Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW December 2, 1944 REGION A was held Thanksgiving eve for Sam P. Gorrel, Republic branch manager, and Mrs. Gorrel on their fifth wedding anniversary. The Harry Reinharts of Canton drove up for the party and were stalled in town by the unexpected blizzard that tied up all east-going traffic. John Newkirk, former manager of the Beach Clif? Theatre, is now learning the meat business in Allentown, Pa. The Nat (NSS) Barachs are in New York for the week, stopping at the Park Central Hotel where they were joined by their son, S/IC Stanley Barach, attending the Coast Guard radio school in Atlantic City. Mrs. Gilbert Lefton joined her husband, S/IC Gilbert Lefton of the Coast Guard, in New York over the week-end. Julius Lamm, manager of Warners' Uptown, has been named vice chairman of division 5 for the Sixth War Loan drive for the sixth time. The War Art Exhibit of more than 100 paintings, drawings and etchings on exhibition in Loew's State lobby, has attracted thousands. Manager Howard Burkhardt states that people stop in his office to express appreciation that Cleveland was one of the cities selected to hold the exhibit. Nat Wolf, Warner zone manager, reports that at least one of the three bond drive promotion campaigns will be held in every town in which one of the Warner theatres is located. At least 16 will hold bond premieres. Many will hold bond auctions. Eleven will hold kiddie bond matinees and free movie day will be universal on Dec. 7. Tony Stearn, Warner theatre booking manager, gets royalties from songs he has written and has had published. Charles Rich, Warner district manager, was in Washington, D. C, last week as Cleveland Variety Club representative at the National Variety Club meeting. CINCINNATI Variety Club's installation dinner will take place Dec. 11 in its clubrooms, at which time the following officers will be installed : Ralph Kinsler, Pela Amusement Co., chief barker ; Leavitt J. Bugie, branch manager, 20th CenturyFox, first assistant chief barker ; Harry Hartman, second assistant chief barker ; Saul M, Greenberg, motion picture attorney, property master, and Peter Niland, representative for Columbia Pictures, dough guy. Eileen Burke, with 20th-Fox before joining the Wacs, was home on furlough this week, and visited the Row by telephone. Betty Tonnef, formerly in the 20th-Fox's inspection department, has been transferred to the main office. Visitors to the Row were few during Thanksgiving week, but among them were C. E. Davis, New Lexington, Ohio ; Joe Lee, Covington, Ohio, and J. F. Carnahan, Irvine, Ky. Universal's Branch Manager Jack Bannan went to Lexington, Ky., for a sales conference last week. Irene Sagel, secretary to 20th-Fox District Manager J. J. Grady, is an aunt. Her nephew, David Patrick Hanlon, is the son of Lt. David Hanlon, with the Air Force in France. John Duff, former booker with Popular Pictures, is on active duty in the South Pacific. Mannie Shore is reported to be seriously ill following an operation at the Jewish Hospital. His brother and a nurse accompanied him here from his home in West Virginia. The Shore brothers are exhibitors in Williamson and Warrington, W. Va. Twentieth-Fox District Manager J. J. Grady. Irving Sochin and Leavitt Bugie, branch manager, are leaving for New York Dec. 1, for the company's mid-season's sales conference. Jim Keefe is handling the exploitation for Continued "Winged Victory" which will have its premiere at the Colonial in Dayton, Dec. 21. MGM's Eleanor Buehren, and Louise Brown are vacationing. PRC of Cincinnati and Cleveland have been taken over by the New York branch of the company since Nat Lefton has given up his franchise. John Michelson, auditor from New York, will be in town this week at the local exchange. Lee Goldberg was notified that his son, Jay, has been transferred to the Reconnaissance Platoon of the 45th Tank Battalion. The Cincinnati Cinema Club will hold its election Dec. 9 at Film Row, it has been announced by Ross Williams, president. Calmer Smith, projectionist at the RKO Palace Theatre for 15 years, died this week. He leaves a widow and daughter. Al Sugarman, who resigned to join the Leo Yassenoff circuit, will rejoin RKO sales personnel and will take Jack Frisch's place. Frisch, who had charge of West Virginia and Ohio, resigned. HARRISBURG Plans are advancing for the city and county exhibitors and showmen to participate in the Sixth War Loan, as the Harrisburg War Activities Committee has been appointed by the War Finance Committee as sole issuing agents of bonds for the Honor Roll League. Headquarters will be arranged in a downtown store, with each theatre taking its turn staffing the booth, and taking its comparative share of the sales. Sam Gilman, manager of Loew's Regent, proved again his ingenuity when he heard a local synagogue was about to make a drive on the sale of bonds. He immediately sent two girls to the chuch, and from 8;30 till after midnight they sold 253 bonds with a face value of $62,000, all to go to Loew's share