Boxoffice-January.10.1953

. . . The
.
. . An
. . Lou
D E S
MOINES
paul Webster, Republic manager the last
four years, has been named a district
manager with headquarters in New York.
His territory includes the Chicago, Milwaukee,
Minneapolis. De.s Moines. Omaha, Kan-
PAUL WEBSTER
sas City and St. Louis exchanges. He will
move his family to New York soon. Stepping
into the branch manager's position here will
be Kenny Weldon who has .served the exchange
as salesman , . . Jim Ricketts. Columbia
booker, had his entire family home for
the holidays, including his son Jim, who recently
has been made Paramount manager in
Denver.
Dorothy Van Buren, Paramount, visited in
Truro, Iowa, last weekend. Her husband
Elmer, formerly employed at NSS, is now
stationed with the army in Germany.
Filmrowers offer sympathy to Waunita
Mr. Exhibitor . .
Goddard, Paramount inspector, whose husband
died last week . Levy, manager,
and Oliver Patrick and Ralph Olson, salesmen,
attended Universal meetings in Denver
January 5, 6 . . . Columbia Manager Byron
Shapiro i.s tlie proud owner of a SlOO hat.
won in a drawing at a local men's clothing
store. The hat carries a lifetime service guarantee!
Stan Dudelson, UA manager, is haid at
work on the Bernie Kranze drive which
began December 22 and will run until next
June. During the holidays, Stan's fathrr Moe,
central district manager for UA, visited in
Des Moines . lowan who made good as
an actor in Hollywood and a producer on
Broadway interrupted a trip to Sun Valley.
Ida., to see relatives in Nonvalk. Iowa. John
Merrick, known as Fred Stiffler when he
attended Norwalk high school, Drake university
and the University of Iowa, interviewed
Norma Shearer at Sun Valley in regard to
script revisions in a play, "Call Margaret,"
in which Miss Shearer will play the starring
role and Merrick will be the producer. After
his Sun Valley stop, Merrick went to Hollywood
to take a screen test for a role in
"The Robe."
D. H. Conley, RKO manager, has been in
Mercy ho.spital following surgery . . . James
J. "Sparkle" Sparks, fonner RKO booker, was
here recently on a furlough. Now stationed
in Colorado, "Sparkle" has lost 40 pounds
while in service for Uncle Sam, and is
quite a streamlined version of his old self!
He expects to obtain his release in February
Des Moines loge of the Coliseum
of Motion Picture Salesmen received many
thanks for their generous Christmas projects.
They made Christmas a gala day for five
deserving families here—taking them food,
toys and clothing.
Gene Autry brings his celebrated show to
Iowa for two engagements January IC, 17 in
Des Moines and Sioux City, respectively. With
Are you going to protect your interest with a drive-in
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Autry will be his horse Champion, his guitar
and the Cass County Boys. In addition, tbere
will be the Hoosier Hot Shots, Pat Buttram,
Johnny Bond, Carl Cotner and Gail Davis,
with all the Melody Ranch stars and many
others. Later in January, the 20th to the
25th. Olsen and Johnson will appear as stars
in "The Skating Vanities" at KRNT Theatre
in Des Moines.
A. H. Blank, president of Tri-States Theatres
Corp., was interviewed last week for the
Business Leaders in Iowa column in the Des
Moines Sunday Register. Relating his boyhood
and early theatre experiences, the story
ended with the amiouncement of an appointment
of the theatre executive and philanthropist
to the national committee for the
American Jewish tercentenai-y, which will be
observed in 1954.
Woody Simek to Open
Ashland, Neb., Circle
ASHLAND, NEB.—Woody simek has scheduled
the opening date for his new Circle A
Theatre for January 17 after numerous delays
in equipment and final finishing touches.
The old Neu Theatre was destroyed 13
months ago. Simek hsus done much of the
construction himself, including cement and
rough carpentry work. He figures he has
clipped possibly $20,000 off the cost. The
theatre was built without blueprint and is
one of the most attractive small-town layouts
in the state.
Many Clearance Plaints
But Few Devise Changes
MINNEAPOLIS— Although the local
Paramount
exchange has been receiving a number
of complaints from Minneapolis exhibitors
regarding the clearance setup here, only three
theatre owners responded when branch manager
J. T. McBride sought written suggestions
for the system's improvement.
However, Paramount will try to work out
something more satisfactory. McBride .said.
J. J. Donahue, district manager, and a member
of the company's legal staff were due here
this week to explore the situation and try
to. devise a new setup. However, there has
been an unavoidable postponement of the
visit, McBride announced.
"It would appear that every exhibitor wants
28-day clearance, the earliest of the subsequent
run availabilities," a.sserted McBride.
"At the same time, it's realized by exhibitors
that their boxoffice goose might be cooked
if all of the theatres, or even a large number,
play the same picture day and date."
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80 BOXOFnCE January 10, 1953