Variety (Sep 1939)

22 VARIETY PICTURES Wednesday, September 27, 1939 WB Upstate N.Y. Houses Hot FaD Policies; Theatre-Exchange News Albany, Sept. 26. Moe Silver, N.Y. state zone man- ager of Warner Bros, theatres, and Harry Goldberg, national director of advertising-publicity for chain, dis- cussed fall policies and operating plans with executives and managers of the 26 upstate houses, at a meet- ing in local contact otfices. Concen- tration on their job of selling pic- tures, with the necessity, due to war conditions and expected shortage of product, of obtaining extended runs on all films, was a point emphasized by Silver. Economy of operation was another. Goldberg stressed, the importance of individual managers role in roll- ing up grosses for pictures 'of spe- cial appeal that may not have top boxoSice stars.' He said an increas- ing number of such features were being made in Hollywood. Transfers announced by Silver were: Bill Leggiero, from Keeney, Elmira, to Strand and Steuben, Hornell; Al Newhall, from Majestic. Hornell, to Palace, Jamestown, and F. M. Westfall, from Haven, Clean, to Keeney, Elmira. Charley Smakwitz, eastern district manager, and Ralph Crabill, west- ern district manager, attended the meeting. Also from Albany head- quarters: J. P. Faughnan, contact manager; Jules Curley, advertising manager; Mad Friedman, booker; Joe Weinstein, short booker; Jim Wotton, sound engineer. . House pilots present were: An- drew Roy. Al La Flamme, Ed Se- lette, Bob Rosenthal, of Albany; Leo Rosen, John Swartout, Sid Sommer, Troy; Bill Haynes, Jack Breslin, Murray Lafayette, Utica; F. M. West- fall, Mel Conhain, Ray Fahrenholz, Elmira; Cliff Schaufelle, Bill Leg- giero, Hornell; Dalton Burgett, Dun- kirk; Al Newhall, Jamestown; Al Becherich, Olean; C. L. Hollister, Wellsville; Jim Maoris, Medina; R. W. Booth, Batavia. Leggiero, Newhall, Becherich and Hollister manage two theatres apiece. R«ger MarmoD's Addition Rensselaer, N. Y., Sept. 26. Roger Marmon, formerly manager for Mitchell Conery and Harry Hell- man, Is new leasee of BrighfSpot,' Rensselaer. This is second small theatre over which he recently, as- sumed management, alter another operator withdrew. First was Del- -mar—in—Delmar,-subucb-ot-Albany. Marmon managed the latter for Coa ery until last winter, and when Ra- vena circuit operator did not re new lea.se for 1939-40, Marmon stepped in last month. Between times, he worked for Hellman at the Royal. Albany, and Palace, Troy. Bright Spot's location, across the river from Albany, and the ban on Sunday pictures, has long made it a tough one for operation profit. An- other handicap is the protection Al- bany first runs enjoy over Rens- selaer theatres. Hathaway's 4th Youngstown, O., Sept. 26. F. H. Hathaway has accjuired the Community, in nearby Canfleld, dark all summer and reopened it. Gives Hathaway four theatres in the Greater Youngstown area, others be- ing Struthers and Ritz at Struth- ers, and the Palace, in Campbell. AtlianU Variety Tecs Oft Atlanta. Sept. 26. Tent No. 21, Variety Club of At- lanta, formally received its charter Thur.tday (.21) night at banquet in Henry Grady hotel. Charter and insignia of office was presented to William K. Jenkins, Atlanta tent's chief barker, by national chief barker John H. Harris, of Pitts- burgh. Members were inducted by National Chief Dough Guy Jimmie Balmer, of Pittsburgh, and addresses made by Bob O'Donnell, chief barker of Dallas Tent, L. C. Griffith, chief barker of Oklahoma City Tent, now being organized, and Ed Kuy- kendall, of Columbia, Miss., prez of MPTOA. Atlanta Tent was organized in July with 150 charter members, rolls now having swelled to near 200 mark. Chief Barker Jenkins' aides are Harry Ballance, first ass't, Charles Kessnich, second ass't, R. B. Wilby, dough guy; E. E. Whitaker, prop master. Board ot directors is made up of John T. Ezell, W. A. Finney, Harold F. Wilkes, R. L. McCoy, Walter Anderson and Paul Wilson. Many Buffalo Chances Buffalo, Sept. 26. Numerous changes in ownership and operatin of theatres in central and western New York have taken place with the opening of the fall season. The Attica theatre, Attica, operated'"by ~Wr"Lr-Nevinger; - closed- simultaneously with the opening of tthe New Astor, Attica, by the Mar- tina circuit. The Rialto and East Rochester at Rochester and the Tem- .ple,-Eaicport.jbxmerly ope rated by Harold and