Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1954)

( Continued from preceding page) sorship of motion pictures is “unnecessary and premature.” He made the statement after learning Collins had told the Legislative Council there should be a law against showing "morally low, lewd and obscene movies.” “State censorship only garbles and confuses the situation” Loewenstein said. OMAHA Merchants at Lyons, Neb., arranged with exhibitor Charles Thoene to present 12 free shows on consecutive Saturday afternoons open to everyone as an attraction for residents in the trade territory. . . . Dane Clark, cast as Abe Saperstein of the Harlem Globe Trotters in “Go Man Go,” and Owner Saperstein visited Omaha and Lincoln in connection with United Artists’ saturation booking at nearly 200 situations in this territory. . . . Roy Casey, ex-20th-Fox cashier who went to Seattle and then Portland in the same capacity, was at his old desk in Omaha last week filling in for Dorothy Weaver, who underwent an operation. Fox officials learned he was vacationing in near-by Cherokee, la., and prevailed upon him to help out. . . . Exhibitors from 229 theatres in the territory signed up in the COMPO drive, chairman Don McLucas announced. He termed it a good showing, compared with 256 last year, when more theatres were operating. PHILADELPHIA David A. Milgram lost the lease on the Garden, West Chester, Pa. With the Milgram Circuit giving up the house, it will be renamed the New Harrison and will be operated by Iz Segall. . . . Norman Gaskill, Columbia booker, succeeds Harvey Schwartz, who resigned as office manager of the local exchange. . . . Eleven-month reports in Reading, Pa., show that amusements ticket taxes, chiefly from theatres, reversed the trend of the past several years. Reading City Treasurer said that the 11-month income was $130,729, against $128,487 for the same period in 1952. In November, the tax income was $14,541, compared to $10,881 in the same 1952 month. . . . Nick Todorov resigned as manager of the Uptown, Harrisburg, Pa., to go in business for himself, and is replaced by Charles Rubinsky, brother of Mark Rubinsky, owner of the house. . . . Thomas F. Friday, attorney for the Comerford Theatres, Inc., Scranton, Pa., was re-elected to a three-vear directorate term of the Boys’ Club-Big Brother Organization. . . . Cinerama at Boyd dropped the Monday and Tuesday matinees despite the fact that the holiday weeks were the most profitable the attraction has enjoyed since it opened here. . . . Eddie Emanuel, film trade paper executive here, is convalescing in Nassau. PITTSBURGH Rumors persist that the State theatre, Fifth Ave., downtown Pittsburgh, a second WIDE-ARC SCREEN FRAMES Adjust-A-Curve for any aspect ratio. Exculsive advantages yet costs less! Easy to install, easy to set curve and tilt. Rugged yet light. Investigate! fir si 'American pWw&im 1717 Wyandotte St., Kansas City 8, Mo. run, double-feature house for decades, will soon go first-run to alleviate the serious booking snafu downtown, caused by extended CinemaScope runs and the conversion of the Warner, across the street from the State, to Cinerama. . . . Nearby McKeesport gets in the news this week with the reduction of the city’s 10 per cent amusement tax to five per cent under the city’s new Democratic Mayor, Andrew J. Jakomas. . . . Not even the season’s worst weather has hurt “The Little Fugitive,” “King of the Khyber Rifles” and “Knights of the Round Table,” each rating a fourth week locally. . . . “Miss Sadie Thompson” also got two weeks in the Stanley, with “The Eddie Cantor Story” following the Rita Hayworth opus. . . . “The Best Years of Our Lives” returning to the Fulton where it first opened in 1946. . . . Jerry Smith, assistant Ritz manager, transferred to Loew’s Dayton (O.) theatre, with Dick Purvis replacing Smith at the Ritz. PORTLAND Business continues to be on the upgrade at all first run houses. Regular admission prices have become a novelty here with most spots having CinemaScope or 3-D. . . . 