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Columbus Art Policy
To Larger Theatre
COLUMBUS—The World, north side art
house, has moved its poUcy to the Alhambra.
situated on North High street near Ohio
State, Manager Charles Sugarman said. The
new World will continue under the same
management, the H&S Theatres, owned by
Al Sugarman and Lee Hofheimer. The theatre
will be associated with a national syndicate
headed by Vance Schwartz, Louisville,
Ky.
The old World was renamed the Little
Theatre and will show domestic films.
H&S Theatres will continue to operate the
325-seat house, first in Columbus to show
foreign films as a regular policy. Manager
Sugarman said that the change is being
made because of the great success of the
foreign-language and English-film policy.
The change to the 450-seat Alhambra will
make the theatre more accessible to Ohio
State students. Many departments at the
university, particularly foreign language and
speech, encourage their students to attend
showings of foreign films as a laboratory
project.
Extensive remodeling was carried out at the
new World, including a modern, indirectly
lighted auditorium and attractive lobby, revamped
marquee and restrooms.
Musical Stage Show Set
For Capitol at Detroit
DETROIT—Bebop versus Dixieland will
be
the issue in the special one-shot musical stage
show concocted by United Detroit Theatres
for the Capitol Theatre. Art Mardigian and
his Beboppers, complete with goatees and
berets, and Art Gillis and His Dixie Five, both
well known in their fields, will be the contestants
in this extra traffic-bringing promotion.
Each side will have its own master
of ceremonies, in the persons of two local
disk jockeys, John Slagle of WXYZ, who is
an authority on Dixieland, and Robin Seymour
of WKMH, who will handle the bebop
side. A big first run house, the Capitol usually
plays a straight film policy.
Newport, Ky„ Music Hall
Damaged by $5,000 Fire
NEWPORT, KY.—Fire damage to the Music
Hall Theatre, one of the oldest motion picture
houses in northern Kentucky, has been
estimated at between $3,000 and $5,000.
Flames, which were confined to the stage and
rear room, started in a large switch box.
Woodrow Bressler, Dayton, owner of the theatre,
said the sound system was damaged and
would have to be repaired or a new one
installed. Bressler took over the theatre May
1. He also operates the Dayvue Theatre, Dayton,
and the Riverview Drive-In east of
Dayton.
Matinee Stage Show Given
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO—The first afternoon
stage show ever presented at a drive-in
in this area was held at the North side,
where Denver Bill and his Colorado Ranch
Hands, a western musical group heard twice
daily on WFMJ, Youngstown, were offered.
Denver Bill used the refreshment stand as
a stage, and hooked his microphone to the
in-car sound system.
Films by Buses Illegal
Except in
Necessity
DETROIT—Tiansportation of commercial
motion picture films by public bus has been
banned in the state by the Michigan Public
Service comjnission for reasons of safety, except
'"when no other form of transportation
is available."
Some towns upstate have been served regularly
by bus transportation of films, and
such deliveries are occasionally made to
theatres served regularly by film carriers or
otherwise for special shipments, particularly
in the case of late shipment.
A hearing was held on the petition of the
Greyhound Bus Co. to carry film, as it formerly
did extensively, and was opposed by
Arnold Renner, state fire marshal, and by
Film Truck Service, principal carrier in the
state.
Course in Silent Films
At Cleveland College
CLEVELAND—Cleveland college of Western
Reserve imiversity is offering for the first
time this year a 16-week course on the best
silent films in motion picture history. The
course, which costs $6 for the 16-week series,
will begin September 20 and will continue
weekly untU January 24, 1950, with the usual
Christmas holidays.
The eight classifications studied during the
course include the following films: Drama
•Way Down East" (UA, 1920), "Greed" (MGM,
1924) and "Sunrise" (UA, 1927); western
drama— "Wild Bill Hickock" (Para, 1923) and
"The Pony Express" (Para, 1925) ; farce— "The
Strong Man" (FN, 1926) and "The General"
(UA, 1927); crime— "The Unholy Three"
(MGM, 1925) and "Underworld" (Para, 1927);
docimientary— "Chang" (Para, 1927); war
drama—"The Birth of a Nation" (UA, 1915)
and "What — Price Glory" (20th-Fox, 1926);
jazz age "Are Parents People?" (Para, 1925)
and "Dancing Mothers" (Para 1926), and
fantasy— "The Headless Horsemen" (Hodkinson,
1922) and "Peter Pan" (Para, 1924).