Sol Raives, taken over' by Schiiie. The Lincoln, Manlius, and the Empire, Parish, both closed by Leon D. Woody. The Arcade at Arcade, fojmerly operated by Thom- as Ranee, added to Martina chain. The Town Hall, Homer, reopened as the Capitol, and the Roxie, East Syracuse, renamed the East, latter house under direction of A. DiBello. The Sun, Rochester, purchased by J. Weisenborne and the New Randolf, Randolf, open under management of Keith & Garfield. In Buffalo, the. Maxine, relin- quished by the Basil circuit, goes back to George Hanny, also operator of the Capitol. The Basils have also given up the Colonial, Depew, now being operated by George Shaner. Dipson-Basil have taken over the Hollywood, Lackawanna, which will be renamed the Rex. The Cazanovia, Buffalo, closed. John Scully, Jr., son of Universal's Buff'alo branch manager, becomes booker at Universal's Philadelphia branch. William Brimmer back with Re- public Pictures, replacing Leo Mur- phy in Rochester district Richard Kemper is handling the new Dipson-Basil 20lh Century the- atre, succeeding William Dipson. Kemper has been with Dipson inter- ests for the past nine years. Tri-States' Shifts Des Moines, Sept. 26. Tri-Stales made following mana- gerial changes: A. Don Allen, man- ager ot Des Moines, in Des Moines, goes to Omaha to manage the Omaha theatre, succeeding Eddie Forrester, re.'igned. Harry Holdsberg, manager of Para- mount here, now manager of Des Moines; and Eddie Dunn, formerly manager of Strand, Waterloo, la., comes into the Par here. Maurice Crew, manager of the Hiland, Des Moines, to the Strand, Waterloo, and Robert Leonard, for- merly manager of Garden, now takes over the Hiland. Tony Abromovitch, assistant at the Strand, Des Moines, succeeds Leonard at Garden. Other Trl-States Theatre Corp. managerial changes in Davenport and Rock Island: Dale McFarland, formerly manager of Capitol, Daven- port, will,be city manager, continu- ing to manage the Capitol and hav- ing supervision over the Time and Garden there. Time is the remod- eled Columbia, and will have as its manager Richard Stoddard, former manager of Garden, Davenport. Garden will now be managed by Francis Gillon, former assistant, at Capitol. In Rock Island, III.. Herbert Grove, manager of Fort, will-be city man- ager and continue as manager of the. -Fort, having—jurisdietion—over the new Esquire and Spencer. Borge Iversen, former manager of Spencer; will manage the Esquire, and Carl Noack, former assistant at Fort will be manager of Spen cer. New York Theatres THERE'S A BETTER SHOW AT THE Cenllnuout fr«ni 10 i.iii. i ^ - ■ —^ — Pop. Prices. 35e to I p;m. ■ •«'«■»•» Lat< Show 11:30 im NIaMlsl iRobert Donat in M-C-M'sl IGOODBYE MR. CHIPS ftnUb Greer Gnmon • Bdi MON'TJI J HELD OVER "THE REAL GLORY" with GARY COOPER UNITED nnmT t BnnidiTiiT ABTI8TS lUWU BtlVth-Ht. OiMn Opto 8^^0 A.M. MIDNITE SHOWS cVi5'° MUSIC HALL HELD OVER "LDITIGIIVELL" flpeetacular Stage Produetiona F^cd MAC'Mt'RRAS and Mndeleln« CAKRO.V. "HONEYMOON IN BALI" HEr,D OVER IN FERSON GLENN MILLER and Hli Olchetlri Fenlurliifr THE 4 IXK SPOTS TIM EN EQDARE PARAMOUNT Del. A'ariety's 50G Drive Detroit, Sept. 26. Local Variety Club is staging drive for $.'iO,000 to take care of needy Deti-oit school kids. Oct. 16. will be tag day, when 1,500,000 tags will be distribbed by committee including Mayor Richard Reading, Charles E. Perry, 'chief barker' ot club; E. E. Kirchner, Mrs. Walter R. O'Hair, Dr. Frank Cody, Major Leo R. Kelly, of Volunteers of Amerca. Opening luncheon last week saw appeals made by James J. Braddock, ex-heavywelght camp, and Jimmie Johnson, manager of Bob Pastor. Coghlin Moves Up Spokane, Sept. 26. Willard Coghlin. assistant manager at Fox. named manager of Blue "Moose. "Portlanti," Ore.