Variety (Jun 1930)

Wednesday, June 9S, 1930 PICTURES VARIETY 111 Behbd the Keys Syracuse. Franz Westfall, managing direc- tor o« the Strand (WB). has left for MilwcRikee to beconie assistant to Bernard Depkln, Warner divi- sion supervisor, In charge of houses recently acquired from Universal. Ijeo Rosen^ of Albany, new to "War- ners, succeeds Westfall. Shamokln, Pa. The $1,500,000 property of the Chamberlain : Amusctment Enter- prises, Inc.^ of jthls and nearby coal region towns will probably stay In control of Attorney Stephen L. Grlb- bln, Shamokin banker and receiver, for the present. Opponents of this arrapgement, who sought to hayp the theatre company thrown into federal bankruptcy courts, lost the case, tried before ,a federal court jury in WHliamsporJt, Pa. Tempo- rary receivership of Mr, Gribbin will probably be made permanent, until the company Is. finally out of Its difficulties. It Is planned to re- finance the corporation and to put It on its feet agalti. John ° A., Plpa, Jr., and J. Augustus. Welsh, both of Shamokin, represented the GrIbbIn Interests, as oppos^ to .a bank- ruptcy proceeding. It Is expected that the next move" will be applica- tion to cancel the lea's6 given some time ago to Louis Berman, of Phila- delphia, who was to get full control of the Chamberlain Circuit and to pay $110,000 a year rental. ' Wheeling, W. Va. Lease of the Court, legit, trans- ferred to Warners for nine years be- ginning July 1, 1933. Total rental of $157,333. was formerly at the Capitol, Madi- son, Wis.); John Scharnberg as city manager at Madison, Wis., manag- ing both R-K-O theatres there, Orph and Capitol. ^ San Antonio. L. C. Baxley, former salesman at the Universal Exchange in Dallas, Is now manager 6f the local ofnce of the company. He succeeds R. L Payne, shifted to U's exchange In Oklahoma City. Payne replaces W. P. Moran, transferred to the boss berth at San Francisco, where W. J. Helnman -has been promoted to be western sales manager. Toledo. RolUn K. Stonebrookr manager Paramount since elevation of Sidney DaAnenberg to district manager, be- comes mahagfer of Publix new May- fair theatre, Asbury Park, N. J. Raymond Willie, former manager Majestic, San Antonio, comes here. Chicago. Len Brown, former mistnager for R-K-O of the Capital, Madison, Wis., has replaced Henry Kaufman as city manager for Fort Wayne. Other LOOPOPPOSISH ONSTAGESHOWS Chicago, June 21. To prepare for the tilt with R- K-O on name attractions for loop stage shows, Louis' Llpstone, pro- duction ni&nager of B. & K., leaves for New York this week to line up Important talent. Chicago theatre thtd week, for the first time In months, Is featuring Its stage attraction above the pic- ture In ads, with Will Rogers In person. Press Stunts Canton, O. Sol Bernstein has rurchased the Bltz theatre In MansHeld, O.. and. will reopen .It within two weeks, after redecorating and refurnishing the house and Installing talkie equipment. He formerly was half owner of the Lyceum theatre here and also was Interested in the Pal- ace theatre, which a year ago he spld to the Publix theatres. Indianapolis. A. W. (Gus) Carrick, for many years with Pathe In this territory, has resigned to accept a position here as Warner Bros." irepresenta- tlve. ■ Ogden, Utah. When J. D. Marpole, manager Publix Paramount, closed the the- atre Sunday night and went out for ,sandwich he saw ^usplciouB chariacters loitering near. Suspic- ions grew while he ate his mid- night meal and he returned to the- atre. Entering back way, he found an intruder In the orchestra room under the stage. The fellow had a pistol In one hand and; his shoes In the other. Cops got him. Two partners were later caught. They had acetylene outfit "for at- tacking the Paramount, safe which has been cracked about twice yearly since 1925. Greenwich, Conn. Greenwich theatre, dark since folding of a stock company last December, has reopened with straight pictures. Milwaukee. Succeeding Homer GUI as state district manager for Fox Is Stan Segelbaum, formerly handling the southern district. Robert S. Guiter- man Is the new boss of the Southern distrct, wliUe Stanly Gross has the management of the two Kenosha