Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1941)

Page 18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 4, 1941 The Talk of the Tents Up and Down the Land Vwcitty Club Jlote* JOHN H. HARRIS. NATIONAL CHIEF BARKER Weekly Get-Together of Filmdom's Good Fellows Tent No. 1— Pittsburgh Among the guests at the club this past week were Roy ("Legs") Hawley of West Virginia University, Al Smith, the advance man for Orson Welles' "Native Son," currently playing the Nixon Theatre, Dr. John B. ("Jock") Sutherland, coach of the Brooklyn Pro Football Team, and Ben Atwell, advance man for the Jolson show. The Variety Post of the American Legion staged the first show of the season at the Veterans' Hospital last Thursday. Ed Wynn and his company from the Nixon were the attraction. Most of the Pittsburgh Barkers are in New York for the Louis-Nova fight and some of them intend to stay over for the World Series. Tent No. 2— Columbus Barkers of the Columbus Variety Club will entertain next Monday with a stag buffet in honor of Jim Hendel, former UA salesman in this territory who has been promoted to Cleveland branch manager. Committee in charge includes Al Redman, "Pete" Wood, John Murphy, Russ Bovim. Tent No. 3 — Cincinnati Pete Rosien was in for a few days only, and spent most of his spare moments at the clubrooms. Now that he is in charge of so many Universal offices ranging all the way from Cincinnati to Dallas, Pete spends most of his time on planes. Harry Young and his charming wife have moved bag and baggage to Cincinnati residing in the beautiful suburb of Hyde Park. Harry is from Columbus where he represented Universal before becoming manager of the local exchange. Plans are now afoot for the big Gin Rummy Tournament to be started in the next few days. Mike Greenberg, Allan Moritz and Nat Kaplan are in charge of the tournament which is to be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Ralph Kinsler, now an exhibitor, is wishing that he was an exchange manager again which only goes to prove that the other fellow's grass always looks greener regardless of which side of the fence you are standing on. Barker Pep Golden, whose sudden illness kept him abed for several weeks, is now much better and takes daily trips to his studio downtown. Regrets by this column to Ike Libson over the death of his brother Abe. A nice guy who went entirely too soon. Tent No. 5— Detroit Variety's fall season opens with two big events this week. First is the old-time Harvest Festival — grand opening of the clubrooms with seasonal specialties and a unique program for a party on Saturday, October 4, arranged by Wade Allen, entertainment chairman. Then, on October 8, Variety will be host to Michigan's film industry, represented by Allied Theatres of Michigan. Allied's annual convention will be held for three days at the Book Cadillac Hotel, which houses the clubrooms, and Variety's event, which is slated to follow the annual banquet, the concluding and bestattended event of the convention, will bring to the clubrooms many upstaters who rarely if ever attend otherwise. David Flayer of the Amo Theatre, membership chairman, is in charge of the event. Ralph Davison and Morris Saulson of the Linwood La Salle Theatre, both brothers-inlaw of Barker Frank Wetsman, died as the result of an auto accident last week. Mrs. Jenny Grahm, wife of William Grahm of the Palmer Park Theatre, and mother-inlaw of Barker Raymond Schreiber, passed away suddenly on September 22. Joseph G. Portell, who sold out his circuit here to Bill Schulte a year ago, is back again for a few weeks' visit — he's in the building business now in Miami. W. R. Rodgers, MGM top executive, was a visitor during the week, en route westward. Harlan Starr, Monogram manager, and Roger M. Kennedy, IATSE vicepresident, were among those on the sick list — the late "summer colds," hay fever, and assorted troubles are getting the local boys down — but not out. Tent No. 11— Washington Largest charitable undertaking for the year, a benefit performance for the British War Relief Society and starring the great Gracie Fields, will be put on by Tent 11 on November 1 at Constitution Hall. Carter Barron, first assistant chief barker, was named general chairman of the affair which will outshine any to date in this Capital. Hardie Meakin, chief barker, will act as honorary chairman. Other officers include : John J. Payette, general vicechairman ; Edmund Plohn, chairman of the entertainment