Boxoffice-December.20.1952

. . Tony
. . The
MPTO Grievance Unil S T. LOUIS
To Start in January
ST. LOUIS— Till' tipw Krlevniicc commlltcc
of the Motion Ptcturi- ThcuUi- Owners of
St. Loul.s. Eastern Mi.s.soiin iind Southern
Illinois, appointed by President Tom Bloonier
of Belleville iind headed by Le.ster Kropp. cogeneral
manager of the Fred WehrenberK
Theatres here, will .start functlunInK early In
January. It will handle any subject of dl.spute
or misunderstanding. Including .such
matters as reasonable rentals and clearances.
The committee will hold regular meeting In
tlie MPTO offices here and the exact days of
the month and time tor the .sessions will be
announced by Kropp.
Other members of the committee are John
Meinardi, St. Loul.s: Tom Bloomer, Belleville;
Bill Williams. Union; Tom Edwards, Farm-
Ington. and Lou Ansell, St. Louis.
Bloomer, at a i-ecent ineetlng of officers
and directois, al.so natned a special committee
to revise and streamline the constitution and
bylaws of the organization. Tills committee
also is headed by Kropp. Other members include
John Meinardi, Phil Nanos, Paul Krueger
and Lou Ansell, all of St. Louis. They will
report on the suggested changes at the next
board meeting.
The membership committee, headed by the
regional vice-presidents of the organization,
Paul Krueger of St. Louis, Bill Waring of
Cobden and Bill Williams, Union, will start a
drive for new members during January. Each
of the vice-presidents is to name members to
his portion of the committee, and each of
the.se subcommittees will concentrate its efforts
in its own particular territory.
Tentative plans for several regional meetings
of the organization to be held during
1953 were discu.ssed at the board meeting.
The location and time of the first meeting
will be announced later by Bloomer. Bloomer
has been named to the executive committee
of the Theatre Owners of America, while
Tommy James and Paul Krueger, both of
St. Louis, have been apopinted to the board
of directors of the TOA. They plan to attend
all of the TOA meetings. Bloomer attended
a meeting of COMPO in the Blackstone
hotel, Chicago, on December 10, 11.
Ice Show at Chicago
CHICAGO—The Chicago Theatre of the
Balaban & Katz chain is offering an ice show
for two weeks, starting on the 26th. Truly
McGee is the producer of the revue, which
stars June Arnold of the New Yorker hotel
ice shows in New York. If it proves successful,
Nate Piatt. B&K booker, will keep the
show on and possibly tour it in other of
the circuit's houses in Chicago.
'2/
PLAY SAFE...
NEXT TINE VSE
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^Jl^Ouality
mi s. wttASH ivu CHietao
no NINTH IVENUE. NEW VOK
. A-s announced In thlJi column
•Tlic .Shubfft Thratrr. dark sltici- larly last
summer, opened on Chrlstma,s day with
Charlie Chaplin In Limelight." The theatre
Is managed by Itay Parker, mayor of Brentwood,
who manages the Skyline Drive-In In
the summer . earlier,
.
the Normandy Theatre building
and Its parking lot have been .sold and will
be converted Into a super market. Stories
appearing In the St LouLs dally papers Sunday
i2Ii reported the .sale price "at more
than $50,000" and revealed also that a provision
of the .sale Is that the building Is not
to be u.sed as a motion picture hou.se or theotre
in the future. The property was owned
by the Normandy Theatre, Inc., a subsidiary
of the Wehrenberg Theatre circuit.
Word comes from Mount Vernon, Ind., that
Louis Davis of St. Louis, general manager of
the Vernon Tlieatre in Mount Vernon, has
named Gilbert Skelton and John Yaggl, t)Oth
of Mount Vernon and longtime employes of
the theatre, to be its Joint resident managers.
They succeed Cos Ofer, for 16 years associated
with the Vernon Theatre, who resigned
recently to Join the advertising department
of the Evansville Courier-Press at
Evansville, Ind.
The United .\rtists exchange looks spick
and span with a repainting Job recently completed.
Fern green is the color scheme in
the outer office. Manager F. J. Lee's office
is done in regency green, while the salesmen's
quarters are done in chartreuse. The Venetian
blinds have been retaped and cleaned.
