Boxoffice-Febuary.28.1953

. . Gene
ALBANY
piaborate preparations were made by the
management of Fabian's Palace for the
premiere of "Bwana Devil" Wednesday. A
traveling crew of three, plus Charles Wylie,
RCA area representative, worked for three
days on booth installations and wiring. Jim
Blackburn, stage manager, and Henry Hari-is,
president of the stage employes union, spent
two nights -nying" the special screen. Five
shows, the first starting at 12:50 p.m., were
scheduled . Ganott. assistant manager
of the Palace, hoped to return to his desk
Thursday after a three-week absence. He
undei-went an operation at Albany hospital
. . . Charles A. Smakwitz, Wai-ner zone manager,
hopped to Utica on busine.ss . . . Harry
Lamont returned from a seven-week vacation
in Key West, Fla., bronzed and healthy. He
immediately started work on plans for the
opening of his drive-ins.
Johnny Gardner, operator of the Colony,
Schenectady, and owner of the Turnpike
Di-ive-In, Guilderland, was reported vacationing
in Florida . . . The South American
cruise of Jack Goldberg, MGM manager, and
Mrs. Goldberg was to take about 15 days.
Goldberg is an old sailor on such trips . . .
Fabian's Palace was reported to have clocked
1.900 youngsters at a sunday matinee of "The
Stooge." The Paramount picture was moved
to the Grand after a w^eek at the Palace.
Dr. Carlyle Adams, religious editor of the
Times-Union, lecturer in philosophy and religion
at Russell Sage college and speaker at
two industry meetings for Brotherhood week,
received the Congregation Sons of Abraham's
annual Brotherhood award. He was given an
English translation of the JewLsh scriptures.
The Grand was scheduled to open Friday
with "Anna." Italian picture staiTing Silvana
Mangano and Vittorio Gassman. The Fabian
Theatres management has recently been experimenting
with foreign films in Albany and
The Erie, Schenectady, has
Schenectady . . .
booked the stage play, "The Country Girl,"
for a one-night stand March 16 at $1.80 to
$4.20 . . . Hellman's Paramount and Royal
staged Washington birthday matinees, consisting
of an hour of cartoons, plus "Tomahawk"
and "Commanche Ten-itory. " The
neighborhood houses, which normally operate
weekends only, opened at 12:30 p.m. Monday.
Mrs. Edward J. Wall, wife of the Paramount
director of advertising and publicity in the
Albany and Buffalo districts, has recovered
from an attack of pneumonia, which hospitalized
her. Mrs. Wall thanked Industry
friends who remembered her during the illness.
Wall planned a business trip to Buffalo
. . . Malcolm Atterbury's agreement with
Dr, Henry Brown of New York City for ter-
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FILMAOK GIVES YOU MORE SHOW-
mination of occupancy at the Colonial Playhou.se.
calLs for his stock company's operation
to end tliere by April 8. The troupe will close
the season March 28. Atterbury's future plans
have not been announced.
Promotion of Jane-Ann Diekman, granddaughter
of Oscar J. Perrin, Madison manager,
to head of the continuity and traffic
department at station WPTR has been announced
by the new manager, Howard W.
Maschmeier. Miss Diekman, daughter of a
leading Albany dentist, will continue as
women's editor.
Manager Alex Sayles, in cooperation with
the local army recruiting station, arranged an
extensive and attractive photograph-anddisplay
for the air corps in the outer lobby of
the Palace . . . The fifth annual Vincentian
Institute PTA fashion show was staged in the
afternoon at Warners' Madison. Elaine Drooz,
director of women's programs for WROW,
acted as commentator. In an advance notice
on the spring displays and "a Hollywood premiere."
she said that a good picture always
was screened as part of the affair. Admission
was $1. Manager Oscar J. Perrin helped on
the arrangements.
Joe Stowel is doubling from the Lincoln,
Troy, to tJie American, on weekends. He
assumed temporary direction of the American
when Wai-ners shifted it to Friday-through-
Sunday operation and transferred Jack
Swarthout to the Ritz, Albany . . . Tlie Delaware,
which usually single-features under its
art policy, dualed "The Young and the
Damned" and "The Big Day" ijour de Fetei.
John Brousseau manages the Delaware.
