Motion Picture Herald (1954)

( Continued from page 26) trict supervisor. Pauline Martin takes over at RKO as manager secretary. . . . Elsie Knox of Service Theatre Supply, is on the Federal grand jury. . . . Paul Thompson has returned to film row as bookkeeper for Knox Theatres and Service Theatre Supply. In his spare time he operates a restaurant on Lookout Mountain. DES MOINES A new $10,000 marquee has been installed at the RKO-Orpheum in Davenport. It replaces the original sign erected when the theatre was opened in 1930. In conjunction with the installation, the entrance was repainted. Manager is Milton Troehler. . . . The International Association of Machinists (A.F.L.) is negotiating for the purchase of the Forest theatre, a neighborhood house in Des Moines. Union officials said their offer of $34,000 for the closed house had been accepted. The property has been tied up under a tax lien field against W. J. Logan, former operator. The union says it plans to use the theatre as a new headquarters. . . . Earl Stanton, 62, theatre operator at Nora Springs and former postmaster at Hayfield, Minn., died of a heart attack. He had been ill about a year. Mr. Stanton is survived by his widow and two daughters. . . . Firemen were called at 5 :30 p.m. one day last week to extinguish a small fire in the wiring of the marquee of the Des Moines theatre. Damage was confined chiefly to wiring and broken glass in the marquee sign. . . .The Roxy Theatre at St. Ansgar has reopened with a CinemaScope showing of “The Robe.” Harlan Anderson, owner, said the community is the first of its size in the area to feature CinemaScope. DETROIT The end of the “Egyptian” run and the beginning of “Hajji Baba” have been overlapped by managing director David Idzal at the Fox. . . . Bill Green, district advertising manager of the Cinerama Corp., is having after-effects of too much activity too soon after his recent operation. . . . Sy Schechter is the new Cinema manager. He was with the Alhambra. . . .“The Vanishing Prairie” will first run at the Telenews, the first time they’ve deviated from standard newsreel policy since they played Disney’s “The Living Desert.”. . .“Moulin Rouge” is taking a second bounce, showing at the Coronet, an art house. . . . Haviland Reves, well-known about the film circuits, lost his sister-in-law, Nellie Flanigan. . . . The Grosse Pointe Woods carried on with standby power from its own generator after lightning knocked out city power. . . . The booking of the Cinema, Rex and Seville has been turned over to Mutual under Alden Smith. . . . The Swing in Athens has reopened after a year and a half under operation of Walter Bridge of Bronson. HARTFORD Variety Club of Connecticut, Tent 31, has given a check for $615, net proceeds of a boxing show, to the New Haven RegisterFamily Service Fresh Air Fund. . . . Irving Hillman, Sherman theatre, New Haven, has been named “Manager of the Month” for the August phase of the Stanley Warner Circuit northeastern zone’s “Fabian’s Fabu WILL-WAY PROVERB PROVED IN AFTERMATH TO "CAROL" PROVIDENCE, R. I.: To the surprise of Film Row and the gratification of the local film-going public, the local Strand theatre, unquestionably one of the New England theatres hardest hit by Hurricane Carol, of recent memory, opened for business with Paramount's “Rear Window" just 27 days after the freak tropical storm lashed through Providence leaving a wake of destruction that might have done credit to an H-bomb. Within 27 days of the disaster, the Strand had been completely rewired, reseated and re-decorated, a monumental job for which prime credit goes to Albert J. Siner, manager; Chester McLean, his assistant, and a corps of loyal employees, workmen and artisans, and Archibald Silverman, head of the Strand Realty Company, which operates the Washington Street house. When Carol blew through Providence on the morning of August 31, and after the patrons had been cared for, fed from refreshment supplies and then sent home in taxis, private cars and busses, after the flood subsided, a survey was