Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1952)

MOTION nCTUKE HERALD 'Look what it grossed in Stamford, Conn., and you sit there saying no soap!" {Continued from opposite page) waukee County’s Cancer Crusade. Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie will make guest appearances for the event. . . . Two eastern Wisconsin theatres were rohbefl last week. The first was in Shehoygan, where a holdup man got $18 from the cashier after passing a note asking for hills, d'he second was Russell Leddy’s Orpheum at Green Bay, Wis., where the loot was $700. . . . The Wisconsin Industrial Commission signed the new revised drive-in building code. . . . On the front of the marquee of the Royal theatre liere was seen "Too Good Features” instead of Two Good Features. It caught the eye of a photographer of a local paper and a picture of the theatre’s marquee appeared in the paper. MINNEAPOLIS Vern Skorey, former branch manager for Twentieth Century-Fox at Calgary, Alberta, has joined the Minneapolis branch as salesman. . . . L. T. Mooney, RCA motion picture service representative in the Twin Cities, is ill at the Midway hospital in St. Paul. . . . W. A. VanCamp, for many years a St. Paul theatre manager for the Minnesota Amusement Company, and now managing director for Greater Seattle Incorporated, Seattle, Washington, stopped to visit with friends in St. Paul. . . . Cyril Huss, Lyric theatre, Faulkton, South Dakota, was in Minneapolis on a buying and booking trip. . . . The first drive-in theatre in the Twin Cities to reopen for this season was the Flilltop in Minneapolis. . . . Visitors included Burr Cline, Star, State and the Outdoor theatres, Jamestown, North Dakota; Earnest Schweigerdt, Princess theatre. Miller, South Dakota; Clarence Morris, Morgan theatre, Morgan, Minnesota, and Vernon Schaefer, Adams theatre, Adams, Minnesota. NEW ORLEANS Out-of-town callers were A. L. Royal and his general manager. Hank Jackson, Royal Theatres, Laurel, Miss. ; Arthur Lehman, Jackson, Miss.; Charles Waterall and sons, Charles, Jr., and Jack, Prichard, and Mt. Vernon, Ala.; Harold Jenkins, Sundown drive-in, McKenzie, Ala. ; Joseph Barcelona, Regina, and Roy Pfeiffer, Istrouma, Baton Roug'e, La.; Robert Molzon, Norco, La.; Stanley Taylor, Crosby, Miss.; Charles Levy, Ritz, Hammond, La. ; Kenneth Giddens and manager W. E. Limroth, Giddens and Rester Theatres, Mobile, Ala.; William Page and booker, John Luster, W. W. Page Amusement Co., Robeline, La., and Ira Phillips, Moreauville, La. . . . Tony Marullo has closed his Rendezvous, Grand Isle, La. . . . Frank Olah sold the Star, Jeanerette, La., to Ross Colletti. . . . A. D. Hopkins, who recently assumed operations of the 35 drive-in, Raleigh, Miss., is having it dismantled to be re-erected near Jackson, Miss. . . . Bert Brown’s new drive-in, the Moonlite, now under construction near Enterprise, Ala., is scheduled for May 20 opening. . . . H. B. Shaver, who recently took over ownership operation of the Athens, Athens, La., added the Gibsland, Gibsland, La., to his operation. . . . Lew Andrews, Hallmark representative returning from a trip, said that he observed many drive-ins have gone in for midnight shows. . . . Mr. and Mrs. William Sendy of the Patio are rallying from injuries received in an auto accident. OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma Tax Commission reports sales ta.x for the month of February, 1952, for theatres at $30,880, as compared with $29',607 tax for the month of February 1951. . . . The story of Oklahoma’s 45th Division, began being filmed April 21, Republic announced. The picture, “Citizen Soldiers,” is to be filmed for the most part in Fort Sill, where the Thunderbirds began combat training after being mobilized in September, 1940. . . . The Crest Theatre, Stillwater, Okla., has reopened after being completely remodeled. ... At Houston, Texas, the largest drive-in theatre, with the innovation of two screens back-to-back, will be ready for operation at South Park Blvd. and Holmes Road about June 1, it was announced. The King Center drive-in, a novelty in the entertainment world, is being built by L. O. G., Inc., of Beaumont, Tex., headed by Julius Gordon, who also is president of Beaumont’s Jefferson Amusement Company. The theatre will hold more than 800 cars. ... A new amusement enterprise was to come to Chandler, Ariz., with the opening of the Mustang drive-in theatre. PHILADELPHIA Managerial changes were announced at the Warner Brothers Theatres here and in the territory. John Roach moved to the first-run Stanley with George Balkin transferred to the suburban Ardmore, where Jim McHugh left to go to the Colney. Howard Kuemmerle transferred from the Colney to the Keystone and Elmer Risley went to the Lindley. Harry Knoblauch moves from the Uptown, which was sold by the circuit, to the Cross Keys, and Chet Woerner goes from the Cross Keys to the suburban Lansdowne. In York, Pa., Francis Anthony was transferred from the Capitol to the Ritz with George Kemble coming from the Strand, Hanover, Pa., to the Capitol. James B. Boyer takes over the Strand, also assuming management of the State in Hanover, Pa. . . . William Fishman, local theatre owner, heads a real estate investment syndicate which purchased five resort real estate parcels in Atlantic City, N. J., for a sum reported in excess of $200,000. . . . With Max Bronow taking a post as booker at MGM, his desk at Tri-States Booking and Buying Service is taken over by Franklin Pease, until recently with the William 1. Greenfield Theatres. . . . The Reading Drive-In, Reading, Pa., and the Atlantic Drive-In, Pleasantville, N. J., reopened for the new season. . . . Marvin Bazin, projectionist at the City Line Center, is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Legislature. . . . Sid Stanley adds amateur stage shows on Monday nights at the Uptown, which he manages for Sam Stiefel. . . . Joseph Conway, in taking over the operation of the Eureka, wilt rename the house and begin a policy on May 3 of foreign and art films. . . . 309 Drive-In in suburban Montgomeryville, Pa., reopened for the season and is in the process of building a kiddie playland. . . . Martin B. Ellis, general manager of the A. M. Ellis independent theatre chain, and Ralph Pries, local branch manager for the Berio Vending theatre candy firm, are the new Variety Clnh representatives to the executive hoard of the local March of Dimes Chapter. PITTSBURGH Film Row folk sat up and took notice at a two column ad which appeared in the three local newspapers urging film-goers to see “Singin’ in the Rain” at Loew’s Penn Theatre. The ad was paid for by Morris Finkel, former president of the Allied Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Western Pennsylvania, and his brother Bill, Chief Barker of Variety Club Tent No. 1. They are the owners of five neighborhood theatres. Morris {Continued on following page) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 26, 1952 39