Boxoffice-January.03.1953

. .
M ARITIMES
f^eorge Basha, owner-manager of the Page
Theatre at Stephenville. Nfld., triumphed
over fire-destruction of his Uptown Theatre
there, when he recently opened the new Page.
Basha, a member of a family long active
in the film industry, had just started building
the Page when fire destroyed the Uptown
and its contents. He rushed the Page to
completion, with a seating capacity of 250,
in order to provide films for his patrons, who
are primarily aii' force personnel and workers
and their families from Harmon field, U.S.
air corps station. Basha now is enlarging the
balcony of the Page. The Page staff numbens
four persons, including Basha. The theatreman
now has purchased a site across the
street from the theatre and plans to erect
an office building.
.
The attention of boys and girls at Sydney,
N.S., is centered on weekly all-cai-toon shows
at the Vogue. The show starts at 10 a.m. each
Saturday and admission is ten cents . . .
Herman Kerwin, manager of the St. John
Regent, took a week off before Christmas to
lay some new tile floors in his home
Patrons of the Armview on the outskirts of
Halifax are reported to have received favorably
the "Curtain at 8:30" program schedule.
Albert
Fred Basha, owner-manager of the Palace,
Corner Brook, Nfld., has moved into a new
home in that city . . . Mitchell Franklin,
acting president of the Franklin & Herschorn
chain, went to Halifax for the funeral of
Ivan Haley, Dartmouth exhibitor who managed
the Dundas and Mayfair
Mitchell and his wife,
.
partners in
. .
the management
of the Humber Theatre, Corner
Brook, for Mike Basha, helped protect the
home of Mitchell Franklin sr. from heavy fire
damage recently. The couple worked through
the night and were successful in saving the
building.
For about a year, Art Breau, doorman at
the Mayfair, St. John, has been spending
each Sunday at his home at Tracadie, where
his wife and nine children live. Winter driving
in the maritimes is far from conducive
to safety or pleasure, because of the cold,
storms and icy roads, but Breau very rarely
misses his weekly invasion of the elements
and dangerous footing. He covers about 500
miles each weekend and all within about 36
hours in heading to the Quebec provincial
line and back.
A dual assignment prevailed for Santa
Claus at Shubenacadie, N.S. Santa and Mrs.
Claus first appeared on the stage of the Roxy,
then made a second appearance at an institution
for orphaned and deserted boys and girls
of a settlement for Indians. The roles of Mi',
and Mrs, Santa were playing by Ned and
Mrs. Murray. Murray is assistant manager of
the Gaiety, Halifax, where the pair also
offered the Santa act.
Mrs. S. M. Brownell, manager of the
Goudey Theatre, Barrington Passage, N.S.,
has been busy outside the theatre looking
after her young daughter, who is in school
and church concerts. Goudey Theatre was
established by the late Gordon Goudey of
Boston, a dean of gum manufacturers and
whose birthplace was Barrington Passage. He
spent much of each year there and built and
outfitted a de luxe little film theatre, which
he named after himself. This came into possession
of the late Percy Fielding. A brother
is Art Fielding, Bridgewater, N.S., and formerly
general manager for the Spencer chain.
Not far from Barrington Passage and
Bridgewater on the south .shore, Capt. Sam
Herman, manager of the Capitol at Lunexburg,
N.S. the last 23 years, celebrated his
88th birthday. He played another game of
auction in his office. His boss is F. Gordon
Spencer, head of the Sf>encer chain. The
captain gets his title from being a retired
skipper.
Producers to Meet
In Ottawa on Jan. 17
OTTAWA—The Ass'n of Motion Picture
Producers and Laboratories of Canada will
have its annual convention at the Chateau
Laurier hotel here January 17, 18.
The president of the association, which has
24 member companies throughout the Dominion,
is F. R. Crawley, head of Crawley
Films, Ltd., Ottawa. The secretary is J.
Alasdair Fi-aser of Montreal. S. Dean Peterson
of Peterson Productions, Toronto, is vicepresident.
The directors are W. J. Singleton
and Rene Germain of Montreal, Francis J. S.
Holmes of Winnipeg and Frank O'Byrne of
Toronto.
