The Moving picture world (January 1920-February 1920)

February 7, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 875 Indicating the Dotted Line to Picture Showmen in Dixie Land FROM the station to the main street in Lynchburg, Va., is like climbing the Alps. Two exhibitors run the movies in town. C. M. Casey owns three theatres, the Isis, the Belvidere and the Gaiety. The Isis will increase its seating capacity soon from 650 to 1,000. I was shown a newspaper clipping regarding a little agitation against the theatres in Lynchburg. The church faction is very strong. The other exhibitor is Mr. Trent who owns the Trenton Theatre, seating 1,100. In Tennessee. Covering Tennessee is not the easiest thing to do via railroad. Aeroplane would be better. Trains are rather limited in number and local in stops. Starting at Knoxville, we have a town of 90,000. The Signal Amusement Company controls the situation in Knoxville, owning the Queen, 800 seats; Strand, 1,000; Rex, 400; and Majestic, 300. Loew also has a theatre, at present being renovated. The Brichetto Brothers own the Crystal, 350 seats, and the Liberty, a small suburban house seating 200. The Brichetto boys have the "mazuma." They lately bought a piece of corner property, costing $68,000. Regular Dough Boys, eh? They have been in the show business about six years. The Brichettos informed me that melodrama gets money for them. They are cleaning up; both good fellows who deserve success. Signal Strong in Chattanooga Also. From Knoxville to Chattanooga is a night's ride. The latter is another city where Signal Amusement Company is in full bloom. They control the following theatres: American, 900 seats; Royal, 750; Bonita, 400; Superba, 400; Fine Arts, 700; Alcazar, 950; Rialto, 900; Lyric, 850, and one more theatre under construction in the Tivoli. F. H. Dowler, Jr., general manager of this concern, was on a trip at the time of my visit I spoke to F. H. Dowler, Sr., who said, "Business is excellent. Wait until Dowler, Jr., gets back." Abe Solomon and A. J. Alper are teamed up and run the Strand and York theatres in Chattanooga. Abe, a good press agent, says the York was named after Sergeant York, famous war hero of Tennessee. Memphis Looked Over. It was a typical southern story-book day when I arrived in Memphis, Tenn. The millionaires out for pleasure, commercial travelers out for business, and actors in for a few days to amuse the populace, all made the city look like a busy place. All the life is centered on Main street, within a radius of about ten or twelve blocks, with the movies doing a land office business all along the line. One of the first showmen I visited in Memphis was General Manager McElroy of the Lynch Enterprises, offices over the Savoy Theatre. McElroy believes in plenty of newspaper space and exploitation. Mrs. Christie Collins, McElroy's secretary, re By Nat Bregstein fiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiilillHinimiiriiillliiMiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiMiiriiimiiiMM iitiiiiiMtiiriiiiriiiiriiiiiiiiiii cently went skying a bit with Aviator Lieutenant Francis. While up in the air she dropped literature pertaining to "The Miracle Man." Did it pull well ? I should say so. "The Miracle Man" lived up to its name. After counting the receipts it was a miracle how McElroy got them all in. At the Majestic Theatre, one of the Lynch Enterprise houses, Abe Morrison is manager. This man has had a world of experience in the chow business, and is turning his talent into pleased patrons — and currency. Memphis Theatres. A complete list of houses catering to whites is as follows : The Lynch Enterprise-owned Strand, 1,100; Princess, 650; Bijou, 500; Empire, 500; Savoy, 490; Majestic, 1,100; Loew's have a house in town under the supervision of Ben Steinbach, who talks with his hands and is a handsome talker. His house gets capacity business, too. "Old man Richards" runs the Beauty Theatre, which doesn't live up to its name in all respects. I think Mr. Richards believes in Santa Claus. The house seats 250 and charges five and ten cents, using shooting and fighting. Across the street is another theatre, but its manager is on the alert.. While he hasn't an up-to-date house he is an ambitious worker. J. Frederick, the manager of the Queen, is the young man alluded to. The Queen seats 220, admission price, ten cents. Going Through Birmingham, Ala. Birmingham, Alabama, with a population of 132,000, is surrounded by steel plants, which exhibitors claim are in competition with the movies, the reason being they have pictures of their iitiif iiiiiiiiilllliilllllljiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiriiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Lost in the Forest. Jackie .Saunders in "Dad'a Girl," a Pavid Fischer production for Republic. own, book big attractions for their employes and charge low prices. According to a statement made by the Mudd & Colley Amusement Company, this is the exact situation in town. This concern owns the Rialto and Trianon. Mr. Mooney, the manager, states there are eleven suburban towns within a short ride of Birmingham, all with theatres of their own. Birmingham gets very few customers from these towns. The Lynch interests have several houses in town, among them being Strand, seating 850, first run house, and the Colonial, seating 700. Loew has a house seating 2,000. F. H. James looks after it. The colored section is well taken care of by H. Hurry, affiliated with Engle. These boys look after the Champion and Frolic theatres. Mr. Hurry has been in the colored section for several years. I asked him about the taste of the darky on the movie stuff, and he claims they like high grade productions, fine orchestras, etc., and he is giving it to them. Mr. Hurry is soon to erect another colored house to cost $50,000. Marvin Wise runs two white houses, the Alcazar and the Odeon. Mr. Wise claims a fair business. He raises his prices on special productions and claims producers are 200 per cent, out of the way when it comes to asking prices. He wants it known that he will book big productions on percentage. Many Picture Theatres Are Planned for Southern States IN addition to new motion picture houses to be built this year in the southern states and already announced in the Moving Picture World, a number of other such projects have been announced in the past ten days. The Savannah, Ga., Savings and Real Estate Corporation has advertised for bids for the construction of a bank, office building and theatre. F. L. Kuykendall is to build a store and theatre at Columbus, Miss. The Atlanta office of Marcus Loew announces that a new $300,000 theatre will be erected at Dallas, and that work will begin in the near future. It will run on the usual Loew policy of high-class pictures and vaudeville. Dr. W. H. Ivey of Greensboro, N. C, has announced that he will build a $100,000 theatre and moving picture house in that city. Will B. Wood will spend about $40,000 enlarging the Belle Theatre at Gadsden, Ala. He plans to increase the seating capacity to 1,500. A five story building, the first floor to be leased as a motion picture theatre, will be built at once in Knoxville, Tenn. The building will cost about $200,000. Hill Buys Greensboro Interests. Roland G. H.'ll, of South Carolina, has purchased all the George Pryor theatre interests in Greensboro, N. C. The purchase takes in the Victory, Bijou, and Isis Theatres and the consideration named is $75,000.