Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

November 11, 194-1 S H O W Al l^ X ■ S •)■ \< A ]) E R li V 1 E W 21 ★ ★ REGIONAL NEWSREEL — Co»ti>^uec/ ★ ★ Pat Murphy, Brownwood, and Conrad Brady. In the Isley unit will be Eddie Golden, the producer. Waiter Penn, Columbia ; Vernon Adams. WB ; Bill Wesley, Republic, and Francis Paris. RKO, are advance men to set dates. Shows will be in the open. Plans call for 250 towns to be visited. .\dvance men for the GI Bond Jamboree and others on War Bond work are accorded extra allowances of gasoline. Estimates of requirements are allowed to be liberal and generally are met by the local ration boards. Col. H. A. Cole, Allied, began his business life as a stenographer. With the help shortage such as it is, Cole is able, himself, to do a large part of the typing necessary to the approaching Allied convention. He is preparing an ambitious printed program. Although cotton picking pay is more than double the normal rates, shortage of labor now has reduced this income factor and to a degree accounts for the early box-office drop now prevalent. W. E. Crist, southwestern district manager, and Ed Green, assistant district manager, went to St. Louis to attend a convention of the managers of the U. S. Army Motion Picture Service. Henry Sorenson, Modern Theatre Supply Co., is preparing new quarters at the corner of Jackson and St. Paul Streets. DENVER Mike Roth, industry veteran and brother of Max Roth, Chicago sales manager for Paramount, will manage the Broadway when it is reopened soon as a Truman T. Rembusch operation. Roth hopes to have the theatre ready for opening within a month. Roth has been a film salesman, public relations officer for Columbia, manager of the National Screen branch in Omaha, as well as operator of a drive-in theatre in Kansas City, Mo. The new manager intends to keep the traditional atmosphere of the house, erected in 1890, and the lobby will hold an exhibition of old-time pictures of famed players who have played the Broadway. Along with a general renovation of the theatre, new projection equipment, enlarged screen and new seats are being installed. The Broadway will be operated under the firm name of Cinema Amusement Co., Inc., of which Rembusch, who operates theatres in Indiana and resides in Colorado Springs, is the head. John D. Axe, new to the business, has been added as an auditor at the Fox Intermountain Theatre headquarters in Denver. Westland Theatres has taken over the Victory, along with Vince Footman, who will act as manager. Jimmy Ecker, former Republic booker, now in the Merchant Marine, is home on furlough. He has been spending most of his time in Alaskan shuttle operations. Says he hopes to be assigned to the tropics. INDIANAPOLIS The Fourth Avenue Amusement Company and the Switow Circuit, both Kentucky concerns, gave a cocktail party last week at the Kentucky Hotel, Louisville, for those in attendance at the Sixth War Bond Drive organization meeting. Tom Baker, head of Affiliated Theatres, Inc., is making his annual hegira to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a much needed rest. Mrs. Baker accompanies him. Herman Morgan of the Affiliated staff celebrated his thirty-first birthday November 3. Affiliated Theatres' quarters are being remodeled, now that they are operating independently again. BON VOYAGE PARTY. David Coplan (right), managing director for United Artists in Great Britain, and Carl Leserman, U.A. general manager, photographed at the recent bon voyage party in New York tendered Coplan by Gradwell L. Sears, vice-president, and Leserman. A baby boy was born October 28 to Mr. and Mrs. Ray C. Thomas in the Walker Welborn Hospital, Evansville, Indiana. The father operates the Princess Theatre at Newburg, Ind. Allen Berkowitz has joined the RKO booking staff. He succeeds Nathan Garland, who was appointed manager of the Uptown Theatre here. Mrs. Iva Moore, who operates the Orpheum Theatre at Mitchell, Ind., has left for Florida for a much needed rest. R. H. Robertson, now in the U. S. Navy, and former operator of the Majestic Theatre, Springfield, Ky., is home on furlough. Gilbert May, who operates the Dream Theatre, Corydon, Ind., is a victim of influenza. Jerry Schear, Paramount booker, has resigned his post and is returning to New York, from whence he came several months ago. Ed. H. Brauer, manager of Republic exchange, has moved his family to Indianapolis from Cleveland, O. CHICAGO Proposed plan for a theatre managers' union will be considered at the AFL convention in New Orleans, Nov. 20, according to Eugene Atkinson, business manager of Operators' Local, No. 110. Many managers in the Chicago area own their