Boxoffice-May.03.1952

. . . Nate
. . . Mr.
. . . Among
. . Sonny
. . Doug
. .
Phil Blakey to Manage
Santa Fe Drive-In
KANSAS CITY— Phil Blakey, former manager
of the Riverside Drive-In here for Commonwealth
Theatres, has joined the Winoko
Coi'p., owned by Richard
Wiles jr. and
Brooks Noah, and has
gone to Santa Pe,
N. M., to manage the
Yucca Drive-In, newly
acquired by the Winoko
firm.
Blakey left here Friday
(25) for Santa Fe
to prepare the Yucca
for opening May 1.
Blakey said he had
riiil Blakey tendered his resignation
to Commonwealth
early in March before making the connection
with the Winoko Corp.
Well known among area drive-in men,
Blakey had a long record of top-notch showmanship
in his affiliation with Commonwealth.
In the four years of operation of
the circuit's "King of the Moon" showmanship
contest, Blakey was the only manager
to win the award twice.
He had been with Commonwealth for about
seven years. He opened the local Crest Drive-
In in 1948, then took over management of the
Riverside. Previously he had been with the
Commonwealth indoor division and before
that was with the Dickinson Operating Co.
here.
Blakey's many exploitation ideas brought
him considerable attention. He was the first
local drive-in man to successfully negotiate a
new car giveaway. Last summer at the Riverside,
Blakey gave away a new Ford, which
he promoted from a local dealer. At the same
time, he attracted teenage crowds with the
giveaway of a flivver.
Blakey and Bob Walter, manager of the
Ci-est, often vied for honors in outdoing one
another in exploitation gags, ranging from
the giveaway of a fur-lined flivver to annual
turkey shoots, games and a diversity of contests
for theatre patrons.
Run the Cerebral Palsy campaign trailer. Available
May IS to July 1.
Monogram Chiefs Map
Production Plans
Hollywood—Plans for the 1952-53 production
season were to be drawn up Friday
and Saturday (2, 3) at a conference
of Monogram-Allied Artists' top studio
and distribution executives. Also on the
agenda was the discussion of sales plans
for upcoming releases and finalizing of
details in connection with Drive-In week,
scheduled to begin Saturday (24).
Studio participants were to include
President Steve Broidy; Harold Mirisch,
vice-president; Walter Mirisch, executive
producer, and John C. Flinn, director
of advertising and publicity. Also
to attend were James A. Prichard, Harold
Wirthwein and L. E. Goldhammer,
southwestern, western and eastern sales
managers, and Edward Morey, vice-president.
LOS ANGELES
Judging by the dearth of activity along the
Row, the Variety Clubs International conclave
in Las Vegas must have drawn record
attendance from among southland showmen
Schultz, who holds the Monogram
franchise in Cleveland, returned to his home
base after several days of huddles here with
company executives . . . Mike Levinson, independent
exchajige operator, hopped up to San
Francisco on business.
Honesty may be the best policy, but at this
writing Cai'l Young, who manages the Midway
Theatre for Ray Robbins, isn't so sure.
Checking the hou.se after an evening performance,
he found a pocketbook containing
$1,500 in cash and $1,500 in signed money
orders, located the woman who had incurred
the loss, returned the money to her (she lives
over in Glendalei and got a "thank you" for
Irwin Sklaar, operator of the
his efforts . . .
Crest in Oceanside. and Mrs. Sklaar returned
from a Honolulu vacation.
Among booking and buying visitors
glimpsed making the Filmrow rounds were
John Malone, manager of Bill McClintock's
Park in Huntington Park; Bob Reardon, who
manages Gerald Lipsky's Sherman in Sherman
Oaks; Bill Peck, La Moda, Atascadero;
Lloyd Miller, 99 Drive-In, Bakersfield. and
Larry Moses, Park Theatre, Monterey Park
and Mrs. Fred Siegel and their son
Bob of the Palomar in Oceanside are vacationing
in northern California before Bob's
impending induction into Uncle Sam's navy.
. . . Managerial
Among the Fox West Coasters: Distributing
stogies was Pete Latsis of the home office
publicity staff, who welcomed his third baby
girl into the Latsis clan
changes found Myron Talman succeeding Joe
Jarno at the Westlake, the latter having resigned
to go to Alaska, while Tom Devine and
Johnny Poulous have swapped jobs—Devine
taking over Poulous' post at the Belmont.
Long Beach, and Poulous shifting to Devine's
Redondo in Redondo Beach.
Local Warnerites attending the regional
sales conclave in Chicago Thursday and Friday
(1, 2) included District Manager Henry
Herbel, local Manager Fred Greenberg and
salesmen Joe Sarfaty, Bill Watnaugh and
Frank Reimer . Netter jr., Altec executive,
checked in for huddles with Stan
Pariseau and other local representatives of
the company . Thompson. Fox West
Coast's head receptionist, was back on the job
after a vacation in Fort Worth.
Ramona Blanco has been added to the RKO
staff as a clerk. She hails from Texas .
Niki Neiderhauser resigned as secretary at
Warners to devote full time to housekeeping
booking-buying visitors were
Chuck Piercy, who operates the Preferred
booking service in San Diego; Bai-nes Perdue,
American Theatre, Newhall, and Harold Martin,
exhibitor in the Hemet-San Jacinto area.
Tom Tobin has darkened his Cinema Theatre,
neighborhood showcase in Hollywood . . .
Columbia's exchange personnel to.s.sed a farewell
pai'ty for salesman Jules Needleman, who
is going into the army ... On holiday is
Lucille O'Brien, secretary to booker Everett
Sharpe at Fox West Coast.
The number of films banned or passed with
deletions in Burma sharply increased in 1951.
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AT THESE ASTOR EXCHANGES:
ASTOR— 1912 S. Vermont Ave— Los Angeles
ASTOR—250 Golden Gate Ave.—Son Froncisco
ASSOCIATED—252 E. 1st S. St.—Salt Lake City
(also serving Denver)
ALLENDER— 1812 N.W. Kearney St.— Portland
BOXOFFICE May 3, 1952 55