Variety (Apr 1939)

Wednesilay," AprU 5, 1939 PICTURES V.tRIETY 21 Frank Harris Dixie Group of 13; Tbeatres and Exchanges in Moves AUanta, AprU 4, Frank Harris, former mgr. ot Lucas & Jenkins' half dozen com- munity theatres here, Is booking for eroup's 13 houses, with Al Whittle, former explolteeer for Rlalto, in charge of North Georgia and Caro- lina houses. . , ^ , . Walter Meier last w^k was made mgr. of Cameo, outfit's downtown house, replaced at Kirkwood by Horace Denning. ^ George Wilby and Associates, op- erators of an expanding Georgia the- atre chain that has reached into Carolinas, has moved - into larger quarters in Walton building, on Film Bow. _ _ , personnel sent Tommy Read, man- ager of chain's Paramount to similar post at outfit's Fox, 4,400-seat de- luxer. Read replaces Hudson Ed- wards, who has gone to Savannah as Ii.&J.'s ' city manager, vice Roby Robinson, resigned. Chain operates five houses in Savannah. Read's successor at Paramount is unnamed as yet, district manager E. E. Whitaker sitting in saddle tem- porarily. Joe Engel in Albany Albany, April 4. Joe Engel took up the reins at Universal's Albany Exchange Mon- day (3), replacing Gerald Leary, who has not been well, and received a leave of absence. rSngel, former manager of the Cleveland branch of Universal, is a newcomer to this ter- ritory. Greenblatt Aides Rogers Arthur Greenblatt has been ap- pointed assistant to Budd Rogers, v.p. and g-m. of Alliance Films 'Corp. Greenblatt was lately eastern dis- trict manager for Gaumont British in New York. Rogers is U. S. sales rep. for Alliance, a British organiza- tion; Philadelphia, AprU 4. Charles Stiefel will take over the Susquehanna theatre about July 1 from the Affiliated Theatre Circuit, which now operates it Stiefel bought the building some time ago and will not renew Afliliated's lease when it expires. Nixon's Grand, which recently shuttered after its umpteenth unsuc- cessful attempt at a combo policy, will reopen Saturday (8) on a straight film policy. It will run last riin product at 10c. and 20c. admish. Joe Weiner, brother of Harry Welner, Columbia exchange manager here, will operate the house. Barham's Fix-Vp Trip Tracy Barham,. operator of Para- mount's Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia theatres, was in New York durmg the past week to confer on new equipment for some of his houses. In addition to fixing up the Palace, Marion, O., the Marion in that town is to be remodeled. Charles Burton, in charge of the Par maintenance department, is in Bar- ham's territory on remodeling and le-equipping plans. Dortic Joins WB Pittsburgh, April 4. Charles Dortic, Grand National ex- change manager here, has quit to join Warners sales staff, assigned to cover West Virginia territory for local office, taking over from Mau- rice Kinder, who's been servicing that district since Bobby Dunbar was elevated to office manager. Kinder has resigned. Max Shulgold, GN salesman, moves into Dortic's •pot Joe KaulTman, U exchange chief, transferred from Pittsburgh to simi- lar post in Cleveland, will be hon- ored here at a testimonial dinner by showmen April 24 at Roosevelt hotel. Harry Hendel. indie exhib, is in charge of affair. Segal's Berth Youngstown, O.', April 4. Harry Segal, resident manager of the Harris-Strand here for some months, transferred to the Family, Pittsburgh. Segal's place here taken by Henry Miller, Jr., from Pitts- burgh house. Segal came here to take charge when William Murray died, and has remained pending the Bdection. of a resident manager by the circuit executives. Ohio Shifts Canton, O., April 4. Joe Wheeler appointed manager of the Chakeres Grand, CircleviUe, to succeed Ralph Winters, assigned an- other Chakeres theatre. Wheeler is former manager of Cliftona, Circle- viUe. Jimmy Fisher, manager of McKln- ley, NUes, 0„ seriously ill in a Youngstown hospital, has resumed his duties. J. Real Neth, operator of the Neth theatres, Columbus, who suffered a broken right leg when he f eU oh the ice several weeks ago, back at his desk. After