Variety (Jul 1946)

20 PICTURES Wednesday, July 3, 1946 City Investing Takes Over Keiths In Cincy With 'Night'; Xchange News , Keith's, Cincinnati, which together with a 12-story building has been taken over by the City Investing Co., in first step to enlarge firms theatre holdings outside of New York will be opened tomorrow (Thursday) with "Somewhere in the Night.' Theatre will be a so-called run house. Throughout the years, against RKO which dominates Cincy it has held a Warner franchise. City Investing . which owns the Astor and Victoria theatres, film houses in New York's Times Square, plus several legits, purchased the Keith's, Cincy, property for $1,200,- 000 in cash, and is spending around $100,000 in modernizing the theatre. Maurice Maurer, who. runs the Astor and Victoria for City Invest- ing in N. Y.. will have operating supervision over the Cincy house. He is there this week superintending the opening. Ashkins' PRC Spot Denver. Eddie Ashkins appointed manager of PRC's Denver branch. He was formerly St. Louis branch manager Hill. Vernon Coker is new manager of Cliff Queen while Mark Dalton will manage the recently opened Hill. Latest new drive-in theatre, the Trail, operated by Underwood & Ezell, opens here soon. First theatre that E*vant has had in years will be opened shortly by F. W. McGilvaney, returned veteran. House will be called the Plaza. H. D. Arrington, a veteran, has opened the Dutch Mill theatre at Holland, first theatre in 20 years for the town. House was built by local biz people who gave a 10-year lease to Arlington. New Ritz Theatre; operated at Ca- lina by J. O. Harris of Dallas, has opened. House replaces the Ritz which burned down last December, for UA. Haralson Quits Autry Chain Dallas B: H. Haralson, sold out his 25% interest in the four nabe houses op- erated by the Gene Autry Enter- prises. Principals in the group are , now Autry, Lloyd Rust and Ed Elumenthal. Ted Lewis, former manager of the Joy here, replaces Haralson as manager of the circuit. Houses operated by the circuit in- clude the Cliff Queen, Kessler and Chrlsman lipped in Memphis Memphis. Herman A. Chrisman named man- ager of Columbia's branch here, suc- ceeding J. J. Rogers, resigned. Chris- man has been with the company since 1931 and was a salesman before his promotion. Eshelman To Rochester For Par Following the termination of the RKO-Paramount pooling arrange- ment in Rochester on July 31, James H. Eshelman will take operating charge of Paramount's three houses there, the Century, Regent and Cap- itol. Under the pooling deal RKO has been in operating control. Join- ing Par in Ft. Smith, Ark., in 1924. Eshelman comes to his new Rochester post from St. Paul where he has acted as manager of the Paramount since 1941 . ■ Big Corp. Gains Washington, July 2. A report on overall corporate profits, after taxes, for the first quarter this year, made public today (Tuesday) by Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace, features exceptionally large gains in the entertainment in- dustry. Three film companies, Para- mount, . Loew's and 20th-Fox; CBS and Madison Square Gar- den, New York; showed gains up to 102%. Among all groups in Industry, the entertainment division was third largest- in corporate prof- its. RKO-Pathe s New Studio in New York Opens Aug. 1; Feature Prod. Due WB, Rep Diwys Hypo Fix Totals Washington, July 2. Dividend payments of motion pic- ture companies for April this year showed a large increase over figures reported for the same month a year ago, hypoed largely by WB divi- dends. The figures for this past April are ( $2,353,000 as compared with $386,000 for April, 1945, this including a WB dividend of $1,800,000, company's first this year. Republic declared its first melon for this year, also, being $100,000. Dividend disbursements for Feb- ruary, March and April showed'a terrific increase, -film companies having paid out $8,380,000 as con- trasted with. $4,731,000 for the same period in 1945. Rep's 13-Wk. Net: 490G During the first quarter of 1946 for the period ending April 27, Re- public reports a net profit of $789,- 979 before Federal lax deductions. Estimated normal and surtaxes of $300,192 will bring the final net to $489,787. For the nine-weeks period from Nov. 26, 1945 to Jan.. 26, 1946, the company and its subsidiaries show a net profit of $442,425 before Federal taxes or a net after taxes of $264,- 326. Earnings statement was " re- leased following a board of directors meeting Tuesday (2). Studio Strike Continued from page 3 Picture Grosses clearly evident. In fact, the longer to be taken to prevent pickets de- scending on their productions. 