Boxoffice-April.07.1958

. . . Morris
. . The
. . Ottawa
. . Bon
MONTREAL
OeveraJ deals have been reported for motion
picture houses in this district. Leo Paul
Fredelte. who recenUy acquired the Pleiral
Theatre iji Montreal's northend, sold it to
Eniile Forest, foiiner owner of the Lux Theatre
of Varennes. The Venezia Tlieatre. St.
Catherine Street East, owned by Jean Grinialdi
and known for years as the National,
has been renamed the National. The newpolicy
calls for showing F*rench-laiiguage
films . . . T\vo theatres definitely closed their
doors. They ai-e the Vic, Brownsbui-g, owned
by A. Marchand. and the Normetal Theatre,
Normetal, owned by the Normetal Mining
Corp.. which operates copper property.
The first showing of "Paris Holiday," star-
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ARMAND BESSE, Prop.
9370 St. Hubert Street Montreol, Que.
Phone: DUpont 7-7818
ring Bob Hope, at the Capitol Theatre April
3 was for benefit of the Canadian Cancer
Society. United ArtisU donated the film for
the occasion and Con.solidated Theatres donated
the house . Orpheum Theatre,
St. Catherine Street West, used for variety
and drama presentation several months, will
return to films for the spring season April 25.
Capacity business was rep>orted by Columbia
Pictures with •Bridge on the River Kwai"
at both the Palace and Alouette theatres here
and at the Empire Theatre, Quebec City . . .
Twentieth Ceutui-y-Fox is erecting a onestory
office building on Mayrand Street near
the well-known Piazza Tomasso restaurant.
The stmcture is scheduled for completion in
June. It will provide up-to-date screening
facilities . . . Twentieth-Century Pox's "Peyton
Place," in a seventh week at Loew's, continued
to enjoy good boxoffice results . . .
Following the example of .some other distributors.
20th-Pox announced that on an experiment
basis it w^ill offer French-language
versions of the best films for simultaneous
showing in Quebec's .smaller centers.
. . .
. . .
Eddie White, booker at Warner Bros., has
received from Eileen Brennan, head booker,
word that she's enjoying herself during her
On
holidays at Daytona Beach, Fla.
business trips were Paul Vanier, salesman for
Warner Bros. 16nim division in the Gatineau
and Maniwaki areas and Michel Frank, Fox
salesman, who went to Saguenay and Gaspe
Peninsula
. . . Liberace will appear here at
the Bellevue Casino in mid-April, flying directly
from Australia Donat Paquin,
owiier of the Laui-ier Theatre, Hull, Que.,
passed away suddenly.
OTTAWA
.
.
^anasrer Ernie Warren of the Elgin hit the
Academy Awards right by having "The
Bridge on the River Kwai" on the screen,
opening March 21. He held the wimier for
a second week has its first
drive-in open for the season, the Auto-Sky
making its start Saturday night i29).
It is operated by Ben Freedman .
ager Jim Chalmers of the Odeon
. Man-
reported
that he was well satisfied with the attendance
at the closed-circuit TV performance of the
Robinson-Basilio prize fight from Chicago. It
was the second time that the Odeon had
featured a TV bout from a distant point and
the technical end of the program worked out
nicely.
Manager Jim Watt of the 20th Century
Theatres Rideau opened with the film of the
Robinson-Basilio championship clash Monday
(31) along with the first-run featm-e,
"The Tall Stranger" . Taylor of the
Regent continues to have success with "Peyton
Place," which was held for a sixth week
Berlin of the Somerset held
"Sayonara" for an extra three days after a
booked run of one week, thanks to the Oscar
excitement.
Ed Burrows, manager of the Odeon at
Kingston, Ont.. will have charge of the
Kingston Drive-In when it opens shortly.
The ozoner is an Odeon unit . . . "Miracle
in Manhattan," featuring Evangelist Billy
Graham, played Sunday afternoon (30) for
one showing at the Winchester at Winchester,
Ont.
ST.
JOHN
James A. Whitebone, projectionist, lATSE
business ayenl and city councillor, was
confined to bed several days with the flu . . .
Seen on Filmrow were Charles Staples, St.
Stephens, booking and buying for his reopened
Queen Theatre: Jack O'Rourke,
Gaiety, Minto: Mrs. H. M. Nesbitt, Star, Edmundston;
Mrs. John Coughlan, Tracadie,
owner of the Rex Theatre and Starview
Drive-In, and Plight Officer Wells
RCAF, Summerside, P.E.I.
of the
On his first visit here was Robert Warshaw
of Toronto, Republic general sales manager.
He conferred with manager Ken Snelgrove
and called on 35mm exhibitors, also
16mm TV stations . . . The Maritime Film
Bowling league, made up of employes of local
film exchanges, completed a successful season
with a banquet at the Royal Hotel. Ti-ophies
and a private screening were presented.
Trophy winners were Frances Allen, D. T.
Buckley, Shirley Buckley, Winnie Buckley,
Sandra Belyea, Marjorie Bourque, Phyllis
Campbell, Joan Falkins, Donald Golding. Ellen
Dalzell, Bill Dalzell, Barbara Lamb, Valerie
McGovern, Joan McEachern, Bob Mc-
Eachern, Kay Ryan, Barbara Sprague, Ron
Sprague, Helen Tapley, Bill Vail, Shirley WUliams,
Ted Wall and Mary Campbell.
Changes at the Famous Players Paramount
and Capitol, Halifax; Hillary Howe, assistant
manager of the Capitol, resigned to accept a
position with the Encyclopedia Brittanica;
Ron Connors, assistant manager of Paramount
moves to the Capitol; Robert McHarg,
assistant manager of the recently closed
Capitol, is now assistant to
man Skinner, Paramount, Halifax
Manager Free-
. . . Busy
signing contracts with circuit and independents
was C. M. Fitzpatrick of Amherst, N. S.,
eastern division manager for Adfilms of Toronto,
distributors of revenue producing advertising
films.
Jack Bellamy. Empire-Universal manager
for the past eight years, has left the organization
and soon will announce his futui-e plans.
He started in the industry in 1934 with Paramount's
advertising department. Four years
in the Canadian Arniy during World War
II interi-upted his industiy career, but
Bellamy returned to Paramount after he left
service. He left Paramount to serve briefly
as manager of the International Film Distributors'
exchange here before taking the
position with Empire-Universal. Vince Winchester
will succeed Bellamy as St. John
manager. Winchester has been with Empire-
Universal many years, first as booker and
then as salesman.
Many local industry leaders were elected as
new officers by B'nai B'rith Lodge 1963, the
local unit. Lou Simon, manager of Columbia
Pictures, is the new president; Lou Michaelson,
assistant supervisor for Odeon Theatres
(Maritimes). financial secretai-y; I. j. Davis,
United Ai-tists, recording secretary; S. A.
Babb, Franklin & Herschorn, treasurer;
Maurice Elman, advertising manager of the
B&L circuit, and Joshua Lieberman, partner
in the B&L circuit, guardians, and Mitchell
Franklin, president of the Franklin & Herschorn
circuit, coordinator for the Maritime
provinces.
Gene Evans will leave for London soon
to star in AA's "The Giant Behemoth."
K-2
BOXOFFICE April 7, 1958