Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

( Continued from preceding page ) and U.S., is very good. . . . The Lakewood, Lakewood, Colo., a Denver Suburb, is closing Jan. 1 and will be changed into a furniture store. The house is one of the newer theatres of the Denver metropolitan area, but just did not get enough business to keep going. . . . Reville Kniffen, assistant to the western division manager, 20th, was in for conferences with Dick Fulham, branch manager. . . . Geo. Tawson, 20th-Fox salesman, hospitalized in Rocky Mountain Osteopathic hospital, for treatment. . . . R. W. (Buck) Buckley, formerly manager the Belle, Belle Fourche, S.D., manager of West, Gunnison, Colo., succeeding James Ellis, who entered air force. . . . John B. McCullough, of Motion Picture Association, N.Y., in calling on exchanges and others. . . . Lester Zucker, Universal district manager, was in. . . . Fred Brown, Black Hills Amusement Co. buyer and booker, and Mrs. Brown, went south and then to New York on vacation. . . . Glen Wittstruck, Meeker, Colo., was in and ordered a new ’57 Cadillac. . . . Larry Starsmore, Colorado Springs, Colo., theatre executive, to New York on business for Westland Theatres Inc. Des Moines Russ Fraser, former Tri-States advertising and publicity man, has joined Ken Scarpino and Associates as business manager. Scarpino is a photographer specializing in color work. Fraser most recently was manager of Kent theatre here. . . . WOMPI members heard Dorothy Pobst report on her trip to Atlanta and the national convention at their recent monthly luncheon meeting. . . . Variety club members were to hold a dinner dance Oct. 27 to honor Bob Sandler, who recently won a national golf title. The Sandlers’ young daughter, Joan, is a loyal Variety club booster. She staged a show in the neighborhood and turned over all the proceeds to the Heart Fund! . . . The Bev Mahons are receiving congratulations on their most recent bundle from heaven. Mrs. Mahon is the former Zora Fini. . . . lone West again has turned in another successful job as chairman of the Variety women’s rummage sale. . . . Sale of additional stock in Greater Marcus, Inc., which operates the Marland theatre at Marcus has reached $3,825 — three-quarters of the goal needed to put the project on a sound basis. Most of the stock has been bought by individuals in the community. . . . The Schleswig theatre at Schleswig will remain in operation for another year. Businessmen unanimously voted to support the theatre and contributed $400 toward the annual rent of the theatre building. Melvin Schmidt has leased equipment from John and Everett Evers and will take over the management. . . . A new wide screen has been installed at the Lyric theatre in Coon Rapids, according to an announcement by manager V. E. Hazelhoff. Detroit Art Herzog, Herald and Motion Picture Daily correspondent, was married to Delores Darylo. ... A completely automatic switchboard, the Fone-a-Chef, has been introduced by Herber Weingarden. The phone is basically the same as that used in drive-in restaurants and will be used for concession service. . . . “Wiretapper” will be handled by Arlin Pictures. .... The Palms lobby was opened in all its new glory. Taking over a neighboring store, the new entrance is twice the size of the old one. All remodeling was done without interrupting service. A new 200 ton cooling plant was also installed. . . . Phil Stanton is back selling at Universal after a visit to his parents in England. . . . August Sermo, Madison manager, and Maxwell Hamilton, DeMille assistant, will address the Detroit Motion Picture Council at the November meeting. . . . Nick George, local circuit owner, is building a 3,000-seat house in Miami. . . . Projectionists Local 199 IATSE has moved to 2988 E. Grand Boulevard. . . . Charlotte Burns, clerk at United Artists, is off for surgery. . . . One hundred patrons of the Franklin theatre got out without mishap when a fire developed in the booth. Damage was minor. . . . Independent booker Betty Bryden is back at work after seven weeks of poor health. . . . Janet Pobursky is new at the UA switchboard. Hartford Peter Perakos, Sr., president of Perakos Theatre Associates, New Britain, Conn., leaving shortly on a Florida vacation, will visit Greece next spring. Traveling by ship, plane and train, he will tour England, France, Italy and Turkey in addition to his homeland. . . . New London, Conn., business interests have bought the Victory theatre in that city, once operated by the Morris Pouzzner interests