Motion Picture News (Oct - Dec 1928)

1776 M 0 tl 0 n P i c t n r c N e zv s Witness Big Week in Southeast Atlanta THE Franklin Theatre. Ft. Valley, Ga.. has been taken over b\' Joe Stonaris. who formerly operated several houses in Florida. This house was, for several years, n[)erated by Walter Brandenburg, who disposed of his interest to A. H. McCarty. who, in turn, sold to Mr. Stonaris. The Capitol Theatre at Montgomery, Ala., has been taken over by DeWess & Katz, according to information received. The Capitol was operated for several years by Joe Wheeler. The Grand Theatre, Cedartown, Ga., has been taken over by C. H. Graves. Joe Wheeler is manager. The Grand was damaged by fire some months ago and had not been operated until recently. C. R. Beacham, special sales representative for First National, was in Atlanta for a brief visit the latter part of the week. Messrs. DeWess and Katz have taken over operation of the Capitol Theatre at Montgomery, Ala. E. A. Rambonnet, special sales representative of Arthur C. Bromberg Attractions in the Charlotte territory, has returned to that section after completing about three weeks of special work in Atlanta. Arthur C. Bromberg, president of -Arthur C. Bromberg Attractions, with headquarters in Atlanta, returned to his office the first of the week after spending" about ten days in Florida. Jack Keegan. general booking manager for \'itaphone, spent a week at the company's Atlanta branch. William G. Minder, southern district manager for Tiffany-Stahl, with headquarters in Atlanta, has been on an extended trip through the Alabama territory. Exhibitors seen along Atlanta's film row this past week were; J. T. Freeman. Griffin, Ga. ; L. B. Harrell. of Lyric and Orpheum, W^aycross, Ga. : Cy Colley, Westmont Theatre, Montgomerv. Ala. ; Mrs. I. H. Dictz. Star theatre, Covington, Ga. ; Holt Mitchell, Dixie Theatre, Pelham. Ga. ; H. E. Edenfeld, Dreamland Theatre. Augusta, Ga. ; I.ce Castleberry, Gandsden. Ala.; Herman Silverman, Grand Theatre, Chattanooga, Tenn. ; Nathan Morgan, Roy Martin chain, Columbus, Ga. ; Carl Cope. Colonial Theatre, Ga. ; William R. Griffin, Strand Theatre, Cullman, Ala. Birmingham Encouraging news headlines many newspapers throughout the state carry, showing railroad companies arc placing orders for steel rails, gondolas and other railroad equipment, and even now some Birmingham steel plants are blowing in furnaces idle for several mouths, which will make many local people feel that Christmas really means something when they get a couple of i)aydays together. There are no wild claims of "boom" conditions but most business men feel that, with the resumption of factory work and steel and iron manufacture, Alabama will have turned the corner. Joe Patton, for the past several weeks acting manager of the Empire Theatre, one of the Marvin Wise chain, has returned to Atlanta and will resume his duties as publicity man for Metro-GoldwynMayer. The Empire, at least temporarily, will be under tlie personal direction of Frank \\ Mcrritt, general manager of the Marvin Wise Theatres. C. L. Peavey, Atlanta branch manager for FBC), was a Birmingham visitor the past week. Willard C. Patterson, district manager for Publix, was also in Birmingham last week. Damage estimated at several hundred dollars w-as done by a fire at the Odeon Theatre on Second avenue, Birmingham, Ala., earh' Wednesday afternoon. The film was ignited and flames damaged the operating room. Other damage was done by smoke. J. B. Amberson. projectionist, suffered burns about the hands and arms when he attempted to extinguish the blaze. P. A. Engler, of the Famous and Champion Theatres, went on a fishing trip the past week. Lee L. Castleberry of the Princess Theatre, Gadsden, dropped in on Birmingham the past week, as did Joe Portera of the Sunshine Theatre, Brookside. Charlotte Several \'itaphone installations will be completed in North Carolina within the next thirty days, including the Lyric and Gastonia Theatres at Gastonia, the Broadhurst at High Point, Quarles' Theatre at Burlington, the Wilson at Wilson, and reported for installation not later than January 5 are the Sams Theatres and the Colonial at Winston-Salem. H. F. Kincey and his architect have been in New York purchasing furnishings and equipment for the new Publix-Saenger Theatre at Winston-Salem, N. C, which is expected to open around Christmas. M. Buchanan, of Tupelo. Miss., has leased the Carolina Theatre at West Asheville, N, C, from the Continental Trust Company of Charlotte, receiver for Carolina Theatres, inc. Mr. Buchanan has also purchased the Strand Theatre at Canton, N. C, from R. W. Sherrill. The Lyric Theatre at Beattyville, Ky., is closing down to two nights per week for the next three months. Leo the Lion, living trade-mark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures, did his clever tricks in person at the Strand and Ben Ali Theatres at Lexington, Ky., last week. The animal is making