Wednesday, January 8, 2014

1/7/1954

EAST FAREWELL NEWS


Thursday, January 7, 1954   Vol. C446


LOCAL NEWS


COLD SPELL DOES NOT CHILL WINTER SPECTACULAR


East Farewell – An arctic cold spell took hold of East Farewell in the last week and has people bundling up but was not able to put a damper on the New Years’ Spectacular. The second year of the gala fireworks and music event rang in the New Year in fine style and many folks enjoyed the colorful noise even as temperatures hovered around 0°.  Les Charles and his Big Band supplied the sound track once again this year. This year he added a wonderful addition to the fireworks display, his band played popular numbers timed to the fireworks display. It made for a spectacular occasion.
            While the sky exploded, the people on the ground huddled together and stood by small fires for warmth. The temperatures did not rise above 10° the entire week and were below zero during the Spectacular. Lake Charles is close to freezing over and if the cold spell goes on for much longer there will probably be some hockey players on the lake soon. The cold weather put a bit of a damper on the local restaurants plans to set up outdoor dining for the event. The restaurants on Main Street and Lake Shore Drive did stay open and eagerly greeted patrons before and after the event. Some folks were fortunate enough to secure window seats at the Lost Oasis and view the Spectacular from the warmth and comfort of inside the establishment.
            “What a great way the bring in the New Year,” said Natalie Mallard, “last year was fun but this year with the music along with the fireworks, it was just spectacular. I hope we do this every year. It brings everyone together and starts off the year with a bang, literally.”

            The crowd was larger this year in part due to the expanded East Farewell Winter Basketball Tournament that took place early in the week.  Since New Years was on Friday and the tournament taking place throughout the weekend and into the middle of the week a lot of folks took a short vacation to visit the town, watch the Spectacular and root for their favorite team.
Fireworks over Lake Charles


SPORTS


2nd WINTER TOURNAMENT IS A BIG HIT


East Farewell – The Cougars hosted the 2nd Annual East Farewell Winter Tournament last week. It was a huge success for the town and all the shops and restaurants but it was not such a great success for the Cougars basketball team. They came in third this year behind the first place Corning Devils and the second place Central Bears. They did a commendable job on the court but the other teams were better this time around.
            The brackets were set up with last year’s finishes taken into account and since the Cougars won last year’s tournament, they were placed in the top tier. They had to play the Slate Mountain Canaries, a team they had lost to just two weeks ago. The Cougars did an excellent job on their defense and were able to prevail in the first round 45-41. They went on to the second round to play the league leading Corning Devils and lost 49-56 in a hard fought offensive battle. In the third round the Cougars were able to best the Southport Hawks, who they will be playing next week, 48-42. In the final playoff round the Cougars were able to eliminate the Riverview Wildcats but lost in the last minutes to the Slate Mountain Miners 46-45. The final loss put the Cougars in third place for the tournament.


 NATIONAL NEWS


SMALL THEATERS SNUBBED – DI FRASSO DIES – MONROE SUSPENDED


The Supreme Court upholds the right of motion-picture distributors to deny first-run films to neighborhood theaters with limited drawing power.  Crest Theater in Baltimore had charged conspiratorial action by eight major distributors in refusing to license first-run pictures to it.  A judge said there was no direct evidence of illegal agreement between the distributors and that if the Crest Theater were to receive first runs its license from the distributors would have had to have been an exclusive one. That is, no other theaters in Baltimore or the suburbs could have shown the same picture at the same time. “However, and exclusive license would be economically unsound because the Crest is a suburban theater, located in a small shopping center and served by limited public transportation facilities and with a drawing area of less than one-tenth of that of a downtown theater, it cannot compare with those easily accessible theaters in the power to draw patrons. Hence, the downtown theaters offer far greater opportunities for the widespread advertisement and exploitation of newly released features, which is thought necessary to maximize the over-all return from subsequent runs as well as first runs.” The distributors included RKO, Fox, Warner, Paramount and Loews.

Countess Dorothy di Frasso (66) - famed and wealthy international hostess, intimate of film stars and friend of the late gang leader Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel - was found dead of a heart attack in her roomette aboard the Los Angeles Limited train. Her body was discovered by actor Clifton Webb, who was traveling with her in the same car from Las Vegas.

Marilyn Monroe is suspended by 20th Century-Fox for not showing up for her latest movie project - “Pink Tights.” Hedda Hopper says she has been in San Francisco with Joe DiMaggio. Her attorney says the actress is angry because she has not been permitted to see a script of “Pink Tights.” There’s a rumor that the couple is married - not so according to DiMaggio “We are not married. If and when we are married, it will be announced as a blanket statement to everyone. No scoops.”



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