of Hartford, and plan to convert the long dark structure into store and office facilities. . . . Arthur Alperin, Colonial, Southington, Conn., is advertising an unprecedented “Grown-Ups’ Night” policy, with this newspaper copy: “First, no children under the age of 18 admitted on Tuesday and Thursday nights unless accompanied by their parents (only if there is no school next day). Second, we’re going to pay your baby sitter those nights — or almost, anyway. If you have a child, or know a child who attends our Sunday matinees, you can be our guest free on Tuesday or Thursday nights. To each child buying an admission Sunday afternoons, we will present a complimentary ticket good for the free admission of one adult over the age of 21 for the very next Tuesday or Thursday only.” Indianapolis Frank Paul, formerly manager of Keith’s and the Lyric, has been named manager of States Film Service, which is expanding its facilities here. . . . Dean Brown, who managed the Lyric until it was closed for the past summer, is taking a “Grand Ole Opry” troupe on a tour to the West Coast. . . . Dr. M. Sandorf, owner of the Theatair Twin drive-ins, has broken ground for a new shopping center adjacent to the theatres. . . . Two three-hour-plus attractions, “War and Peace” and “Oklahoma!”, are outgrossing four other first run pictures combined here this week. . . . The Variety Club will elect officers and crew for 1957 in a meeting at noon Nov. 12. . . Herman Black is heading a new Variety membership drive aimed at radio-TV and allied industries. . . . Jack Ackron closed the Ritz at Tipton Oct. 14. . . . The Princess at Cayuga, formerly owned by H. W. Boyd, has been reopened by Warren Ottinger. . . . Most Indiana drive-ins have now cut back to weekend operations. Jacksonville Bob Heekin and Danny Deaver planned an entertainment program for the Motion Picture Exhibitors of Florida convention here October 28-30 over a luncheon with Mayor Haydon Burns in the River Club. . . . RKO’s Paul Harrison came in for business talks with R. Cam Price, RKO manager, and circuit film buyers. . . . Photographs of Art Museum members at an advance screening of “Tea and Sympathy” were used successfully in newspaper ads and special heralds to plug a top box office engagement of the motion picture at the Florida Theatres. . . . FST staffers in Orlando gave a farewell party for Margaret Haddaway prior to her marriage to William Stokes who operates a U.S. Air Force officers club in Oakland, Calif. . . . Don Yarborough, 20th-Fox, escorted •Terry Moore, star of “Between Heaven and Hell,” on a local round of TV and radio stations, press interviews, a visit to the Naval Air Station and a single public appearance on stage at the Florida theatre. . . . A. C. Lyles, Jr., assistant producer of Paramount’s “The Mountain,” began his career as a page boy at the local Florida Theatre. . . . Visiting exhibitors included Johnny Harrell, Atlanta; Jim Ochs, Dania; Leon Task, Miami; and Les Sikes, Bill Conn and “Shorty” Hughes, all of Gainesville. Kansas City Homer Elridge, former manager of the Dickinson theatre at Topeka, was transfei'red by Dickinson Theatres to the Trail at Olathe. His successor at Topeka is Charles Neiman. Charles Adams, formerly at Olathe, is now a People’s theatre, Pleasant Hill, Mo. . . . The British film, “The Red Shoes,” which had a long run at the Kimo theatre in Kansas City, was scheduled for the Oct. 28th offering in the Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum in Kansas City. . . . With a weekend screening of two of the late James Dean’s films, the Heart drive-in was offering photographs of the actor. . . . Arthur Granson, Ashland, Kans., is operating the Ritz theatre there. . . . New equipment has been installed for films at the Larned, Kansas State Hospital. . . . Kickapoo theatre, Springfield, Mo., which is managed by Phil Greenlaw, has inaugurated a series of art films. . . . Charles S. Borg, who had operated Missouri and Kansas theatres since 1935, died at 76 at his home in Fort Scott, Kans. Los Angeles A mass meeting for the Community Chest drive was held at the Boulevard theatre October 16, with the exchange heads and personnel from all the offices attending. After the screening of a special film, Thornton Sargent, Fox West Coast executive, introduced the following speakers to the audience: Steve Brody, Allied Artists president; Sherrill Corwin, head of Metropolitan Theatres; and Milton ( Continued on following page) 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, OCTOBER 27, 1956