Biographical / Historical
Koerner (1896-1946) was born in New Orleans to Louis Novinsky and Doris Juanita Jennie Warren. He attended Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota. He enlisted in the Army in Havre Hill, Montana (1917-1918). In 1920 he married his first wife Doris Clark (1897-1926) in Great Falls, Montana. In 1931 he married his second wife, Vivian L. Calvin (b. 1905).
After the war he was a projectionist in Montana and worked as a branch manager for Jensen and Von Herbery, owners of a Pacific Northwest chain of theatres. In 1925 became part owner and general manager of the George Mann circuit of theatres in Northern California. After the sale of the George Man cicrit, Korner became a personal representative to Harold B. Franklin, president of Radio Keith Orpheum Corporation (RKO). Koerner eventuall y served in positions fro RKO in the SOuthwest, up state New York, and New England and West Coast divisions. In 1931 be became associated with RKO Theatres and was their New England division manager. In 1939, he became general manager of RKO Theatres with offices in New York.
Koerner died in 1946 in Los Angles of acute leukemia.
Sources
Montana, Military Records, 1904-1918. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: FamilySearch, 2019.
"C.W. Koerner, Head of RKO Theatre Circuit Ex-Manager Dies," New York Times (1923-); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 04 Feb 1946: 22
