Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1945)

30 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW February 17, 1945 REGIO,NA to vice-president Meyer Fine, was tendered_ a party by his NSS associates who presented him with a beautiful desk set as a farewell gift. Ernest Schwartz, president of the Cleveland MPTOA, and George W. Erdmann, secretary, • attended Pete Woods' annual party in Columbus to meet the newly elected legislators. Marty Bennett, national Warner Club president, will be in town on Monday, Feb. 19, to congratulate Tony Stern upon his recent election as president of the Cleveland Warner Club. Yaro Miller, office manager of the Warner Distributing Corp., was elected vice-president. All other officers were reelected. Charles Rich, Warner district ' manager, was in Pittsburgh to meet Eastern division' sales manager Jules Lapidus, and Dinty Moore, manager of the Pittsburgh branch. S. A. Gerson, until recently owner of the Royal Theatre, and Mrs. Gerson are about to leave for the West Coast to establish a permanent home in California. Bernard Kranz, RKO district manager, Tony Stern, Warner theatre booking manager and M. B. Horwitz, general manager of the Washington Circuit, went to Mt. Clemens, Mich., over the weekend for a rest. Eddie Miller, manager of Warners' Hippodrome, was on the sick list last week. J. W. Servies, sales promotion manager for National Theatre Supply Company, was in town last week to confer with local branch manager L. H. Walters. Herbert Horstemeier, president of the Film Exchange Club area, announces March 6 as the date of the club's next social gathering. JERSEY CITY Notis A. Komnenos, North Jersey zone manager for the Skouras circuit, grabbed a great publicity spot for his theatre in the New York Daily Mirror last Sunday (Feb. 10) when he was given a three column head reading : "Jersey City to Swell Phone Fund." The story said that patriotic business men and women of Jersey City, cooperating with the" Fox-Skouras Theatres, would raise a minimum of $50,000 for the newspaper's fund, proceeds of which will be used to enable hospitalized heroes in the Jersey City area to telephone their families. A meeting, sponsored by the Jersey City Rotary Club, of which Hugh O'Neill, a personal friend of Komnenos, is president, was held at the Plaza Hotel and voted to issue a special proclamation to Jersey City residents asking a full attendance to the Mirror's "Stamp Out the Japs" shows at Skouras' houses on the morning of Washington's Birthday, Feb. 22. At these shows, arranged by Nicholas John Matsoukas, director of HOME OFFICE HUDDLE. Three of MGM's field exploiteers pay a visit to E. M. Saunders, assistant general sales manager, during their get-acquainted tour of the home offices of the company in New York. They are, left to right: Louis Orlove, Milwaukee; Norman W. Pyle, Minneapolis; Saunders; William G. Bishop, Chicago. L Continued the Skouras theatres war effort department, the admission will be a 2S-cent war savings stamp. For each stamp presented the individual theatre will send 2Sc to the Mirror's fund. At the State, key house of the chain in North Jersey, a special morning matinee for kiddies will be presented at 10 a.m. Komnenos secured a 40 x 60 picture of a leering, gruesome Jap soldier, and placed it in his lobby. On Washington's Birthday the purchasers of the war stamps will "stamp out the Jap" by pasting them over the hideous features of the yellow-faced soldier-assassin. OMAHA Nate Sandler's Rialto Theatre at Missouri Valley, la., highlighted the news in the Omaha area last week as a result of an adventure in the "cops and robbers" category. Edgar Cook and John Giles, whose toothbrush escape from the "escape-proof" Council Bluffs, la., jail several weeks ago and other escapades have made good reading for some time, tried to rob the safe at the Rialto. A woman, living in an apartment adjoining the theatre, heard the pair battering the safe called the police. Night Marshal Charles Huff arrived on the scene in time to make the capture, and got Chief H. W. Conway for reinforcement. The officers searched the pair, put them in the backseat of their car and drove away. But the pair, who have been baffling police and jailers for months in these parts,' magically came up with another gun that was poked in the back of the marshal's head. The chief grabbed for the gun and after a fight in which several shots were fired in the car, the bandits came out on top, sent the officers marching back to town and sped away. And again the police net has been thrown out over the midwestern states. Frank Hannon, March of Dimes chairman