a tour of the world. The Paramount Theatre at Columbus, Ky., has closed. The Orion Theatre at Kuttawa, Ky., has been closed and dismantled. W. T. Green has purchased the Palace Theatre at Bessemer City, N. C, from Beam & Plummer. The Best Theatre at Warsaw, N. C. has been sold by R. B. Best to Mary G. Quinn. R. C. Cawthorne has sold the Central Theatre at Anderson, S. C, to W. S. Finch. Charles H. Arrington, of the Palace, Lyric and Cameu Theatres at Rocky Mount, N. C, and Rudolph Mason, of Mason's Theatre at Goldsboro. N. C, made a trip to New York last week to inspect several different types of sound reproducing devices. Ray Gardner, salesman for Fox in this territory for many years, has ben seriously ill at the Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. Reynolds Wilbanks. manager of the Paramount exchange here, returned early last week from the Paramount convention held in New York. Orchestraphones were installed last week in the Columbia Theatre at Albermarle, N. C, and the Alameda Theatre at Albermarle, by the National Theatre Supply Company. The Columbia is owned by George Hughes and the Alameda by E. L. Hearne. Florida Work is progresshig nicely with the installation of the sound equipment in the Tampa and the house announced the starting of sound films for Sunday, Dec. lOth. Mrs. N. V. Darley, manager of the Royal, Tarpon Springs, spent Sunday in Tampa. New upholstered seats have been installed in the Strand and beautiful heavy carpet laid in the foyer Jesse L. Clark, Florida district manager for Publix, and W. E. Drumbar and W. L. Whitehead plan to leave Jacksonville for Atlantic City to attend a conference of district managers and other executives of the Publix. E. J. Sparks, head of the Sparks chain of theatres in F"lorida. is expected to return to Jacksonville about December \2. He is now in Mexico on a hunting trip with friends. Pittsburgh Theatres Change Policies Two prominent East Liberty (Pittsburgh) theatres, the Liberty, owned by the Stanley company ajid the Cameraphone owned by H. B. Kester, which have been playing week stands have changed to a split week policy, the change having taken place Thanksgiving Week. The Liberty also cut balcony admission rates from forty cents to twenty-five cents. Earl Lohr, of the Film Distributing Company, had a narrow escape from serious injury recently as the result of an unusual accident, h^rl was dri\'ing his closed car, when a link from a tire chain on a truck immediately preceding him, snapped off the chain and hurtled back through Earl's windshield, smashing the glass. The chain link hit the back of the car and j ust missed striking Earl in the face. Lady luck was riding with him that time! Recent theatre owner visitors to Pittsburgh's exchange center included : Carl Becker. Butler ; Joe Mercer, Warwood ; James Retter, California; Tom Rankin, Bridgeville; Mike Marks, Oil City; J. B. Kane, Pitcairn ; Bart Dattola and Sam Hyman. New Kensington; Paul Jones, St. Marys. James Lynch has completed construction of his new theatre building in Bridgeville, and will soon announce his opening date. Claud Saunders, exploitation manager for Paramount, was a recent visitor to Pittsburgh and conferred with David Brown, accessory sales manager of the local branch. Louis "Sticks" Padolf, wellknown Pittsburgh film salesman, was married on November 13th to Miss Lillian Marietta. The Stanley Company is rushing to completion their new 3000seat Enright Theatre in East Liberty, and hope to open the house on Christmas Day. Another Milwaukee Show Robbed ANOTHER Milwaukee theatre robbed ! This time, however, it was done by experienced safe blowers. Bandits attempted to blow up the Orpheum safe but two charges of "soup" failed to do more than dent the safe door and $8,000 receipts lay safe inside. $80 was taken from the box office, which was locked in a small box. One of the bandits, it is supposed, remained hidden in the theatre after the last performance and let in his associates. Louis Orloff, formerly managei of the Mirth Theatre, is now managing the Tivoli. He succeeds Ken Butterfield, who is now at the Mirth. The door curtain at the Whitehouse Theatre was destroyed by fire. Origin of the fire is unknown. Steve Dorece, manager of the Crown at Racine, recently purchased a new sedan. Art Schmitz, formerly a sales representative for F.B.O., has been appointed branch manager of F.B.O. to succeed M. H. Hull. M. P. Kelley, who for the past year has been director of exploitation for Midwesco, has resigned his position to take over the publicity work for Northwest Airwajs at St. Paul. The Strand had a small fire, which started in the basement and did some damage before it was halted. H. W. Foerste is now manager at the Uptown Theatre to succeed Al Kvool. Mr. Kvool is now managing director of Midwesco's Milwaukee houses. EMPIRE LABORATORIES INC. 723 Seventh Ave., N. Y. Quality Bryant 2180-2181-2182 deveijoping and printing motion picture film