Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

Ib98 Motion Picture News Trade Events Around the Seattle Exchanges Chas. H. Feldman CHARLES H. FELDMAN arrived in the city recently to take over the management of the Seattle First National Exhibitors' exchange, succeeding Guy G. Maxey, manager since November, 1922. Before coming here, Mr. Feldman was manager of the Portland First National office, having opened that branch two and a half years ago. It was while in charge of that office this year that Mr. Feldman and the Portland staff received first prize for business during First National Week. Before joining First National, Mr. Feldman was with the General Film Company and George Kleine. In conjunction with his arrival here, Mr. Feldman announced that C. Frank Harris, First National representative formerly working out of Portland, will come to the Seattle territory, and B. A. Stover, formerly of Butte, will replace Harris in Portland. C. W. Koerner, former Butte manager, is now in charge of the Portland office, and Harry Sigmund has taken over the management in Butte. Sigmund was formerly a representative out of Seattle. Leroy V. Johnson, manager of the Liberty theatre, has been appointed by Mayor Edwin J. Brown to membership on the board of theatre censors. He will replace Frank L. Steffy, manager of the Coliseum theatre, whose term lias just expired. In addition to Mr. Johnson, three other persons were appointed to the board, including Mrs. W. K. McFarlane and Mrs. H. O. Stone, prominent club and organization women, and Rev. W. Ashe-Everst, Seattle pastor. George Bouckaert is present chairman of the board. Changes in the management of two of the Blue Mouse theatres was announced recently by John Hamrick, president and owner of the circuit. Art Hile, manager of the Astoria, Oregon, house has resigned, and will return to Salem, where he will enter the exhibitors ranks. He will be succeeded in Astoria by Fred Teufel, formerly manager of the Portland Blue Mouse. Mr. Teufel will be replaced by Ai Raleigh, who, before joining the Hamrick organization, was manager of the Jensen-Von Herberg Columbia theatre in Portland, recently purchased by the Universal Film Company. A $5,000 oil painting of Brownie, the Century Comedy dog, was on exhibition recently at the Columbia theatre here. The picture is the work of Miss Graziella Boucher, a Northwest artist and critic of note who lives in Seattle. She painted the portrait from life recently when she was in Hollywood, and was complimented by Julius Stern, president of Century Comedies, upon the work. In connection with the exhibition of the picture Mr. Case booked and ran a Brownie Comedy, especially for the " Brownie Week." An investigation recently conducted by E. S. Wideman, superintendent of schools at Bellingham, a town of 40,000, among the 8,000 school children of the city, revealed the fact that Charles Chaplin, Jackie Coogan and Norma Talmadge were the three characters best known tc the students as famous people. Charles Chaplin received five times as many " votes " as did George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Further statistics proved that education through motion pictures was remembered by the students long after facts learned through lectures or reading has been forgotten. " Racing Hearts " and " Mad Love " are two coming features that have been booked by the Jensen-VonHerberg circuit and are announced for early showing in this city. " Mad Love " opened at the Liberty theatre in Portland on March 24, and was expected to play in Seattle shortly after that. George Nyckelseck has just come to the Blue Mouse theatre as assisting organist, succeeding Paul Cowen, who has left the Hamrick organization after a year in their service. Nyckelseck, before coming here, was head organist at the Strand theatre in San Francisco and following that represented the Robert Morton organ company in opening the Blue Mouse at Astoria, Oregon. The first print of " The Fourth Musketeer " arrived at the Film Booking Office exchange and was reviewed by Manager A. B. Metzger, who has begun to show the picture to exhibitors around the territory. " If I Were Queen " and " Heedless Moths " were recently sold by Mr. Metzger to the Blue Mouse theatres, the latter picture having been booked to open at the Tacoma house on April 7. J. A. Gage and Wallace Rucker, manager and salesman of the local Educational Pictures exchange returned to Seattle recently after a short trip around the territory, working especially on bookings on " The Message of Doctor Coue." W. E. Bam ford, manager of the Goldwyn exchange was a recent visitor in Portland, where he established Dave Farquahr