatz, of the Cinema Park drive-in, was in town to confer with the Earl Johnson office, which handles the buying and booking for the Ozoner. . . . Norman H. Moray, Warner Bros, short subjects sales manager, was in Los Angeles on company business. MEMPHIS The city commission has named Mrs. F. B. Edwards to fill the vacancy on the Memphis Board of Censors. Mrs. Edwards said she was “past 50.” Mrs. Edwards said she had an “extreme interest in what’s good for Memphis.” . . . L. E. Robinson, driver for Film Transit, Inc., saw smoke pouring from Rialto Theatre on Jackson Avenue in Memphis at 11:20 one night recently. He called the fire department. Sure enough, Rialto was on fire. Robinson’s call enabled the fire to be extinguished with only minor damage. . . . Bel-Air drivein, Centerville, Tenn., has closed for the season and Skylark drive-in, Newport, Ark., has gone into a weekend only operation for the winter. . . . Salesman Travis Carr, Paramount, is vacationing in Texas. . . . Tom Donahue, another Paramount salesman, is on vacation. . . . Bob Kilgore, third Paramount salesman, is in Arkansas on vacation. MIAMI Settling down to the usual winter season activities after the holiday, plus Orange ( Continued on opposite page) 34 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 9, 1954