Variety (Nov 1948)

20 PICTURES Wednestlay, November 17, 1948 Clips from Film Row NEW YORK ;: In a reshuffle of the sales setup, Paramount has promoted a number of staffers from the ranks. Edward Maloney advances from sales man- ager in Boston to branch head in Albany. He replaces Ed Ruff, re- signed. In Buffalo, salesman Mau- rice Simon takes over from Man* nie A. Brown, resigned. Jack Brown, New Haven salesman, be- comes. Boston sales manager. Others npped are John Kane to salesman; Wendell Clement to booking manager; John McMahon to salesman, and Anthony Has^mer to booker. Fadial, sold to J. A. Guest, who ! with Jim Alexander. Latter has sold out his interest to Moore and will retire. Kenneth iBud) Hahn, who has been doing relief managing for I Harris circuit, goes to circuit's main office. 'Wha' Hoppens?', Studios Ask continued from paie 7 i TOLEDO Conrad Keining. formerly as- sistant manager . at Palace and . Falls, Akron,: new manager at Lib- erty in that city, g, The Rit«, new 6ll-seater, likely will be completed March 1; House Is being built for ^Maryland Thea- tres Corp., Washington, D. C, at estimated cost of $160,000. For third time in eight years, Cambridge, O., voters turned down a proposal to permit filmf on Sun- day. DALLAS L. N. Crim, owner of Community Theatres group in Ft. Worth, an- nounced purchase of the Liberty there. . House was owned and oper- ated by the estates of W. G; Under^ wood. Leon Lewis and Aron Kahn, and the-only survivor of the origi- nal owners, Dave Bernbaum. Martex theatre at Marlin, oper- ! ated: primarily for. Negro patron- age by Sam Palasota, purchased by Fred Bielamowriez, of: Bremond. He operated the Texan at Bremond which was dfestroyed . by fire re- cently. Crystal and Uptown theatres, operated at Hubbard by Johnny owns the oppo^tion Texas. . . Erie territory, resigned Bob Warner now sole owner of, Charlie Truran, Jr., formerly Port at Port Aransas following „,ith Warner circuit in Parkers- purchase of half interest held in, burg va., resigned to go with the house from his partner, Forrest National Screen Service as sales- Uunlap. ... man; replaces Ed Levin, who quit.: • A zoning ordinance amended by; » , , ita i_ Coi-pus Christi city council so that , Jack Meadow, UA salesman, permits for construction of drive- transferred from West Virginia ins might be issued. There are area to Main Line territory, about six applications pending. i Pawl Reith, RKO office manager, Henry H. Martin, Universal's to Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Md., Oklahoma City exchange managcri: for operationi ,to start by Christmas. Like the Al Glaubinger, RKO^salesman in! ottier production-minded studios. promoted to branch chief here. His vacated post in Oklahoma being filled by Charles W. Hudgens, sales- matt in that exchange. ST. LOUIS Most ot St-Lbtiis county; drive- ins planningi'to.shutter this week.; AI RANV I Higher cost of film product * ! caused Basil O. Clark, owner of ;Carl Dickerson; manager of iFreeburg, Freeburg, 111;, .to hike Strand in Ogdensburg, N. Y., j his admission. for first time since named manager of Schine's Capitol house was lighted, • ■ j!,*i?™"r**;?'*?^'^T?°* H. M. Gilly, 11 years manager Rialto, Little Palls; Liberty, Her- of pox Midwest houses in We-st kimer and Ilion. He succeeds Glen | pi anktort. 111., upped to city man- Lazaar, transferred to Amsterdam; gger for same circuit in Mt. Ver- as city manager. Ray S. Nelson ^on. 111.; succeeds Homer Marvel, moves into Dickerson^- old spot' ^^.^y gjcit leave. ^'^Xs^ot^'Sre nnened in Svra Frank'L. Plumiee, recently re- cuse bv Albert GUbert onetfme "^ned as district manager for The- nroorietor of the HmI^I' i atre Enterprises, Inc., in Kansas proprietor ot tne Hiviera. i ^.