three weeks in Florida, Jo- seph E. Shagrin, Youngstown, is back managing the new Foster the- atre there. Shagrin resigned as manager of the Paramount and Park in that city, to devote his entire time to supervision of the newest nabe in the steel city. George S. EUis and Earl L, Och- senbeln, local managers for the American and State^ East Liverpool, conferred here recently with George A, Delis, district manager for the Tnter-State Theatres, Inc., with which group the East Liverpool houses are affiliated. Jerry Reinhart, associated with Reinhart Theatres here, recovered from attack of flu and back at his desk. His father, Harry Reinhart, owner of the local subsequent run group bearing his name, is vacation- ing in Honolulu. F. H. Hathaway has added the Struthers theatre, Struthers, O., to his group, which include the Ritz, Palace and Campbell, all in the Youngstown district Denver, April 4. WUUam G. Smith, head of Empire Pictures, closed with George HirU- man. Indie producer, for roadshow distribution of 'Tell Your Children' in aU states west of and including Colorado. Sid Dean Back in Harness SeatUe, April 4. Sidney Dean, former adv. mgr. and assistant to the late H. T. Moore, owner and< manager for many years of the Rialto, Tacoma, is the new manager. He's assisted by John Ows- ley, who comes back after some years out of the show biz, when he was also with Moore, At age of-64 H. T. Moore died suddenly at Phoe- nix, Ariz., Jan. 26, where he had gone for his health. First important change in man- agers at local theatres in blue moon finds Dan Redden succeeding BiU Hamrick as manager at Paramount; Clyde Strout advancing from asst at Orpheum to manager (.f Coliseum, where he succeeds Redden; Earl An- derson promoted from door to as- sistant to Don Gedc>s, mgr. at Or- pheum, and Marion Fox, from door, to assistant to Redden at Paramount, succeeding Charles Barnes. Alpine's Face-Lift Salem, W. Va., AprU 4. The Alpine, completely remodeled, redecorated and refurnished, re- opened. Charles Anderson is head of the circuit- Okla.'s Improvements Oklahoma City, April 4. Harry G. Walgreen doing $12,000 improvements on his Blue Moon, Lindsey, Okla., with new seats, roof, supports, concrete floor, glass en- closed cry-room and lighting. James & James have installed a new air-conditioning system in their Jewel theatre here. Commonwealth Amuse. instaUed new chairs in Liberty, Harrison, Ark., and . Rialto, Searcy, Ark. Jack Weiss, formerl" operating at Cement Okla.. opening new theatre In Harrah, Okla. H. J. Fentriss .refurbished his Quanah theatre at Fletcher, Okla. Levi Metcalfs new air condition- ing at Ritz. PurceU, Okla. Forrest Swigar returned to Okla- homa City to become new manager ot Plaza, for Standard. He resigned as manager of the Tower to enter the shoe business in New Orleans. Don Woods Back to K. C. Minneapolis, April 4. Don Woods, Paramount sales' man- ager here, resigned to join the War- ner sales staff in Kansas City, his former home. Was Grand National branch manager in Minneapolis, for- merly. Par has not named his suc- cessor yet. M. Se P.'s New One Boston, April 4. M. 8i P. Theatres (Mullin and Pin- anski) have put through real estate deal whereby they acquire about 65,- 000 square feet at Cleveland Circle in Brookline, center of a heavily popu- lated residential district Under- stood M&P wUl build a modern Col- onial film house there later this year. TITLE CHANGES Hollywood, April 4. 'Panama Lady' is release title for ■The Second Shot' at RKO. 