Variety (Mar 1949)

22 PICTURES V«!«lnegday, March 2, 1949 ■♦♦♦♦t»»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ »♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦#♦»♦♦» CGps f ron Fib Row NEW YORK Lawrence Greib resigned his post as general manager for Gity Eiitertainment Co. (Astor, Victoria ind Bijou, N, Y.). Will vacation in Florida and announce his plans '-'later. . ' Metro's European junket for'.a party of sales staffers, announced 'during the company's studio meet- ings by distrib veepee William F. Bodgers, has been expanded to 12 to add a field salesman and ex- ploiteer. The trip, intended partly to familiarize the junketers with International film problems and partly as a reward for sales cam^ dinator of community relations di- "Paleface" contracts for some of members. Eddie Ruben, circuit Owner, and his wife of! to Europe. Ben Friedman, chain owner; va- cationing with wife iri California and Hawaii. « Ted Mann and George Gran- strom, circuit owners, spending month in Honolulu. Since her theatre banned the sale and «ating of popcom by pa- trons several weeks ago, patronage has jumped 20%, says Mrs. J. L. Jensen, owner of the Avalon, at White Bear near here. Duke Hickey, MPAA field coor- paign efforts, has now been defi nitely slated to start Oct. 21. First port of call is Naples with Rome, Paris and London on the itinerary. Selections will be made by a special committee named by Rodgers. Ten of those going will be drawn from M-G's branch, district and division managers. MINNEAPOLIS /. Minnesota Amus. Co. tilted ad- missions 5-lOc. at Aberdeen, S.D.. and Grand Forks, N. D^j to test public reaction before boosting along the line. Howard Greenstein, Universal salesman, back on job after being laid up for six weeks after major operation. While admission prices are drop- ping at_ many houses, Minnesota | vision, here on survey. Bill Soper, Paramount booking manager, laid up with mumps. Aaron Rosen resigned from Par- amount booking staff to become Monogram salesman. George Granstrom and Ted Mann, independent circuit owners, back from Hawaiian vacations. Bill Volk, independent circuit owner, returned from a Florida va- cation. Preem of "Red Shoes" roadshow date at World for crippled chil^ dren's benefit a sell-out. - Completely remodeled Ritz, nabe house, reopened with "One Sunday Afternoon." BUFFALO Loew's which acquires the down- Amus, Co. is planning a general town Buffalo and Teck as well as will handle publicity for the Great Lakes, Hipp, Seneca, Niagara and Kensington starting March 1 when Par takes over these theatres. Re- maining Shea houses go to Loew. PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh Lodge No; 31, Colos- seum of Picture Salesmen, named Carl Reardon president; and Jim Thorpe, vice-president. Bob Green resigned as Film Classics booker and may join a the- atre circuit in New Jersey. Dondd Chabin, former Screen Guil^f • salesman in Washington, joined.'Film Glassies sales force here:. . ;. William Skirball, owner of Barry, to riemodel his house. ' QttliBt' boosting of admission scales at all downtown iirstruns has been accomplished by the Theatre Managers Assn. In order to at- tract little attention, increase be- gan couple of months ago at one ■spot. ■ • B. E. Gore, who operated a the- atre an Wheeling several years ago, sentenced to 12 months in jail for exhibiting "Valley of Nudists" at Hanger theatre, Atlanta, Ga. Leo Gottlieb, former U city sales- man in Cleveland, named head of Film Classics exchange here. . out of the hospital and back in his northern Missouri territory. Durwood circuit is sending Tom Wolf to Leavenworth, Kans., as Lyceum and,assistant city manager. Wolf has :ib'^en .manager of Roxy here; Earl Brown, in from Coast, replaces him. ' admission boost for most of its theatres. It would be the first tilt In several years and is designed to offset rising operating costS; Louis Orlove, Metro exploiteer neighborhood Kensington, Elm^ wood, Lackawanna, North Park and