Variety (September 1954)

24 PICTURES * »■ ' ' ^ .■ >. - 1 1 "■ " 444444444♦4 4 4 4» 4 > »» + ^4»»» » » f »»»4 f »♦♦♦ 4 ♦ ♦♦ 4 4 ,, 4 4 » 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ♦♦♦♦»♦ » ♦♦♦♦+4 ♦ + ♦*♦+♦ + »♦*•»» ♦ ♦ 4 4 ♦♦ M NEW YORK Albert Margolies & Co. has been engaged to do special publicity oil Alfred Hitchcock’s "The Trouble "With Harry,” which will be shot on location in Northern Vermont. Joseph Brenner Associates book- ed its German import, "Angelika,” into Leo Brecher’s 68th St./ Play*, house for September preem. Star- ring Maria Schell, film formerly was titled "The Affairs of Dr. Holl.” Appointment of Sam Seplowirt as manager of the Chicago office for Republic and Morris Dudelson as Detroit, branch manager was re- vealed last week by Richard W. Altschuler, worldwide sales direc- tor for company: Seplowin moves from Detroit; where he had been branch manager, to the Chi post. He replaces. Herbert Kaufman, re- signed. Dudelson was formerly: dis- trict manager for United Artists. Roxy has set product to carry it through December into the new year. The.Capitol installing a Stewart- Traris-Lux Luxmatte white screen for Sept. 29 4 *reem of '•Barefoot Contessa.” It's said to be one of largest completely seamless white screens in any theatre. : Plans for a ‘‘Golden Reel Film Festival” and. the American Film Assembly,, both of Which are. sched- uled to be. held next April at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria, wdll be dis- cussed today (Wed.) at monthly luncheon meet of the N.Y. Film Council, George ■ Margolin, prez of Conti- nental Motion Pictures Corp:, back from three-month' Stay ‘ Eu- rope. Flock, of publicity reaped by Marilyn Monroe in her recent lo- cal visit prompted RKO Theatres to book two Monroe reissues in Greater N. Y. and Westchester babes Sept. 27-28. Pix are “Ni-. agara.” and ‘'Don’t Bother to Knock,” both 20th-Fox subjects. C. J. Bachman, with Stanley Warner Theatres,for some 20 years as chief engineer, joined Fairchild Recording Equipment Co. as the- atre equipment products manager in charge of Fairchild Perspecta stereophonic sound equipment. Russell V. Downing, managing director of Radio City Music. Hall, is in California on a combined business—pleasure junket. He will spend a couple of weeks vacation- ing near San Diego and then will go to Hollywood to view product arid make new bookings for the Hall. He’ll be back in N. Y. Oct. 8. Pallas Hal Cheatham of Alexandria,. La., has taken over duties as pub- licity director for the Dallas the- atres of the Interstate Theatre Cir- cuit. He replaces Francis Barr, Who was promoted to assistant pub- licity and advertising director of the circuit. Henry Sorenson, of Modern Theatre Equipment here, has an- nounced that he has completed in- stallation of stereophonic. sound equipment and anamorphic lens attachments in the 16 theatres comprising the Hall Industries Cir- cuit, w'ith headquarters at Beeville. The TCU Theatre at Fort Worth has been sold by C. O. Hagen of Yoakum to W. S. McLemore of Waco. J. C. Chatmas has rourided out 42 years as an exhibitor at Marlin. He started, in 1912 When he pur-, chased ari interest in the Majestic there. It now is the site of the present Palace. He also Operates the Royal Drive-In and the Strand Theatre. The St. Thomas, Episcopal church here, wili use the facilities of the Inwood Theatre, a riabe house, for services, temporarily Tom Vincent, forinerly of Dallas RADIO CITY MUSIC RAIL Rockefeller Center- «* “BRIGADOON in Color Md Cinemascope slurmc GENE KELLY > VAN JOHNSON CYD CHARISSE witb ELAINE STEWART An M*G»M Picture- and SPfCTACUUII STACC PBUINTATMN Janet George T4VL0R*LEIGH •RAFT rogue cop WP&M MOiiHT branch of Southwestern. Theater Equipment Co., named manager of Houston branch, succeeding Alex McKinzie, who was made secretary and general sales manager, a new post. Vernon; Collins replaces. Vincent in the jocalr branch, Marvin Bell has announced open- ing of new Deluxe Drive-In at Risirig Star, The 300-car ozoner is equipped for C’Scope. Partner with Bell in its operation is H. Ford Taylor of San Angelo. H. Ford Taylor is installing Cine- mascope in his three houses, the Taylor at Big Lake, Ford Theatre, Rankin and Ford Drive-In at McCamey. CHICAGO Alex Halperiri, midwest, zone manager of Stanley Warner Thea- tres, announced awards for Fabian; Fabulous Forty contest for this ter-, ritory as . Pete. Pisano of Avalon Theatre, Chi, first place; Joseph Real of Midwest Theatre, *Okla- homa City, second; Ralph Krause, Milwaukee Theatre, third; artd William Bindle of Rialto Theatre, Racine, Wis.', fourth. Nat Nathanson upped from ex- change manager of Allied Artists to midwest district manager. Nate. 