taken. And that was just the beginning. The console of the $50, 000-organ was floating between the orchestra pit and the fourteenth row, and 1,000 orchestra seats were covered with salt water, silt and a thick scum of oil. The recently purchased "fullstage" wide screen showed the high-water mark four feet above the stage level, while the lavish curtain of red velvet likewise had been dunked in the oily waters. Everything in the basement was ruined, including the rest rooms, chairs, dressing tables, divans, and various equipment, as well as the heating and air-conditioning units and the refreshment supply rooms. Mr. Siner and Mr. McLean put on their blue jeans and set to work. With a pump requisitioned from the fire department, 700,000 gallons of water were pumped out of the basement in the first 24 hours. Soggy rugs and carpeting were removed and fumigation started. But almost a week elapsed before the last odors and flood water were removed. In the meantime an emergency order was sent to the Heywood Wakefield Company for new seats. With the Strand's staff supplemented by dozens of electricians, painters and carpenters, the entire theatre was repainted and refurbished with the latest. Working around the clock in two long shifts, the crew allowed Mr. Siner to open a newer, lovelier and more modern Strand within 27 days after Carol's attack. At one point, just I I days after the first hurricane, they had to contend with the fuss of a second storm, Edna, but she left the area comparatively undamaged. The Strand now stands as a handsome monument to what a hurricane can cause to be done in the way of theatre revitalization. lous Forty” promotion campaign. Harry Feinstein, zone manager, disclosed other winners: A1 LaFlamme, Strand, Albany; A. A. Sette, Capitol, Springfield; Murray Howard, Warner, Worcester; Steve Barbett and Guido Luminello, Warner, Lawrence; Andrew Roy, Stanley, Utica; Robert Howell, Port, Newburyport; and N. E. Brickates, Garde, New London. . . . Hartford Visitors: Lou Brown, Loew’s Poli-New England Theatres; Douglas Amos, Lockwood & Gordon Theatres; Albert R. Lessow, Loew’s Poli, Bridgeport. INDIANAPOLIS MGM’s “Ticket Selling Workshop” will be the featured event the first day of the Allied Theatre Owners of Indiana Fall convention at the Marott Hotel Nov. 16-17. There will be morning and afternoon sessions. . . . Max Schaefer resigned as assistant manager of the Indiana to become manager of the Esquire, art film house. Bill Reinecke is his successor at the Indiana. . . . Marc Wolf’s daughter, Phyllis Jeane, was married Oct. 9 to Stephen James. . . . John Murphy, Loew’s, Inc., vice-president, was here on an inspection trip Wednesday and Thursday. . . . Dean Brown has revamped his Sunday stage show policy at the Lyric, running two night performances without films. It formerly replaced the second feature all day. . . . Thousands of delegates to the state teachers’ convention helped “A Star Is Born” and “On The Waterfront” to big openings here this week. JACKSONVILLE Leonard Allen, Paramount publicity man from Atlanta, returned from exploitation jobs in Miami and St. Petersburg. . . . The branch office staff of U-I held a Halloween party at the home of cashier Jane MacDonald. . . . Here on booking trips were L. C. Sipe, Gainesville drive-in, Gainesville; Hugh Martin, MCM Theatres, Leesburg; Harry Dale, Lake theatre, Lake Butler; E. J. Chalhub, Carefree Center, West Palm Beach ; Harry Gordon, Carver and Lincoln theatres, Orlando; and Eugene Wulfekuhler, Dixie drive-in, DeLand. . . . Mrs. Mary E. Longdon, 87, mother of 20th-Fox salesman Phil Longdon, died at Daytona Beach. . . . An interested Californian, Mrs. Helen Brenan, was on a scenic tour of Florida conducted by her brother, Joe J. Deitch, vacationing Florida State Theatres executive. . . . Ken Barrett, FST real estate manager, and Mrs. Barrett visited their son “Skipper” at Suwannee University in Tennessee. . . . Arv Rothschild, NTE circuit ( Continued on following page) MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 30, 1954 29