Boxoffice-November.17.1956

. . Jack
PITTSBURGH
Kgain this year the highlight of the Press
Old Newsboys fund campaign will be
the annual premiere to be sponsored at the
Stanley Theatre. Every penny collected goes
to Children's Hospital. Old Newsboys turn
out for a "night out" at the Warner premiere.
Tlie theatre and picture presented each year
is provided through the courtesy of the
Stanley Warner circuit and Old Newsboy
Moe Silver, SW tristate zone manager . . .
Bob O'Hara is the new manager of the
Studio Theatre, Associated circuit's art house
in Bellevue, succeeding Jack Kieffer who
resigned . . . Robert Coyne, COMPO counsel,
said that municipal taxes on admissions in
Pennsylvania, which usually run about 7 per
cent, cost the industry from six to nine
million dollars a year.
When the football Steelers owners threatened
to quit Pittsburgh, Mayor D. L. Lawrence
suggested the possibility of forming a municipal
authority to take over Pitt Stadium
and later erect a modem stadium. Such an
authority would be similar to the arena
authority which is now erecting an allpurpose
structure in the lower hill area.
This arena will serve indoor sports, entertainment,
and conventions. A municipal
stadium, if built, will be designed for baseball,
football and other outdoor sports. The
Steelers are said to have negotiated a new
lease at Forbes Field with a rental cut for
next year.
Max and Martha Shulgold of Crown Film
Co. expect to vacation in New York City for
a week or so early in December . . . Harold
S. Eskin circuit's Alpine Theatre, Punxsutawney,
again has gone dark . . . Variety Tent 1
has dated its annual banquet for February 10
. . . Danny Ryan of the SW publicity department
was laid low with a virus this week . . .
College and high school student editors were
given a screening of "The Girl He Left
Behind," new WB feature . . . Harry I.
Mackey, 61, theatre manager, died in an auto
on the street in SteubenvUle, Ohio.
Reports are that Pittsburgh F^lm Service is
to take over the Republic Pictures shipping
and inspection departments November 23.
This was scheduled to take place a month or
so ago but the deal fell through at that time,
and it may again, according to reports on
Filmrow . Kalmenson, Warner Pictures
manager, recuperating from a slight illness,
and his wife are vacationing in Miami
Beach ... A tradescreening audience for
WB's "Baby Doll," also viewed the wonders
of Florida in the four-reeler "Chasing the
Sun."
Harry Kodinsky, ad man, will be the chief
barker for Variety Tent 1 in 1957, succeeding
TV huckster Ray Scott. Crewmen for next
year will include Jimmy Fallon, Lou Hanna,
George Held, Jimmy Klingensmith, Harold
C. Lund, John McGreevey, Dave Silverman,
SAM FINEBERG
TOM McCLEARY
JIM ALEXANDER
84 Van Broom Street
PITTSBURGH 19, PA.
Phone EXpretf 1-0777
Hlwtn »f« >«tHf Th»ii E»tr • HoWt Your EaulpwtntT
. .
Jake Soltz, Sammy Speranza and Abe Weiner.
Lund, vice-president of Westinghouse Broadcasting
Co., radio and TV, was named Tent
1 delegate to the international convention in
New Orleans next spring . Leona Theatre,
Homestead, staging a second rock 'n' roll
stage show December 1, will use the "operation
control" which permitted the first show
in four performances to be successful without
house property damage. This control was the
innovation of the Sterns of Associated circuit
who used a sizable contingent of police
officers as ushers and all of the house lights
were brightly aglow.
The Blue Stamp Co. deal with Stanley
Warner Theatres is said to be successful.
Four hundred businesses in the tristate area
are offering the stamps and issuing "Junior
Saver Books." A total of 120 stamps are
needed to fill a book and this serves as a
kiddy admission at any Stanley Warner theatre
in the Pittsburgh zone. SW executives
laud the stamp deal in this pioneering
forward-looking step in service to patrons
and customers, pledging complete cooperation
and point out: "This is a bold, well conceived
and executed plan that could grow into a
national merchandising program."