'Sharp criticism of the strike was reported yesterday from AFL unions Uand guilds not involved in the fight. ' AFL unions were called upon by the Central Labor Council to ignore picket lines and report for work as usual, as CSU had failed to follow accepted AFL practices in staging ' its walkout. Hollywood guilds, in- chiding Screen Actors, Screen Writers,. Screen Directors, were meeting yesterday to decide on pro- cedure to be recommended to their members. Major studios faced second day of CSU strike with production •"crip- pled," according to Byron Price, veep'ee of the Producers Assn. Hard- est hit were Warners and Metro, two studios that, are particular targets of striking unions. Warners was forced to shutter five pictures: "Cry Wolf," "Deception," "Life With Father," "Possessed" and "Stallion Road" when only, about. 10% of the 2,500 regular employees crossed the four- deep picket lines parading before all entrances. 20th-Fox had two pictures before the cameras, but shooting was halted because of failure of non- striking workers to cross the .line Opening date for RKO-Pathc's new studio, now under construction in the Harlem section of N. Y., has been postponed until about Aug. l. While several indie producers have already put in bids to rent the studio, Pathc will not sign any deals until it's been completed and tested, according to Harold Lewis, Paine exec in charge. Opening has been postponed, Lewis said, because the company is facing considerable difficulty in ob- taining equipment. Unable to get cameras, lights, plywood for sets, etc., in the east, Lewis went to the Coast several weeks ago where he obtained as much material as he could get through Pathe's connec- tions there. Most of the equipment is being trucked back to N: Y. While a part of Pathe's shorts pro- duction will be transferred to the new studio, it's also expected that Hollywood indie producers, still at a loss for space on the Coast, will lake over for feature production. Lewis said he found no easing oil' in the studio space jam-up on the Coast. Several indies, such as James Cag- ney, Federal Films (William LeBaron-Boris Morros), etc.. have reportedly been dickering for Hie studio but Lewis stressed that no. deals have been sighed yet. Continued from page 14 LOUISVILLE slackening to fairish $9,000 after sock $17,000 initial stanza. Mary Anderson (People's) (1.100; 40-60)—"Janie Gets Married" (WB). Neat $7,000. Last week, "No Time Comedy" (WB) (reissue), medium $6,000. National (Standard) (2,400; 40-60) —"Murder My Business" (PRC) and [before their unions-could give them stage show headed by Dinning Sis- . instructions on procedure. Para 6633 SUNSET BLVD. HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA TELEPHONE HILLSIDE 0S80 ters split with "Youth Aflame" (In die) and "We Accuse" (Indie), bulk of coin coming via weekend with vaude of three days. Looks stroni; $6,000. Last week, "Detour" (PRC) and vaude headed by Donald O'Con- nor split with "Paroled from Big House" (Indie) and "I Demand Pay- ment" (Indie), fine $7,000. Rialto (Fourth Avenue) (3,400; 40 mount had no pictures on schedule at lot. Those in work being on (location so picket line was discon- ! tinned at 5 p.m. as Gpldwyn's work j halted on "Secret Life of Walter jMitty' 1 and "The Best Years of Our Lives." Nero's "The Chase," Inde- pendent Production, failed to roll either when electricians • failed to GO)—"Blue Dahlia" (Par). Sturdy | show. Everybody else in company $14,000. Last week, "Heartbeat'' | showed for work. RKO reported (RKO) trim $13,000 and m.o. I ■■Riffraff" and "Beat the Band" con- 60 "French Last and "Strange Mr. Gregory" (Mono) $6,000. 'Janie' $7,000, Lincoln Lincoln, July 2. Two storms, Woody Herman's band at the Coloseum and a carnival are hurting biz this session. De- spite this "The Outlaw" looks strong on second week. "Janie Gets Mar- ried" is top newcomer. Estimates for This Week Lincoln (LTC) (1,500; 44-551 — "Outlaw" (UA) (2d wk). Brisk $7,500. Last week, smash $9,100. Stuart (LTC) (1,800; 9-55) — "Janie Gets Married" (WB). Okay $7,000. Last week, "Dragonwyck" (20th), $7,600. Varsity (NTC) (1,100; 35-55)— "Deadline at Dawn" (RKO). Mod- erate $5,500. Last week, "Diary of Chambermaid" (UA), $5,800. Nebraska (LTC) (1,126; 9-43) — "Rebecca" (UA) (reissue) and "Hot Cargo" (Par). Okay $2,300. Last