for the distributors, reports contributions along Film Row are up 25 per cent this year. Henry Goldberg, Paramount auditor, has left after nearly three months here. Frank VanHusen, head of Western Theatre Supply Company, is in the East on a buying trip. Mike Comer and Sol Francis, of Monogram, are back from a business session in Chicago. Rose Robinson has succeeded Betty Star as cashier at Monogram. Ralph Blank, who has the Admiral Theatre here, has returned from California. Don V. McLucas, United Artists branch manager, is the new area WAC chairman. He has announced a special Red Cross meeting at the Fontenelle Hotel. Among the notable figures slated to be present will be Francis S. Harmon and Carl Leserman. McLucas issued a special appeal for all exhibitors to immediately get their Red Cross pledge cards into William Miskell, state exhibitor chairman. ^ The Sid McArdles announce the birth of a daughter. PHILADELPHIA The sale of coal to theatres here was halted for several days by Mayor Bernard Samuel causing some inconvenience to theatre owners, but the ban was lifted toward the end of last week, with sales limited to the small-sized variety. The brownout seems to have had no appreciable effect on business. Crowds still seem to be coming downtown as usual. The combination of no school on Lincoln's bjrthday and an all-colored show consisting of the Ben Carter Orchestra and the King Cole Trio, caused a small-sized stampede at the Earle Theatre. Business was so big that 20 policemen were assigned to keep the crowd in order. A fire in the home of Milton Young of the Warner publicity office, during the small hours of the morning last week, brought firemen to the house who led Young, his wife and daughter. mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece safely through the thick clouds of smoke. Trapped in the upper stories of the house by the heat and the intense smoke, they were subsequently rushed to Episcopal Hospital where they were given emergency treatment. Gail Storm was escorted here by "Skip" Weshner for Monogram last week to meet the press and a group of exhibitors in conjunction with their new picture, "Forever Yours." John Roach, manager of the Ardmore Theatre, has been appointed to the post of district manager left vacant by the recent death of Jack Lexey. John Latimer, former manager of the Waverly, moves to the Ardmore, and William Davison is the new manager at the Waverly. Warren Thomas is the new manager at the Avon Theatre, replacing David Sanderson, who has been assigned to John Roach's district as a rotating manager. CINCINNATI Cincinnati picture houses that closed for a 70-hour period due to gas shortage rulings, have reopened. Some of the houses remained open without heat. Willis Vance, operator of the 20th Century Theatre, posted notices at the box-office, inviting patrons to come in and keep their wraps and overshoes on with fne additional promise of money refunded to those not satisfied after entering. The Broadway Theatre, 7th and Washington Sts., Covington, Ky., has been remodeled including new sound equipment, and was to open February 14. The house will take over the films formerly shown at the Madison, recently destroyed by fire. Both houses are owned by the Ernst Realty Company. Meryl Dietz has been added to the Warner staff. The Warner Club held a bowling party for their girls at the Gibson Alleys this week. Joe Oulahan, Paramount's branch manager, and his sales force attended a sales conference in Cleveland, February 14 and 15. The meeting was presided over by Charles Reagan, Claude Reed and Robert Gilham of the New York office. Guy Greathouse, who is on furlough, and Mrs. Greathouse, Aurora, who is carrying on in her husband's absence, visited the Row this week. Don Reda, former exhibitor at Vicco, Kentucky, now in the Armed Forces, and Mrs. Reda, have a new baby son. Mrs. Reda, with the aid of a manager, is carrying on her husband's business in his absence. Shirley Rauh has been added to the Metro billing department. Allan Moritz, Columbia branch manager, is the new WAC distributor chairman in this area, succeeding Harris Dudelson. Mr. Moritz served in this same capacity four years ago. NEW FACE— PRETTY, TOO. Marie McDonald, who is becoming famous as "the body," is welcomed to Boston by Charles E. Kurtzman, Northeastern division manager for Loew's Theatres (left), and John Dervin, United Artists branch manager. Marie, who is a new Hollywood find, is touring about the country in the interests of "Guest in the House" (in which she appears as the glamorous artists' model), produced by Hunt Stromberg and distributed by United Artists.