Modern

. . The
. . Ray
lie
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PHILADELPHIA
n feather in the cap of a very fine guy.
Max Miller. Eagle Lion publicity director
here, has been doing such a fine job in
exploitation of EL films that the local folk
. . .
no longer refer to such and such a film as
being made by Eagle Lion. "You mean that
An
Max Miller production?" they say
out-of-the-ordinary tieup has been arranged
for "One Touch of Venus." which opened
this week at the Goldman. Venus Girdles,
made by the Venus Foundations Co.. is the
kingpin of a contest to find the gal who most
nearly has the proportions of the statue of the
Anatolian Venus, which is on display now at
Gimbel Bros. The winner, who has to meet
specifications set forth in the AA film, gets
a $100 fashion wardrobe plus a year's supply
of girdles. National winner gets a week's
trip to Hollywood.
One of our town's favorite bits of local
color is the pretzel vendor outside the Family
Theatre. The quaint old gentleman, who
is about 70. is not a very good businessman.
He is always set up with two large baskets.
When he feels a nap coming on. he curls up
in the other one and sleeps. If a customer
wakes him to make a purchase, he is very
angry, and chases the offender away. All
this much to the arnusement of Family Theatre
patrons, most of the time.
.
Another food item in the theatre business:
After the city has tried so hard to get rid of
its pigeons, it has found that scores of the
birds are hanging around theatres. Reason—
the popcorn Princess will resume
its foreign policy September 22, after a summer
of Hollywood product, with the Italianmade
"AngeUna"
.
Thompson had a
taste of small-town life in California when
he was in the navy. So now Thompson, who
is manager of the Ogontz Theatre, is moving
with his wife and children to Millville.
N. J., to manage two small theatre there.
Theatre owners are always worrying about
various stars' boxoffice appeal. Well, this
week, the stage show "For Love or Money"
opened at the Locust. Simultaneously, the
Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa.,
opened the same show as a part of its summer
Little Theatre season. Despite the inconvenient
location, a poorer theatre, and
all the well-known tribulations of a summer
theatre, New Hope is packin' 'em in. Reason?
Ths Little Theatre production feature film
stars John Loder and Joan Caulfield.
The city's probe of thefts in its amusement
tax division was given new life by the appointment
this week of a new assistant. He
is George P. Williams II, who was chosen
for the job by Governor Duff. Since July 3,
he had been assisting in the technical preparation
of material for presentation to the
special grand jury. Williams, who makes his
home in Drexel Hill, takes over the tasks
formerly assigned to Harrington Adams, deputy
attorney general, who has been recalled to
duty in Harrisburg.
Services were held Thursday afternoon for
Mrs. Elizabeth Stiefel, who died in her summer
home in Atlantic City at the age of 74.
She is survived by her husband Michael, retired
owner of one of Philadelphia's first motion
picture theatres, a son and two daughters.
Blandings House in Albany
Nets $1,000 for Tent 9
ALBANY—About $1,000 will be netted from
admission fees to the exhibition house erected
here in connection with the showing of "Mr.
Blandings Builds His Dream House."
Aproximately 5,000 persons paid 25 cents
each to inspect the house, according to Harry
Lamont, chief barker of Variety Tent No. 9.
The John G. Myers department store
donated $500 in merchandise for a drawing
on the Strand Theatre stage following the
six-week inspection period set aside for the
house.
Schuyler Seattle, SRC area representative,
and Charles A. Smakwitz, Warner zone manager,
arranged details of the inspection.
Bingo Charges Dropped
BUFFALO—Charging violations of state
lottery laws in connection with staging of
bingo games, six indictments against 14 individuals
and a corporation have been dismissed
in county com-t on recommendation
of the district attorney's office. Two of the
true bills were reported in 1939 and 1941
against Old Vienna, Inc., operator of a downtown
motion picture theatre of the same
name. The jury disagreed in one of the cases.
Harry Hellman Dies;
Pioneer Exhibitor
ALBANY—Funeral services were held here
for Harry Hellman. pionser motion picture
exhibitor and showman, who died last Tuesday
(7i at the Albany hospital. Burial was in
Mount Hebron cemetery. Long Island.
One of the last connecting links of modern
theatre operation and early Albany nickelodeon
days was broken with the passing of
Hellman. He opened the Fairyland on South
Pearl street in 1908. Several years later, he
opened a small open air theatre one block
east of the Fairyland, a forerunner of the
modern drive-in.
Early experiments is synchi'onization of
sight and sound on film were conducted by
Hellman at the Fairyland. He employed
actors who were stationed behind the screen.
He often commented that he might have
perfected talking pictures if he had only had
more capital at his disposal.
He operated the Orpheum on Clinton avenue
several years, and later with his son Neil
built the Paramount. About 25 years ago, he
erected the Royal near the Fairyland. Later
the Palace at Ti-oy was added to his holdings.
In 1941 he built the Saratoga Drive-In.
A pooling agreement was entered into by
Hellman and his family with the Fabian interests,
covering the Saratoga and three other
houses built in 1946 and 1947.
More recently, Hellman spent winter
months at his home near Miami, Fla. He
returned to New York for an operation last
winter. One week ago he entered Albany
hospital for another operation.
He was a member of Variety Club Tent 9.
Surviving are his wife, his son, a brother,
five sisters and two granddaughters.
Dignitaries Visit Gains
Publicity for Theatre
WINCHESTER, VA.—An observant cashier
paid off in a good publicity break for Herman
Hable's Palace Theatre here.
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Marshall drove 35
miles from their home at Leesburg to see
"The Street With No Name" and Mrs. Lorraine
Donald, the cashier, recognized the secretary
of state when he purchased his tickets.
She signaled doorman Charles Keeler. who
relayed the news to Hable. When the first
showing was over quite a few people had
gathered in front of the theatre, including
newspaper representatives.
Marshall's visit made the first page of the
morning paper and was developed into a
larger story for the afternoon paper. Both
stories mentioned the Palace and the name
of the film.
POWELL IN NEW YORK-Dick Powell, durins a visit to RKOs New York exchanse
for a showing of "Station West." took time out to pose with Phil Hodes. branch
manager (left), and Len S. Gruenberg, metropolitan district manager
Half British Exhibitors
Exempted from Quota
LONDON—More than half of the British
exhibitors have obtained exemptions from
the new quota law which will go into effect
October 1, according to the board of trade.
Under the law. British exhibitors must devote
45 per cent of their top-feature playing
time and 25 per cent of their supporting feature
time to British-made pictures unless
given legal exemption.
The board points out that a large number
of independent exhibitors would not be able
to fulfill the new quota requirements.
48
BOXOFFICE :: September 11, 1948