Boxoffice-March.06.1948

. . Exhibitors
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: March
MONTREAL Check Safety Regulations TI H P D A/ T O
Closely in Ontario Cities ^ l\ W fV f vx
TUrontreal FUm Board of Trade has reelected
the following officers: President, William
Elman, manager of Columbia Pictures; vicepresident,
H. Cass, manager of MGM, and
secretary, Tom Dowbiggin, manager of Paramount.
Owen Lightstone. manager of Empire-Universal,
replaced Grattan Kiely, manager
of Warner Bros., as fire marshal .
Quebec Cinema Booking has moved from
Sherbrooke street to Filmrow at 5965 Monkland
Avenue. Mort Prevost is manager .
Eddy Sci-ider, former salesman for Monogram,
is now assistant to Mort Pi'evost, manager
of Quebec Cinema Booking Co.
An RKO staff party was given at the home
of Mrs. Eileen Chalifour, booker-secretary, for
Arnold Watson, salesman, who is leaving
Montreal for the head office in Toronto.
Among those attending were Murray Devaney,
manager, and Mrs. Devaney; Adele
Greene, June Gordon, Mary de Tremiolles,
Johnny Bastien, Norman Ragesky and others
Naomi Pollett, former secretary to Murray
Devaney, will be married March 16 . . .
Stella Larocque, stenographer, is a new addition
to Empire-Universal staff.
.
A new theatre will be opened shortly in
Ville St. Joseph, of suburb Drummondville,
by Lamothe and Fortin, contractors. The
700-seat is theatre fireproof. The building
contains two stores and eight apartments.
Perkins Electric installed the equipment
Eloi Cormier, salesman for Peerless Film,
went to the maritime section to attend the
funeral of his father . . . Emmett Gallagher
of Quebec Cinema Booking is mourning the
death of his mother.
John Ganetakos, manager of Confederation
Amusement, is back at his desk following his
illness . . . Harry Decker, RKO salesman, announced
the approaching marriage of his
daughter . . . Arthur Larente, manager of
Peerless Film, was forced by a bad cold to
absent himself from his office . . . E. W.
Perry, Canadian general manager of Empire
Universal, was here on a business visit from
Toronto . in town included Jack
Adel.son of Ste. Agathe; J. G. Kelly of Cap
de la Madeleine, and his manager, Claude
Charbonneau, and Georges Champagne of
Shawinigan Falls.
Red 'Iron Curtain' Charges
Bring No Official Comment
OTTAWA—The accusation from Moscow
government had helped in every way, secret
police guarded the film unit in Canada and
the Department of Labor had provided cheap
ohild labor for the film.
"The Iron Curtain" is based on the Soviet
spy trials at Ottawa and Montreal which
resulted in the conviction and imprisonment
of
a number of Canadian collaborators.
'
TORON'iO—A f started late at night
under the stage of the Ideal, independent
theatre in the east end, driving occupants
from an apartment above the theatre. Firemen
were able to keep the blaze confined to
the one section of the building and the loss
was estimated at $1,500.
Because of recent fires, the inspectors of
the theatres branch in the Ontario government
have been doing some close checking
and a warning has been issued that penalties
for violations of the provincial regulations are
to be increased. Two theatres were recently
ordered closed for short periods in the tightening
process of the government.
ST. JOHN
"The broadening of a plan of local
exhibitors
to issue free tickets to student nurses of
the General hospital, to include those of St.
Joseph's and Evangeline hospitals, was due
to the activity of Sam Babb, manager of the
Mayfair . . . G. Eric Golding, MGM booker,
handled the film program at an 11 p. m. show
in the Capitol, St. John, for the local branch
of the New Brimswick Fish & Game Ass'n
Dartmouth is to have a third theatre,
it is rumored here.
Continued delays in construction have
forced deferment in openings of the Paramount
in St. John and Vogue and Paramount
in Halifax. Indications are the local
FPC house will not be ready for business
until the early summer at the earliest, and
possibly not tmtil midsummer. The same
applies to the FPC house at Halifax. The
Vogue, being built for Franklin & Huschorn,
may not swing into action until' May. The
original plans called for openings of the St.
John Paramount and Halifax Vogue in early
January, and the Hahfax Paramount by late
January.
