Boxoffice-August.11.1975

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'Jaws' Bites Big 685
In Minneapolis 6th
MINNEAPOLIS— For the sixth week.
"Jaws" continued ferociously at the Gopher
with a towering 685. while "Beyond the
Door" bowed to a lusty 430 at the Skyway
III. "Nashville" twanged out a hefty 420 in
its opening week at the Cooper Theatre
and checked into town with both popular
public response and critical acclaim. "Love
and Death." World Theatre, sizzled at 320.
(Average U 100)
Academy Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(SR), 2nd wk 140
BrooKdole, Southdate The Return of the Pink
wk Panther ,UA), 5th 275
Cooper—Noshville (Para) 420
14 theotres— The Land That Time Forgot (AlP) 70
80
Five theatres—Smile (UA)
Gopher Jaws (Univ), 6th wk 685
Mann The Fortune (Col), 5th wk 90
Orpheum Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not
Enough Pora;, 5th wk 100
Skyway I— Bite the Bullet (Col), 3rd wk 95
Skywoy II—The Drowning Pool (WB), 3rd
III—
wk. .115
430
Skyway Beyond the Door (SR)
Stote— The Wind and the Lion (UA), 95
5th wk. ...
Terrace— Rollerboll :UA\ 3rd wk 135
Three theatres-Crazy Momo (SR) 160
World Love ond Death UA), 3rd wk 320
Omaha Pussycat Found
Guilty by All-Woman Jury
LINCOLN—^Amsrican Theatre Corp.'s
Pussycat Theatre in Omaha made the news
twice during the week ending July 26. An
all-woman jury July 25 took about 30 minutes
to find the Pussycat owners guilty of
distributing obscene material. This is the
firm's third obscenity conviction here this
summer.
Only one count was charged against ATC.
since the two movies, "Eye Spy" and "Love
Riders," were shown as a double feature.
Jury members viewed both films before
going into deliberations. The prints were
seized by Omaha police after being shown
May 14, 1975.
Richard Epstein, assistant city prosecutor
for Omaha, urged jury members to judge
the movies by the standards of the average
person in Omaha, not "the fringe group."
He said:
• If the movies were not held obscene,
ihey could have been shown any place in
the city to any age group, not just adults.
• The films have no redeeming artistic,
political or scientific merit (they were described
as having scenes showing various
types of homosexual and heterosexual acts.
as well as rape).
In presenting the defense, attorney Gordon
Hauptman claims the films were restricted
to adults and potential customers
knew what they would be seeing. He also
asserted he personally does not care for
such movies but feels adults who do enjoy
them should have the right to see them.
Hauptman also pointed out that the Omaha
community tolerates many activities not
ipleasing to some residents—liqour sales, for
example.
Municipal Court Judge Fred Montag,
hearing the third Pussycat case this year,
deferred sentencing.
In a continuation of the Gary Bucchino-
James Cole comments relating to Pussycat
obscenity matters, it was disclosed that Uni-
(Continucd on page NC-3)
Harry Boesel Recoils Showmanship
Used During Half-Century Career
By W.M.I.Y I.. MEYER
.MILWAUKEE—Veteran showman Harry
G. Boesel has retired in his 50th year of
show business. He had managed the Palace
Theatre at 6th and Wisconsin until its closing
more than a year ago. after which he
supervised the advertising department of the
Marcus circuit.
During the recent Marcus Theatres spring
convention and seminar in Milwaukee, attended
by that organization's managerial
staff representing nearly 60 hardtops and
drive-ins, Harry was given a testimonial and
a Bulova Accuquartz wristwatch by Ben
Marcus, president of the Marcus Corp.
Peddled Show Bills
As a young schoolboy in his hometown
of Sheboygan, some 50 miles from Milwaukee,
Harry began his career as a house-tohouse
peddler of show bills for the .'\urora
Theatre. After high school he rose from
usher to assistant manager at the .Sheboygan
Theatre, then transferred to the Appleton
Theatre in Appleton. This movie house was
shuttered during the bank moratorium of
the early 1930s and. because work was
scarce, the young showman went on the
road with Ed Benjii as they toured the state
peddling the film "Red .Ace of Germany—
Richthovcn."
Meanwhile. Harry had made contact with
Thomas Saxe, then operating a string of
theatres in the state. One of them, the
Orpheum in Kenosha, was closed due to the
economic depression and Saxe hired Harry
to
help reopen it.
Vaudeville 'Queen' Recalled
He recalls: "It was necessary to get funds
from the local merchants for the necessary
electricity deposit before we could open.
Our first movie was "No Bed of Roses.'
starring Constance Bennett. There was a
scarcity of films and it became a necessary
move to book vaudeville shows to keep the
theatre operating. Our first stageshow
starred Gilda Grey— the Milwaukee shimmy
queen.' "
The Saxe interests eventually were sold
to Fox Theatres and Boesel was transferred
to Milwaukee where he m;in:iged the beautiful
new uptown Garfield Theatre. Others he
managed, in turn, included the National.
Mirth, Tivoli, Downer, Varsity. Strand,
Wisconsin (now Cinema I and II) and.
finally,
the Palace. He was promoted to district
manager for this circuit.
Success in show business becomes easier
with a know-how of showmanship and Harry
Boesel knows showmanship! During the
engagement of the origimal "Frankenstein."
starring Boris Karloff. he had an open coffin
placed on display in the theatre lobh\
Under cover of night he managed to have
it spirited away to a spot behind a barn on
a farm located om the edge of town. Boesel
then called the police department the following
morning to report a "stolen" coffin.
The p