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. . . Wilham<br />
. . Helen<br />
. . Benton's<br />
. .<br />
BUFFALO<br />
IliTorris Slotnick, operator of the two theatres<br />
in Rochester, has taken a lease on<br />
the Midtown and he is expected to reopen<br />
it as an "art" house soon. Closed since last<br />
December, the theatre probably will be redecorated<br />
and reseated before it is opened<br />
Brett, president of the Skyway<br />
Drive-In Theatre Corp., and William P.<br />
Rosenow. secretary, are at work with plans<br />
for operation of two additional open air<br />
situations recently purchased by the firm,<br />
the Niagara on Niagara Falls boulevard and<br />
the Genesee near Batavia. AH three ozoners<br />
will be operated as Skyway Drive-In theatres.<br />
James Ely is vice-president of the<br />
company, and Prank W. Tindle is treasurer.<br />
Eddie Meade of Shea's, in exploiting "Twelve<br />
O'clock High," arranged for members of<br />
the Air Reserve Ass'n, Air Force Ass'n, Reserve<br />
Officers Ass'n and the Volunteer<br />
Air Reserve group to attend the theatre<br />
in uniform following a parade along Main<br />
street. Four Buffalo men who flew missions<br />
over Germany and Prance were honored in<br />
special stage ceremonies. After the theatre<br />
celebration, members of the various groups<br />
and their families enjoyed an informal gettogether<br />
at the Boechat American Legion<br />
clubrooms.<br />
Buffalo is one of the first cities to be<br />
chosen for the showing of a new series of<br />
films produced by the Protestant Film commission.<br />
The premiere showing was February<br />
28 at the North Presbyterian church. Invitations<br />
were extended to religious leaders,<br />
educators, officials of civic clubs, industrial<br />
firms and fraternal orders and other community<br />
Joe E. Brown, in town<br />
leaders . . .<br />
recently to appear in a show staged in Kleinhans<br />
Music Hall under the auspices 'of the<br />
Buffalo Kiwanis club, recalled that the first<br />
time he played here he was ten years old as<br />
a 69-pound aerialist in a circus. After the<br />
show. Brown obligingly autographed programs<br />
for half a hundred persons who trooped<br />
onto the stage.<br />
Bill Lundigan, one of the stars of "Mother<br />
Didn't Tell Me," is a Syracuse boy, Dick<br />
Feldman. manager of the Paramount there,<br />
is planning special promotion for the star<br />
and the film, scheduled to open there soon<br />
. E. J. Wall, Paramount, was at work<br />
. .<br />
here on a campaign for "Paid in Full," now<br />
at the Paramount Theatre . Huber,<br />
a member of the Paramount 25-Year club<br />
and the Buffalo Pep club of the same company,<br />
is planning to fly to California for<br />
an Easter vacation visit with her sister.<br />
. . . Eddie<br />
Eddie Fitzgerald, new manager of the<br />
Paramount branch, was welcomed with a<br />
party at the exchange last Saturday evening<br />
(25). Mike Simon also attended and left the<br />
next day for his new post as manager of the<br />
Paramount exchange in Detroit<br />
Miller, manager of the Center Theatre, arranged<br />
a tieup with the Bell Aircraft Corp.<br />
when "Chain Lightning" opened at the<br />
downtown house. He prepared posters stating<br />
that Bell made the first jetplane.<br />
Joseph B. Clements, Paramount Theatre<br />
manager, used window streamers in a tieup<br />
with local record distributors on the Bing<br />
Crosby recording of "You're Wonderful" from<br />
"Paid in Pull." now being shown at the<br />
downtown house . . . Sally Bifarella, former<br />
secretary to Manny Brown at Paramount,<br />
now is employed in a government agricultural<br />
office in Springfield, N. Y., her home<br />
town and where her father operates a motion<br />
picture theatre. Sally was visiting along<br />
Street, Rochester<br />
Rlmrow recently . . . Gene<br />
city manager for Paramount, returned there<br />
from New York.<br />
. . . John Mc-<br />
Elmer F. Lux, chief barker, reported a large<br />
crowd attended the Old Time party at the<br />
Variety Club last Saturday night (25). Members<br />
are looking forward to the gin rummy<br />