in the current campaign. Continuing its project started during the Fifth War Loan, the Hershey Community Theatre will take orders for bonds, and for every order placed there the purchaser will be permitted to have the name of a member of his family or a friend on the honor roll which is a permanent fixture of the lobby. More than 300 names were written on the honor roll during the last campaign, Harry O. Chubb, manager, reported. Box-office business resulted in two holdovers in town this week, with 'The Princess and the Pirate" at the Senate, and "Mrs. Parkington" at Loew's Regent, both expected to remain. "Together Again" came in a day late at the State, due to the Thursday engagement of Pianist Jose Iturbi. Mildred Funk, cashier at the Senate, celebrated her birthday recently ,and received a diamond ring from her parents. New aide at the Senate is Rosanna Muto. Mrs. Evelyn Smith, student assistant at Loew's Regent, is recuperating at her home, and is expected to be back on the job soon. She underwent a recent appendectomy. DES MOINES Two girls from Tri-States and Central States are getting a break by appearing in the Pinmoney bond trailer to be shown over Iowa in connection with the 6th War Loan drive. Gladene Mason, of the accounting department, plays the part of an attractive housewife who saves her pin money, while Darlene Sloan, of the purchasing department, plays the part of a stenographer. Betty Allen, receptionist at Central States Theatre Corp., has resigned to work for an insurance company. G. Ralph Branton, general manager of Tri States, has been named to the general committee to launch a two-million-dollar campaign for Drake University. Sol Francis, Monogram district manager, was a recent visitor in Film Row. Wedding bells will ring for several of the girls in Film Row shortly, including Winnie Kline, MGM switchboard operator, who left to be married to a soldier in Nebraska, and Jane Connolly, booker's stenographer at MGM. Lieut. Robert Kuhl, son of Lawrence A. Kuhl, owner of the American Theatre at Corning and the Grand at Greenfield, was killed in an airplane crash near Abilene, Texas. Shortly after Kuhl joined the Air Corps his father purchased the Greenfield Theatre with the hope that the son would take it over after returning to civilian life. The Olympic Theatre at Calmer has been sold by L. J. Frana to John Ladau of West Salem, Wis. Frana, one of Iowa's oldest exhibitors, built the theatre in 1915 and showed silent movies and vaudeville until sound was installed in 1930. Ladau is a former theatre operator, and was recently discharged from the service. He will take over the house on Jan. 1. J. I. M. Schwartz has been appointed manager of the Capitol Theatre at Sioux City, succeeding Ira Grain, who has taken over the Bonham at Fairbury, Neb. Richard A. Moore of Davenport has been named manager of the Pioneer, one of Webster City theatres, replacing Fred Shadley, who has accepted a position with Central States theatres at Burlington. Clififord Brinkley has been named manager of the Rocket at Rock Island, succeeding Margaret Hudgell, who resigned to move to Seattle, Wash. More than 150 theatres in Iowa have signed up for war bond premieres, it was announced by A. H. Blank, Iowa WAG chairman. At Des Moines three pin-money bond premieres will be held at the Roosevelt, Hyland and Eastown theatres on Nov. 30, a special children premiere on Dec. 2 and at the Des Moines Theatre on Dec. 13. Ralph Granzin, assistant manager of the Orphcum, reported to police the loss of a money bag containing $4075 in checks and $206.25 in cash, while en route to the bank to make a deposit. Granzin said he left the theatre with two money bags under his arm, and a block from the theatre discovered one missing. He does not know if it was dropped or stolen. H. S. Waldrof, former owner of the Palace Theatre at Vinton, Iowa, was notified by the War Department that his son, Lt. H. C. Waldrof, had been reported missing in action following a bombing mission over Germany, Oct. 7. Lt. Waldrof is a wing commander, had completed 24 missions, and has been cited several times. Employes of the 20th Century-Fox exchange held a farewell party for Gwen Welsh and Veronica McMahon who will leave soon to join the Spars. Geraldine Marts, NSS shipping clerk, is leaving soon to join the Waves. WASHINGTON The Bond Caravan sponsored by the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of the District of Columbia, the Trailer Coach Dealers National Association, and the Pepsi-Cola Company will participate in a 20-day tour of the nation's capital as part of the Sixth War Loan drive equipped with a complete voice-recording outfit. Each bond purchaser can make a record which will be sent to a member of the armed forces. When the Bond Caravan appears at a given theatre, a group personnel of bond writers will be on hand to fill orders. Managers of the various theatres are also arranging festivities in front of their respective theatres for the event. In neighborhood sections, the Bond Caravan will {Continued on Page 20)