Bellevue at Niagara Falls will retain the - Shea name in connec- tion with the title of the houses. DALLAS Johnny Sparks named manager of Ideal in. Ft. Worth. L. N. Crim owns the house. Ed Hale, formerly with Inter- state Theatres, named manager of Fredericksburg Road drive-in at San Antonio, which is operated by Claude Ezell &^ Associates. The Rio at Rockport closed for facelifting. DETROIT American Brotherhood week, celebrated in 500 picture houses of Michigan. Co-chairmen were Earl J. Hudson and Joe Uvick; W. S. Butterfield circuit dropped plans for new Grand Rapids thea- tre and drive-in because of high construction costs. Charles J. Meril and Paul Threm joined Sams Co., theatre brokers. H. R. Stevens is manager of new Dexter, Dexter, Mich. Mr. and Mrs, Joseph Campis, Priscilla Theatre, secured a settle- ment of their arbitration case, giv- ing them clearance of 9 to 10 days after availability dates of the East I Side, and, 16 days after Rialto playdates. Douglass Mitmcsser bought the Strand in Cold water from Homer Cox. Krim Bros, expect the new Metropolitan here to be completed in about 30 days. A neighborhood house, it will be used for longruns on foreign and arty films, with American product booked where available. out of hospital and will soon be i Par which takes the other houses. back on job, LeRoy Smith; Metro salesman, transferred back here from Mil- waukee. After laying off product for more than six months, Theatre AssocL plans to change the Lakes title to Paramount and will hold a re-nam- ing contest for the Hipp. Park at Orchard Park,, Buffalo suburb, sold by William Brett to Sylvester Graff, former operator ates, biggest local non-profit buying 1 of the Angola, at Angola. Brett and booking combine, has made I continues as head of Sky-Ways I drive-in at Athol SpringSi Charles B. Taylor, head of Shea- Par-Loew Circuit's publicity de- partment for the last 22 years, be- 1 comes director of publicity for Buffalo paramount theatres under deal with Metro. Louis Orlove, Metro exploiteer, still in hospital from operation. Independent Theatres Associa- tion, another large non-profit buy- ing pool here, which has been re- fusing to buy Paramount, inked Uh e new Par-Loew split. Taylor KANSAS CITY ■Bill setting up regulations . for seats and aisles and other building quajiifications for theatres intro- duced, in the Missouri legislature at Jefferson . City.: Measure was in- troduced by Floyd R. Gibson, Jack- son County senator, and reportedly has: the backing . of exhibitors. Measure would be a replacement for the statutes now on the books and; felt to be outmoded. Doug BurriU, publicity rep for Durwood circuit, left the company to be ad-publicity assistant for Sin- clair Coal Co. Tom Cawley, Rovy pubircist here, takes over BurriU's duties. Bill Adams, Columbia salesman. CHARLOTTE F. J. McCarthy, southern divi- sion manager for Universal, here to confer with Jimmy Greenleaf, branch manager. Bill Briggs, United Artists booker, given stag party at Hotel Charlotte, prior to his marriage. Norman ;Jackter, salesman for Columbia, to be transferred to Washington, D. C, branch in same capacity; will be succeeded by Bill Henderson, formerly with 20th- Fox and SRO. MEMPHIS Bob Bowers, Metro rep here, named manager of recently organ- ized Allied Indie Theatre Owners of Mid-South, Inc. James McCarthy, WB manager, tees off with new policy here by giving patrons sneak previews. Indie theatre owners will con- verge on Memphis for preem meet- ing of new organization set for Chisca Hotel. II Pix Bally B5 Continued from page s 55 stars as Colleen Townsend, who is out plugging her "Chicken Every Sunday." In addition, 20th plans to handle each iilm as a separate unit, staying witU, it from its first run key city engagements right through to the fourth and fifth runs. Company, for instance, is still ballyhooing "Snake Pit" with full strength, despite'the picture's hav- ing been in circulation since No- vember. Taking a leaf directly from