300 business women are to attend a breakfast screening of “Forever Female” next week. . . . National Screen Service’s new local manager, Harry Lewis, is getting settled here now that his family has finally joined him. . . . Evergreen vice-president, William Thedford, here to confer with Oregon district manager Russ Brown. . . . Ditto J. Walter Bantau of National Theatres in L. A. . . . Paramount branch manager and staff are off to Seattle for regional sales meet. . . . Stereophonic sound and Astrolite screen now installed in the Liberty theatre. . . . Hamrick’s Roxy has installed a wide Magnascopic screen. . . . J. J. Parker’s United Artists also has installed wide screen equipment. . . . Todd Blake, new assistant manager of the Oriental theatre is noted for his fictional writing. . . . Jack Matlack, exJ. J. Parker Chain executive, has been appointed general manager of the 1954 Home Show. . . . Jack Braxton appointed manager of the Bagdad theatre. PROVIDENCE Going into its second week at the RKO Albee, “Hondo” was drawing good houses. . . . “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” held for a second week at the Majestic, where it headed an all-CinemaScope program, which included cartoons and “Vesuvius Express.” . . . Alan Ladd in “Paratrooper” drew better than satisfactory crowds at the Strand. . . . The Avon Cinema, East side art house, has been packing them in since New Year’s Eve with Alec Guinness in “The Captain’s Paradise.” . . . “Ice-Capades,” which drew a total of 101,000 viewers when it played the R. I. Auditorium last winter for 18 performances, is slated to return to the Arena for a limited 13-performance engagement. . . . Neighborhood houses, anticipating even a better year in 1954 than last year, are making an excellent start by offering “twin bills” that, in some situations, are drawing capacity crowds. . . . The Darlton, just across the city line in Pawtucket, recently installed a new giant panoramic screen. TORONTO The Communion Breakfast of the Toronto entertainment community will take place on jan. 31. Mass will take place at St. Michael’s Cathedral and breakfast will follow in the King Edward Hotel. Special committees are arranging for breakfasts in other cities in Canada. . . . Sales of TV receiving sets in Canada jumped 163 per cent in the first ten months of 1953. There were 313,633 units sold in 1953 as against 119,271 in the same period in 1952. . . . Kenneth Winckles and John Davis of the Rank Organization expected in Canada during the latter part of January, while Leslie Allen of Cardinal Films has winged his way to Europe. Rome, London and Paris are included in his itinerary. . . . David Krowchuk of Niagara Falls, Ont., succeeded Gerald W. Mooney as assistant to Fred Jackson, manager of Loew’s, London. Mooney is now manager of Loew’s Uptown, Toronto. . . . Mr. and Mrs. N. Berge of the Nix, Rose Valley, Sask., entertained 747 district youngsters, showing them “Anne of Green Gables” and giving each a bag of popcorn to increase their enjoyment. VANCOUVER Herb Stevenson, president of Trans-West, Theatres, Ltd., which operates two theatres at Prince George, in Northern British Columbia, and is building an ozoner near the town, was on Film Row. He was returning from a Seattle vacation. He reports that the drive-in will be ready for spring business in spite of zero and heavy snows up there. . . . Film Row now has a female shipper. Frances Coombs replaced Tom Backus, Jr., as JARO shipper. ... New head usherette at the Vogue is Eileen Sambad, who succeeds Betty Lipsack, now in the ticket booth. . . . Jimmy Patterson, 20th-Fox manager, is having trouble finding himself a booker to replace Bob Billings, who moved to UA. Jimmy is doubling in brass until he gets help. . . . Dr. Paul Kowalishik has purchased the Roxy in Canora, Saskatchewan, as well as the unfinished drive-in near the town, from Regal Amusements, Regina. . . . Imports are taking plenty of playing time from Hollywood pictures in this area. . . . Frank Gow, Famous Players’ district manager, bedded with flu. . . . Jake Jacobson, vicepresident of International IATSE projectionists, is here for a look-see into the projectionists and Famous Players wage scale troubles. . . . The City of Vancouver is taking court action to acquire the 450-seat Star theatre. They need it for a new jail. WASHINGTON The Motion Picture Association will have a special showing of “The Glenn Miller Story” for the Air Force. . . . Dr. Charles W. Lowry, Variety Club chaplain, spoke January 13 over Station WMAL-TV, on “Free Man Faces Communism.” . . . Bill Gallagher, of the Modern Talking Picture Service, was speaker at the Washington Film Council meeting. . . . Newest member of the Variety Club, approved by the membership committee, is William McManus, vice-president of the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. . . . Fritz Goldschmidt, who is back from a service post, is now on the sales staff of 20th Century-Fox. . . . Nate Shor, booker at Universal, will be married in April. . . . The Variety Club’s first Board of Governors meeting for 1954 has been changed to February 1, making it a combined January-February meeting. It will be held in the Executive Room of the Willard Hotel. 30 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 23, 1954