Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

26 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW November 25, 1944 REGION A Drawing upon the ranks of performers in current Boston shows, Irving Shapiro, entertain^ ment chairman of the Variety Club annual part\' held recently at the Mayfair Club, offered an evening of superb entertainment. Proceeds from sales of the program book went to the club's charity fund. Stanley Farrington, booker for Monogram, is recovering from illness. Phil Berler, booker for . United Artists is. on, the sick list and is confined to his home following his return from Atlanta, where he had been booking for the E. M. Loew theatres in the South. Gossip has it that construction will begin soon on a new open air theatre in the' Hartford, Conn., area. Morris Safner of Woonsocket, R. I., is in Beth Israel Hospital recovering from a recent major operation. PRC salesman MacFarber, has returned from a business trip to Bangor, Me. WASHINGTON The "Smashing Sixth" War Loan Drive gained momentum as the local theatre division under the chairmanship of A. E. Lichtman, announced prizes of 22 bonds, totalling $900 to be divided among the top men in the 10 theatre areas of Washington, D. C. The Motion Picture Theatre Owners are donors of bonds totalfing $750. Former Columbia salesman Joe Walsh who left the road to start his own booking service announced that from a beginning of 4 theatres in July, he is now representing fifteen exhibitors. Bill Hoyle of Lichtman Theatres is a daily assistant to Frank La Fake, area publicity chaii'man for War Activities Committee, on 6th War Loan. Bill spends an hour each day knocking out copy for local and trade papers. Changes in Warner Bros. Contact Dept. : Laverne Hoefert and Betty Mader have resigned and new employes are Rose Genther and Barbara Johnson. Alice Anderson, who left Warner Bros, employ recently, has been in this week helping to "break in" the new employes. Angle Ratto, manager of the Loew's Palace Theatre, staged a War Bond rally at his theatre on Monday (20). WOL's Art Brown was master of ceremonies assisted by Gloria Haverty "Nation's Capital War Bond Queen." SO United Nations War Bond Commandos aided Miss Haverty in her war bond sales. Jack Foxe, of Loew's Columbia staged his bond rally on Saturday, (18), utilizing the Government Girls Band on his stage. CINCINNATI "Sorhething for the Boys," which was given a sneak preview following "Laura" at the Albee, Tuesday night, met with pointed response from a capacity audience. Visitors to the Row this vv^eek were Bill Keys, Victory, Dayton ; Roy Wells, St. Paul, Dayton ;■ Charles Behlen, Lexington ; Frank Ferguson, Columbus ; Paul McKay, Alontgomery, W. Va. ; Bill Settos. Springfield; and Ray Phelen, Clendenin, W.Va. J. Howard, whose Gaines Theatre at Pineville, Kentucky, was recently burned out, has taken over the operation of the Bell Theatre in that town. Gertrude Land, secretary for the Queen City Variety Club, received condolences following the death of her father, Frank X. Lang, 82, who died here this week. Sam Galanty, Columbia district manager, was here this week. Cal Feeder of the Warner exchange, is recovering from an operation at Christ Hospital. Carl Gentzel, auditor, and Charles Fogel in CONGRATULATES SUCCESSOR. John Allen is seen congratulating his successor, Fred Kogod, as Chief Barker of the Washington, D. C, Variety Club. On the left and right, respectively, are the two new Assistant Chief Barkers, Eddie Fontaine and Nathan D. Golden. charge of maintenance at the home office of MGM were visitors here. Jack Frisch, RKO sales representative, has resigned to take over the operation of the downtown Marvel. The Queen City Variety Club's social which was to be held Dec. 18th has been deferred to Dec. 23rd, from which time the committee is planning a country store. 20th Century-Fox Exchange was happy to learn Lt. Anthony Krollman, former booker, was cited for a decoration for bravery in action in France. MGM's week-end sales meeting was highlighted by a luncheon for 75 important exhibitors at the Netherland-Plaza, Friday. 