Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

24 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, November 12, 1949 REGIONAL NEWSREEL (Continued from Page 23) Loew's Uptown, Toronto, and Ray Allen of Premiere Theatres, while at a subsequent meeting the following officers were elected : President Ro3' Miller, manager, the Lincoln, St. Catharine's, Ont. ; Vice-President G. H. Peters of Odeon Theatres of Canada ; Treasurer Stan Gosnell of the Toronto Uptown; Secretary Ben Ulster, Toronto; Executive Secretary Arc H. Jolley. Past President is H. C. D. Main. New committee members are : Membership, Raymond Allen, chairman, Lou Rosefield of Hamilton, Floyd Rumford of Forest and Morris Berlin of Ottawa; Finance, H. C. D. Main, chairman, Stan Gosnell and Morris Berlin. Twentieth Century Theatres has opened its new Birchcliff theatre here with Maurice Weldon, formerly of the Kenwood, as manager. The four-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lou Consky of the Molou, Haliburton, Ont., was rushed from their home to a Toronto hospital for treatment for serious gasoline burns. . . . Famous Players Canadian has closed its Victoria here, temporarily, it was stated, while its manager, Russell McKibben, has gone over to the Bloor in upper Toronto. PORTLAND Autovue drive-in Spokane, has closed for the season. . . . Seattle's new 885-seat Crest, operated by Walter and Gene Roe, had a gala opening. It cost $150,000 and features a 350car parking area, a separate 21 -seat mezzanine loge for private parties, a 14-seat "cry room" and facilities. . . . Columbia Exploitation Supervisor Sam Gilges appointed Don Hummitt as assistant in the Pacific Northwest. Nov. 23 is the date for opening Evergreen's new State Theatre in Olympia. . . . Chilton Robinett, Seattle manager for 20th-Fox, returned from Eastern Washington. . . . Mike Barovic is hunting the elusive pheasants of Idaho. . . . Roy Brobeck of B. F. Shearer returned via air from Anchorage, Alaska. A hunting party to Williams Lake, B. C, is composed of Exhibitor W. B. McDonald of Olympia, Harold McDonald, Paul Lowden and J. E. McDonald. . . . Hal Boehme, Monogram salesman, went from the Inland Empire to Seattle for a conference. . . . Universal Publicity Director Joe Lawler is covering the Portland and Seattle exchanges. SAN FRANCISCO Warner Salesman Lloyd James was elected president of the local Colosseum group at its recent meeting. An active season is being prepared for. . . . Warner West Coast Division Manager Henry Hervell has returned from the San Francisco Bay area where he closed product deals with circuit heads. H. Neal East, head of the Variety Club of Northern California's Heart Fund, addressed members of the San Francisco Film Colony Girls to explain the Club's activities. He revealed that earlier plans to build a nursery for blind babies has been altered to providing instruction for their welfare in the home. The club also aids needy blind youngsters by locating them at the already established Morning Glory Home at Palo Alto and providing funds for their maintennance. Motion pictures from the child's point of view were discussed by the Berkeley Motion Picture Council meeting in the Berkeley City Council chambers, with President Mrs. Waldo Nielsen READS ABOUT 'EM. The big accomplishments, that is, of the Baltimore Variety Club. Doing the reading is R. J. (Bob) O'Donnell, International Chief Barker of Variety Clubs, and assisting him (1-r) are Mrs. J. C. Grant, Mrs. O'Donnell, and Chief Barker Joseph C. Grant of Baltimore. Scene was the Baltimore Tent's 11th Annual Dinner-Dance. presiding. Denis Sherry, theatre manager, answered questions. Mrs. Wanda Ramey, radio representative of the public information committee of the National Safety Council, was the guest speaker. California Theatre Owners' President Roy Cooper will provide the dedication address for the placing of a plaque at the site where the first theatre in San Francisco was esatblished 100 years ago — the famous Jenny Lind Theatre near Portsmouth Square. Plaque will be presented during an appropriate ceremony Nov. 14 under the sponsorship of the Centennial Commission. Oakland, which formerly was one of the poorest show towns in the country for vaudeville, returned to the live-act policy at the Orpheum this week with eight acts of vaudeville. VANCOUVER Eagle Lion Shipper Hugh Kavanagh and MGM Secretary Alice Budd are married. . . . International Cinema Assistant Manager Earl Barlow and June Martinson