Boxoffice-January.24.1953

. . Vern
OMAHA
The blizzard which swept across the midwest
left its mark on Omaha film salesmen
covering the northern Nebraska, southern
South Dakota and northwest Iowa areas.
Jack Jorgens of MGM got stalled in an eightfoot
snow drift between Yankton. S. D.. and
Walthill, Neb., in 20-below temperature with
a howling wind blowing. He came out with
two badly frozen ears. Bill Wink of Warners
was stormbound in Yankton and Jack
Andrews of Paramount in Pender. Neb.
Booker Evelyn MachmuUer, 20th-Fox, is
. . .
wearing a beautiful new diamond. The lucky
guy is Leo Juszyk, employed by the Burlington
railroad in Omaha . . . Joyce Anderson,
secretary to United Artists Branch Manager
Don McLucas, and Marie Cogswell, assistant
cashier, were stricken by the flu epidemic
and McLucas was attempting to battle
off a threatened attack.
The Met Theatre at Freeman, S. D., has
closed and the Gresham, Neb., house, run as
a town project, appeared due for the same
Joseph Schmidt, exhibitor at Scotland,
fate . . .
S. D., was taken to Sacred Heart
hospital
at Yankton for an operation. He is reported
M. E. Anderson.
to be doing fine . . . Paramount manager, attended the national
meeting in New York . Wheeler, Allen
exhibitor, also is county road maintenance
man and spent several days last week repairing
equipment as the storm howled.
Joe Jacobs, Columbia manager, returned
from a sales meeting at Chicago running over
with enthusiasm for the Technicolor "Salome"
and the tremendous advertising campaign
scheduled. His desk was loaded with
various gimmicks, including the full-page
convention-only layout put out in a Chicago
paper.
Irv Good, 20th-Fox salesman since 1949 and
before that with Fox at St. Louis. Cincinnati
and Des Moines, is resigning effective February
1 to go with the Searle Petroleum Co.
of Omaha. Good is from Buffalo, N. Y. . . .
With snow piled nearly window deep around
the Newcastle bank where he is cashier,
Billy Pfister, Newcastle exhibitor, last week
was going over fishing tackle with a dreamy
look in his eye ... At Wynot, exhibitor Vic
Nelson and his wife rode out the storm immersed
in worry. They also run the telephone
office and Nelson is responsible for
repairs to -some 30 miles of line.
The navy had a hand in the opening of
"Flat Top" at the Orpheum. A 45-foot replica
of an aircraft carrier, including elevator to
the flight deck, was shown around town an:l
parked in front of the theatre . . . Herb Jensen,
Walthill exhibitor, spent much of his
vacation polishing up his new Cadillac and
contemplating a trip to Florida.
Bob Kruger. Uptown at Sioux City, reported
his mother was up and around after
being confined to her bed for several days
Exhibitors visiting Filmrow were Phil
. . .
Lannon, West Point: Mons Thompson, St.
Paul, Neb.; Carl Harriman, Alton, Iowa; Mrs.
Nettie Johnson and son, Rich, Red Oak. Iowa;
Oky Goodman, Villisca, Iowa; Gary Vandenberg,
Sioux Center; Sonny Thacker, South
Sioux City, and Woody Simex, Ashland.
Omaha Staff of 20th-Fox
Hosts Roy Casey Party
OMAHA—The 20th-Fox office force gave
a farewell party Monday night il9) for Roy
Casey, whose plans to retire developed into
a Friday-Monday jump between jobs. Casey
planned to leave 20th-Fox after 22 years as
cashier in the Omaha exchange and go to the
west coast to retire. The company asked him
to take a similar position in its Seattle office
and Casey accepted.
As a going-away present the staff gave
him an automatic-winding wrist watch "so
he could watch the clock." As a matter of
fact, none on the staff could recall just what
hours he kept;—Casey is always there when
they arrive and still there when they leave.
A bachelor, Casey formerly worked for the
Hostettler Amusement Co. and left them to
go with the Variety Music Co. in 1928. leaving
them to join 20th-Fox. He has relatives
in Cherokee. Iowa. The farewell party was
given at Marcio's steak house.
Dorothy Weaver will be advanced from
assistant cashier. Josephine Maguire, formerly
at Warners, will be assistant cashier and
bookkeeper.
A. G. Stolte to Retired-
Waterloo Manager
WATERLOO. IOWA — Arthur G. Stolte.
city manager for Ti-i-States Theatre Corp. who
has been in charge of the Paramount Tlieatre
ARTHUR G. STOLTE
here for the last three years, is retiring from
the theatre business. He is being succeeded
by Robert Leonard of Des Moines, who has
been city manager there.
Stolte, in announcing his retirement, said
he plans to "take it easy" and that after a
visit to Texas he and Mrs. Stolte will spend
the late spring and summer at his cabin at
Shingwak Camps, Sioux Narrows, Ont.. Canada.
Stolte is a native of Waterloo. He attended
East High school and was foreman of
the composing rooms of both the Waterloo
Reporter and Waterloo Ti'ibune prior to starting
his show business career in 1914.
He was at Vinton a year before going to
Cedar Rapids as manager of the Slate. He
became associated with the A. H. Blank Motion
Picture Enterprises at Omaha in 1918.
He remained in that organization until 1950.
serving in the booking, buying and management
department. He came here in 1950.
The Morch of Dimes drive, in progress through
January, needs your help. Let your patrons contribute.
HUP AMD
cer MBLP
BENEFIT
MARCH
DIMES
JANUARY 2 TO 31
Johnson-Peterson Co.
Builds Redfield Airer
REDFIEILD, S. D.—The new drive-in theatre
being built by the Johnson-Peterson circuit
on the outskirts of this town will open
next spring with first run pictures. The circuit
also operates the local conventional
theatre.
Shutter Moorhead Theatre
MOORHEAD. IOWA—Tlie Moorhead Theatre
was closed the first of the year by Ralph
Martin, who has decided to devote his time
to farming.
Jeff Bailey Pens 'Sinbad'
Jeff Bailey is penning "The Son of Sinbad"
for RKO. The film is from an original by
Aubrey Wisberg and Jack PoUexfen.
Farm Income Is Down
In North Dakota
.Minneapolis— Statistics just released
indicate that farm marketing cash income
in North Dakota for the year just
ended was the second lowest in seven
years following the driest year since the
1930s. A preliminary estimate, based on
cash receipts for the first ten months,
puts the 1952 income at about 511 million
dollars, compared to the all-time high
reached in 1948 of 704 millions. The 1950
figure was 504 millions, the lowest
reached since 1946.
However, 1952 was one of the most
profitable years for exhibitors in the
Flirkertail state. The theatre business
generally flourished a.s result of a succession
of prosperous farm years.
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BOXOFFICE
:: January 24, 1953