Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

20 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW December 2, 1944 REGIONAL Continued be on hand nightly from 6 :30 to 9 :30. Within that period it will be stationed in several closely situated theatres. The caravan will also tour theatres in Montgomery County on December 13-14 and Prince George County December 15-16. S. L. Sorkin, manager of RKO Keith's Theatre, has arranged with Station WMAL to plug the Sixth War Loan. He has arranged to add this message to his news broadcasts in the theatre: "The Sixth War Loan drive is now on. As you leave this theatre, won't you buy an extra bond so that we can meet our quota and play taps for the Japs !" Representing MGAI at the Variety Club Charity dinner dance were Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Berger, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kronman, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Goldberg, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cohn, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Scully, Tony Fursee and Tom Baldridge. Allen as Chief Barker of the Washington Tent 11, Variety Club, was host to the annual Variety Club of America national meeting, which was held in conjunction with the benefit. Blood Donor Chairman Phyllis Hammerschlag, secretary to A. J. Brylawski of Warner Bros, and the following representatives of Film Row, Oscar Blumenthal, of Columbia; May Feldman of 20th Century-Fox, and Catherine Murphy of MGM, united in turning out a record blood donor group. Frank La Fake, director of advertising and publicity for Warner Bros., and Mrs. La Falce, celebrated Thanksgiving with the La Falce sisters in New Jersey. Recent visitors at Warner Bros. : Bill Brooker, of Paramount ; Rodney Collier, manager of the Stanley, Baltimore ; Irving Yergin, of the Warner Home Office; Lt. Com. George Werner, formerly in the booking department, and Sidney Hoffman, of the Navy, formerly manager of the Kennedy. The presence of Paul McNutt, Chairman of the War Manpower Commission, lent impetus to the inaugural of the Bond Caravan at the Earle Theatre, Friday, Nov. 24. MEMPHIS The new roster of Variety Club directors for the year are : Al Avery, branch manager, RKO ; E. R. Gillette, owner of the Bristol Theatre ; Herbert Kohn and M. A. Lightman of Malco, Inc. ; Bailey Prichard, branch manager. Monogram; James A. Prichard, branch manager, Universal; Ed Williamson, branch manager, Warner Bros. ; Tom Kirk, salesman, MGM, and Tom Young, branch manager, 20th CenturyFox. The directors will elect officers of the club within the next week or so. The club's party for benefit of the Mothers' Milk Bank, was held at the club in Hotel Gayoso, last Saturday night. Back in town and to the fold of the local club is Edwin P. Sapinsley, Malco city manager, who attended the Variety Club's national meeting and Humanitarian Award presentation in Washington as a delegate from Tent No. 20. J. C. Tunstill, city manager of the Malco Theatres at Owensboro, Ky., has been promoted to field division manager and executive assistant to Secretary-Treasurer M. J. McCord of Malco Theatres, Inc., according to an announcement by M. A. Lightman, president. Mr. Tunstill will be with Mr. McCord in the executive headquarters of the theatre chain in Little Rock. Adolph H. Baker, assistant manager at Owensboro, will take over Mr. Tunstill's former post there. Howard Waugh, zone manager of Warner Bros., has announced that the War Bond show of the Sixth War Loan Drive will be given Thursday nig'ht, Dec. 14, at Warner Theatre. Shopping Film Row recently were : W. F. Ruffin, Ruffin Amusement Company, Covington, Tenn. ; R. X. Williams, Lyric Theatre, Oxford, Miss.; Mrs. Orris Collins, Capitol and Majestic theatres, Paragould, Ark. ; Moses Sliman, Lux Theatre, Lurora, Ark. ; John Staples, Franklin Theatre, Piggot, Ark.; J. C. Mohrstadt, Missouri Theatre, Hayti, Mo. ; and Normal Theatre, Memphis ; Grady Cook, Joy Theatre, Pontotoc, Miss.; Roy Dillard, Dillard Theatre, Wardell, Mo. ; R. B. Gooch, Savanah, and Selma, Tenn. Marie Norwood is the new cashier at Warner Bros, theatre. G. H. Goss, Rustic Theatre, Parsons, Tenn., was visiting friends in the city last week. Fire damaged Dave Flexer's Tower Theatre at Sardis, Miss., last week. Harold Cohn, Monogram New Orleans district manager, was a visitor to the local exchange last week. Allen S. Glenn, Dallas Paramount exploitation executive, initiated the campaign for the showing of "Rainbow Island" here last week. Alartha Ann Wynne joined the contract department at Paramount exchange. Becy Holmes, booker's stenographer at the 20th-Fox exchange, received a warm welcome at the office following a siege of illness at the hospital. J. J. Rogers, branch manager of the Columbia exchange, returned from the Sixth War Loan meeting in Charlotte and is energizing the local industry committee of which he is chairman, to surpass bond sales in any former drive. H. C. Brewer, theatre owners of Clarksdale, Miss., was visiting Film Row last week. ST. LOUIS M. A. Rosecan, attorney for the theatre defendants in the $285,000 suit filed in the U. S. Court here by St. Louis Amusement Co., were granted an extension of time to Dec. 9 in which to file answers. The extension was granted by U. S. District Court Judge