tournament to be held March 10 . . . Bill<br />
Brereton of the Lafayette made a tieup with<br />
Sattler's department store for "Francis," currently<br />
at the Basil house<br />
Mahon, city salesman at Paramount, received<br />
word from Boston that John Good,<br />
former city salesman, is progressing nicely<br />
in his treatment for polio and that he will<br />
be out of the hospital in about six weeks.<br />
Peak Drive-In Trade<br />
Seen by Lamont<br />
ALBANY—A prediction that open air<br />
theatre<br />
patronage would reach a new peak during<br />
the coming season was made by Harry<br />
Lamont, drive-in operator in the Albany area,<br />
following his return recently from a twomonth<br />
vacation in Florida. While in the<br />
south. Lamont visited outdoor theatres in<br />
various sections of Florida and the Carolinas.<br />
Admission prices at drive-ins in Florida<br />
and other southern states are less than those<br />
which prevail in New York and adjoining<br />
states. Lamont said. Construction of open<br />
air projects in all parts of the south is<br />
progressing rapidly, according to the New<br />
Yorker. He said he had seen various innovations<br />
in drive-in construction and operation<br />
which might be adapted for use in<br />
this area.<br />
ALBANY<br />
Cam Davis, Phoenicia exhibitor, returned<br />
from a vacation in Florida . . . George<br />
Thornton. Saugerties theatreman. and Dave<br />
Rosenbaum of Elizabethtown were among exhibitors<br />
on Filmrow . . . "Sands of Iwo Jima"<br />
was reported to have broken the house record<br />
at the Olympic at Utica, operated by<br />
Charles Gordon.<br />
Vincent Trotta, head of National Screen<br />
Service's art department, spent the weekend<br />
as a guest of George Chelius jr., new manager<br />
of the Ten Eyck hotel. They have been<br />
friends for many years, Trotta having been<br />
a judge at a Miss America beauty contest<br />
in Atlantic City when Chelius was connected<br />
with the Claridge and Ritz Carlton hotels<br />
Joe Lerner, who produced and<br />
there . . •<br />
directed "Bystander," was interviewed by<br />
George Michael over WROW Tuesday afternoon<br />
(28) to promote the picture's opening<br />
at the Ritz March 8.<br />
. . Tex Beneke's<br />
Bert Kulick of Bell Pictures called at Warner<br />
Theatres offices . . . "Stromboli" opened<br />
at the Utica, Utica, and the Lincoln, Troy,<br />
to fairly good business<br />
orchestra played a one-day engagement at<br />
Schine's Oswego in Oswego, giving four performances<br />
. Strand, Plattsburgh.<br />
was one of the first in the territory to show<br />
"When Willie Comes Marching Home" .<br />
There was much speculation among exhibitors<br />
regarding the trade which "Stromboli"<br />
would draw to the Grand, where it opened<br />
Friday (3). The film has been licensed for<br />
commercial showings by the motion picture<br />
division of the state education department,<br />
and classified A-2 by the Legion of Decency.<br />
DONATE S26.000 TO DIMES—George A. Crouch of the Warner Theatre is shown<br />
turning over a check for S26.400, representing money obtained by Washington theatres<br />
for the March of Dimes to polio fund Commissioner John Russell Young, right.<br />
Looking on are Edgar Morris, left, chairman of the March of Dimes campaign, and<br />
A. Julian Brylawski, president of Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Washington.<br />
Crouch and Carter T. Barron were co-chairmen of the theatre committee for the<br />
1950 March of Dimes.<br />
Irene Rich Is Married<br />
NEW YORK — Irene Rich, star of stage,<br />
screen, radio and television, was married to<br />
George H. Clifford, president of the Stone<br />
& Webster Service Corp.. in their new apartment<br />
at the Sherry-Netherland hotel February<br />
28. Miss Rich, who recently closed a<br />
long run on Broadway in "As the Girls Go,"<br />
in which she played Madame President, said<br />
she would retire from stage and screen work.<br />
She acted in nearly 200 pictures during her<br />
screen career, the last being "Port Apache"<br />
in 1»48.<br />
46 BOXOFFICE :: March 4. 1950
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