Variety (Jul 1939)

22 VARIETY PICTURES Wednesday, July 5, 1939 IB Manager's Widow Afipointed To Same House; Theatre on Modi Pittsburgh, July 4. Mrs. W, P. McCartney, widow of WB's manager in Punxsutawney, Pa., has just been named to her hus- ■band's post at the . Jeflerson theatre there by HaVry Kalmine, Warners' zone manager in this district. Kal- mine made the announcement right alter the funeral services lor Mc- Cartney, a veteran Punxsutawney exhibitor and one-time theatre owner there. Mrs. McCartney be- comes the only woman manager in the WB-PHtsburgh district. The Palace in nearby Tarentum, Ba., owned by William L. Brown and Gregory Kusulls, listed for sale by t»e " sheriff of Allegheny county yesterday (3) to satisfy debts of '|82,S00 listed against the property. -CfowB, aq old-time sliowman in Tarentum and one-time big league baseball player, was recently ap- minted to . a political post in the Femisylvania state tax department Wedc after N. A. Malanos an- nounced that he was building a jtew house in East McKeesport, Pa., plans tot a competition spot were approved and construction on both sites prog- nessed simultaneously. Second spot Is being built by Andy Battiston and Dominiek Serrao, and there are re- ports that they're being backed by big independent circuit locally. ager of the Liberty which shuttered (29), transferred to the L. L. Dent- Westland Theatres, in Greeley, Colo., where he'll be city manager. Was skedded to move from the Liberty to the Kiva here, but Dent ordered him to Colorado to operate the Chief and Kiva instead. In a simultaneous opening and dosing, the 1,000-seat Liberty dark- ened (29), and the 440-seat Kiva opened (30) last week. They're Ne- braska Theatres, Jnc, houses. Alvin Hendricks, manager of the Varsity, resigned, effective (12), will vacash for a short time in Texas and then moves into an exchange job. Muse, Osceola, Neb., sold this week by Firank Klein to J. B. Logan, Lin- coln. Takes possession (S). Klein has had the house for many years, and has no future plans. Barkhardt to B«stOB Boston, July 4. Howard Burkhardt, from Capitol, Washington, D. C, - appointed man- ager of Loew's Orpheum here, suc- ceeding George. A. Jones, resigned. Eddie Richardson, from Loew's Penn, Pittsburgh, .in as assistant manager, replacing WaHer Kessler, transferred to Southeastern division. BXO 58ih St'a Tax Sott Supreme Court Justice Ernest Hammer in N. Y., Monday (3), «FdeFed William Stanley Miller, as ^president of the Board of Taxes and Assessments in the City of N. Y., Dominic A. Trotter, Wmiam Mills and Joseph LuUy, as commissioners 4nd members of the Board of Taxes and Assessments, to appear in the supreme court Sept. 18 to answer a complaint against them by the RKO Fioctor Corp., which owns the S8th St. theatre. This property was assessed at $755,000 unimproved, and $1,325,000 improved for 1939. It is claimed that the site was overassessed by $387,000. Monroe, Jr., to Calo. Lincoln, July 4. George Monroe, Jr., formerly man- Far!s Free Ad Matter This year, for the^ customary Para monnt week. Sept 3-9, Par is giving exliibitors free advertising material providing they are participating by booking the company's product dur ing the specified week. Jbt addition to onesheets, cloth banners, stickers and cardboard peniiants, exhibs will get production advertising material comparable in value to the amount of such ma- terial an account has ordered to cover his Par week playdates, pro vided that the total on each picture at least equals his average purchase on any production. Philly Zone Moves Philadelphia, July 4. Charles Cox, of Philly, to manage Astor, Allentown. United Artists understood seeking site for erection of a new Philly ex- change building. Herman Goldberg to take over I New York Theatres THERE'S A BETTER SHOW AT THE Haunted Saa Diego, July 4. This border village boasts the country's only haunted deluxer. Fox, town's ace, emits continu- ous, eerie moan on one balcony stairway. Weird wall continues night and day. Engineers say chain-clank is due to a loose tumbuckle sealed up in the wall and connected to the flickery's quakeproof suspended ceiling. Superstitious employes claim it's the ghost of a district mana- ger. Reo, Frankford, formerly operated by George 'Fishman. Drive-In Theatre