theatres. W. O. James becomes the manager of the Oriental. Russell Leddy, manager of Wis- consin, is now city supervisor under A. D. Kvool. Taking Leddy's place at the Wisconsin Is Eddie Lurle. formerly at Fox Garfield, and Mil- ton Harman takes a similar posi- tion at the Garfield.. Joseph J. Klnsky travels from the Plaza to the Tower to be succeeded at his former headquarters by Abe Sherr of the Fox Jeflfi-les at Janesville. A. J. Melninger, generally known as "Happy," becomes manager of the Jeffries. Outside of that the only excite- ment In the Fox ranks was the visit of Wally Abrams of the Metro publicity forces. New York. Managerial changes In R-K-O houses have been conflrmed as fol lows: Effective June 16, Kenneth Bellna as manager of the Engle wood. Chicago, replacing John Rog ers; 20, Earl Payne replaces Harry Wren as manager of Palace, Mil- waukee; 22, Len Brown supplants Henry Kaufman as city manager of Fort Wayne R-K-O house (Brown CoL Drops Two Films ... Hollywood, June 21. Columbia Is dropping from Its production schedule, Just closing two plctifres. One of them Is "Paris Nights." E^chlb contracts read that after a specified, date .they do not have to accept pictures and the two In ques- tion would arrive too late. Los Angeles. A national style tlc-up, involving more than 400 women's apparel stores and theatres playing Fanchon & Marco units, has been put oyer by Fanchon & Marco and Fox West Coast theatres. Tie-up puts F. and M. In the women's clothing business as an adjunct to .Its the- atre Interests. 'Back of the plan Is the assump- tion that Hollywood sets the femme styles of the country, and this will be stressed in the plugging of the styles. Plan is to go Into effect Aug. 1, with 417 specialty shops throughout the country branding themselves "Fanchon & liiarco Mode Shops." Some will be new concerns created part of the scheme and others will be_ established firms that will take the name to get in on the publicity plugs. ' All of the plan is hung to the slogan: "Fanchon Decrees the Fash- ion." Lynchburg, Va. Ballyhooing for "Paramount on word-of-mouth would bring In more than 500 lost admissions, .some of which weren't lost, anyhow.- Toledo. Bathing suits of pre-1910 vintage shown in downtown store window as part of Loew's Valentine exploita- tion of "P'lorodora Girl" (M-G-M). Tleup with "News-Bee" brought many entrants In contest, with prizes for oldest. First prize went to 1908 suit. Winners got orders for new bathing suits from Man- ager Walter Caldwell, drawn on store displaying old suits. Not costly and plenty of entrants. Tacoma. "The Gay Nineties" was a big event and Manager Douglas S. Kim- berly of Fox put over, with co-oper- ation of "Ledger," 10-page section in the Sunday paper for it, filled with tie-up ads from business houses. Biggest newspaper special section ever put over In northwest for a program picture. Rlalto also pulled an "old timers" parade with cycles, buggies, horses and folks in "gay nineties". dress. FIRST MOTION PICTURE PRODUCER TO RECEIVE UNIVERSITY HONORS J. L. WARNER University of Southern California honors J. L. Warner for his contributions to education and entertainment through development of cteorge Arliss, Warner Bros, star, delivers address of acceptance, In absentia, for J. L. Warner. On the right: Jack Warner Jr on behalf of his father, receives honorary membership. The Alumni Association of University of Southern California and miniature of the statue in the background which Is the university's insignia of honor. changes are Kenneth Bellna, man- ager of Englewood, Chicago, suc- ceeding John Rogers; Earle Payne, of Palace, Milwaukee, replacing Harry Wren, and John Schornberg, manager of Orpheum, Madison, to handle Capital there, also. Fostorla, O. 1,200-seat theatre belhg built here has been leased for 25 years by Publix. Aurora, 111. Fox theatre (Publlx's Great States) closed Saturday for re- modeling. Oakland, Cal. Louis KallskI, who started to build the Grand-Lake and later merged his Interests with the Fox- West Coast organization only to re- tire last year, hea entered the amusement field with three neigh- borhood houses In Berkeley—the