R. A. Duncan. By stipulation between the plaintiffs and the defendants, the five major companies named in the action were granted until Dec. 16 for the filing of answers. The Mo-Kan Theatres, Inc., incorporated in Wilmington, Del., has been authorized by the Secretary of State to operate in Missouri as a foreign corporation and to employ $36,000 of its capital within the State. Its principal Missouri agent is Harold Harris, Kansas City, Mo. Henry S. Griffing, Oklahoma City, Okla., is company representative for the State. For the second time Moberly, Mo., the home town of Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, field commander of the American forces in Germany, exceeded its war bond quota on the first day of the campaign. The quota for the town in the 6th War Loan drive was $526,000, and the mark was beaten by $50,000 in approximately five hours. The Neon and Fluorescent Supply Co. has been incorporated here. Officers are L. A. Piper, St. Louis; J. Ivan Cole, Mt. Vernon, 111., and F. L. Lee, Belleville, 111. Gus Krause, manager of the Cinderella Theatre, has been hospitalized for the past three weeks with pneumonia. With the purchase of the Paradise Theatre, Cotter, Ark., and the Ozark at Yellville, headquarters of the Ozark Amusement Co. have been moved from Hardy to Cotter. Fred Wehrenberg, head of the circuit bearing his name, and president of the MPTO of St. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois and national co-chairman for the Sixth War Loan drive, returned to St. Anthony's Hospital for treatment of arthritis. Martin Burnett, manager of Loew's State and co-chairman for the 6th drive, will take over Wehrenberg's duties. Rex Barrett of Columbia, Mo., the third cochairman, was also on the sick list and failed to attend the kick-off luncheon meeting at the Coronado Hotel. Herbert Scott, manager of Loew's Orpheum, has resigned. He will be succeeded by Milton Kaufman, who has been assistant manager of Loew's Penn, Pittsburgh. Walter Young, assistant manager, and Lowell Smith, treasurer, of Loew's State, have resigned. Rush Williams of Indianapolis has succeeded Young. Smith is a breeder of race horses and together with Young departed for Phoenix, Arizona, where they will continue their activities. James C. Castle, for the past 12 years associated with the Fanchon & Marco organization, the last seven of which he has been a member of the advertising and publicity department, tendered his resignation to join the field publicity department of Paramount. He will cover the St. Louis, Kansas City and Des Moines territories, replacing Babe Cohn, who left Paramount to join Fox MidWest in Kansas City. Funeral services were held at Washington, Mo., Nov. 18th for John L. Calvin, 79, pioneer motion picture theatre owner and operator of Central Missouri. Midnight premieres at first-run theatres to boost the sale of extra E bonds during the 6th drive have been announced for the Ambassador, Missouri, Fox and Loew's State. Funeral services were held November 26 for Philip Sosna, father of Louis M. Sosna, operator of the Sosna Theatre, Moberly, Mo., and Sam L. Sosna, owner of the Sosna Theatre in Manhattan, Kan. Sosna died November 24. Special morning matinees in 58 neighborhood and suburban theatres here on November 18 netted 105 tons of waste paper, Edward Wise, vice-chairman of the Waste Paper Salvage Committee, has revealed. Proceeds from sale of the paper were donated to the St. Louis Variety Club's Heart Fund — which has been the beneficiary of about $700 from this source. Everett Hayes has sold the Grand Theatre, Sullivan, III, to Lee Norton, who also is interested in the Dupe Theatre, Dupe, 111., and the Norton, Mascoutah, 111. Mark Ramon, formerly an RKO salesman in the St. Louis, prior to joining the Army has been in New York City awaiting a foreign post assignment from Phil Reisman of RKO. OTTAWA Doug Rosen, newly appointed Toronto branch manager for United Artists, made his first visit to the capital city accompanied by Al Iscove, chief Ontario salesman for UA. Don Stapleton, owner of the Center Theatre, has returned after a fishing trip. James Moxely, manager of the Westboro, is bedded with the flu at a local hospital. Morris Berlin, owner of the Somerset, was in Toronto last week looking over product. Ambrose Nolan, lessee of the Little Theatre, has thrown his hat into the Aldermanic ring for the 1945 City Council of Ottawa. Sam Glazer, Toronto president for Columbia Pictures of Canada, appeared before the Film Board. Columbia releases the Canada Carries On series for N.F.B. Harold Kaye, Monogram salesman for Toronto, was an arrival here last week with company product for special screenings. Steve McManus, manager, and the United Artists, were the recipients of warm thanks from His Excellency and Her Royal Highness Princess Alice for extending the use of a print of "Since You Went Away," to Government House recently. Harvey Harnick of Columbia's Toronto branch attended conferences last week with Ross McLean of the Film Board. Isser Singerman, manager of the Imperial, planed to the Martimes Coast to attend the wedding of his youngest brother in St. John's, N. B. N. A. Taylor, president of 20th Century-Fox Theatres, Ltd., left for New York office conferences in relation to circuit matters. Jack Kennedy, former manager of the Nola