Mexican Distribution Set
For Sparkle Disc Product
NEW YORK—Feliz Navidad S.A. of Insurgentes
224, Mexico D.F., Mexico, headed
by Jacques Mersereau, is handling the sales
in Mexico of the product of the Sparkle Disc
Corp. of 1501 Broadway, New York. Joseph
Felder is president and Charles S. Goetz is
vice-president and treasurer of Sparkle Disc.
The company is marketing an advertising
accessory consisting of highly-reflective metal
discs the size of a nickel which hang from a
metal strip that is sold by the yard. The
discs are in gold and silver. They are stirred
by the slightest breath of air and give life
to marquees and lobby displays without the
use of artifical lighting.
Felder and Goetz said they reduce
electricity usage and servicing. The first
theatres to use them are the Fabian Fox in
Brooklyn and units of the Cinema Circuit.
They are of French origin and Felder and
Goetz have exclusive rights for the western
hemisphere.
Retains Drive-In Tax
JOHNSTOWN, PA.—Lower Yoder township's
10 per cent amusement tax was re-enacted
for 1957 at a meeting of the board of
supervisors. The new ordinance stipulates that
a minimum annual tax of $1.40 per year per
parking space be paid by operators of all
drive-in theatres in the township.
Renews Amusement Tax
WILKINSBURG, PA. — The borough
council this week re-enacted its 10 per cent
amusement tax which has closed all but one
motion picture theatre in the borough. Also
renewed was the borough's wage tax
ordinance.
United Artists' "The Quiet Hour" will start
location filming In January in Saigon, Indochina.
Peter Manos, 56, Dies
At Indiana, Pa., Home
INDIANA. PA.—Peter Manos, 56, died last
week (9) in his home here following an illness
of about six months. He was a partner
with his brothers in the theatre business,
operating the Manos and Indiana theatres
here and other show places. He was
bom in Sparta, Greece, Aug. 15, 1900 and
came to America 40 years ago.
More than a quarter of a century ago he
joined with his brothers in forming the Monessen
Amusement Co. His brother Jack, Ellwood
City exhibitor, preceded him in death
about two months ago. Jack died in the lobby
of his theatre as the result of a heart attack.
Peter died of cancer.
Surviving are Peter's wife, Anna; a son
Ted; two daughters, Marie and Renee, and
the following brothers and sisters—Mike and
Louis Manos, Greensburg; Harry Manos,
Vandergrift; Irene Coussaulis, Indiana, and
Nicholas Manos, Kyriakas Manos and Elizabeth
Tsirgatis, all of Greece.
Several Funds Started
In Memory of L. W. Schine
GLOVERSVILLE, N. Y.—In the wake of
funeral services at Gloversville for Louis W.
Schine, secretary-treasurer of Schine Elnterprises,
came the word that several funds in
his memory were being established. One was
the setting up by the Jewish Community
Center of a day camp "campership" for
needy children during the summer. Donations
to the fund are being made in lieu of
flowers.
Schine helped to found the Jewish Community
Center—next door to the Hippodrome
where the Schine empire was laid, with the
opening in 1918 of a theatre on the site of a
former skating rink, L. W. and J. Meyer
Schine scraped together $1,500 to premiere
the Hippodrome, now a weekend operation.
L. W. had returned from service as an Army
private in World War I. Industry men say
that the first Schine house was the Gem In
Syracuse, but this was not a permanent proposition.
Additions to those at the funeral, some of
them pallbearers:
Peter Dana
Ben Geltner
Abraham Cohen
Harold Sliter
Gus Lynch
Martin Dembow
Harry Goldsmith
Arch Levine
Barrett Singer
Harry Unterfort
Max Rubin
Myron Gross
John
May
Sidney Deneau
E. K. O'Shea
George Josephs
Milton Cohen
Arthur Newman
Herman L. Ripps
John G. Moore
Lawrence Bloomberg
Howard Antevit
Bernard Diamond
William Graham
George V. Lynch
Harold Gabrilove
Hoare Here to Discuss
Co-Production Deals
NEW YORK—Victor Hoare, managing director
of Lion International FUms, arrived
Tuesday (13) to discuss co-production deals
with emphasis on signing up American name
stars for appearances in them. He will also
help to publicize "The Baby and the Battleship,"
British comedy, to open here in
January.
Hoare plans a press conference at which he
will discuss new ideas in England to make
British films attractive to the American
market.
36 BOXOFFICE
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: November
17, 1956