in Reading has opened for Friday and Saturday night trade. WB Palace will remain open during alterations. It was believed house would have to shutter while building over it is being removed and a new roof put on in compliance with Philly law, but engineers have gotten around necessity for closing. Goldman circuit switches Sam Cohen from manager of 66th St to the Pottstown, and George Flicker from Terminal to Highway. York. Susquehanna renovated and re- tagged the Senate. Joe Flood new ad sales manager at Paramount succeeding Stanley Chase, who gees to 'h.o. foreign de- partment. BUI Sharpe back to road, covering eastern exchanges. Majors Deny U.S. Charges (Continued from page 4) Open One, Close Oae Raleigh, N. C. July 4. Raleigh's first neighborhood thea- -tre, the Varsity, across from State College, to seat 523, win be opened in the fall. City manager W. G. Enloe of North Carolina Theatres confirms that the Statis would close. l,2M-6eater in Det. Detroit July 4. A 1,200-seat theatre will be in- cluded in the new $500,000 shopping center planned for northwest sec- tion of Detroit by the Six-Meyers Coip. 'Set for completion, by Nov. 1. Lambert to Racine Milwaukee, July 4. Stanley Lamt>ert, lormer manager of Warners' Shore, Chicago, been named manager of WB Rialto, Racine, succeeding Harvey Kny, shifted to Venetian, Racine. Kny re- places Don Nichols, transferred east. ■ Articles of incorporation have been filed here by the Waterloo Theatre, Inc., and the West Salem Theatre. Incorporators of both are Egon W. Peck, Albert C. HeUcr and A. J. Engelhard. Silver Dome ballroom in Neills- ville again showing pix free as come-on for dancing. Daughter^ CouniLicous iTorr.no JOHN CA?f:L^3 • Cloudo Baini !PgSiir^JJ7*j^. nU Av. ft SMb St. ROXY ALI. oe< TO HELD OTEB "SECOND FIDDLE" —On th« Stase— New Stag* Sbow cVx5'*'MUSIC HALL HELD OTEB "BACHELOR MOTHER" Spectacular Stage Production* HELD OVEB ^MAN ABOUT TOWN" A Paramonnt Picture with Jack Benny IN PERSON Gene Eiupa and His Oro. Andrews Sisters PARAMOUNT Alr-CondlUoned kLonrs Lut Tlaw Twinr Eddie Cantor and CanMl Canvan On Screen _ "•*'« A WonderfolWoHd" TOMORROW Werl* OlKranl "Wutheringj HeiflhU" On Stase Ella FilntraM I w4 Orcli. Alr-Condltioned rTlie Srut Mm* Suoeeu N«w C«im< Te Tut Screw 1 "ON UOMi BABByUOBB BORROWED HIr Cedrte , UABDWIVKE] A Metre-GeUwya.Meyer Picture Alr-Candltloned CeetleiMui frem 10 e.m.1 —» - ^ Pep. Prlcai, U< te I p.n. , ■ a-««r*a«4Mitt UleShew 11:30 pn Nlilitly| ■Robert Donat in M-G-M's IgOODBYE MR. CHIPSI I with Greer (Sanen— iad Honth $504 Denver Theatre Fire Denver, July 4. About $500 damage done to the State when a small fire hroke out in the projection booth, causing the house to shut down for about two (Continued on page SO) MO MD TQ TRIAL ON 'GUNGA DIN' SUIT Los Angele.<;, July 4. Federal Judge Paul J. McCormick denied RKO's motion to dismiss the plagiarism action brought by Harry Gould over the picture, Xiunga Din.' Gould, assignee for Alfred Gould- Ing, author of the story, asks an in- junction and accounting of profits. Dayis, Garfield Teamed In H«la Pk at Warners Hollywood, July 4. Bette Davis and John Garfield team up in 'We Shall Meet Again,' slated to roll late in September at Warners under direction of Edmund Goulding. Picture, based on a novel by Jacques Bogar, has a Honolulu back- ground. Brown Serial Boss Hollywood, July 4. H. S. Brown was made production executive in charge of all serials at Republic. First cliffhanger under his supervision is 'Zorro's Fighting Legion.' Studio also upped Robert Beche to associate producer. GTE, Mad. S<i.'s Divrys General Theatre Equipment de- clared a 25c dividend on its capital stock last week, as had been antici- pated. This makes SOc that has been paid or Jeclared payable this year. Divvy is payable July 14 to stock oh record, July 7. Madison Square Garden Corp. de- clared 25c cash payment also last week. Corporation distributed 60e last May and has paid or declared payable $1.10 thus far this year. I<atest dividend Is payable Aug. 31 to stock on record, Aug. 18. the theatre interests of 20th Century- Fox, or that the bank is an associ- ated corporation. A complete denial of all other charges is made, and the request for a dismissal of the action. William J. Donovan's firm filed RKO's answer; This