as head of the sales department working in the Oregon territory. Before joining Goldwyn Mr. Farquahr was manager of the Select exchange at Salt Lake City. " Just Tony,'' when it played at the Blue Mouse theatre in Tacoma a few weeks ago, broke all house records for attendance, according to an announcement made by Guy F. Navarre, manager of the Fox Film exchange. The Tom Mix feature, which was the first to ever get first run bookings in the larger Washington and Oregon cities, filled Manager J. W. HouckJs theatre practically to capacity for the seven days that it ran. " Quicksand " has just arrived at the local American Releasing Corporation exchange, and Manager Louis Amacher is arranging exhibitions for the theatre men of the territory. He recently returned from Portland and other large cities in the territory where he has been working on several propositions in regard to engagements for "The Bohemian Girl," which has been in the city for a few weeks now. Trade Jottings from Southern Pennsylvania AS he was taking the receipts home at the close of the night performances at the Strand and Family theatres, Mt. Carmel, Manager James J. Quirk was held up by a highwayman. Quirk, however, proved more than a match for the robber and repulsed him and subsequently caused his arrest. The Anthracite Amusement, Inc., circuit, of which Al. Gottesman, of Shenandoah, is head, is planning to build three motion picture theatres in Pottsville, Tamaqua and Mahanoy City, respectively. Plans, it is announced, are being drawn by Horn & Sons, architects, of New York. The company plans also to remodel the Strand, in Shenandoah, at an expenditure of $40,000, work to start in June when the theatre will close. The Pottsville theatre will seat 2,000 persons and the Mahanoy City and Tamaqua houses, 1,400 each. It is proposed to spend about $1,000,000 on the buildings to house these three new theatres. The Stegmaier interest, widely known brewers of Wilkes-Barre, are said to be large investors in an enterprise which proposes the erection of a hotel and a theatre with 2,000 seating capacity, on the Laning Harvey property, near the Grand Opera House in that city. Edward Richards, for many years a member of the famous Setzer's orchestra, of Pottsville, has been engaged as pianist for the Strand theatre, Shenandoah, by Al. Gottesman, manager. A new theatre for motion pictures will be erected this spring at Dushore, by Nicholas Tate, owner of the Tate theatre, of Mildred. Floods in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, caused by ice gorges that formed when the ice broke up for the winter, caused serious inconvenience in the business section of Lock Haven, and compelled several motion picture theatres to suspend performances. Fire engines were required to pump the water from the cellars. George Fabel has sold the Grand theatre, one of the oldest amusement places in Stroudsburg, to Victor Austin, for $9,000. Mr. Austin, who has been acting as manager of the house, plans to continue it as a motion picture theatre after making extensive alterations. Exchange and ltor Items from Indiana YE ELM GROVE AMUSEMENT COMPANY, of Terre Haute, has increased its capital stock from $20,000 to $30,000. The Katsaros Motion Picture theatre, at Rushville, Ind., has been traded to a Cincinnati syndicate represented by John R. Neely, for an apartment house in the Ohio city. Michael Katsaros and George Katsoras, proprietors of a candy kitchen, had remodeled the theatre out of a flat building last fall, since which time it had stood idle. It is understood the Cincinnati syndicate will lease the house to some one who will operate it for the first time. It was said last week that negotiations of the Central Amusement Company, operating the Lyric, Isis and Apollo theatres with the William H. English Estate for leasing of the Crystal theatre, now operated by Gustav G. Schmidt, have failed. Schmidt's lease has two years to run. Several months ago he leased property to the north of the Crystal from the Thompson heirs and enlarged the Crystal. The front part of the Thompson property is occupied by a candy store. The Central Amusement Company has leased the entire property effective when the present lessee's holdings expire. The property in question has twenty feet of frontage on Illinois Street, and is 120 feet deep, adjoining the Lyric on the south. Charles M. Olson, president of the Central Amusement Company, said that the entrance to the Lyric would be shifted to the twenty-foot frontage, immediately south of the present foyer, and the rear of the theatre remodeled so , as to provide additional seating capacity. The Lyric was built only two years ago.