'Peace' Preview Too Distant
DETROIT—Helen Bower, film critic
of the
Detroit Free Press, publicly "declined with
thanks" an invitation to a screening of "The
Prince of Peace," which was given a first run
booking at the Drayton Plains Drive-In, 30
miles northwest of Detroit, on September 18.
Explaining that she would "wait until the
picture is to be released in Detroit," Miss
Bower commented, possibly facetiously, that
"the situation suggests the rather terrifying
possibility of critics having to become mobile
units and cover outlying counties to keep
the public informed on new pictures." The
film is distributed ay Hallmark Productions.
Twins to Blair Mooney
CLEVELAND—Blair Mooney, son of Milton
A. Mooney who heads Cooperative Theatres
of Ohio, is the father of twin sons born at
University hospital. The youngsters have
been named Pat and Mike. The twins are
Milt Mooney's first grandchildren.
To Portray Captain Kidd
Roc Hudson will portray Captain Kidd in
Universal's "Double Crossbones."
Saturday Matinee Crowd
Escapes Fire at State
BELLWOOD, PA.—Several hundred children
were evacuated from a Saturday matinee
at the State when film in a projection
machine caught fire. Smoke quickly filled
the auditorium and office and poured from
second story windows of the building on
Main street. Projectionist Jerry Smith of
Altoona was uninjured. Bellwood volunteer
firemen, working a block away in preparing
for their festival, arrived at the theatre within
a few minutes, dormed gas masks and used
chemicals to extinguish the burning film and
other equipment in the projection booth.
Flames were confined for' the most part to
the fireproofed room but firemen removed
some of the soundproof decorations to get at
the flames which were threatening to spread
to the auditorium. Damage was covered by
insurance, according to the management,
and the theatre was closed for several days
while a repair crew from Johnstown was on
the job. The State was remodeled recently
and new decorations were installed along with
other fixtures and equipment.
Henry Wilcoxon to Visit
On Behalf of 'Samson'
CLEVELAND—Henry Wilcoxon, starred in
Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah,"
will spend November 1, 2 here. Hal Marshall,
Paramount special publicity representative,
says he has arranged four speaking engagements
for the DeMille ambassador of goodwill
as well as two cocktail parties.
Talks will be made before group heads of
the Cleveland Federation of Women's Clubs,
religious groups, fashion experts of local department
stores and representatives of the
board of education and local colleges. All
meetings will be held at the Carter hotel.
Sam Isaac New Manager
Of Whitesbiitg Theatres
WHITESBURG, KY. — Nineteen - year - old
Sam Isaac, a student at Virginia Polytechnical
Institute, has been named manager of
the Kentucky Theatre here and of the new
Isaac Theatre now under construction. His
father J. E. Isaac of Cumberland has been
in show business for 30 years, coming to
Kentucky in 1922 after operating theatres
in Norton, Va., for several years.
Mrs. Rose Seyboldt Dies
ERIE, PA.—Mrs. Rose A. Seyboldt, 73, wife
of exhibitor Joseph Seyboldt of the Gem
here, died in her residence September 9.
Surviving in addition to her husband are
three sons, Arthur, Eugene and Joseph;
seven daughters, Mrs. Joseph Riley, Mrs. J. R.
Barrow, Mrs. William McGinnis, Josephine
and Rose Seyboldt, all of Erie; Mrs. Leo
English, Oil City, and Mrs. Frank Sandrock,
Franklin; a brother, Andrew Schwanz, and
a sister, Mrs. John Dardish, both of Titusville,
and 13 grandchildren. Requiem mass
was sung at St. Andrew's church Tuesday
morning.
Former Film Censor Dies
PHILADELPHIA, PA.—Mrs. Lucy (Haws)
Love, for nine years a member of the Pennsylvania
board of movie censors, died last
week of a heart attack at her home in St.
David. A former secretary of the censor
board, she resigned from this work in 1948.
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BOXOFFICE :: September 17, 1949
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