'Slott, indie exhibitor, in Michael Reese, hospital recovering from major surgery. Jack Manley, resident manager for'Cinerama here, left organiza- tion last week to be harbor master and port manager of city of Chi- cago. ' B&K publicity department tossed luncheon last week for chief flack Bill Hollander, who departs with spouse Sept. 24 for eight-week tour of Europe; columnist Herb Graffis Was guest speaker. ST. LOUIS Russell A. Bovim, midwestern division manager for Loew's, Inc,, moved his headquarters from. film l row to the Orpheum Theatre since the divorcement became effective. W. J. Rodell relighted his Alvi , Athens, 111. R. L. Adkins, DeSoto, Mo., leased the Canton in Canton, Mo., from William Collins. Deal gives him an option to buy the house. Roy C. Hess shuttered his Girard in Girard, 111. for indefinite period, . The Vogue, Palestine, 111., shut- tered since Roy Hanley failed to renew the lease. The owner, Bar- ney Tamborius, Breese, ill., may operate the house agai Mrs. John Rees, whose 1 husband owns and operates the Regal, Wellsville, Mo., discharged from ; a Mexico, Mo., hospital. l OMAHA Ralph D. Goldberg purchased $100,000 worth of land On Farnam Street here, some 20 blocks from downtown area, and plans to build a GinemaScope house on the site. Goldberg, who already owns down- town State and four nabe houses, said it will be a 1,550-seater. Ray Watkins installed Cinema- Scope at his Crest Theatre, Su- perior, Neb. Fuller Bros. Circus playing drive-ins in western Nebraska. Ray David, manager of Pace Theatre in Chadron, Neb., an- nounced he will bring in C'Scope pix several times each month after successful bow with “The Robe.” “Karamjoja” drawing capacity houses at 76 West. Dodg§ and Council Bluffs: ozoners. BURLINGTON, VT. This area’s first showing of "The Raid,” at the Mt. View Drive-In in Winooski, had a special appeal tp Vermpht folk,’since some scenes wdre actually‘taken in St. Albans. The film is based on the burning •and looting of the historic Vermont dity during the Civil War. Cyril E. O’Brien, Burlington theatre musician, appointed to the faculty of the Vermont Conserva- tory of Mtysi'c, where he will teach the brass instruments. TOLEDO, O. The Wilson, riabe house in Youngstown, O.y has reopened following remodelling, under new management of Ben Algahmee, with a dual policy, Peter Wellman, Girard, O., cir- cuit operator, underwent surgery at the Sewickley (Pa.) Valley Hospital. BOSTON Ernest Corullo, booker at Affili- ated Theatres, resigned to enter another biz. He bought a part in- terest in Bar-Ba’s Market, Hing- ham. Arthur Rowe, formerly dis- trict manager and booker for P'akie’ty » i • a Graphic Theatres, Replaces him Qct. 1. Annual one-day convention of Independent Exhibitors Inc;, New England unit of National Allied, slated for Dec. 7 at Hotel Brad- ford. Melvin Safher, Rhode Island exhib, and Herbert Brown, Green- field, Mass., exhib, named co- chairmen of event, ; Adeline Garter (Struzzieri) re- signed as secretary at Independent Exhibitors headquarters; replaced by Anita Linski. William Madden, Metro city salesman, moved to Philadelphia as branch manager* ALBANY Dick Murphy succeeded Larry Cowen as manager of Proctor’s in Troy, latter taking leave of absence because of illness. Cowen directed. Pfoctor’s from .1046 after he was discharged with the rank of lieu- tenant commander in the U. : S. Navy. Also a veteran of World War I, he managed the Grand in Albany for Fabian before the sec- ond World War, and also previ- ously worked for Fabian and RKO. ‘in New York City. A Paramount contingent, sur- veyed, the Palace and Strand, for VistaVision, Leading»theatres in exchange cities are being checked for adaptability to Vista. A1 La Flamme, Strand manager, named industry chairman for com- ing Community Chest Drive. LOS ANGELES Producer Reginald LeBorg signed Skip Weslirier as sales rep for "‘White Orchid,” William Luridi- gan-Peggy Castle co-starrer,to be released through United Artists in November. Filmakers Releasing Organiza- tion appointed Jack Safer as Mid- Central States sales rep. SRO booked ‘‘Duel in the Sun” to open day-date in 33 first-runs, including 14 ozoners, in southern California. PITTSBURGH Folly Theatre in Erie, closed for; more than a year, reopened under management of Leon Monroe, who has signed a long-term lease with B. G. Neyland, the owner, Henry Burger, ad-pub head for Stanley-Warner Theatres in this zone,' appointed motion picture, chairman for annual celebration of Pennsylvania. Week next month. Leon Reichblum, an exhib here for more than 25 years, and his