Jim Faas, engineer at the Strand, reports
the death of his wife recently. She died at
St. Peter's hospital after a brief illne.ss. A
19-year-old daughter also survives . . . George
Lourinia, maintenance man for Fabian Theatres
in the Albany division during the winter,
did minor repairs at Proctor's, Troy. He is a
drive-in manager for Fabian in the .spring and
summer, Irwin Ullman, the other outdoor
theatre maiiager for Fabian in this section,
is
serving as assistant to Dick Murphy at the
Schenectady.
Plaza,
The Avon, Utica, advertised that "Due to
conditions beyond our control, the stage play,
'Tobacco Road,' has been cancelled . . . Tlie
Family, Utica, headlined "David and Bathsheba."
The Paramount, Glens Falls, in presenting
the revival bill, "Great White Hunter"
and "Captain Kidd," explained via newspapers
that "Continuing our policy of bringing
back, now and then, really fine pictures for
you to enjoy anew, are two such pictures."
Benton's Strand, Plattsburgh, heralded
"First showing in New York state" of "The
Stars Are SiJiging. " The MGM feature opened
Sunday (22) . . . Reade's Broadway. Kingston,
booked Blackstone's Magical review as a stage
attraction to supplement "My Pal Gus." Review
opened friday night.
Warners' Troy, Troy, will open "Bw-ana
Devil" Mai-ch 3, and the circuits Stanley,
Utica, March 13, said Zone Manager Charles
A. Smakwitz. Admission for adults will be
Fabian's Palace, which premiered
SI . . .
"Bwana" February 25, broke newspaper advertising
the previous Friday. Cloth banners
under the marquee and in the inner lobby
spotlighted the picture.
Tom Mahar, doorman at the Strand and
member of the staff for three years, has been
inducted into the army. The young man finished
theatre duty February 19 with the compliments
of Manager Al LaFlamme ringing
in his eai-s. Mahar, who lives in Rensselaer,
hoped to be accepted by the air corps.
Fred Haas, chief construction engineer for
Fabian Theatres, made one of his periodic
inspection visits. Changes will be made to the
concession stand at Fabian's Mohawk Drivein.
Rolling doors will be installed and the
pitch of the stand will be lowered to give a
patio effect. The improvements are expected
to make traffic flow freer during intermission
The Mohawk probably will reopen
. . . April 4 and the Saratoga Drive-In the following
week. The Saratoga is the second oldest
automobiler in the exchange territory. Opened
in 1941 by Neil Hellman, it premiered a year
after the Auto- Vision, East Greenbush.
"Stars and Stripes Forever" drew classes of
school children to the Leland, Manager Pat
Patterson reported. One group came from
Menands, to catch a 1 p.m. show, another
from Delmar. The teacher accompanied them
in each case.
Johnny Capano, operator of the State, Troy,
had a friendly chat with Gene Autry during
the screen star's appearance with "Hit Show
of 1953" at the State Armory here. Last
year, when Autry played the RPI Field House,
Troy, under the auspices of Albany Variety
Club, he plugged a forthcoming date for one
of his films at the State. Capano has Gene's
latest Columbia release. "On Top of Old
Smoky," booked for an engagement soon.
Autry made a fine impression on the patients
at Albany Veterans hospital during an hour
personal appiearance, while in this city.
Malcolm Atterbury Plans
To Close Stock Theatre
ALBANY—The Colonial Playhou.se will
shutter March 28 when Malcolm Atterbury
ends an abbreviated season of stock. Atterbui-y,
who leased the old Colonial last September
from Dr. Henry Brown of New York and
relighted it in November, said at the premiere
of "Apple of His Eye" that he had decided
to lop off tw'o productions.
Atterbury opined that if he and Mrs. Atterbury
(Ellen Hardies) had been permitted to
stage Sunday night performances, as planned
and advertised last fall, they might have been
able to get by. A protest from an unidentified
source forced a junking of the Idea.
Onetime operator of the Tamareck Playhouse.
Lake Pleasant, which played pictures
the first half of the week and summer stock
in the second, Atterbury came to Albany in
1944 with his wife and opened the Playhouse,
the old Capitol, in 1946 after extensive
remodeling. The first two years proved fairly
successful, but the heavy overhead combined
with a drop in patronage, began to make
things financially difficult. Last spring, they
appealed for contributions of $55,000, about
one-fifth or one-sixth of which was realized.
During the summer, the couple sold the Playhouse
to an Albany operator of parking lots.
Shifting to the uptown Colonial Playhouse,
Atterbury found that he picked up some new
patrons but lost more old ones. The location
was too far from the center of the city.
46 BOXOFFICE :: February 28, 1953