theatres and are therefore not interested in affiliating with a union. Also, some of the circuit heads, while admitting that managers are underpaid, contend they have opportunities for advancement not available to operators, and therefore do not require a union. On the other hand, Atkinson contends that operators receive nearly twice the salary of managers, and that a union is needed to rectify the situation. Eddie Zorn, Sixth War Loan motion picture theatres' director for southern Illinois, has announced that the Pontiac City Council has raised theatre license fees there from $50 annually to $300. He urges theatres to fight excessive taxation in their communities. Ensign Sterling Silliphant, formerly an aide to Spyros Skouras, is now at the Navy Pier, Chicago. Publicity for the Sixth War Loan in the Chicago area will be directed by Larry Stein of Warners. Publicity for the southern end of the state will be directed by Bill Bishop of MGM. Norman Kassel, Essaness circuit, and David Arlen, Balaban & Katz, will assist. Will Bishop, MGM western publicity manager, has returned from a New York City conference. More than 25 members of the B. & K. Employes' Association, headed by President Jerry Winsberg. and Abe Piatt, district supervisor, have given blood 14 times to the Chicago blood bank. Other B & K employes are planning similar donations. Sol Horowitz, formerly booker for the Great States' circuit, has been promoted to hospital apprentice, first class. After a short furlough he returned to his duties in the South Pacific. Ralph D. Goldberg, Omaha theatre executive, was in town recently seeking more candy supplies for his chain. Arbitrator William McSwain postponed final decision on the R. H. Miller, Colony Tlicatre, arbitration case at McHcnry, 111., against MGM, Paramount, Warners and 20th Century-Fox. He dismissed the first part of the complaint and will make his decision on the second part when documentary proofs are presented. J. J. Rubens, managing director of Great States, and Henry Stickelmaier are back at work after being out ill. Great States' circuit managers and executives held their first fall meeting at the Bismarck Hotel Nov. 1. Speakers were John Balaban and J. J. Rubens. John Dromey has been named head film buyer for the Great States circuit. Mayer, Mayer, Austrain & Piatt have been named attorneys for B & K in their suit against the Oak Amusement Park Co. ; the West Suburban Amusement Co., and subsidiaries, for an accounting. Answers will be filed in Cook County Superior Court. Records are being prepared by defense counsel for the film companies in the Jackson Park theatre case for presentation to the Federal Court of Appeals, Nov. 20. MEMPHIS The popularity of running pictures which in the past pulled a good following was demonstrated last week at the Strand, a Malco house, when "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" was shown. It proved such a success that the Strand plans to repeat it again for four days. Election jitters had little effect on theatre attendance here. All loop theatres were playing to their usual capacity. Louise Stevens is the new biller at Columbia exchange, where she replaces Lennie Henson. Visiting the local exchange last week to prepare for "Patient Years" was Henry Morris, Dallas, exploitation man for Columbia. : ■ Bob Williams of the Lyric Theatre, Oxford, Miss., and C. A. Wilson of Red Bay, Ala.,' were visiting Film Row last week. Allen Gen, Paramount exploitation man from iJallas, was visiting the exchange last week in the interest of "The Young in Heart." Buster Hammond, salesman with Paramountj liad resigned to join United Artists. He will' remain in Memphis. Theatre owners of Northeast Arkansas met in Jonesboro last week to discuss plans for sponsorship of the Sixth War Loan Drive. Miss Enmia Cox, Osceola, Ark., is chairman. NEWARK A joint luncheon-meeting of the north and south Jersey units of Allied of New Jersey will be held Nov. 15 at the Stacey-Trent Hotel, Trenton. This is the first of a series of meetings of the two groups planned to be held throughout the year. Presiding as co-chairmen will be Mrs. Helen Hildinger, head of the Hildinger Enterprises, which operate theatres in Trenton, and Si Myers. Essex County theatre managers attended a preliminary meeting at the Little Theatre to discuss plans for the 6th War Loan Campaign. Principal speakers were Harry H. Lowenstein, president of Allied of New Jersey, and Frank J. Damis, zone manager of Warner Bros. Sam Silver, manager of the Broad, has resigned to undergo medical treatment for his left ankle, which he hurt recently when he struck a chair in his office. The injury has proven {Continued on Page 22)