Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1945)

28 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW June 30, 1945 REGIONAL Continued were William Thalheimer, Logan, W. Va. ; Harry Knight and Lee Hoffheimer, Columbus. Joe Candrea, Semelroth Circuit, is confined to the hospital following an emergency operation. Warner vacationists are Mary Weller, secretary to Jim Abrose, and Eleanor Inkrot. Paramount vacationists are Irene Waldbillig and Lucille Morand, booker. Al Kinzler, Elite, Dayton, Ohio, spent several days with his son at the General Fletcher Hospital, Cambridge. Chris Pfister, Colonial and Mayflower, Troy, Ohio, is taking time out for a rest and vacation. The Dayton Variety Club with Fred Krim, chairman, held its annual picnic June 19. J. Henry Davidson is vacationing in Canada. Ezra Skirball has returned from Florida. NEW ORLEANS H. V. George of Hollywood has been here conferring with Jack Auslet, relative to the distribution of his productions. He also looked into the matter of a site for a studio in or near New Orleans particularly for making . 16-mm educational films. Catherine Donnells, chief inspectress for Dixie Films, Inc., has a new assistant, Mrs. Jennie Stern. Arthur C. Bromberg of Atlanta presided over a Monogram sales meeting here at the Jung Hotel which was attended by representatives of the ' Charlotte, Memphis, New Orleans and .Atlanta e-xchanges. Film Row was saddened by the death of George Sanders, forrner vaudeville ti^ouper and associated as theatre manager for many years with Joy Theatres, Inc., of New Orleans. Sanders is survived by his widow, a son, Jack, in the Pacific, and a daughter, Mrs. Felix Martin of Carencrow, La. The opening of the new 20th-Fox Theatre here, a suburban, brought out a large gathering of film folk. G. J. Broggi, office manager of the 20th Century-Fox exchange, is one of the owners. The first feature was Moss Hart's "Winged Victory," the second "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Both have attracted overflow crowds. . Edgar Shinn, Paramount salesman, is due back this week from an extended business trip through North and Central Louisiana. Sidney Otis, also of Paramount's sales stafif, and Miss Eola Sullivan, Paramount booker, were recently married and have taken an apartment here. Mrs. Otis plans to give up her position in the near future. T. L. Davis, United Artists branch manager who has been away from his office for several weeks following a heart attack, hopes to return to work early in July. Collins "Bud" Riley, RKO Mississippi salesman, has been in the hospital for an operation which will keep him ofif the active list for some time, although he is reported to be recovering satisfactorily. Mike Pisciotta of the Film Row Bar and Grill has been on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a rest, his wife, Mary, standing in for him meanwhile. Charles Lamantia, Martin Honeycutt, and Milton Dureau of the United Artists sales staff, will attend a sales meeting in Arkansas Pass, Texas, June 30 to July 4. Philip Sliman of Producers Releasing Corporation has returned from a business trip to New York. Joel Bluestone, Universal exchange office manager, leaves the end of this month for a combination business and vacation jaunt to New York, which is his home. Mrs. Josephine Albana, formerly of Film Classics of the Southeast office here, has joined her husband in San Diego and will be away indefinitely. E. A. MacKenna, Film Classics manager, has been searching for a competent stenographer to replace her. John Ellzey of the Delta Supply Company is currently in San Francisco visiting his son with the Navy there. PHILADELPHIA The terrific heat wave helped to knock off grosses in this town, with the outdoor pools, amusement parks and resort towns in the area taking the play away from the big town. Thousands of Philadelphians left the town in order to get some relief from the torrid temperature. The Motion Picture Associates gave a luncheon at the Warwick Hotel in honor of Frank Hammerman, exchange manager for PRC Pictures and George Elmo, Paramount salesman, who has become a member of Paramount's International sales department. From New York came George Lind, Harry Thomas and Arnold Stoltz, PRC executives, to help pay tribute to Hammerman, while Earle Sweigert, .Paramount's division manager read a letter from Elmo's New York boss extolling his virtues. Elmo will be stationed in Panama and will cover Cuba, and almost all the Central American countries. He speaks Spanish and originally came from Cuba. Bill Humphries, 20th Century-Fox sales man WINDS UP 15 CITIES TOUR FOR 'CAPTAIN EDDIE.' With a