of Vancouver are engaged ; no wedding date announced. . . . Frank Hodd of the Windsor Theatre is hospitalized. . . . Lorne Bailey, son of veteran showman Tom Bailey of the Cinema Theatre, is a patient at the Tranquille Sanitarium near Kamloops where he is reported on the road to recovery. Empire-Universal Fieldman Ray Wheatley is here from Toronto checking E-U and Sovereign film exchanges. . . . Manager Kelly Hayter of the Salmar, Salmon Arms, B. C, here booking, reported business tops in that interior fruit town. . . . Frank Troy, who replaced Kevin Fitzgibbons as British Columbia manager for Theatre Confections, is a happy man — he has obtained an apartment and settled his family here. . . . LTnited Artists Canadian General Manager Charlie Chaplin was here on a routine visit. . . . Paramount Manager Bob Murphy went to Toronto to attend a sales meeting. The 800-seat second-run Strand at Calgary has become a first-run house operated by Famous Players in partnership with Ken Leach. This gives PP three downtown first-runs there to Odeon's one, the Grand. Leach will re-open the old Empress in Calgary shortly and rename it the Hitching Post as a first-run for western and action films. John Cardell,"who resigned as Warner booker, will be in charge of the new Hitching Post. Dead : Mrs. Margaret de Carlo, 71, of Vancouver, grandmother of movie actress, Yvonne de Carlo. . . . The 22-year-old son of Jack Donnelly of the Dominion Theatre. . . . Mrs. Whitley, 67, sister of three area theatremen — Famous Players District Manager Frank Gow; Mel Gow, manager of the Capitol Theatre, Nanaimo, and Frank Gow, Jr., manager of the Broadway, Vancouver. COLUMBUS Lester Miller has been promoted by Loew's Theatres from second assistant manager of Loew's Penn in Pittsburgh, Pa., to first assistant manager of the circuit's Ohio in Colum.bus. He had previously been on the staflrs of Loew theatres in Akron and Canton, Ohio, the latter being his home town. . . . Miles closed its Scioto drive-in ' for the season on Nov. 1 and its East Main and West Broad under-skyers on Nov. 6. . . . Herman StofTel of RKO Theatres is attending speech classes in the mornings at Ohio State University. ... A daughter was born recently to Mrs. Robert Wagner, former publicity head for Academy Theatres, and her husband, a WBNS announcer. Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio President Martin Smith of Toledo is recovering from an emergency appendectomy at Toledo Hospital. . . . Lee Waldschmidt is on the job after a long illness. . . . Bill Contants was scheduled for an operation. . . . Joe Griggs and family are home from an Ozark vacation and Bill Goodman from Hot Springs. . . . Jean Gaston, former Hallmark Productions west coast manager, is returning to Los Angeles after an extended visit here with her parents. . . . Jack Crouthers, former Hallmark office manager at Wilmington, is managing a theatre at Rarrodsburg, Ky. Dead: Walter James Gossenz, former dancer, circus clown, vaudevillian and theatre manager, of a heart attack at his home here. . . . Otto Paige, 53, bicycle acrobat and vaudeville performer, was killed when the station wagon he was driving to New York, where he had an engagement at the RKO Palace, side-swiped a tractor-trailer on Route 22 near Cadiz, Ohio. His wife and daughter were in another car. INDIANAPOLIS MGM Salesman Val Klaiber and Monogram Office Manager Don McLeod will be the hunting companions of V. E. Burkle, operator of the Rialto, at Fortville, Ind., on Armistice Day. . . . Republic Division ]\Ianager Walter Titus was a visitor. . . . William Starling, RKO assistant shipper, is confined at home by influenza. . . . Comedian Bob Hope and Movie Columnist Jimmie Fidler will be here Nov. 18 for the premiere of "Johnny Holiday," the picture that was made at the Indiana Boys School at Plainfield, Ind., last summer. . . . Milton Krueger joined the Realart sales stai? on Nov. 7. Warner Manager Claude McKean called at the office of Maurice White, Cincinnati, Ohio, to arrange the booking for the Mary Anderson, Louisville, Ky. . . . Kenneth Law, Argos, Ind., is remodeling his Cozy, installing a new glass front, changing the box-office from the center of the lobby to the side, and placing the popcorn machine in the center. Vincent McKilski, formerly with the Cantor and Marcus Circuits, has been named assistant manager at the Circle, and Clyde Barnet has been moved from the Circle to the same spot at the Indiana, and the new assistant at the