Boxoffice-Febuary.18.1956

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ALBANY
•The Strand earned a fine pay off attendance
through the distribution of 15,000 discount
tickets for "Helen of Troy" to students in
local high schools and colleges. The stubs,
redeemable for 40 cents in the afternoon and
60 cents at night—Saturday evening and
Sunday were excluded—came in at such a
rapid rate that Manager Al LaFlamme estimated
the week's total would be around 3.500.
Assistant Norman Contois visited every public,
parochial and private school in the agerange
covered, as well as Russell Sage College
and the College of St. Rose. Andy Roy
had used a similar plan with good results for
the engagement at the Stanley in Utica. Sid
Sommer arranged to employ it for the date
at the Troy in Troy, while the Fabian interests
intend to follow suit in Schenectady.
Louis VV. Schine of Gloversville underwent
an ulcer operation at Harkness Pavilion,
Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, Tuesday.
He had recently been on a diet under
doctor's orders and had taken off weight.
Harold Gabrilove, chief barker of Albany
Variety Club and a close friend of the longtime
circuit executive, talked with him in
New York Tuesday and expected to visit him
Friday (17) . . . "Wiretapper" and "Jaguar"
comprised Paul Wallen's initial bill after
assuming operation of the Leland on lease
from Fabian Theatres Friday (17). He broke
newspaper copy on Wednesday heralding
"New First Run Policy."
As soon as the snow gets off the ground,"
Johnny Gardner will reopen the Turnpike
Drive-In at Westmere. Last year he relighted
March 17; in 1954, March 19. Gardner
and his son John jr. have gone over all
the loudspeakers. Cold weather interfered
with construction work at Gardner's new
325-car Unadilla Drive-In, but it had been
completed to a point where an April opening
was assured . sale by Neil Hellman of
the Mount Vernon Motel near the Auto-
Vision Theatre at East Greenbush, to Lillbett
Realty Corp. of New York City was disclosed
here. The property, valued at $400,000, will
pass to the new owner May 1, according to
Alan V. Iselin, assistant to Hellman in motel
operations. The New York group plans improvements,
including a swimming pool, to
the 60-unit motel.
Food, entertainment and sentiment neatly
blended at the Sweetheart luncheon the Variety
Club gave Monday noon in the Fort
Orange suite of the Sheraton-Ten Eyck. Held
in honor of "our wives," the affair attracted
about 30 couples. Clothes from the women's
store of Barker Josef Yezzi were displayed
during the meal. Among those attending were
Lewis A. Sumberg, Jules Perlmutter, George
Schenck, Jack Goldberg. Arthur Lowe, Ken
Farrar, Ben Becker, Aaron Winig, Sid Urbach,
Gene Teper, Jack Spitzer, Josef Yezzi, the
Bacher brothers, Jack Hamilton and Mrs.
Leonard L. Rosenthal.
Filmrow was shocked by the word Monday
that Bill Gaddoni had died in Kansas City
at the age of 42. MGM manager there, he
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had served with the company here as booker,
office manager and salesman for about nine
years. He was married to Alice Smith, who
was switchboard operator at Warners here.
They were parents of two children
William J.
.
Morgan, a graduate of Holy Cross
College last year, is the new assistant booker
for Columbia . Lamont sent word
from Key West, Fla., that the warm climate
and bright sunshine were improving his
hen lth. He is due back here March 1 . .
.
Jack Hamilton, Berlo Vending Co. manager,
Monday went to Monsey and the new Rockland
Drive-in, managed by Jerry Schwartz,
formerly of Albany. Berlo services the outdoorer,
which remained open for the winter
. . . Pat Patterson, manager of Fabian's
Leland for six years, was reported switching
to the Palace as replacement for Gene
Ganott—following Paul Wallen's leasing of
the former theatre. Patterson long served
as Wallen's assistant at the Leland.
Gene Ganott, promoted from assistant at
the Palace here to manager of the State and
Erie, Schenectady, is moving back to the
Electric City with his wife and young daughter.
Ganott lived there before World War II
and for a time after his transfer to Albany .
A second bill amending the penal law to
permit earlier starts for Sunday sports and
theatricals has been introduced in the legislature.
It would authorize a 1 p.m. opening,
instead of the present 2 p.m. Senator Samuel
L. Greenberg, Brooklyn Democrat, sponsors
the measure in the upper house. A companion
pends in the assembly.
. . . The
Oscar J. Perrin sr., dean of area managers
and a member of Albany lodge of Elks 47
years, attended the initiation of his sons
Oscar jr. and John by the lodge. The Knickerbocker
News ran a two-column picture of the
trio with hands interlocked. Perrin sr., Madison
manager, was recently honored by the
Elks with a "night" and a plaque
recent death of Sir Alexander Korda was
mourned by Rudy Bach, Allied Artists salesman.