firm will prob- ably be the most outstanding in the trial, as it is probable that CoL Don- ovan will handle actual defense for all defendants except Columbia and United Artists. Answering for Irving Trust, RKO's trustee, RKO Radio Pictures Inc., Pathe News, Inc., Van Beuren Corp., RKO Proctor Corp., RKO Midwest Corp., Leo Spitz, Ned E. Depinet, William Mallard, William H. Clark, Jules Levy, James G. Har- bord and Lunsford P. Yandell, the same denials as entered by Para- mount were stated, together with a statement that the federal court has ho jurisdiction, over the action. A dismissal is asked. Keith-Albee-Orpheiim also filed an answer through Goldwoter & Flynn, for itself, Malcolm Kingsberg and Leon Goldberg. The company denies it is « wholly owned subsid- iary of RKO, and that it engaged in any division of territory to force out independent exhibitors. K-A-O states that it operates 54 theatres in six states, and is in com- petition with Loew theatres through- out. It also claims lack of jurisdic- tion on the part of the U. S. as well as failure to state a cause of action. A dismissal is sought. Universal Pictures Corp., filing through Chadbourne, Hunt, Jaeckl & Brown, declares it has no knowledge of what the Government was driving at in 107 cases, and denied in full,, without further explanation, charges in 57 cases. The usual preamble, that it did not. violate in the past, now, or has no intentions in the future, any of the clauses of the Sherman anti-trust act, begins the answer. After numerous statements iden- tical to those of Paramount's, the company denies that production and exhibition facilities have been in- tegrated by Universal, or that the eight major defendants constitute all the majors in the field. The Govern- ment has no cause of action declares Universal, in asking a dismissal. The petition covers the following men: J. Cheever Cowdin, Charles R. Rogers, Samuel Machnovitch, James P. Normanly, Nathan J. Blumberg, Peyton Gibson, William Freiday, Daniel C. Collins, Ottavio Procket, Budd Rogers, Daniel M. Schaefer, William H. Taylor, Jr., Matthew Fox, William A. Scully, Joseph H. Seidel- man. WB Admits Choice Films Necessary for Success Warner Bros. Pictures Corp. denies past, present or future violations of the Sherman act, but unlike Para- mount, admits that access to product of one or more of the defendants is necessary for the successful opera- tion of a metropolitan first run the- atre. However, WB says that every producer of a high grade quality film has access to the first'run met- ropolitan markets. WB admits that 95% of all' the product shown in Warners theatres from 1934-38 was that of Warners or the other de- fendants, and states that in licensing an exhibitor, Warner never make an attempt to find out whether he had contracted with another major, and had an overabundance of product It denies that there is any domina- tion by the defendants in any of the branches of the industry, or that free competition does not exist, A dismissal of the action is asked. R. W. Perkins, filed for Warners, Vitagraph, Inc., Vitaphone Corp., Warner Bro^ Circuit Management Corp., Harry Albert and Jack War- ner, Sam Ej Morris, Stanleigh P. Friedman, Herman Starr, Robert W. Perkins, Samuel Carlisle, Gradwell L. Sears, S. Charles Einfeld, Joseph Bernhard, Stewart McDonald, Wad- dill Catchings, Charles S. Guggen- heim and Morris Wolf. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., through Dwight, Harris, Keogel & Caskey, filed answer similar in most instances to the others. Fox says it has no knowledge sufficient to war- rant an answer in 71 cases, and flatly denies charges in 69 other cases. The answer was. issued for Movieton'ews, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Corp. of Texas, 20lh Century-Fox Distribu- ting Corp., Joseph M. Schenck, Syd- ney R. Kent, William C. Michel, Darryl F. Zanuck, Felix A. Jenkins, Sydney Towell, William Goetz, H, Donald Campbell, John R. Dillon! William P. Philips, Hermann g! Place, Seton Porter, Daniel O. Hast- ings, Truman H. Talley and Herman Wobber. National Theatres Corp., answering through the same attorneys, stated that in 97 cases it was without suffi- cient knowledge to form an opinion to properly answer. It admits oper- ations of theatres in 10 states, but