^ purchased stock in a 10- James Morgan resigned as man- ager of Warners Delaware to enter automobile : accessory , business in Hudson Falls. He had been with WB five years. Edward Ruff bowed out Nov. 13 theatre-syndicate in Missouri head' ed by Tom Edwards; succeeds Harold Harris, who goes to The- atre Enterprises. Fred Wehrenberg hosted mem as Albany manager for Paramount hers of Better Films Council of after two years in that spot and Greater St. Louis at annual cinema 26 years with the company. Ruff ■ t*a. will spend some time in Chicago i Fv J. Lee succeded Joe Wood- and Florida before returning to ward as St: Louis branch manager the picture biz. :.. ifor Eagle Lion; Woodward joined iDelf Theatres, Inc., Milwaukee. nUI A14 A i H. C. Wells, general manager of \jmi\nt\ Sparta Theatres. Inc., Sparta, 111., Omaha's first woman manager, • purchased a lot -and expects to Mrs. Corinne Gallup, former so-! erect a new house there to replace.' cialite here, named to have charge! the Grand, 420-seater. of Dundee in swank neighborhood. Hoodlumism reached a new high in theatres here recently, when a 13-year-old girl nearly lost an eye in 40th Street theatre, nabe house. Kids were having a battle with paper fasteners, one of metallic pieces striking girl in the eye. Re- sult of incident is that police started to round up young hood- rlums. . Parents have been warned to keep, their kids under control. ' KANSAS CITY . .Tayhawfc theatre, Kansas- side nabe. reopened last week-after be- ing closed for facelift. Durwood circuit inaugurated its new house organ. Circuit Chatter, Doug BuiTill, publicity chief, is M-G is bearing down on its own star stable and will also use out- side top names, such as Errol Flynn, James Stewart, Jennifer Jones, Louis Jourdan and James Mason. Paramount has four pix rolling, which should be surefire. These in- clude "Top of the Morning," star- ring Ring Crosby; "My Favorite Redhead," starring Bob Hope; Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah," and Hal Wallis' "Bitter Victory." At 20th, seven big films are now lensing, with three more scheduled to start soon, "Jolson Sings Again," plus a string of solidly-cast action pic- tures, cues the trend at Columbia. Universal-International, which re- opened recently after being shut- tered for six weelis, now has roll- ing "Ma and Pa Kettle," sequel to "Egg and I;" Barbara Stanwyck in "GambUng Lady;" Yvonne De- Carlo and Howard Duff in "Calami- ty Jane and Sam Bass;" Donald O'Connor in "Baby Makes Three," as well as a string of action films. Republic's Economies Republic, in common with the economy trend practiced by most of the majors, also has been get- ting its house in order. Company prez Herbert J. Yates, operating out of the,New York home office for several months, has been scrutinizing expenses and a few people have been let out in scat- tered departments. While Republic's 1948-49 pro- gram comprises 34 features plus some 16 outdoor action dratnas and westerns, a slight numerical boost over the previous year's pro- duction, an attempt reportedly will be made to keep filmmaking costs within a figure no greater than, dis- bursements of the preceding fiscal year. Budgets on deluxe product, it's under.stood, will also be shaved. Yaties leaves for the Coast today (Wed.). United Arti.sls. which had noth- ing in production during this per- Industry Summons . ind yonr new Lincoln it coming - MUCH SOONER THAN YOU THINK, »tMutr»y. Wisemini your . Bronx home of Americk'B most betuiiful «r.' Term$ to fit your budget...super lervice, too. Ask about your new Lincohi *t Murt»y-W>9eniM today! flluRRfly-liiisfmfln.inc. I INCOLN ■ MERCURY Jerome Ave. West 172nd St BronxSa.NewVork LUj :^ 8-2323 INDIANAPOLIS Jules Goldman, formerly office manager for Warners, new city salesman, with Ned Tilman made office manager and Irvin Levin- son, first booker.' ' James Parsons, for years Ross- Federal manager, resigned to join Screen Guild sales staff. Harold G. • Reckley giving Chateau, Grecncastle, a faGelii't. Mr. and Mrs. Marc Wolf (he's