wife, departed for Miami Beach, where they’ll make their future home. Frank Arena came from Cleveland to manage Loew’s Penn with recent transfer of Bill Elder to the .circuit’s Warfield in San Francisco, Thomas A. Gilbert, active in the theatre and film business for 50 years, has retired. The SW circuit recently returned its lease on his Oakland Theatre to him, and he has remodeled the property into two storerooms. John L. John, Metro exploitation man in this territory* reported back on job after being laid up for three months with a coronary. Joe Outley, relief, manager for. SW, has been appointed Charlie Eagle’s assistant at downtown Stan- ley; replaces Dewey Moore, pro- moted to assistant of the Etna and Rowland. Bob Clark, West Virginia area rep for Metro and member of the local sales organization for several years, transferred to San Fran- cisco; successor not named yet. Ken Winograd, returned from Korea after two years, in army, will succeed, his brother, Leonard Wiriograd, as manager of Oriental Theatre in Rochester, Pa., Oct. 1. Takes/ place when latter enters HebreW Union College in Cincin- nati to study for the rabbinate. Bob Gorden, new proprietor of Shepp Theatre in Smithton, changed its name to the Linda. House long has beene.dark and is being modernized for a reopening soon. .. Shea Theatres took over manage- ment arid operation of the three film houses in Bradford, Pa.—the Shea, McKean and Bradford. For the last several years, Dipson cir- cuit has been operating the prop- erties under pooling deal with Shea’s. Sam Mills, formerly, with Stan- ley-Warner in Youngstown, Q., brought here to manage the Strand in Greensburg. Ernest P. Gorris, ex-airman who snuffed out a bomb in‘a B-29 river North Korea late in 1952, saving 1 12 lives, licensed by the state as a projectionist. He’ll operate at the Star in Glassport, which Gorris and his mother own. Stariley-Warner reopening the Melrose, a nabe house here which has been shuttered several months. Dewey Moore appointed manager. Wednesday, September 22, 1954 While foreign film distributors obviously aim at maximum returns Qn everiy import some art house operators Complain that the distribs often fail to develop the full potential of their product because of indifference in marketing it: Exhibs specializing in overseas films beef that few importers service them with useful salejs hints and: * showmanship ideas in keeping with material found in most press- books supplied by Ihe majors. Indie distribs for the most part confine their “campaign books” to a small folded sheet containing a few ad reproductions and blowups of New York newspaper reviews. Possible 1 exception to the rule, however, are pressbooks prepared by importer Arthur. Davis in behalf of his product. For example on the French- made “Pit ^of Loneliness’? he whipped up an eight-page “showmanship manual” replete with sales suggestions plus background stuff on the cast for plantirig with local papers. “ V Seldom has Hollywood been pulled sentimentally behind a property like the Robert Hardy Andrews-USAF Col. Barney Oldfield story, “Tiger By The Tail; the Story of Sam Magill.” Tale is of the exploit rif an Ashtabula, O., lieutenant who talked a German general into surrendering himself and 20,000 men to Him in World War II; Event was filmed by the Army Signal Corps at the time by an element of producer-director George Stevens’. SHAEF camera crew* the unit headed by Hollywood cameraman Joseph Biroc. In Hearst’s American Weekly recently, its annual film issue, with a 21,000,000 reader reach, Oldfield’s byliner was featured on the riOth anniversary of the kamerad with text reference to its film possibilities. Meantime, Magill, how back ini Germany, Is watching progress on the project from a small Bavarian village of Boblingen, in whose cemetery the German general who surrendered to him-—Erich Elster—is buried. Thirty inembers of the film industry have been given Awards of Merit by , the National United Jewish Appeal. They were cited “for outstanding service arid devotion in 1954, to the work of saving lives, building Israel and strengthening the free way of life, through th medium of entertainment.” Receiving the award for the first time were Frank Bracht, Bernard Cooper, Douglas Denis, John Derek, Mai Epstein, Eduard Franz, Y. Frank Freeman, Samuel Goldwyn, Ben Hersh, Herbert Hoffman, Nathat Juran, Otto Lang, Gene Lockhart, Arthur Lubi , Thomas Mitchell, Robert Mitchum, Robert Newman, Donna Reed, Budd Small, Sidney Solow, Forrest Tucker and Robei-t Young. Receiving it for the second time, were William Gordon, Jack Karp, Ray Klune, Noel Madison, William Meikeljohn, Sidney Peck, Irvin Talbot and Morrie Weiner. Approximately 2,600 motion pictures and filmstrips are described in a catalog being distributed abroad by the U.S. Information Agency to aid" educatrirs, scientists and other film , users in selecting American audio-visual materials. Issuance of the list, 1 said USIA Director Theo- dore C. Streibert, and the “many excellent American films” it contains* will make the U S. and its works “more thoroughly understood and appreciated abroad.” Publication, entitled “1954 Supplement: U.S. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Motion Pictures and Filmstrips Suitable and Available for Use Abroad,” was compiled with guidance and approval of an advisory board Of professional visual education specialists. Pictures listed are available abroad on a sale, rental or loan basis. Continuing. ; its policy of touring offbeat personalities to bally pic- tures, Metro rhas imported a genuine Scotsman and a pair of Scot lassies to blow the bagpipes for “Brigadoen.” Commander K.D. Ian Murray, R.N., bom in the Highland village of Tullibardine, Perthshire, Scotland, acted as technical adviser on the film and has been engaged to make one of the tours. The other will be made by Pat Gow and Olive Henderson, lassies who are hostesses for Scandinavian Air Lines. Commander Murray will wear kilts on the tour and discuss Scottish legends, customs, etc. The gals will also appear in native dress of tartan and kilts. Thomas L. Robinson, publisher of the Charlotte (N. C.) News, who has been travelling this summer in Europe doing a series of political commentaries (he had an exclusive interview with the Prime Minister of Portugal) is the same Robinson.who about 20 years ago did a stint with the 20th Century-Fox publicity department in N. Y. Long since a rrioted Carolinian with a wife and three children, Robinson has been resusitating the News against the riirire powerful and sold-out Charlotte Observer. Robinson has 30% of the News stock. It . isn’t often that jerry Wald assumes the role of a modest violet but he is doing It in the filming of "The Eddy Duchin Story” at Colum- bia. As radio editor of the defunct N. Y. Graphic, Wald was one of Duchin’s strongest boosters and helped materially iri his rise to prom* inence as a pianist. As executive producer at Columbia, he has elim- inated himself from the story and ordered that only one N. Y. columnist be mentioned in the script—-the late Mark Bellinger. While cominercial exhibition of “Salt of the Earth,” controversial labor pic, is still at a standstill in Chicago because of a boycott by the motion pibture operators union, the. film continues to be a con- versation piece in certain organizational circles: “Salt” was shown last week at the. Third Unitarian Church in Chi on 16m projector and. was followed by an informal discussion of the picture’s merits. A closed-circuit hookup of 23 cities, arranged by Box Office Tele* visioh, will be employed for a medical session tomorrow (ThursJ. Some 5,000 physicians will gather, in hotels from 6 to .7 p.i to observe and participate in a symposium op the management oi uyptx- terision. Telecast, sponsored by the American College of Physicians and Wyeth Laboratories, .will originate in New York from CBS Studio. 60. *~ Recap on the publicity “breaks” garnered for Walt Disney’s "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” shows the pic has been covered via extensiv features in just about every national mag plus the Sunday rotos and wire services. Spectacular nature of the film and,.the underwater, iensing in Nassau helped in copping the attention. Leading industryites attended the ground-breaking cereriionies held Friday (17) for the new, $300,000 Screen Directors Guild building and theatre in Hollywood. Prexy George Sidney, terming it a dream come true fOr SDG, disclosed the home torn down to make room for the new quarters was Originally that of the French director, Maurice Tournier, later lived in by his director son, Jacques. Warner Bros;, going all out in its. proinotion of the Judy Garland starrer, “A Star Is Born,” has. issued a comprehensive 28-page press- book which contains a 12-page inserted advertising section. Special de- luxe copies of the book for distribution to leading exhibs. and circuits heads have been prepared with a spider-weave glassine dust jacket. One of the novelties at the world premiere of “A Star Is Born’ at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood on Sept. 29 Will be a press room, provided for reporters covering the event. Typewriters* desks and extra telephone lines will be Set up in a special room off the main., lobby*