denies that the Chase Bank is an associated corporation with them. The rest of the denials are identical to preceding ones, as is the demand for a; dismissal of the action. Of- ficers of National Theatres whose answers were Identical were Spyros P. Skouras, A. S. Gambee. H. C. Cox and John P. Edmundson. Last to file was Loew's, Inc., through Davis, Polk, Wardell, Gar- (llner & Reed, together with J. Rob- ert Rul]in. Loew's say little that is new, and repeats Warners* contention that It never, asks an exhibitor if he has other product before it sells him theirs, to determine whether or not he is overbuying. Tlte company makes a significant statement in that it uses its own descretlon in refusing to license secoixd or subsequent runs. Last^, differing from some of the others, Loew's admits that the U. S. constitutes the principal outlet for films. AH violations are denied and a dismissal of the action' sought. Loew's affiliated defendants who answered the complaint include Me- tro Corp.,. Metro Distributing Corp. of Texas, Nicholas M. Schenck, Ar- thur Loew, J. Robert Rubin, Edgar Mannix, Sam Katz, David Bernstein, Leopold Freedman, Louis B. Mayer, William F. Rogers, Charles C. Mos- cowitz, John R. .Hazel, David War- field, William A. Parker, Harry Rapf, Edward A. Schiller, Henry Rogers Winthrop and Al Lichtman. Witliin the next two weeks Colum- bia and United Artists are expected to file their answers. These await decisions of Federal Judges Edward A. Conger and John W. Clancy, as both companies are asking additional bills of particulars. Paul Williams is expected in N. Y. within a fortnight to consult senior federal judge John C. Knox to se- cure a trial ludge. The case will then be marked on the calendar and be ready for trial at the start of the October term. Incorporations CALIFORNIA Sacramento. Mntniil Tlicatrea, lac <.'ii|iUal (lark. S.COO ahnren, imr |I0. nfi'octnvs: M, C. Sloitt, J. Valentine, E. E. Stern, W, 8. Bcnrath. Kepoblle Plctaru CoriMrallon a( CpU- ronla, Ib«. (Motion picture nnil theatri- cal productions.) Cavltal aiovk. tl.OO*. Directors: B. Q. Ooldateln. H. J. Click, Max Scboenberg. B. D. Wclsbaum. lali Theatre Cerp. Capital stork, ICt ehares, par tlOO. Directors: Sam Blowlti, J. H. BloT7ltz, J. Reeves Espy. Splay Cemnicrelal rictnrm (dim pro- duction). Capital stock, COOO. eliarex, no par. Directors; Lynn Shores, Robert b Piatt, John F, Maehan. CamplwU rrodaotlona. Inc.: piclur* production; capital atock, (on shares, par 1100. Directors: Charles Briiner. wjl- llam Campbell, Elsie Stone, r.«ster B. Hardy, Kdward NleburKcr. ryramM PicttiT«s Corp. (production and distribution). Capital stock, 100 shares, no par. Directors: Irviiis Cohen, ti. Ryan L. KIneeton. Mum narton FmdurtlonB, ln«, Irnenra- Ine for radio, television and pictures). Capital slock, 1,000 ahnre.«. no par. Directors: John Burton, X. Q. llenninc, Arthur Taylor Stanley P. Marpliy, Tnr. (motion pie- turn, advertising). Capital aliirk, lO.dW shares, no par. Directors: Harvey C. Lenvltl, Stanley P. Murphy, James H. White Atala,Ta Pllms, ln«. (Picture produc- tion.) Capital stock, 100 shares, no par. Directors: Mary M, Cohen, Koriunln Bona Nova, Arthtir Wright, Jr.; Harold ■. Aaron. Wentn-ortb-Vliwel Plctares, Inc. (pje- tur« productlonV. Capital slock. T" shares, no par. Dlrectorit: John Went- worth, Georgle JorJ Wentwortli, nul« F. Enrol. Kndio Ebterprlscs, lac. (B.idio gra- fcrams). Capital stock, 200 shares, n* par. Directors: Aha I.nstfogrI, .Tohnpy Hyde. Harry Friedman, I.nu (Soldbcrf. Vital rieiDres, Inc. (['roductloo «' Alms on current affairs). Capital stock, (2C,000. no subscriptions. Dirrctors; Har- old W. Nash, H. SUynor, Hsrry llabwln. DELAWARE Wilmin.'jton, Del. Amusement Enteriirises, lur., t'9,000, arid 1.900 shares, no par; ITsrry K. Srl- bor, Alexander Jamison. '.Vlaritftrft O. Jamison, Wilmington. (Alexander Jami- son, Wilmington, agent.) InteranUonal Castno Prailarllons, Ine..- maintain restaurants; 3.000 shares, no nnr. David H. Jackmnn. Kflwln B. LIndgrsn. John H. CoHgrovr, New TorK. (United States Corp. Co.) CHANGES IN NAMES Olro W. Dickinson Theatres. Inr.. t* Qrirntb-Dlcklnson 'Fheatri's. Inc., John- son, Kan. (Corp. Service Co.) American Reronl t'org. (o riilunibia Recording Corp., .M. Y. (The Corp. Trust Co.)