Gas heating will be in.stalled during the holidays.
. . .
. . .
Exhibitors along Filmrow included Bernard
Temborius, Breese; Bob Johason, Fairfield;
Wayne Smith, Egyptian Drive-In, Herrin,
Jimmy
and Joe Goldfarb, Alton Frisina, Taylorville, buyer for the FVisina
Amusement Co., Springfield, went to Florida
for the Christmas holidays Harry Haas,
Paramount manager, left for Los Angeles to
spend the holidays with his family. He returns
January 2.
. . .
The son of Amos Leonard, Warner Bros,
salesman, came in to spend Christmas with
the family David B. Barrett, son of this
tradepaper correspondent, shipped out of a
California port bound for "somewhere beyond
the horizon." Promised his mother to write
when he gets there. He is in the army.
Art LaPlantc, Columbia, visited various
towns in the interest of the Will Rogers
Memorial fund drive . . Bill Earle, manager.
.
National Theatre Supply, and salesmen Bill Jr.
and Harry Hoff attended the recent National
Theatre Supply district sales meeting at the
Gayoso hotel in Memphis.
Department store sales In St. Louis the
week ended December 14 ran 13 per cent
more than those for the similar week in 1951
on a dollar volume basis, the St. Louis Federal
Reserve bank reports. The district as a
whole gained 10 per cent and the national
increase was only 3 per cent.
Curious friends along the Filmrow and in
other local industries have asked me how
the Barrett Formula compared with the final
official results of the national elections held
on November 4. The formula, which has hit
every presidential election since 1880, this
year indicated EiAenhower would carry 38
state, with 431 electoral voles and that hlJt
popular vote would be 33.815^90 to 27587,485
for Governor Stfven.soii, with 594.925 ballots
cost for others or spoiled The final results
tts reported by the AP show Elsenhower carried
38 states with 422 electorlal votes and had
a popular vote of 33,927.549 to 27J1 1.316 for
Stevenson and 308996 votes for others
The Prairie AmuM-ment Co, reportedly Is
considering construction of a drive-ln to serve
the Jerseyvllle area . personnel of the
local Warner Bros, office had .some chilly moments
December 8-11 as the landlord installed
a new oil-burning furnace. A numljer of
small electric heaters were pressed Into service
during the emergency.
Arch Hosier, St. Louis Theatre Supply Co.,
returned from a visit to Los Angeles. While
there he took in a performance of "Bwana
Devil" and reports that It has been doing
great business, despite the unfavorable comments
of newspaper critics. Arch also enjoyed
a submarine trip while on the coast . . . Desmond
Slattery, motion picture actor and producer,
and his Irish wolfhound, Faugan
Baulla, the largest dog in the world, were here
December 12 .
Pelu.so, manager of
Fanchon & Marco's Fox. is looking for locaUtes
who played in the bands of the late
John Philip Sousa .so that they can be his
special guests at the local showings of "Stars
and Stripes Forever."
The Empress Playhouse, operated by An-
.
sell Bros., will be dark until December 30, to
give members of the resident stage company
a holiday period after 11 straight weeks of
plays. The second half of the .season will
open with "Kiss and Tell," featuring Edith
. Elections have
Fellows and Dickie Moore .
been ordered by the National Labor Relations
Board to determine the collective bargaining
agencies for the engineers, projectionists,
stagehands, camera and soundmen
employed by radio station KSD and television
station KSD-TV, both affiliates of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. The AFL Electrical
workers union and Local 6 of the AFL stage
employes & operators union are seeking control
of the film camera men, soundmen and
projectionists employed by the stations.
Edmond North Pens 'Proud Ones'
Edmond North has been set to pen 20th-
Fox's "The Proud Ones," from the original
western by Verne Athenas.
•SELECT" FOUNTAIN SYRUPS
DRINK DISPENSERS
Select Drink Inc.
4210 W. Florisjanf Ave.
St. Louis, 15, Mo.
Phone
Mulberry S289
EVERYTHING FOR THE THEATRE
SL Louis Theatre Supply Company
Arch Hosier
3310 Oljro Sirool, St. Loui« 3. Mo.
Telepiione lEiforfon 7974
BOXOFFICE December 27, 1952 63