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1 was<br />
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Memphian Reopened<br />
Afier Four Months<br />
MEMPHIS—Closed since February 9 when<br />
gutted by fire, the Memphian Theatre,<br />
iburban show house on Cooper near Union,<br />
s<br />
V as scheduled to hold its formal opening<br />
1 riday night. The picture is "Dead Reclvon-<br />
1 ig," starrmg Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth<br />
Scott.<br />
The theatre, operated by M. A. Lightman<br />
Associates, has been completely remodeled<br />
,'.-<br />
t:iroughout and equipment is of the newest<br />
r nd latest type. The auditorium has been<br />
f nished in acoustic plaster to insure perfect<br />
and varicolored indirect tubular<br />
lighting has been installed.<br />
New seats with more room between rows,<br />
lew draperies and carpeting and new lounge<br />
f nd rest rooms, tiled and featuring the most<br />
modern appointments, are some of the other<br />
improvements.<br />
Joe Keifer is manager.<br />
Florida Theatremen Say<br />
Tax Will Hit Little Man<br />
TALLAHASSEE—Publicity through newspaper<br />
editorials and comments continues to<br />
be fostered by Florida theatremen, w^ho are<br />
not waiting for the legislature to start serious<br />
cebate on an amusement tax. Facts are<br />
being fed to the papers as the theatremen<br />
come forward with protests against the tax,<br />
based on the ground that it would fall far<br />
more heavily on the low income groups than<br />
upon any other class.<br />
"The proposals to increase the present levy<br />
en gasoline met a quick death in the legislature<br />
this session; why should moviegoing be<br />
treated any differently?" they argue. "If<br />
the legislature has brought itself to the point<br />
(if being without money to finance the things<br />
they have already authorized for the next two<br />
years, let it look elsewhere for relief."<br />
Figures produced by the theatre companies<br />
s-how that 70 per cent of theatre patrons are<br />
working people in the lower income brackets.<br />
Surely these people, who are the least able<br />
to pay, should not be forced to bear additional<br />
taxes for seeing a motion picture when<br />
such entertainment is often the only kind<br />
cpen to them.<br />
Jim Cartwright is representing the film<br />
industry in the lobbying halls of Tallahassee.<br />
Sidney Meyer's Daughter<br />
Becomes Bride at Miami<br />
MIAMI—The marriage of Barbara Meyer<br />
Roy Robert Schechter took place June<br />
7 in the Shelborne hotel. She is the daughter<br />
1<br />
of Sidney Meyer, co-owner of Wometco<br />
Theatres. The bridegroom is a son of Mrs.<br />
> athan Schechter, Great Neck, L. I.<br />
The main dining room of the Shelborne<br />
V as transformed into a chapel, with an improvised<br />
altar. Patsy Meyer was her sister's<br />
: nid-of-honor. Other bridal attendants<br />
le Nancy Rosenheim, Highland Park, 111.,<br />
Carleton college classmate of the<br />
Iride: Gloria Burns, Joy Moseley, Mrs.<br />
Jjseph Davis, and Mrs. Clarence Herrick,<br />
s.ster of the bridegroom.<br />
Ushers were Robert Wolfson, Joseph Davis,<br />
Gerard Karron, and Robert Radnitz. the<br />
l.tter a classmate of the bridegroom at the<br />
I niversity of Virginia.<br />
After a Caribbean cruise on a Grace liner,<br />
visits to Venezuela and Colombia,<br />
tiie couple will reside at 11 Welwyn Rd.,<br />
Great Neck, L. I.<br />
Rimer Is Booker for PRC<br />
MEMPHIS— Robert William Rimer has<br />
j .ined PRC as assistant booker. Rimer has<br />
b-en in the industry for seven years.<br />
AT 20-YEAR FETE—At a testimonial<br />
dinner in his behalf, Marlt R. Chartrand,<br />
center, was presented a gold watch in<br />
celebration of his completion of 20 years<br />
with Wometco Theatres. Co-owners<br />
Mitchell Wolfson and Sidney Meyer presented<br />
the timepiece, and the dinner was<br />
arranged by the Wometco Old Guard club<br />
at the Variety clubrooms atop the Alcazar<br />
hotel. Chartrand is public relations<br />
director for the theatre circuit.<br />
G. C. Davidson Launches<br />
Monteagle, Tenn., House<br />
MONTEAGLE. TENN. — "Michigan Kid"<br />
was featured at the Eagle Theatre, which<br />
opened June 9. The new theatre, owned by<br />
G. C. David.son, is twice the size of his theatre<br />
at Whitwell, Tenn., and is located in a<br />
modern new building. Davidson's sons, Harold<br />
and Pearl Davidson, are the operators.<br />
Burial of C. E. Peppiatt<br />
Takes Place in Atlanta<br />
ATLANTA—The burial of C. E. Peppiatt,<br />
eastern division sales manager for 20th-Fox<br />
who was killed m an airplane crash in Virginia,<br />
were held here June 19 at West View<br />