W. L. Armstrong of Halifax has given up
selling cigars and tobaccos on the road to
operate the Hub Theatre, Hubbards, N. S.,
formerly owned by Redden & Corkum of
Chester, N. S. He is installing a new front
for the theatre, and has completed a new
fire-resistant booth and new Holmes projectors
and speaker. He has also reseated
to the tune of 140 chairs, installed a new
and in the lobby has added a
boxoffice,
candy bar and soda fountain. He is considering
a revival of golf, miniature with a
layout next to the theatre, for summer op-
Lead to Ottawa Girl
OTTAWA—Miss Rona Anderson, former
local resident, has been named feminine
lead in the J. Arthur Rank production,
"Sleeping Car to Venice." She was educated
at Ottawa Ladies college and became an employe
of the Bank of Canada, later going to
the United Kingdom where she appeared in
performances for the troops.
pamcus Players Canadian Corp. finally has
fixed definitely an April opening of the
Nortown West on Eglinton avenue, which
has been under construction many months.
William Falls, former assistant to Manager
Len Bishop at the downtown Tivoli, has taken
charge of the Nortown. Succeeding Falls at
is the Tivoli Malcolm McCammon.
Three neighborhood houses have adopted
a giveaway plan for the first half of each
week, these being the Paramount and Doric
on Bloor street and the Kent on upper Yonge
street. The Kino has also initiated a coimtry
store prize stimulant Ertle, who
.
has become manager of the Strand at Parry
Sound, is rated the youngest theatre operator
in Ontario. He is a live-wire member of the
Lions club there.
With the closing of one theatre at Kirkland
Lake, Harry Bocknek. a visitor here, reported
he is continuing to find good business with
the Strand and LaSalle in the northern goldmining
town Capitol at St. Thomas
.
is having good luck with a series of Saturday
morning shows in which an amateur contest
is staged for eight previously auditioned
juveniles. Last Saturday "Joe Palooka,
Champ" was its feature.
Manager Sam Hebscher at the Savoy in
Hamilton had the Leslie Bell singers of Toronto
on the stage for one performance, the
proceeds going to the British nurses reUef
fund. Hebscher has also been doing well with
an Odeon Movie club for Saturday mornings
the engagement of "The Bachelor
and the Bobby-Soxer," the Famous Players'
Algoma at Sault Ste. Marie conducted a contest
for local swains and bobby-soxers for
which merchants had donated seven valuable
prizes. At Sault Ste. Marie, too, the Pi'incess
is staging a "Stage-O" game among patrons
for prizes each Monday afternoon and night.
The Canadian Liberty magazine has worked
up an award stunt for the choosing of the
best Canadian film and the best Canadian
performer on the screen, the "Oscar" to be
a feature featuring the Maple Leaf emblem
Arthur, well-known district manager
of Famous Players Canadian Corp., is
just about recovered from severe injuries
which he sustained when his car hit a parked
vehicle at night when he was returning to Toronto
from a business visit at Brantford.
Theatre Fined and Closed
For Having Blocked Exits
TORONTO — The theatres inspection
eration.
that two Canadian cabinet ministers had assisted
Thus far there has been no follow-up on
20th-Pox in filming "The Iron Cur-
tain" at Ottawa brought no official recognition
the rumor of a new theatre in Yarmouth
About 1,500 persons took the special train
from government quarters in the Ca-
nadian capital. J. L. Ilsley, minister of jus- from St. John to see the Ice Cycles show, in
Monclon
branch of the Ontario again showed its
teeth in the enforcement of regulations governing
tice, who was one of the two named in the Moncton. It played a week each at
Soviet declaration, declined to make any com- and Halifax .
brick walls of the burned
the operation of cinemas in the case
ment and there was also no word from Louis Capitol, Kentville, have been razed and the ^j ^^^ ^^^y jj^ Harriston
A conviction was registered against the
St. Laurent, minister of external affairs, the street partly roped off.
other member.
Roxy and a fine was imposed when an inspector
The Moscow charge said the two ministers
charged that the exits were blocked.
had been "underpaid" by 20th-Fox, that the
In addition, the department forced the
closing of the theatre for three days by the
suspension of its license for that period.
Pi-eviously, the Capitol in Simcoe, operated
by Robert Hambleton, had been closed
for 24 hours when the theatre was found to
be inadequately staffed during a performance.
BOXOFFICE
:
13, 1948