committee ; Harry Krivit, Gene Ford and Harry Anger, vice-chairmen of the entertainment committee and Sidney Lust, chairman of the ticket committee. The entire share of the club will be turned over to the War Relief Society. Every member of the club will be pressed into service by Barron in order to assure the success of the event. Meanwhile, Barron, chairman of the 8th annual dinner dance held a meeting last week of his program committee, headed by Sam Galanty and Harry Brown. Plans to exceed, if possible, the fine work of Sidney Lust, last year's chairman, in obtaining more than $5000 in ads were discussed. The Monday night affair staged last week was greater, etc., than ever. Thanks to barkers George Crouch and Harry Anger ! Tent No. 12— Twin Cities That was a swell cocktail party that the Twin City Variety club tossed for its members to hear the radio returns from the WashingtonMinnesota football game at Seattle. A goodly crowd was present, including many women, and the fact that the Gophers emerged victorious made the occasion all the more pleasant. The Examining Golf Trophies In the clubrooms at the Texas State Hotel in Houston, the golf tournament committee of the Houston branch of the Variety Club of Texas examines the trophies. Left to right are George Heck, Weldon Parsons and Al Mortensen. The tournament will be held October 6. food was scrumptious. Orchids to Lowell Kaplan and Charlie Rubenstein who arranged the affair. Fred Strom, Northwest Allied executive secretary, was on hand, celebrating his birthday, serving his birthday cake and the drinks to the boys. Chief Barker Ben Blotcky kept things going in nice style. The next big affair is the Fall's first dinner meeting at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 6. Entertainment plans for the ensuing season will be discussed and Chief Barker Blotcky urges a heavy turnout. A surprise feature is being planned. Tent No. 17— Texas Last Saturday night the Variety Club of Texas opened its fall series of Bingo Parties in the Club quarters. Mr. and Mrs. "Doc" Allen were host and hostess at the "opening night." Members of the Club, their families and friends, were treated to a fine menu and a most enjoyable evening was had by all present. J. Lansing of Los Angeles, Charles Kessnich of MGM, and several members of the "Ice-Capades" show were in attendance. E. J. Solon, S. Pugh and F. O. Starz received congratulations during the past week on the occasion of their birthdays. Last Thursday night Variety Club of Texas was proud to have as its guests National Chief Barker John Harris and National Dough Guy James Balmer, who stopped off in Dallas en route to California. The Fall Golf Tournament Committee held a luncheon meeting in the Club quarters Monday to discuss the details to be worked out in connection with the Tournament. Starz, chairman of the Committee, keynoted the discussion by urging all members to cooperate to the best of their ability in making this a most successful Tournament. Tent No. 23— New England Tent No. 23 held an Executive Committee meeting at its temporary quarters at the Statler Hotel on last Monday, at which time it was planned to buy out the second night of the new Olsen and Johnson show, "Crazy House," scheduled to open at the Shubert on October 20. The committee to be in charge of reservations will be selected and announced later. The proceeds of this show party will be used to swell the charity fund of the Variety Club. It was also decided at the Executive Committee meeting to publish a Year Book which will be ready for release at the Annual New Year's Eve Party. A committee to take charge of this enterprise will also be later selected and announced. High spotting the meeting was an inspection of Tent 23's new permanent quarters, which according to several members who have visited many of the Tents throughout the country, compare most favorably with the best of the other Tents. These new permanent quarters are expected to be ready for use next week. Tent No. 24— Charlotte The Golf Tournament and Dance to be held Monday, Oct. 6, is the big item in the affairs of the local tent at the moment. Chairman Jimmy Prichard of the entertainment committee promises it will surpass anything of its kind ever held in Charlotte. Many handsome prizes have been donated, and the golfers will tee off at 9 :45 a.m., with the dancing to start at the Hotel Charlotte at 10:00 p.m. Kings for a Day, Geo. Roscoe and Roger {Continued on Col. 2, next page)