cemetery. Peppiatt formerly was connected<br />
with film distribution companies here and<br />
in Charlotte.<br />
Ed-Ray Theatre Reopens<br />
MACCLENNY, FLA.—The 500-seat Ed-<br />
Ray, operated by Edward Crockett jr. and<br />
Ray Dinkens, reopened last week. The theatre'<br />
is fully outfitted with new equipment<br />
and the building contains two store rooms<br />
besides the theatre auditorium. The name<br />
Ed-Ray was chosen after a theatre-naming<br />
contest and the winner carries a pass good<br />
for a year.<br />
She Averts Fire Panic<br />
By Quick-Witted Action<br />
Hickory, N. C—Quick-witted Mrs. Coyte<br />
Truesdale, assistant manager at the Center<br />
Theatre here, discovered a fire in a<br />
closet under the stairway leading to the<br />
Negro balcony. She couldn't reach the<br />
extinguishers because they were back of<br />
the fire in the closet.<br />
She telephoned the fire department,<br />
then walked quietly into the auditorium,<br />
telling the audience what was causing<br />
the smoke, and asked all to file out quietly.<br />
They did. so calmly that some were<br />
reluctant to leave.<br />
Damage was confined to burned out<br />
wiring and blistered walls in the closet.<br />
SETOA Convention<br />
At Miami in August<br />
MIAMI-Thc Southeastern Theatre Owners<br />
Ass'n will hold its annunl convention here<br />
Augu.st 10-12. Key figures in the motion picture<br />
industry will be pre.sent. One of the<br />
convention objects is promotion of the Motion<br />
Picture Foundation.<br />
In town to start the ball rolling were<br />
Mack Jack.son, president of SETOA, an<br />
Alabama exhibitor, and Jimmy Harrison,<br />
Atlanta regional chairman, an official of<br />
the Wilby-Kincey theatres. Jackson and<br />
Harrison came to confer with the local chairmen,<br />
George Hoover, general manager of<br />
Paramount Enterprises, and Mitchell Wolfson,<br />
co-owner of Wometco Theatres. In the<br />
absence of Wolfson on vacation, Mark Chartrand,<br />
Wometco public relations official, is<br />
taking his place. Tom Jefferson is assistant<br />
to Hoover.<br />
The convention will have as its headquarters<br />
in the newly opened Variety clubrooms<br />
in the Alcazar hotel.<br />
Among motion picture executives expected<br />
here for the convention are Spyros Skouras,<br />
20th-Fox; Nicholas Schenck, MGM; Barney<br />
Balaban and Leonard Goldenson, Paramount,<br />
and R. B. Wiltay, Wilby-Kincey Tlieatres.<br />
Sack's Negro Productions<br />
Booked Solidly by Bijou<br />
DALLAS—Sack Amusement Enterprises,<br />
pioneer producers and distributors of Negro<br />
pictures, has attained a new high in simultaneous<br />
bookings of its all-colored cast features,<br />
accordmg to a company official.<br />
The firm now has five new Negro features<br />
currently being played simultaneously and<br />
solidly by Bijou Amusement Co. in its chain<br />
of more than 60 Nefro theatres over the<br />
south.<br />
"Dirty Gertie From Harlem, USA," the<br />
True Thompson feature starring Francine<br />
Everett is the latest Sack picture to be booked<br />
by Bijou. Other Negro pictures currently<br />
playuig the cu-cuit are: "Junction 88," with<br />
"Pigmeat" Markmah and Bob Howard: "Juke<br />
Joint," Spencer Williams and July Jones:<br />
"Murder With Music," Bob Howard and Noble<br />
Sissle. and "Beale Street Mama," Spencer<br />
Williams and July Jones.<br />
Jim Crockett is the new branch manager<br />
in Dallas. Howard Wallace is Atlanta manager.<br />
Durham Theatre Fined $50<br />
For Playing 'Immoral' Films<br />
DURHAM, N. C—A plea of nolo contendere,<br />
submitted by a defense counsel in<br />
the case of Francis Mahoney, manager of the<br />
Astor Theatre charged with showing of<br />
immoral pictures, was accepted by Assistant<br />
Judge W. C. Purcell. A fine of $50 and the<br />
costs of the case were assessed against the<br />
defendant, bringing to a close the controversial<br />
matter in which Judge R. Hunt Parker<br />
had ruled at Hillsboro Monday that Durham<br />
police should not be required to relinquish the<br />
confiscated films until trial of the charges<br />
against Mahoney. The theatre management<br />
had sought return of the films on the<br />
grounds of financial loss. The defense had<br />
denied from the beginning charges that the<br />
films were immoral, claiming that they were<br />
shown for educational purposes. Exhibits<br />
in the case were the films, "Birth of a Baby"<br />
and "Main Street Girl." Theatre is owned<br />
bv B&B Theatres tEUis Blumenthali.<br />
Mountain View House Renamed<br />
MOUNTAIN VIEW, ARK.—The Evans<br />
Theatre here has been renamed the Dixie.<br />
BJXOFFICE ;; June 28, 1947 SE<br />
109
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