wide trail of publicity in his wake, stretching through the west and middle-west, Christy Walsh, associate producer of 20th Century-Fox's "Captain Eddie," was guest of honor at receptions in each of the cities visited. In several cities, Walsh was met on arrival by his hosts in old-time automobiles as an exploitation gesture pointing up the nostalgic interests of the picture. Rodney Bush, home office exploitation director, arranged the tour of which the picture above is the culmination of the Chicago affair. Shown with Walsh are (1-r) J. H. Lorentz, 20th-Fox Great Lakes district manager with headquarters in Chicago; Tom Gilliam, Chicago branch manager; Walter Immerman, vicepresident and general manager of Balaban & Katz; Christy Walsh; Bill Hollander, director of advertising and publicity for B & K, and Dr. Eben J. Carey, Dean of Medicine. Marauette University. ager is in the hospital , after an emergency appendectomy. Maurice Gable, Warner district manager in the downtown theatres area received a unique gift when Al Lang, former mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., and president of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce came to town and gave Maurice a box of enormous mangoes. On vacation next week is Milt Young of the Warner publicity department. Lt. Jerome A. Freedman, brother of 20th Century-Fox's exploiteer Si Freedman, was married in Camden, N. J. on the 26th. The bride was Anna G. Goldstein ©f the Waves. Fifty children, who were the city's top bondsellers in the public and parochial schools, went to Fort Dix June 26, as a reward arranged by the War Activities Committee. George Balkin, manager of the Stanley, became a father when his wife Mildred gave birth to a 7-pound 2-ounce girl in Mt. Sinai Hospital. The new arrival is to be named Karen Myra. Mildred had formerly been secretary to Maurice Gable, Warner downtown district manager. Another theatre, the Abbey, seems to be scheduled for postwar erection according to rumors on Movie Row. David Supowitz is to be the architect, with Benjamin Bogoslafsky, prominent baker and Morris Katz, mentioned as the backers. . Lewen Pizor, UMPTO president, has been made president of the Metropolitan Hospital. More bond figures recently released by A. J. Vanni, Warner out-of-town zone manager, showed the following results: Strand, York, $3,386,000; Stanley, Chester, $2,108,000; Grand, Vineland, $1,332,827; Strand, Pottstown, $1,275,000; and Colonial, Lancaster, $2,480,050. ST. LOUIS Harold L. Groves, field director of Confidential Reports, Inc., with headquarters in New York, outlined plans for an expansion of that organization's supervisory activities over checkers at a two-day conference of the managers of Central and Western branch offices, which concluded at the Melbourne Hotel here June 24. The unreasonable clearance complaint of Adolph Rosecan, doing business as the Princess Theatre against the Producer-Exhibitors, has been postponed indefinitely. This case led to the filing of the $285,000 anti-trust damage suit by the St. Louis Amusement Company, against Paramount, RKO Radio, Warners, 20th CenturyFox, the American Arbitration Association, the owners of the Princess and Apollo theatres, Harry G. Erbs, attorney and arbitrator for the AAA and Harold D. Conner, attorney and formerly local clerk of the AAA tribunal. It is probable that the clearance case will not go to trial until the pending Federal court litigation is disposed of, one way or the other. Noah Bloomer, pioneer exhibitor and former owner of the St. Louis PRC franchise, was a visitor along the Row. He came from the West Coast because of the death of one of his sons, Cyril Bloomer, in Belleville, III, on June 13. The family operates the Rex and Ritz, Belleville. Other recent visitors along Film Row included : Ed Clarke, Mattoon, 111. ; Jimmy Frisina, Taylorville and Springfield, 111. ; E. W. Butler, Louisville, 111. ; J. M. Ennis, State, Quincy, 111. ; Ed Rosecan, Hannibal, Mo. ; John Dickson, St. Elmo, 111. ; R. Marsbbank, manager, Calvin, Washington, Mo., a unit of the Commonwealth Amusement Company's circuit, and Lloyd Lenhardt, Kansas City, also connected with the Commonwealth organization ; I. Wienshienk, Alton, 111., district manager for Publix Theatres ; B. Temborius, Lebanon, 111., and Russell Armentrout, Louisiana, Mo., who operates several houses in Southern Illinois and Eastern Missouri. George Karsch of the Karsch Circuit, Lead Belt Amusement Co., and Farmington Entertainment Co., with headquarters in Farmington, Mo., is on his honeymoon. A number of bond premieres are scheduled by St. Louis theatres this week. Among them are