Boxoffice-July.04.1960

. . Reruns
. . Barbara
. . Morris
. . RKO
roadshow.
CINCINNATI
T)on Wirtz, managing director of the
Capitol, has announced four special
Friday morning screenings for children of
MGM's "Ben-Hur" during July and early
August . of 20th-Pox's "South
Pacific" are being screened at popular
prices in a number of area houses with
excellent audience response.
Helen Cirin, secretary to H. R. Gaus,
MOM manager, and her husband flew to
Elkhorn. Wis., to witness a sports-car racing
event . Reckers, U-I clerk,
has resigned Hail, Paramount
.
. .
booker, has been
with malaria
confined
. Russell
to
Gaus,
his home
MGM
manager, was in Lexington, Ky.
Recent Filmrow visitors have included
Sam Seletsky of Boston, general manager,
Smith Management Corp., owner of the
Montgomery Drive-In near here; John
Johns of New York City, to set up publicity
for UA's "The Apartment," scheduled
for a mid-July opening at the downtown
Albee, and exhibitors Ed Hyman,
Huntington, W. Va.; J. C. Weddle, Laurenceburg,
Ind.; from Kentucky, Ralph
McClanahan, Irvine; James Denton, Owingsville;
Fred May, Carrollton, and Floyd
Morrow, Louisville, and from Ohio, Harry
Wheeler, Galipolis; Mr. and Mrs. Floyd
Williamson, Dayton, and Ted Crist, SpencervlUe.
His many Filmrow friends are extending
congratulations to Frank AUara, a Matewan,
W. Va. exhibitor, on his recent election
to the presidency of the Bank of
Matewan.
Among those vacationing recently have
been Margaret Woodruff, Columbia booker,
to the St. Lawrence Seaway and eastern
areas of Canada and this country; Marie
Donelson, Screen Classics, on a fishing trip
in Tennessee; WiUiam Garner, Buena
Vista booker; Virginia Meyer, 20th -Fox
booker; Marge Crabtree, Paramount ledger
clerk; William Otto, Paramount shipper;
Hazel English, inspector. States Film Service,
and Wally Allen, booker, Chakeres circuit,
Springfield.
screenings in the small 272-seat house.
The imported "Wild Strawberries" moved
into the Guild to be accorded rave reviews
by local newspaper reviewers and verbal
approval by the capacity weekend audiences.
'South Pacific' as Rerun
Grossing High in Ohio
CLEVELAND—"South Pacific" has been
chalking up remarkable grosses in its rerelease
engagements in this area, according
to Ray Schmertz, exchange manager.
The picture is being released under the
same wave policy established by Schmertz,
and which he said proved financially successful
to the cooperating exhibitors as
well as to the producer.
"Under the plan," Schmertz explained,
"the picture is released at one time to not
more than four theatres in noncompetitive
areas. These waves ai-e repeated until all
possibilities are exhausted. The advantages
are manifold. The public has a wide time
choice in which to see the picture as opposed
to the old system of all theatres
playing it on availability day and also the
continuous advertising unbroken over the
entire period maintains a high interest in
the picture and increases attendance."
In Toledo, "South Pacific" played nine
weeks last year at the Paramount Theatre.
It was in its third rerun week at the
same theatre. In Cuyahoga Falls it played
a nine -week first-run engagement last
year; its rerun was in its second week and
playing to more people than in the original
engagement. Canton played it four weeks
last year but was in the second week of a
rei-un at time of wi-iting.
"We have 22 advance 'South Pacific'
bookings right now in northern Ohio,"
Schmertz said, "and we expect to double
this by the middle of the summer."
COL lTmb u s
JJen Pricltett, executive secretary of the
Independent Theatre Owners of Ohio,
attended the Institute for Ass'n Executives
held the week of June 27 at Michigan
State University, East Lansing.
TOLEDO
2'hc Rivoli, Skirball circuit house, was
nearly sold out for the closed-circuit
telecast of the fight between Patterson
and Johansson, attracting 2,050 patrons
at $4.30 admission, according to Manager
Al Dennis. The price was the same for
main floor and balcony. Dennis said it
was the most successful closed-circuit attraction
since the 1955 Marciano-Moore
fight, for which both the Rivoli and adjoining
Palace were sold out, due to Moore
having a Toledo background. Expenses of
the Rivoli for the Patterson-Johansson go
ran around $1,500.
The Paramount, 3,400-seater playing
"South Pacific" on a rerun basis, re^rted
doing good business in its third week, an
unusual record for a film at this large theatre
. . . Leroy Wyse and his son Richard
have purchased the Star Auto Drive-In
near Wauseon from Lee McLain.
Al Boudouris, president of the Theatre
Operating Co., has purchased the Maumee
Drive-In in suburban Maumee and the
Kiddieland Amusement Park on Moru-oe
street, near the company's Franklin Park
Auto Theatre. This firm also is operating
go-karts at the Franklin Park Auto Theatre.
Going all out to attract the younger generation,
the Rivoli reported its best business
for a week since last March when it
showed "Battle in Outer Space." Preceding
this offering, the Rivoli had shown "Hannibal"
and was to follow the space thriller
with "13 Ghosts." The big March attraction
at the Rivoli was "Who Was That
Lady?"
Percy Davidson Dies
DETROIT—Percy D. "Blondie" Davidson,
85. died recently at his home in Flint.
A former circus performer with the Wixom
Shows, he became associated with the late
Frank I. Wixom in the distribution of the
"
early "Passion Play Later he
became stage manager of the Stone Opera
House and of the Bijou Theatre in Flint.
Two sons and two daughtei's survive.
The Johansson-Patterson fight telecast
attracted a full house at the 3, 100 -seat
Albee, where admissions were pegged at
$4.50 and $5. Films of the fight also have
attracted excellent audiences at numerous
area houses. Some added excitement occurred
at the closed-circuit Albee screening
when a spectator informed a vice squad
detective that a man in the audience was
carrying a gun. Not knowing the man
pointed out, the detective promptly
"frisked" him, and then learned that the
gun toter was Detective George Gugel of
the police department in nearby Newport,
Ky., a son of the police chief of that city.
Ending a run of 26 weeks at the art
Guild, "The Mouse That Roared" closed
with capacity audiences at the last three
screenings and hundreds of others seeking
admission. According to the Manager David
Chick many patrons viewed the film two
or more times. Chick said the Columbia
film had set house records both for length
of run and for attendance, which he estimated
at more than 55,000 for the 684
Kelton, son of Mr. and Mrs. William E.
Garwood of Columbus, has the important
role of Kemuel, the prosecutor, in 20th
Century-Fox's Biblical spectacle, "The
Story of Ruth." Garwood has had extensive
experience on the stage and in television.
Ed McGlone, RKO city manager, is vacationing
in New York . Palace had
a capacity audience for the closed-circuit
telecast of the Johansson-Patterson heavyweight
title fight. Loew's Ohio attracted
considerable business with exclusive showings
of the fight films.
Drives in and Out!
TOLEDO—A "drive-in, drive-out," bandit
escaped with $75 after holding up Mrs.
Alma White, cashier of the Parkside
Drive-In Theatre in Oregon, adjacent to
East Toledo. The bandit drove up to her
window, threatened her with a revolver,
took the cash, and drove around the boxoffice
to the highway, and headed his car
toward Toledo.
H
U