'Inside Information' latest handle for 'Metropolitan Police' at Uni- versal. RKO switched from 'Salute to Hate' to 'Conspiracy.' . , 'Bridal Suitn' Is final tag on Metro's 'Maiden Voyage.' ANOTHER PATHE FILM DIVVY WITHIN 30 DAYS Pathe Film Corp., which a few weeks ago declared a stock divi- dend of its Pathe Laboratories is- sue, pirobably will issue ajaother divvy of the same sort within the next 30 days. Both declarations are on a basis of one share of new Pathe Lab stock , for 100 shares of Pathe FUm hdd. With the issuance of the second dividend, reported as being set for early declaration, Pathe Film will have. carried out its whole ' plan of reorganization whereby the parent corporation' (Pathe Film) was set up as a holding company and the operating company established un- der the title of Pathe Laboratories. According to the plan, Pathe Film had two years to carry out this align- ment but officers are understood to favor issuing the new stock and com- pleting final details. Pathe Film (parent corporation) really is a holding company for Du Pont Film Mfg. Co., but officials will not change the title for the time being. Pathe Lab. stock is listed in •Over-the-Counter market while Pathe FUm Is on the New York Stock Exchange. If the operating company, Pathe Lab, shares should be placed on the stock exchange or curb exchange, it is likely the Pathe Film might change its title—possibly to that of Du Pont Film Holding Co.; in order to prevent confusion among traders. Harry McDonald Lands Koemer's RKO Ni. Dir. After reported consideration of Tom Gorman, Chicago RKO man- ager, and Edward Smith, former Paramoimt theatre operator, as suc- cessor to the. New England division, RKO decided on Harry McDonald, manager of the Albee, Providence, for the spot He takes control AprU 7, with headquarters In Boston, Charles Koemer transferring to the Pacific Coast to handle the RKO division formerly headed for years by Cliff Work, now production head at Universal. Koerner has been delayed in leav- ing for the west pending decision on who would succeed him over the RKO theatres in Boston, LoweU and Providence. McDonald, for years with RKO as a theatre manager, left a few years ago to take over the Norman- die, Boston nltery, which specialized in name bands, but toward the end of the year he sold out and on Jan. 1 returned to RKO as manager of the Providence house. He is a brother of CharUe McDonald, RKO division - manager In New York. Dayton Realigned Dayton, O., AprU 4. Joe Goetz, assistant to Col. A. F. Frudenfeld, RKO division manager at Cincinnati, made RKO manager for Dayton, succeeding Millard M. Blaettnar, and WiUiam A. Clark, re- cently' in exploitation work with United Artists, made manager RKO Keith house, succeeding Duane Hat- field. Changes effective immediately following announcement of resigna- tions of Blaettnar and Hatfield. Blaettnar with RKO here IS years and city manage;, five years. Technicolor's $1,334^43 Net, 700G Above 1937 Technicolor, Inc., and Technicolor Motion Picture Corp., its subsidiary, showed net profit in 1938 about $700,000 greater than inllTe 'preced-' ing y^ar. Net was $1,334,243 as against $630,718 in 1937. Net sales totalled $4,646,991. The net profit was further trimmed by $258,072, the amount de- ducted for Federal income tax and life insurance expense. Premiums on life insurance on the president and general manager resulted in a deduction of $23,635. Company paid $1 dividend last year. It was announced that the corpora- tion had made its new high speed negative commercially available. Also noted that a division of the Technicolor . plant for. production of 16-millimeter Technicolor-Koda- chrome picture prints, by reduction printing from Teck positive orig- inals, was placed in operation last November. Technicolor, Ltd., British affiliate, showed a profit of $33,740, as com- pared with a substantial loss In the preceding year. Dissenion Reported Within Allied Groups in Northwest and Pennsy Minneapolis, April 4. With the NaUonal Allied SUtes convention scheduled for Minneap- olis June 13-15, Northwest Allied leaders are trying to smooth troubled waters stirred up because President W. A. Steffes has failed to' stop his associate and former organization president, Bcnnie Bergcr, from buy- ing 'runs' of Metro pictures for the Paradise, nabe, and showing them ahead of competing independent up- town houses and at a lower matinee admission. Steffes owns a joint interest with Berger in the Paradise, but insists the latter is in sole control of the theatre's operation. Furthermore, he contends, the