- -Change-put& Mike Higgins, State assistant, to Fox; Fred Hooper, Liberty assistant, to State; Mel Haberman, Fox doorman, to Orpheum as assistant, and Dick Murphy, Liberty doorman, to as- sistant manager. Opera Stars ' B. O. Upped .Continued^from pace 1- Dwore's Expansion Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 26. . Sidney Dwore opened the re- furbished Lincoln, dark since June and for several years under manage- m«nt ot Al Feltman. Dwore this week will take the shutters off the Palace, also blacked out during the summer. His third theatre. Cameo, stayed open, All are subsequent ~ uns. Dwore. now shares with John Gardner the distinction of being Schenectady's leading independent exhibitor. Gardner also conducts three, the American, Colony and Rivoli. Fabian circuit operates four. Proctor's and State (first runs). Plaza and Strand (second runs. The Mount Pleasant, other re- maining house, is conducted by Morris Silverman. However, there have been reports of possible change in les.see. Owners are said to be asking a heavy rental increase. Ed Goih VTpped Shuffles in Fabian Theatres' Staten Island zone up Edgar Goth, manager Paramount, Stapleton, to divisional publicity hiead. John Firnkoess, formerly at the Liberty, Stapleton,. replaces him at Par. Elihu Glass moved into Firnkoess' post at the vaudfllmer Liberty, Switches announced by Harry Black, general manager Fabian S. I. Thea- tres. when she became a household name to millions of picture f.ins. Grace Moore finds the situation even more so. She was a regular soprano of the company, but took a back seat to Lucrezia Bori in all prin- cipal roles until Hollywood's glamour surrounded her with added box-office allure. Nino Martini's case is even more pronounced, he being a well-estab- lished radio tenor who joined the Metropolitan without phenomenal success, until film press notices started comparing his voice with that of the immortal Caruso. Vast audi- ences came to scoff and stayed to cheer—if not another Caru.so. cer- tainly another very fine lyric tenor. Gladys Swarthout was not the principal mezzo of the Metropolitan, but for the screen she had every- thing—voice, beauty charm aiid an acting ability which Hollywood never quite brought out. Today, after a half-hearted buildup, she is more in demand than ever. Their Ratings Examples of the present drawing power of these artists may be seen from the following figures: Lawrence Tibbett, now 42. Is con- sidered to be the greatest barotone America ever produced. For the past nine months he has played to ca- pacity audiences on his concert tour.<:. On Aug. 22 Tibbett, appearing at Grant Park, Chicago, drew a total of 240,000 admission.s. At Chautauqua, N. Y., Aug. 27, he drew 12,000. At the Newark Stadium on June 6 the audience was 23,000. At the Holly- wood Bowl on Aug. 15 he .sang to 20,000, and 55 concerts in Australia from April 27 to Sept. 18, 1938, drew an average of 5,000 a concert, with Tibbett singing as many as 10 con- certs in a month in one city. He also included 35 concerts in the U. S., 15 appearances with the Met and 17 radio appearances. He is booked solid to May, 1940, including 40 concerts and the.Metropolitan. Lily Pons, the tiny coloratura, had a fair success oji the screen, but the last film in which she was forced to i mit ate, A_bi.rd _e.nde d_ h ei-.o 11 y w oo d career. Some of'Mi.<is Pon.s' recent engagements include 30,000 at New- ark on June 27; 15,000 at Robin Hood Dell, Philadelphia, July 6; 23,000 (a •record-)-at-iewisQhn_SU.diU!Ii.._N^^ on July 17; 300,000 in Grant Park. Chicago, on July 24 Uhe large.st crowd ever to hear a singer); 50.000 in Washington Park, Milwaukee. July 27; and 28,000 in the Hollywood Bowl, Aug. 8. Starting on Sept. 28, Miss Pons is booked solid acro.ss Canada ending up on the Pacific Coast in Pasadena on Oct. 17, with all concerts already sold out. She will have five performances with the San Francisco Opera, and three with the Chicago Opera, be- fore joining the Met for 12 perform- ances. Miss Pons over the pa.^t six months has sung to an estimated 700,000 audience, the majority of whom paid $3.30 top. Grace Moore Started It Grace Moore started the cycle of operatic films. After 'One Night of "Love'"ail"her films- were based-ort-the- same pattern and gradually sank in caliber until the singer, taking the bull by the horns, bought up her Columbia contract, and left Holly- wood. Miss Moore has just returned to the U. S. She has spent most of her summer resting In France, but from now till the close of the Metro- politan Opera season, during which she is booked to sing eight times, and in two new roles, she will appear In 30 concerts and 14 operas, besides tour appearances on the Ford hour. Then she sails for an already sold- out tour of Honolulu, Manila, and South Africa for 21 concerts. She commands top prices for an Amer- ican soprano. Nino Martini, like the rest, had one good film, 'The Gay Desperado,' but his last was so carere.ssly prepared that the tenor flopped, and his Holly- wood career ended. He,, too, has been resting during the summer. Be^ ginning Oct. 11, he starts his tour with appearance.