week, "Dragonwyck" (20th) (2d wk) and "Strange Triangle" (20th), $2,400. Columbia reported five films be fore the cameras. "Bel Ami" (Loew- Lewin l, was slated to go at RKO- Pothe but moved to Enterprise be- cause of picket lines at Culver City studio. Nelson Bids Continued from page 6 Public Can Take Continued from page 3 ord, ARI surveys show, is "Bells of St. Mary's," which has been viewed by 37,000,000 to 40,000,000 different patrons. "Gone With the Wind" grabbed off about 50,000,000 admis- sions domestically, but there were an amazing number of repeats. It was seen three times, for instance, by. around 10,000,000 ppople, according, w ARI 'surveys. "Bells" was seen twice by only 500,000 patrons, with most polices indicating no interest in a repeat viewing. collusion, situation in the industry will be worse instead of better, ac- cording to Nelson. He explained that during the days of the National Recovery Adminis- tration (NRA) he had had consid- erable . experience with collusive practices in situations similar to those which might prevail in the film industry. NRA finally beat these unfair practices, in the construction field, for instance, by forcing open price filing with an agency such as Dun & Bradstreet, Nelson said. He advocated that attorneys for the in- dies look into possibility of estab- lishing a similar procedure for films and presenting the plan to the D. of J. Nelson said he hoped that the bidding procedure could be worked out satisfactorily because it ad- vanced the primary aim of the in- dies that "pictures should be judged individually on the basis of their merit, as viewed by the public, and not according to what a few people within the industry think of them." He said he thought the.plan would result in better pictures. He will return to the Coast this week. Nelson said, but will come back east and stay as long as necessary to work into the decree provisions that will be advantageous to the members of his organization. New B. 0. Peaks Continued from page 1 was affected worst, although ARI doesn't know particularly . why. Top grosses were reached, ac- cording to the polls, last November, when' about 70.000,000 spins of. the wicket each week were registered. December fell off as a result of the usual pre-Christmas lull, which lasted for two weeks. January and February of this year were just a fraction below November's high, while March and April were off a bit more, but actually an incon- sequential amount. Servicemen Back What brought November the new high record was the return of serv- icemen to civilian life. In that month, ARI surveys showed that instead of the '54,000.000 "regular" theatregoers in the United Slates during wartime years, the figure had jumped to 56,000,000. A Vrogu- lar" is interpreted by ARI as some- one who attends films once in three Weeks or oftencr. The 50,000,000 theatregoers purchase an average of 85,000,000 tickets every seven days. A factor in the upturn of business, of course, Sindlinger pointed out, is the U. S. population increase. Ten years ago, population was 131.000,- 000. Currently it is 139,500,000. That means more potential theatre at- tendees, which ARI now place at 81,000,000. This is an increase of 3,500,000 in the past four years. Of that figure, 2,500,000 represent the census climb and the other 1.000.000. an increase in the number of film- minded people. A "potential'' thea- tregoer, according to ARI standards, is anyone not too young, too old, loo sick, etc., to attend. Other Factors Basis for Sindlinger's optimism for record grosses next fall and win- ter isn't the expectation that ticket sales will be much higher than ihe 70,000,000 week registered in No- vember, but that admission prices have gone up and will continue to go up. Due to this increased levy per person, the prospects of eco- nomic prosperity continuing, a gen- eral inflationary trend in the coun- try and the fact that audience de- sire for films is at a peak. Sind- linger sees the record grosser as- sured for later this year. Geo. Brown, Schafer East for N. Y. Confabs Paramount's chief publicity photog Whitey Schafer has never been in New York, so studio publicity chief George Brown is taking him east over the weekend. They arrive Monday (8). Schafer will plane back to Hollywood after a week of gladhanding the N. Y. art" directors, etc. THEATRE MANAGER Twenty yean experience In every detail of theatre operation. New York vicinity desired, Addreu Box 265. Variety, 154 Weit 46tb Street. New York 19, N. Y.