Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1924)

March 1, 1924 1003 ip of Stars appearing in current and coming productions of the W. W. Hodkinson Corp. Top row, left to right: Dorothy Mackaill, Lois Wilson, Walter Hiers Llovd Hamilton, Betty Compson, Billie Dove; bottom row, Harry Carey, Doro thy Devore, Bryant Washburn, Lila Lee, Madge Bellamy, James Kirkwood ' HpHE management of the Fredonia ■*■ Opera House has changed, Charles H. and C. O. Tarbox having negotiated for the purchase of the lease held by Miss Edith N. Curtis and having secured from the Board of Trustees of Fredonia permission for the transfer of the unexpired lease, which is extended three years. The new proprietors agreed to pay $1,200 a year rental. Charles H. Tarbox, who assisted C. H. Landers in the management of the house for several years, and who has been in charge of booking pictures for the Chautauqua assembly grounds for a few years, will have active management of the house. Some improvements are contemplated. One of the events or the week in Buffalo was the formal opening Thursday night of the new and larger Renown Pictures corporation exchange, on the second floor of the B'eyer Building, 505 Pearl street. It was a regular party with music, dancing, a buffet luncheon and the screening of one of Renown's new pictures. The event was attended by most of the Buffalo exhibitors and several came to town from Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse and other cities in the territory. Joe Miller, branch manager, and his assistant, Leo Mullen, were in charge of the program. M. H. Hoffman, vice-president and general manager of Renown, and Jack Bellman, general sales manager, were guests of honor. The exchange is elahoratcly furnished and completely equipped to serve the exhibitor. It occupies half of the entire second floor. I. M. Prown and Homer Howard have resigned from the Renown sales staff, and Mr. Miller expects to announce the appointment of newsales representatives next week. Walter Hays, vice-president of the Mark Strand interests and head of the Strand Securities corporation, controlling the Criterian theater building, announces that the contents of the Criterion, consisting of a complete quipment for a picture house, including an $11,000 Wurlitzer organ, are for sale. All must be moved the week of April 1, as the building is to be torn down to make way for a modern business block. "Old Faithful," the piano that did duty for a long time in the Nickum Gem Theater, Olean, N. Y., is gone. And Manager Charlie Nickum don't know where to find it. After a long and useful career giving forth music accompaniment for divers picture features in the Gem, " Old Faithful " was moved to the sidewalk when the Nickum Gem was dismantled. Patting the instrument on the back before the intended trip to the warehouse, Charlie was accosted by a man who asked if the piano was for sale. Mr. Xickum induced the stranger to take the instrument into his home for a trial by members of the family. An agreement was to be reached later, Charlie said. " Old Faithful " was loaded on a truck, and when the machine turned the corner Mr. Nickum bad his last look at the piano. It was also his last look at the stranger. Pete Dana has resigned from the sales staff of Hodkinson Pictures corporation and has been succeeded by Jack Thomson, formerly with Vitagraph, Pathe, Associated Exhibitors and other exchanges. A Parent-Teachers association has been formed in Jamestown and has been working on a plan for securing proper motion pictures for children. Through the co-opera tion of Messrs. Peterson & Woods, owners of the Wintergarden Theater, arrangements have been made to run pictures suitable for the entire family, old and young. Two such performances have already been given and a third was presented one evening this week. The picturesshown under the arrangement are selected by the managers of the Wintergarden and a committee from the central council of the Parent Teachers' association. Arthur W. Kettle, chairman of the board of public welfare, has strongly endorsed the plan and declares the movement should be heartily supported by all those interested in the moral welfare of the children. " The children insist upon seeing motion pictures," said Mr. Kettle. " They must see them, and the only thing that can be done is to provide them with suitable films." Justice O'Malley has signed an order providing for the discontinuance of an equity suit brought by the Golde Clothes Shop, Inc., against Loew's Theaters, Inc. The case, which has been in the courts continuously for more than two years, and which has twice been carried to the court of appeals, has been settled. The amount of the settlement could not be learned. The action started when the theater dispossessed the Golde firm from premises on the east side of Main street. The Golde company had a lease on a store there. After they had been dispossessed, the entrance to the Loew theater was built on the store site. The Golde firm appealed from the dispossess order of the city court on the ground that the lease had not yet expired. The city court was upheld by the county and appellate courts, but the highest state court reversed the decision. An equity suit then was brought for restoration of the property and for damages suffered by reason of the dispossess proceedings. An answer was interposed, and the plaintiff then sought judgment on the pleadings. The claim was that the defense did not constitute a proper defense as required by law. This motion was denied by the supreme court. An appeal was taken to the appellate court, and the court of appeals and the high court again ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Eugene A. Pfeil, former manager of the old Strand, has renewed bis lease on the Circle Theater, a west side community house, w hich he has been operating for several months. N. I. Filkins, sales representative of Advance Pictures corporation of Syracuse was in town last week with an announcement of the merger of the Onondaga Film company, and Oualtoplav Film company, into the Advance Picure companv, Inc., capitalized at approximately $150,000. LOVE Means C YTHER EA!