“Northwest M.P.T.O. Meet”

Headline: “Northwest M.P.T.O. Meet”

Subhead: Five Hundred Theatre Owners Attend; Corporate Name Changed and Steffes Re-elected as President

APPROXIMATELY five hundred exhibitors of Minnesota and the Dakotas attended the Motion Picture Owners of the Northwest convention this week which was held in the St. Paul Hotel, St. Paul, Minnesota. Al Steffes, of Minneapolis, was re-elected president of the organization which, owing to a merger of the Northwest M. P. T. O. with the Twin City Theatre Managers’ Association, had its name changed to Theatre Owners of the Northwest, Inc.

Some of the highlights of the convention were the decision of the body to take steps to head off a proposed ten per cent gross receipts tax which is scheduled to be considered at an extra session of the South Dakota legislature; also it was announced that plans have been perfected whereby the theatre owners’ association would cooperate with the Dunwoody Industrial Institute of Minneapolis in the creation of a school of projection which any operator or person interested may attend to study the latest development in projection and lighting.

The convention was opened by Mayor Hodgson, of St. Paul, and addresses were made by civic and business executives of the city and M. L. Finkelstein and Theodore Hays of the Finkelstein and Ruben circuit.

The delegates attended a ball and cabaret entertainment in the Palm Room of the St. Paul hotel on Wednesday night, with entertainment provided by performers at the various Twin City theatres.

The convention closed with a banquet given to the delegates by the Universal Film exchange in behalf of Carl Laemmle, president of the Universal Pictures Corporation, who had planned to be present at the convention, but who was unable to attend.