Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, February 1, 1947 31 REGIONAL NEWSREEL resort patrons during the time of her employment. She was formally presented with a certificate at the meeting of the association. Marcus A. Benn, 80, one of the first motion picture exhibitors in Philadelphia, died suddenly this week at his home. Born in Russia, he came to this country at the age of 22 because of religious persecution and settled in Xew York, later moving to Philadelphia where after practicing law for a time, he opened the Benson Theatre in 1909. This was the first of a chain of motion picture houses he built up in the Philadelphia area, including the Benn, now owned by the Stanley-Warner Company. He retired from the motion picture business last January. OKLAHOMA CITY A new booth and booth equipment have been installed in the Reo Theatre at Grandfield by the Oklahoma Theatre Supply. The theatre, recently suffered a fire. Oscar Scott II has purchased the two theatres at Cleveland, Okla. Buck Weaver, branch manager at Paramount, is back from a business trip to Dallas. Valentine Day has been announced as the date for the big dinner dance and party to be thrown by the local front office union of the Paramount exchange here. Visitors last week included Spec Wilkinson from Comanche, Hasten Snow from Hinton. Charlie Mahone from Hobart, M. H. DeFord from Anadarko, John Grey from Sand Springs. Vance Terry from Woodward. .\forris Loewenstein of the Majestic here, Harry Lowenstein of Ardmore and Max Brock of I.awton have all returned from the St. Louis theatre owners' state convention at which they were honored guests. J. C. Hunter, general manager of the first-run Talbot theatres at Tulsa, is now the president of Ralph Talbot Theatres, Inc., recently incorporated to operate the four theatres there. He will continue as general manager, and Talbot will be secretary-treasurer. Ralph Drewery, assistant general manager before entering the navy during the war, will return to the organization as assistant general manager. Jack A. Toney, 21, has been freed under bonds totaling $11,000 on charges of robbing the Will Rogers and Redskin Theatres here and committing a number of other robberies. Two other persons are charged with participating in the theatre holdups. Ed Kidwell, C & R executive, has been serving as chairman of the Oklahoma County March of Dimes drive. Grady L. James, salesman, is acting manager at the 20th-Fox exchange here while branch manager M. W. Osborne is on sick leave. I. B. Noble, Jr., owner of the State who is now building the new Center Theatre here, has returned from a business trip to New Orleans. Pat McGree returned to Denver after a short visit here on behalf of the Cooper Foundation. H. R. Falls, film buyer for Griffith Theatres here, tendered his resignation, effective Jan. 24, according to an announcement made by H. J. Griffith, who stated that R. A. Higdon of Dallas would assume Falls' duties and be in complete charge of the buying and booking d<:i>artment. LOS ANGELES A HELPING HAND. Msrvyn LeRoy, right, lends a helping hand while Louis B. Mayer, MGM vice-president in charge of production, pens his official signature to LeRoy's new contract. LeRoy first joined MGM in 1938 and directed, among others, "The Wizard of Oz," "Waterloo Bridge," "Johnny Eager," "Random Harvest," "Madame Curie" and "Thirty Secends Over Tokyo." CINCINNATI Northio circuit, a Paramount affiliate, has inaugurated a policy of double billing all firstrun pictures in the Middletown and Hamilton Theatres. Former policy was single bills in the ace houses and double bill in B and subsequentrun stands. Harry J. (Pop) Wessel was named Variety Club "Swell Guy" and was awarded the Mark llellinger trophy on the stage of Keith's Theatre between showings of the feature attraction, "Swell Guy." Police Chief Robert Weatherley made the presentation. Wessel operates a film trucking service here, and is past chief barker of Tent No. 3 of the Variety Club. Unger and Good were on film row setting bookings for their new Wesda in Dayton. House was completed last September, but was unable to open for lack of seats, tied up by a strike. Xew Southern California salesman for Film Classics is Ben Taylor, who was checking supervisor for Warner Bros., before this job, and also had worked for National Screen Service Etta Tremblatt, formerly of Minneapolis' film row, is the new steno-biller for FC. Bernard Goodman, Warners' exchange supervisor, left Jan. 23 on a tour of western and southern branches. His first stop was Dallas. Back from San Diego and San Francisco are Jack W. Sonenshine and Bernard Kaufman, partners in Embassy Pictures. They handle bank night as well as films. Starting Jan. 27, William Scully presided over sales meetings in San Francisco. Scully who is Universal's sales head, gave the sales dope to branch managers from here and other western points. George Smith's new secretary is Myrtle Brown. Smith is western division manager for Paramount. Flugh Braly has taken over Del Goodman's spot as west coast district manager, with Sugar Bockelage remaining as secretary. Sidney Pink is increasing his holdings. With Paul Schreibman he is reportedly taking over the Belasco Theatre April 1 for first-run of independent product. This was formerly a legitimate house. Back from sick bay at MGM are Sheriff Jack Valpey, chief booker, and Bill Callahan, assistant branch manager. Robbery of Los Angeles theatres continues unabated. Last week while a show was in progress, two armed desperados locked up S. G. Cardas, manager, and Frederick Smith, assistant manager, of Loew's State. The bandits then broke open a safe and fled with $700. Cardas and Smith, imprisoned in a closet, finally escaped by knocking down the door. George A. Hickey, Metro's Pacific coast sales manager, went to Phoenix, Ariz., to look over theatres in the vicinity. Lula Santulis, of the box office statements department, resigned to (Continued on Page 32) NEW THEATRES Milwkauee — Work on the new Bruce Theatre in Bruce, Wis., is reported to be progressing satisfactorily with tentative opening date having been set for March 1. There is some doubt, however, if the seats will be delivered in time for opening on that date. Plumbing and electric wiring are now being installed. tious include a 15 x 20 foot plastic screen, Altec sound equipment and Simplex projectors. Milwaukee — The new Valley Theatre, now under construction at Spring Valley, Wis., is progressing despite the winter cold, a large oscillating fan being used to heat the interior. Designer's plans call for an unusually steep slant at the rear in order to obtain perfect vision from every seat. Cleveland — A new 400-seat theatre — its first — is being built in Shreve, O., by Messrs Asch and Saurer of Applecreek, O. Cleveland office of National Theatre Supply will equip it with Simplex sound, projectors and bodyform seats. Cleveland — A new 750-seat West Theatre in Barberton, O., is being built by the Slovenian Society. It will be equipped with . Simplex sound by the Cleveland office of National Theatre Supply. Memphis — John T. Lester has opened his Park Theatre at 3527 Park, a newly-developed residential section of Memphis. House, planned by Polk Agee, architect, is copied after the Park Theatre, New York, and will seat 900 in bodyform chairs. Front of the building is in beige and black structural glass. Foyer and rest rooms are finished in colored tile. Installa Medford, Ore. — Robert E. Lippert, vicepresident of Screen Guild Productions, will add another theatre to his 34-theatre circuit with the immediate start of construction of a new 400automobile drive-in five miles out of Medford. He expects to have it ready for operation in the early summer, as plans have already re-' ceived his approval.