Cinerama Deal Reported
For Palace in Chicago
From Central Edition
CHICAGO—Joe Kaufman, assistant to
Louis B. Mayer, head of Cinerama, has been
in town, reportedly to complete a contract
between his company and Eitel's Palace Theatre
for installation of $100,000 Cinerama
equipment. It is predicted that Cinerama
will be ready to bow here in March. Kaufman
is in charge of theatre operations for
Cinerama.
Following the run of "Stars and Stripes
Forever," which opens Christmas day, the
Palace will go dark for about six weeks for
the installation of Cinerama equipment.
Meantime, two other Loop first run theatres
are reported still dickering with Kaufman
for the Cinerama premiere.
Stage Success to the Screen
"The Moon Is Blue," F. Hugh Herbert's
stage success, will be an independent production,
with Otto P^eminger as director and coproducer
with Herbert.
He Cuts Kiddy Prices
And Gets More Noise!
From North Central Edition
Coon Rapids, Iowa—Nate Then of the
Lyric Theatre here recently lowered prices
for children at his theatre. It was his
plan to give more children an opportunity
to see a show. However, Thon now is
wondering if the plan has backfired and
he's seriously considered raising the prices
of the tickets back to where they were.
Here's why, Thon says: The children
just don't appreciate what he's done for
them. "They make more noise, damage
the seats, and, when they are not
watched, run up and down the aisles
disturbing the adult patrons."
MONTREAL
/Christmas and New Year's holidays are always
gay on Filmrow with local industry
folks renewing acquaintances with colleagues
from other centers. The parties and gettogethers
are among the most enjoyable
events of the year, and are always looked
forward to and well attended. Whenever they
can break away from hometown engagements,
exhibitors from other pai-ts of the
province are always glad to head for
Montreal, and never omit year-end visits to
Filmrow.
Santa Claus paid one of his last local pre-
Christmas visits to the Palace and Odeon
Theatre in Verdun, where Andre Farley,
manager, helped distribute a large collection
. .
of attractive gifts to 150 children of the
Buissonets orphanage . Joan Bennett and
husband Walter Wagner and theii- two children
are holidaying in Quebec City and neighboring
resorts, enjoying the winter sports . . .
Three youthful members of the Canadian
Red Cross are conveying films of the Grey
cup football final to Japan where they will
be exhibited to soldiers convalescing in a
Tokyo hospital. The films afterwards will
be shown in the Maple Leaf club, Tokyo, and
in Korea.
Henri Guimond is constructing a cinema
on St. Lawrence boulevard between Cremazie
and Beauharnois streets at a cost of $80,000
. . . The Dominion Theatre of the Confederation
Amusments chain, closed a few days for
installation of new flooring and new seats,
was reopened December 20, with "Son of
Frankenstein" and "Tower of London" . . ,
A musical film of Christmas eve in Sweden
and another on skiing were shown at the
Museum of Fine Arts . . . "Coeur de Maman,"
a new French film will be produced in Montreal.
Christmas presents for children of the less
fortunate class were collected in baskets
placed in the entrance halls of Odeon theatres,
and appeals made to the public to donate
toys and other gifts were liberally responded
to. The theatres which participated
were the Champion, Mercier, Cremazie, Villeray,
Beaubein, Electra, Verdun Palace, Perron
and Midway, and in Montreal; the Rex
at St. Jerome and the Capitol at St. John's
. . . Dr. L. J. Lemieux, former sheriff of Montreal
who organized the province of Quebec
board of film censors and was its president
for a number of years, died recently at the
age of 83.
Theatrical circles not only in Montreal and
throughout Canada, but in many parts of the
world, felt bereaved when they learned of the
death of A. C. "Abbie" Wright, for many
years the most widely known theatre manager
in Canada. The last few years he was general
passenger agent for Canada Steamship
Lines. Wright, who was only 63, was manager
of the Princess Theatre until it was
taken over by Consolidated Theatres and
converted into a motion picture house. He
then moved to Canada Steamship Lines as
purser supervising entertainment on the ships.
He climbed in a short time to the post of
general passenger agent. Always a sportsman,
he was in early years road secretary of
the Montreal Baseball club, and took an active
part in other forms of athletics. Many
Filmrow friends were among the 700 at the
funeral service in Christ Church cathedral.
BOXOFFICE :: January 3, 1953 89