20th-Fox District, Manager J. J. Grady returned from a business trip to the Buffalo exchange. Universal's Lucille Arnold, Evelyn Brunsman and Helen Eberhardt journey to Indianapolis over the weekend. Phillip Williams, in charge of publicity for March of Time, and William J. Clark, in charge of short subjects, addressed the 20th-Fox sales personnel this week. CLEVELAND Emanuel Stutz, lessee of the Penn Square Theatre, is changing the house policy from foreign films to straight westerns, establishing what is claimed to be the only all-western picture house in the Middle West. Programs will consist of twq western features. Admission scale, now SO cents top, will drop to 30 cents. Emulating the West Coast theatres employing this policy, the house will be known as the Hitching Post. With this change in policy, Cleveland will have no outlet for foreign films. George W. Erdmann, secretary of the Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association and Stuart Cagney of the Associated Circuit, took their trusties down from the wall and went off to shoot pheasants over the week-end. In competition were Morrison Orr, United Artists branch manager, Ken Veach, Uhrichsville exhibitor and friends who worked the Toledo hunting area in contrast to the woods around Fremont. Every theatre in Cuyahoga County will hold Free Movie Day every day of the Sixth War Loan drive. Their owners pledged to support this policy at an industry meeting called last Monday by the Cleveland Motion Picture Exhibitors Association. Any patrons buying a bond at the theatre during the drive period, will be admitted free of charge. Subsequent independents, however, have as yet made no commitments as to bond premieres. Nat Wolf,Warner zone manager, announced at the meeting that a bond premiere will be held in very town in Ohio where there is a Warner theatre. Film men present at the meeting presonally pledged $70,000 in bonds and tax certificates. Nat L. Lefton, PRC franchise owner and chairman of the franchise holders' committee was in New York last week. Ray Brown, Warner theatre district manager in town for a Warner meeting, was displaying the different kinds of money that his daughter, Wac Dorothy has sent home for souvenirs. Her most recent port of call was Accra on the African gold coast. J. Knox Strachan, Warner theatre publicity director, was guest speaker on Thursday at the regular monthly meeting of the Motion Picture Council of Greater Cleveland. He conducted a forum to bring out some things the club members wanted explained or changed. He explained why the neighborhoods are blanketed with the same picture on release day, and why more biographical pictures are not made, and what makes the big pictures so costly. Members are anxious to establish Saturday shows suitable for children in spite of evidence that children do not patronize this type of show. Sanford Greenberger, manager of the Fairmount Theatre and son of Henry and Mrs. Greenberger of the Community Circuit will be married on Dec. 17th to Tenia Leiner of this city. Cleveland Variety Club is the only one in the country to have two chief barkers. Meyer Fine and M. B. Horwitz will share the honors of running the club during the coming year as a solution to the problem presented when no one felt free to devote as much time as the job entails. John Royal now of NBC in New York and formerly manager of the local RKO Palace Theatre, was spotted in town dining with his wife at the Cleveland Hotel. All film salesmen working out of Cleveland stopped selling films last week and concentrated on calling on exhibitors to secure pledges of their cooperation in putting over the Sixth War Loan drive. Harold Raives, Schine, Ohio district manager, announces the promotion of Airs. Ruth Gardenier from short subjects to feature booker. She has been with the Schine circuit for seven vears, five of them in Gloversville and two in Cleveland. The short subject booking department has been assumed by Mrs. Sara Mackey who was booker for the Mailers Brothers circuit. The Royal Theatre has another new owner. Frank Lombardi, new in the industrv, has purchased the house from Sol Raives who bought it last August from S. A. Gerson. The LaFrance Theatre, Swanton, Ohio, which has been closed ever since it was acquired last summer by Nat Charmas of Toledo, turned on the lights last week playing a mixed policy : single part of the time and duals the other part. Bernard Kranze, RKO district manager, is back from a home office visit. CHARLOTTE Benn H. Rosenwald, MGM manager in Charlotte, is the new chief Barker of Charlotte's Variety Club, succeeding Lester A. Sipe. H. F. Kincey, head of the Wilby-Kincey theatres in this state, is dough guy for the new administration. Other officers are Cy Dillon, Republic manager, first assistant barker ; Scott Lett of Paramount, property master ; and Thomas A.. Little, head of B & L Enterprises, second assistant barker. William C. Macon of Old Fort, N. C, recently in Charlotte on business, announces that a site has been purchased and plans drawn and approved for a new $25,000 theatre. The Fort, on which construction will start as soon as government regulations permit. Mr. Macon is the owner and manager of the Roxy at Old Fort. Mrs. Mary King Wallace, president of the Charlotte Motion Picture Council, and Mrs. S. Y. McAden were the Charlotte council's delegates to the National A/fotion Picture Council of America convention in New York. Miss T-ucia Harding, secretary of the local council (Continued on Page 28)