organization cannot dictate to the distributors how or at what prices they should sell their product any more than It can dic- tate to exhibitors how much they should pay for film. It is essential to keen the organiza- tion alive and nrevent any split up, Steffes feels. He has made known that he himself will not accept the presidency again, however, under any circumstances. Steffes claims that there is only one discontented member who is try- ing to cause trouble and he does not believe that this single malcontent will be able to draw some of the others away from ITorthwest Allied and form a rival exhibitors' organi- zation. He also charges that this member always has been delinquent in his dues. The member in question has taken the position that there are other grievances besides the Paradise the- atre situation. He argues that the organization should concern itself less with such national and state leg- islative matters «s, for example, the- atre divorcement which requires the levying of hea'vy dues. He wants dues substantially , reduced and urges that the body devote its efforts prin- cipally to bringing down film costs and .eliminating 'unfair' trade prac- tices. Philly AlUed Sohbm PhUadelphia, AprU 4. AUied unit here, formed only three months ago, is reported already in the throes of Internal reorganiza- tion and dissension. David Yaffe, counsel for the organization and as- sistant to Sid Samuelson, $7,5p0-a- year president is understood to be on the way out. Walter Woodward, field organizer, it is also reported, will resign soon. One of the reasons for Yaffe's demise, it is said, is the pur- chase' by his' father of a house in competition to that ot an influential Allied member, which has resulted in considerable bicker- ing. Yaffe, recently out of college, is supposed to have been given the AUied job as part of a deal re^ultmg from his father's leasing ot the Rialto theatre to Affiliated Theatres Circuit, headed by Dave'Milgram. MUgram was founder and spark plug of the Allied unit here and arranged for young Yaffe's position with it Recent embarrassing incident was the nurchase of the Unique theatre by "Yaffe's father. This is only four blocks from the Casino, operated by Felt Bros., memberg of MUgram's Af- filiated circuit and of Allied. Prod- uct and competitive difficulties are ready to break out at any moment between the houses. MUgram, as a result, is said to have withdrawn his support of Yaffe. EXHIB'S 1-7 YEARS FOR THEATRE ARSON . . Minneapolis, AprU 4. Oscar Arneberg, of Minneapolis, has been sentenced to one to seven years in prison fdr arson in connection with the burning of his Lyric the- atre, Browerville, Minn., near here. The theatre was destroyed, by fire March 2. Arneberg confessed that he had splashed gasoUne through the interior, set It afire and then drov* to Minneapolis. He admitted the fire was set to collect $2,700 insurance on the furnishings. Damage was esti- mated at $10,000. New; York Theatres THERE'S A BETTER SHOW AT THE STARTS FRIDAY. AFRII, 7tli ERROL FLYNN in "DODGE CITY" A Warner Bros. Plotnre I>- FKRSON GUY LOMBARDO And Bla Boral Canadian* QTQAMn BROADWAY OinHniU AND 47TH ST. .. . TODAY .ONLV Xlcanor Powell "HONOLULU" "Two-Ton" TONY UAI/KNTO THURBDAV "CAFB 1 SOCIBTY" Fred . MaoMumij Madeleine Carroll Divt APOLLON fc Hit VvlltlnJ NOWl "SOCIETY" LAWYER" Walter PIdseon Vlislnia Bmco Jjto Carrille G&pl THURS. (April 6) Jeanette BlaoDonald la "BROADWAY SBRENADIC" n O f »m ••Mn.Hb ______ a»»tot»j»jt»ll M » m i Irm*«i«4MiM. m W nl t aHowwnflf U*UC aONiWD<n Bernaid Sbaw'a Pygmalion ™ ISth Bl« Week! AmM^m HEtD OVER "3 SMART GIRLS GROW UP" S?T^ RIVOLI DMn ohs »m A.m. mionite shows' BroadwaT at 4IHI1 Mt. PARAMOUNTs^"""' I SQUARE CLAUDETTE COLBERT DON AMECHE "MIDNIGHT" IV PEBSOX TOMMY DORSEY ^^^^T B.tDIO CITY MUSIC HALL HELD OVER THE STORY OF VERNON and IRENE CASTLE Spectacular Stage Production* Ttb At. ft OOth Bi. ROXY BEATS 25', PBL BKLU OVEH "Alexander Graham Bell'' —On the BtmK^^ New Slam Bbow OnliwonCabinetToilet Tissue ECONOMY WASHROOM SERVICE