in- ternational dough guy of Variety Clubs) adopted 14-year-old. girl, With hira will be Loren P. Ryder. I Phyllis Jean. Paramount's sound, and television I Wm. Rosenthal, Indianapolis, expert, who trekked from the Coast leaseiil American Theatre Building; for that purpose. - editor, , , iod last year, now has five starters Fox Midwest circuit last week' ^ more before the celebrated its eighteenth anni m j ^^^^^^l ^^^^^^^ problems- are solved before the end Of Decem- all houses. I ber. The five are W. R. Frank's I "Dan Patch;" Benedict Bogeaus' "The Crooked Way;" Harry Pop- , kin's "From Tunis to Algeria;" I Philip Krasne's "The Bold Ban- I dido" and George Pal's "Tom I Thumb." Two possible starters are 'another Cisco Kid picture by I Krasne and a production , by James ] Nasser. I Shooting on the Eagle Lion lot is . at a standstill, with --dismissal Continued from pane S nical developments; -which can be tied to the-economy-measures^ Earl I. Sponable, president of the i Society of Motion Picture Engi-| neers and chief technical expert | for 20th-Fox, is slated to appear. bclore the presidents today iWed.). , ^^^j^^^ j^.^^^^ ^^holesale and only a skeleton staff of 20 workers re- maining on the job; until produc- tion is resumed Jan. 15/ Seven pic- I Terre Haute, for 20 years. Thea I tre now operated by Fourth Ave j nue Amus* Co. PITTSBURGH With opening of new Hollywood, South Hills, WB transferred Harry Koch from Warner there as man- ager, with Al Singer moving from Plaza to Warner. I Kenneth A. Grimes, manager of I Warner, Eric, recalled to Army with his lormer rank of lieutenant Television As An Offset i Both these experts will lecture j on those technical improvements | i which can be applied at the studios [ as coin-saving measures. They are also expected to be questioned | 'closely on television aspects, since ! greater activity by the film com-1 panics in tliis field may mean more | : income to meet dipping grosses: tures are in preparation but non6 is ready for production at this time. Producers, directors - and players under contract are taking a 60-day layoff by letting their contracts ride until the middle of January. They are Bryan Foy, Aubrey Schenck, Eugene Rodney and Wil- liam Moss, producers; Anthony Mann and Steve Sekely, directors Yesterdays .rues.) morning meet I.,„d June Lockhart, Lois Butler, was featured by analyses given by Dr.- Isad.or Lubin, nead of Con money on book's treatment, and budget setup was getting out of line. Hargrove will now concentrate on writing magazine pieces, work- ing out of his New City, N. Y., home. TOA's Board Contlnned from, pace S chairman of the Federal.Coinmuni- cations: Commission. Understood that the full TOA board will be asked to make- a final longrange decision on how far the theatre group will go in promoting large- screen television among: its menii^- bers. Coy is already studying a proposal of Gael Sullivan, TOA exec director, for the gi'anting of special channels to the group- or a subsidiary corporation. Mitchell Wolfson, Florida circuit operator'who heads the . tele com- mittee, wiU make a full-scale re- port at the board.meet, Wolfson is currently studying the develop- ment of trailers' to be used spe- cially for -telecasts. ' It is his idea that TOA can promote their pro^ duction and then turn them over locally to exhlbs. : Tele trailers, so far, have been spotty since they.re- quire a special technique, TOA of- iicial said. TOA's public relations program and the campaign to battle jack- rabbit 16m operators will also be mulled at the meet; Sullivan is expected to have a report on his current drive to. cut costs of sh i p- ping prints from- exchanges to the- atres. - Some 75 officers and di- rectors have indicated an intention of attending the confab. Have YOU iried aSKYBERTH on American's famous DC-6 ^MERCURY" flight to LOS ANGELES? Phsnt HAvmnytrt-SMW or yeur Inval afi Rcte) Offices :Airfi'nes.r*nnino/ focMtllef Caoler • Hotel Ntw Yorkw 120 Bfoadway • Hotel: Si-Georg* AMERICAN AIRLINES colonel. Robert^ C. Boji^man, from fidential Reports,, Inc.. and a lead- ..t /~>.i /-..i.. s-i- -ri ... .i ing;authority on economic trends. Robert ehaii!i)^rs, head of MPAA's research bureau, .