^ at the St. Louis Opera, and is booked for over 80 concerts till the end ot the season. He had the same number last year. At the Met he will be heard in 'Bar- ber of Seville' and in a new role in 'Don Pasquale.' His appearances in 'La Boheme' in New Orleans on the Metropolitan tour last spring set house records everytime the per- formance was repeated. Swarthout's Bad Breaks Last on the list is Gladys Swarth- out. Bad breaks continuously dogged her footsteps on the Coast, and while she clung the longeit, 'Ambu.sh' found her Hollywood contract termi- nated. From January, she has tung in 25 concerts, to over 100,000 people. At Washington Park, Milwaukee, Aug. 23, she cracked all records by drawing 55,000 persons. For her sea- son she is booked for 32 concert?, four broadcasts with Ford, and ap- pcarcnces with the Metropolitan in March and April. World conditions being right, tho will sail in May, 1940, for a concert tour of the Orient, and come back thixjugh , Europe touring the entire continent for opera and concert en- gagernents. The film buildup points to the Ijrime conclusion that Hollywood greatly enhanced the b.o. of these five American singers, but deserted them at the post, so that the gravy now has fallen to the concert and operatic fields which otherwise could never compete with the pic- ture industry in the power it holds on the public. Each of these -singers is a special- ized artist. Hollywood never hesi- tated in the past when it had a spe- cialized star, whether it was a skater, a dog, or a western star, to give all of its creative power into bringing out the individual charac- teristics necessary to create a box- office success. But in the case ot its opera singers, the film biz has been significantly lacking in failing to recognize the individuali|y of its artists, thus not capitalizing to the fullest on the talents which made each of these persons outstanding in their own ranks. STORY BUYS Hollywood. Sept. 26. RKO purchased 'Manhattan Mira- cle,' by Earl Felton. Samuel Goldwyn bought 'City Without Men,' by Albert Bein and Aben Kandel. Sam Hellman sold his screen play, 'The Califomian,' to 20th-Fox. Paramount bought film rights to the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play, "The Monster.' Twentieth-Fox purchased 'Man« hattan Holiday,' by Polan Banks. Arnold Belgard sold his story, 'Tha Seventh Floor,' to Bill Sciter. Republic bought 'Dayi.of.'. ,' by Norman Houston. Paramount bought 'Battalion of Death,' by John Monk Saimders. Frank and Reginald Fenton sold their story, 'Man Without a World,' to HKO. Columbia bought 'Singapore' by Hou.stah Branch. Aben Kandel's 'City of Conquest' acquired by Warners. Hollywood. Sept. 19. Universal purchased Edwin Rutt's novel, 'Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?' General Films bought "Barbar th* Elephant; by Gene de Brunhoff. Frederick Davis sold 'Stop th« Presses' to Universal. Metro bought 'Osborne of Sing Sing,' by Jonathan Finn and Harold Friedman. Paramount purchased 'Memo to • Movie Producer,' by Katharine Hart- ley Frings. Leonard Fields sold 'London Blackout' to Republic. Warners bought the S. N. Behrman play, 'No Time for Comedy.' Chandler Sprague sold hi.<: yam, Jin _OId .C.h.eyenne,' Jp_ Republic. TITLE CHANGES Hollywood, Sept. 26. Samuel Goldwyn changed "The Sweetheart ot Turret One' to 'Th« Fleet's In.' 'West of Carson City' release lag on Universal's 'Galloping Kid.' 'Remember?' is the new handle on 'Remember' at Metro. Paramount's 'Strange Money* i«' named 'Women Behind Bars.' 'Vinegaroon' became 'The Outlaw' at Goldwyn's. Monogram switched from 'Scouts of the Air' to 'Danger Flight.' 'The Honeymoon's Over* Is releasa tag on 'The Simple Life' at 20th-Fox. TaU Women Have Secrets' is final handle on Paramount's 'Campus Wives.' 5-14 Years for Stickup Hartford, Sept. 26. James RozzI, 21, of New Britain, was sentenced to five to 14 years In state prison for attempting to lob - the cashier of the Cameo, Bristol, on July 22. Rozzi' was. convicted Wednesday (20) In superior court on another burglary charge. SECRETARY A good nil nroiiiid wrrclary— fiiinlllnr n-Kli nil braiirlieH of kIiow hDAlnewi—^wlth uveral jt»T» experi- ence In bach of Iter—«TRllHlile Im- mnllutely:—noX 81, V AK I F/T Y, NEW YORK CITY.