Chimes, Strand and Lorln. The deal Is said to invoice $350,- 000. Syracuse. Sale of the Novelty, oldest of the surviving "store shows" In this city, is expected to be consummated this week. House Is In West Fayette street, and dates back to the nickel- odeon days. George Smith Is the present operator. Slotnlck and Pearlman, who have the Acne and Globe here, are the prospective new owners. Novelty Is a silent house. St. John, N. B. A new theatre will be built In Truro, N. S., by the F. G. Spencer Co., of St John. MUNNS FINALLY SELLS PUBUX CHICAGO SITE Chicago, June 21. - After dickering for four years, Harry P. Munns, the attorney, final- ly sold a site to Publlx-P. & K. for a house at 63d and Halsted. Munns bought the property from the Illinois Central railroad In 1926 for $450,000. Deal with Publix was held up, due to an alley on the property, but the council last week passed an ordi- nance discontinuing the alley as a thoroughfare. Publix will start building In 30 days. House to seat 4,000, park 1,500 autos, and enough space for Publix to build a second theatre it patronage warrants. Warners Miss Texas? Dallas, Jbne 21. Warner Bros, are stin out of Texas. In spite of fact that P-P and R-K-O have waged a sort of tug-o'-war for all worthwhile indie circuits throughout the state. W-B has not been mentioned In any way with any deals. Two profitable wheels s£ill stand' out, Robb & Rowley and Grlfnth, both claiming all set for biggest offer. Parade," the Academy here rented a whole trolley car, loaded It with a Jazz band, decorated It with poster cutouts, tl^en paraded the whole street car track system. Good stunt. Cost practically nil. ^ Danville, Va. Rlalto staged a fashion and queen of beauty show which got columns of free space. Traveling company managed the affair and got a cut on the theatre's gate for a week. Scheme worked well, but Rlalto hasn't announced the co.st. Prob- ably cut In too expensive. Reading, Pa. Paul E. Glase, directing Warner Theatres here, has effected a long list of tieups with bathing pool owners in and near Reading, with photographers eager to snap the many entrants and merchants will- ing to costume the winner in a bath- ing beauty contest for the Warners' Astor theatre stage. Reading win- ner will lake part in a district elim- ination contest and, should she win, would go to the International beauty parade in Galveston as "Miss Phila- delphia." Special section clicked for 1626 inches of free space and did not cost the house a copper. Even less regular advertising used that week by Klmberly, total being 287 inches. "Ledger" ran teaser ads for two weeks In advance. Staff of that paper sold all the advertising and. prepared copy. Police department co-operated at parade and patrolled it. Boy ushers dressed In old time style. An Oldsmobile car, 32 years old, ran on its own power. Toledo. Interesting display of faded news- papers In lobby of Paramount the- atre, arranged by Bill Exton, p. a. No tieup, but brought out a lot of entrants and much Interest. Re- ward of $25 for oldest. Theatre also had first of summer lobby en- tertainments last week, Jim and <3arrie Hughes, former Toledoans, and their performing dogs. Pittsburgh. Stanley tried a new exploitation stunt last week In connection with local showing of "The Devil's Holi- day." At last show Saturday night, three days before "Holiday" opened, management announced that incom- ing feature would be shown free of charge to all those who cared to remain. < About 500 on hand for special pre- view showing, and house figuir«d. Rpadlng, Pa. Manager Harry D. Steam, of the Capitol, used a pair of comedians, man and woman, traveling in an apparently rickety old Ford with a Florida license tag to advertise "The Cuckoos." The machine could make a surprising rate of speed, and did so,, racing around th« streets in every part of town. To advertise the same show Steam used also a small car with a box mounted on the rear, cartylnir a phonographic device with a sound magnifier, that kept on saylns "cuckoo, cuckoo," loud enough to heard a block away*.' Stunts cost Manager Steam about $240, but It. was worth it. "Cuckoos*' had a big week. TURN TO PACE 75