-^tsb ■.spoke On t|ie subject. Dr. Lubin analyzed the spending power ot the U. S. pub- lic with the aid of charts to sligpw that inflation had driven much of Latonia; Oil City into Erie spot Cecelia Guehl, E><g,c Lion office manager, working With her head and chin in plaster cast as result of jaw infection. WB. appointed Milford Parker manager of new Strand, Erie. Shea Theatres: added another to Richard Basehart and Scott Brady, players. Music and editing departments! will continue scoring and cutting j on pictures that have finished i shooting. Films are Waller Wang^ er's "Tulsa" and "Reign of Terror," and "The Big Cat" and "Red Stal- lion ot the Rockies.'' Sam Israel cai'ries -on as public- ,tr. l£ 0*1 the Oetau. wit I. CmV ' ^= its circuit in this territory, taking 't 'Ulo toon and clothing and away Uy direcl(-i* but his staff-is cut II .MIAMI BEACH : ' H.V. OHi«:VliiMih i-5339: lease on Park. Youngstov.h. O. " '^''"f" entertainment. He was bear- i D. F. iDintyi Moore resigned as 'sh on the luturc. WB district sales manager in Bos- ISoth speakers tackled the for- , ton-New England territory and is eign film situation to demonstrate .coming back here as a partner of the dwindling returns overseas. Sam Kineberg's in the theatre sup- The lectures were llie opening I ply house Fineberg now operates phases of a rcapprai.sal of the ' ■ ' 'majors' future earnings. It was in- 12 HOURS FLYING TIME ONE STOP down to one assistant, Frank Fer- ret t. Pictures postponed until Janu- Wilh a backlog of 23 pictures, the highest In the company's his- tory, Warners is shutting down production-Dec. 1 for a month or more. Guilds and unions have been ad- vised that the studio intends to lay FLY OVBkNITE TO CALIFORNIA LOS asGflfS SAN tHANCIiOO hAS'^aS CITl MIAMI $50 4 ENGINED DOUGLAS DC-4 AIRLINERS Mt« SO Pa*s«nf«r CURTISS 46 S^MwOded inc. ' Air Trdvtl Aflcnty tended to indicate how lar the j companies mu.st go in their search I for depat-tment - by - department off large numbers of workmen" ;^*^"'?'^™es. . Three studio flacks were let out I First-day meet was held at 20th- last week and five more will go |Fox s homeoffices. Today's (Wed.) shortly. The axe will fall on all de- session is set for tlie Warner Bros, partment."!. 1 board room, tomorrow's at Para-! ; mount. There is a possibility that !the meetings will run into Fri- 'day I19>. i ; During•.: the morning lectures. WB Shelves Hargrovfe Marion Hargrove is back in N. Y. after four months on the Coast, working on script of his novel, i THE SHOWMAN'S FRIEND 500 Modern Rooms :.: , with ■ bqth'- dnd, racilb,': "Foremost en th« Coail" ALEXANDRIA HOTEL Fifth at Spring • Los Ahgelci TRANK WALKER. General Manager Formerly af Olinsted, Cleveland; O. IS THIS YOU? An .independent theatre circuit, 90 milat from .New York, ncedt ievcrol theatre manager.!,. whoie experience qualify them to fit. in our tet-iip. Our pcrtonnel know* about thit ad. Write complete detail* of all your theatre experience, giving dates, etc., age; married (?) salary desired to start. Ap- plicqliena treated confidentially. Box m Variety, 154 W. 46th St., New Yerli 19. WiM 94707 sales and foreign dept. execis at- "Something's Got to Give " for .tended along with company presi- Warners. Scripting wasn't' quite 'dents. In the afternoon, presidents finished, but company has decided I alone continued to meet. All top to shelve it, in line with its general , execs are being kept on call for ■ economy moves of l.ite. Claimed J later sessions. | they'd already spent too much NowSpecialixin« ^ in Refreshment. Service for : roRivE-iN theatres;