the oldtime exploitation book, 20th is now polling colleges throughout the country to determine which has the prettiest co-eds., Sixteen schools winning the award will have special preem performances' of the company's upcoming "Moth- er Is a Freshman," In addition, the winning girl at each school will compete for a week's vacation in Hollywood as "Miss All-Anierican Freshman" and will be screen- tested if ■ 20th production vecpee Darryl F. Zanuck thinks she has posibilities. "Freshman" stunt has already paid off publicity-wise, with the competition among the various schools getting plenty of space in the neighboring key cities. Hypoed activity of the 20th exploi- tation department is attributed mainly to veepee Charles Einfeld, who joined the company Feb; 1. In line with, the new ballyhoo emphasis, the Broadway Assn. yes- terday <Tues.) awarded special plaques to 20th-Fox and the Rivoli, N. Y., to honor the fifth month of "Snake Pit" at . the house. Assn. prez Robert C Christenberry hand- ed the awards to Rivoli manager Monte Salmon and 20th star Rich- ard Conte, repping Zanuck. Other 20th stars attending, which em- phaisizes Einfeld's stress on getting the name talent out to rub shoul- ders with the' public, -(vere Glenn Langan, Jesse Royce Landis and Natalie Schafer. aAUDETTE COLBERT «« ih* play* oppoiH* FRED MacMURRAY fn "FAMILY HONEYMOON" John Joseph's Drumbeatinsr Hollywood, March 1. John Joseph, newly-named aide to Howard Dietz, Metro's ad-pub veepee, will spend -two weeks on the Metro lot looking at new prod- uct before going to New York While in Gotham, Joseph will take up a month working out campaigns for-forthcoming pix. Former Universal ad-pub chief has been given authority to plug localized drumbeating drives in key cities whenever M-G product is opening in the town. His h.q. will be on the Culver Gity lot. SettBement Better •" ANOTHM FiNi riioDUcror ItVn MOTHIRt COMPANY Here's a proved complexion care: in recent Lux Toilet Soap tests by skin specialists, actually 3 out of 4 complex- ions became lovelier in a short time! "I smooth the creamy, fragrant lather well in,'' Says Clawdette Colbert. "As I rinse and then pat with a soft towel to dry, my skin is softer, smoother." Try the generous new bath size cake, too-^so fragrant, luxurious I use it— /ax^/yi^^/Bl(?i'e//er/ "FAMILY HONEYMOON" .«(S\.V . ; Continued from pa;;e 4 '■ emceed the affair at which Bala- ban and Reagan were the sole speakers. Balaban said he "under- stood'' that Reagan was going intjo exhibition, "We came to a point' where we all had to decide which way we were going," Balaban said, touching on both the decree and Reagan's f uture career. The film induiitry's economic structure is sounder than it has been in a long time and is headed in the right direction, Par's prez stated. He added that he was "hopeful" that Par's stockholders would agree that the peace pact is in the best interests of the com- pany. Advantages of the peace treaty were also taken up in a later state- ment which Balaban made in an- nouncing the agreement Friday (25), "It opens' the way to one of the most constructive move.'! in the history of the corporation." toppw declared. "It will leave the new theatre company with a larger well selected and thoroughly sound theatre circuit. In my view, it wiU be a strong, prosperous enterprise. "The new picture company will be a leader in the field ot motion picture production - disliibution with excellent studio facilities and an unexcelled worldwide elistribu- tion organization,"' Ralalian addeo. "Both companies will be .strongly equipped in manpower and finan- cial resources to carry on success- fuUy in their respective fields ot activity." , . ■ Settlement was also hailed W U. S. Attorney General Tom ClarK, who sees it as a step towards te- storing competition in the in<J"?' try. Desire of the Government is "to encourage and not to retard tW development and orderly operation , of the motion picture indu-stry, . ilark said. '•' * ♦ I'.