Korda, Michael Curtiz (now of Hollywood
) and Bach all were producers in Vienna
at the same time . Knickerbocker News
ran a three-column picture of Al Levy, 20th-
Fox division manager; Clayton Pantages, local
Fox manager; Elias Schlenger, Fabian division
manager, and Bill With, Palace chief,
taken in the lobby of the theatre after the
preview of Cinemascope 55 . . . Malone, near
the Canadian border, was reported to have
been visited by a snowfall of nearly three
feet in two days.
Sponsorship of the 1956 Adirondack AAU
Golden Gloves championships was voted by
the Variety Club at a meeting Monday night.
The tournament, directed by Prof. Ben
Becker, honorary Tent 9 member and AAU
district president, will be held in Mid-City
Arena, Menands, March 19, 20. Proceeds
will go to the Variety Camp Thacher Fund.
Olivier, Dowling Heading
Actors Fund Committee
NEW YORK—Laurence Olivier, director,
producer and star of "Richard ni," will be
co-chairman with Robert W. Dowling of the
committee for the premiere of the picture to
be given for the benefit of the Actors Fund
of America March 11 at the Bijou Theatre.
Other members of the committee are
Katherine Cornell, Helen Hayes, Maurice
Evans, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Gladys
Cooper, Eva Le Galliene, Vinton Freedley,
David Sarnoff, Lewis W. Douglas, Mayor
Robert F. Wagner, Anthony Bliss, Robert
Goelet, Thomas J. and Mrs. Watson, Robert
Whitehead, Robert Benjamin, Arthur Krim
and William Griffin.
Albany Paper Suggests
End to Censorship
ALBANY—The Knickerbocker News has
twice suggested in editorials recently, that
motion picture censorship for New York
State might not be necessary or wise. The
first time, after listing 14 bureaus and state
activities which might be curbed or curtailed—considering
Gov. Averell Harriman's
record-high budget of IV4 billion dollars—the
local Gannett paper commented:
"We need more socially responsible movies.
Censorship is difficult at best, since the courts
are continually ripping holes in the law.
Some public-spirited citizen groups, though,
do much good."
On the second occasion, the Knickerbocker
News printed a long editorial in which it
stated the opportunity for settling the question
of screen censorship "may be imminent
because of the willingness of Capitol Enterprises,
Inc., to brush aside questions of fact
and present the appellate division—and
eventually the U. S. Supreme Court—with
an uncluttered constitutional issue."
Capitol Enterprises is distributor for "Mom
and Dad," which the motion picture division
has banned as indecent. In appealing the
bureau's ruling, attorneys for the distributor
are conceding for the purposes of the appeal
that the film is "pornographic." This technical
concession allows them to challenge the
state's licensing practice on constitutional
grounds. Appellants' attorneys also contend
that "bans imposed prior to exhibiting films
violate the First Amendment."
"If this were a simple issue," the News
added, "it would have been settled long ago.
Judging by the actions of their representatives
in the legislature, the people of New
York apparently want some sort of restraint
imposed on film exhibitors; every time the
courts knock out a movie censorship law the
legislature promptly passes another in slightly
modified form.
"Prior censorship is the easy way to handle
the problem; it doesn't involve policing and
prosecution. Usually the state doesn't have
to prove anything, but maybe the easy way
isn't the best way."
St. Lawrence Investors
Suit to Trial Feb. 20
ALBANY—The $1,500,000 antitrust suit
brought by St. Lawrence Investors, operating
Aleck Papayanako's American in Canton,
against Schine Chain Theatres, other Schine
defendants and the eight major distributors,
involving the Pontiac and Strand in Ogdensburg,
is scheduled to start Monday (20) before
Judge Stephen W. Brennan and a jury
in U. S. District Court at Utica.
Originally scheduled for Albany, the week
of January 16, court hearing was postponed,
and was later moved to Utica at the request
of the Schines.
A supplemental action for $600,000 recently
was instituted by the plaintiff to cover the
period from Oct. 19, 1950, to Jan. 5. 1956,
because of a new law making the statute of
limitations in federal cases four years. The
original suit was brought in 1951.
Comtois Heads ABC Sales
NEW YORK—George Comtois has been
named national sales manager for ABC Radio
Network by Don Durgin, vice-president.
Comtois has been acting national sales manager
since January 1 and before that he was
an account executive.
50 BOXOFFICE
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: February
18, 1956