Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1939)

^^ITH Quebec theatres closed, competition in the rural districts between the film distributors has been keyed up. As an illustration of its intensity it is mentioned around Filmrow that William Elman, district manager of Columbia; M. Isman, of Warner-Vitagraph, and Tom Dowbiggin, all had the same idea and started off separately to look for business. All three made for the same spot, the Border Theatre at Rock Island, Que. Ralph J. Berzan of the Rivoli, Coaticook, has become a benedict. His bride was the former Miss Ethel Bernice Sperber. Married in Montreal they headed south to the World’s Fair. Mr. Berzan is a brother of Dave Berzan of the Centre Theatre, Montreal. L. C. Pearson, sales manager of Dominion Sound Equipments, Ltd., has been on a business trip to Toronto . . . T. Trow of the Imperial, Three Rivers, is again in town . . . Harold Brock of the Princess, Cowansville, was another visitor on Filmrow. Archie Cohen, salesman for Columbia, has returned from a trip to Quebec’s northern gold-mining territory. He found things quiet in the goldfields, with many unemployed, but a hopeful feeling prevailing. William Elman, district manager for Columbia, is on a long trip to Chicoutimi, bustling little city on Quebec’s northeastern confines. During his absence, his secretary. Miss Druxerman, is having her tonsils removed. Unsettled weather has had a detrimental effect on the enthusiasm of those young lions of Filmrow who had formed a baseball team. The organizers complain that they cannot get the players out to practice, but expect enthusiasm to return with arrival of normal July weather. Fire which devastated St. Pierre, town of 8,000, capital of the French colony of St. Pierre et Miquelon, near Newfoundland, had its origin in the basement of a theatre. Several thousand dollars damage was done by fire to the Royal Theatre, Gaspe, Que. Walter Kruse, local alderman, is proprietor. Arthur Hirsch and "Bill” Lester spent a few days in Toronto conferring over the Quebec situation with N. L. Nathanson. Later Mr. Lester left for Quebec City where he took part in the negotiations with the city for removal of the ten per cent admission tax . . . Jack Chisholm, of the Toronto office of Associated Screen News, was in town for a couple of days. “I Was a Captive of Nazi Germany” has been passed by the Province of Quebec board of censors, and John Levitt, of Regent Films, has arranged for it to have its initial showing at the Orpheum commencing June 30, An extended run is contemplated. Up from Riviere du Loup is one of Quebec’s leading women exhibitors, Mrs. Bertrand, of the Princess Theatre in that busy little railroad center . . . Oscar Thuot of the Imperial, St. John’s, paid another visit to Filmrow. Recorder-in-Chief Tlrouin is greatly concerned over the hardship to mothers who have to bring their childi’en to court to testify against theatre managers who are charged with infringing the ban on admission of juveniles. He declared he would not postpone another case, as he did not want mothers and children to be forced to return repeatedly to the court. "Here and There in Habitant Land” and "Making of Canadian Homespun” are two films taken and shoum throughout Quebec by Duncan MacD. Little. Palace Theatre, Montreal, and the Capitol, Ottawa, are having the honor of giving the first showing of “Royal Banners Over Ottawa,” color film of the Royal visit made by Associated Screen News and distributed by Empire-Universal. The Palace added this, the first Canadian 35mm color film, to its feature picture, “Young Mr. Lincoln.” More and more commercial firms are turning to the film to do their sales work and to educate their employes. Motion pictures depicting the new rubber tractor tire and its uses on the farm were shoum to agents of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. at Quebec. B. E. Norrish, managing director of Associated Screen News, Montreal, is one of the judges chosen in the color photo contest for amateur photographers visiting the Canadian Rockies this summer. Cash prizes total $1,000, with first prize $250. They are offered by the Canadian Pacific Railway, through H. F. Mathews, general manager of hotels. Color motion pictures of scenes in the Rockies were exhibited to Their Majesties on the homeward voyage m the Empress of Britain by George Steward, press liaison officer, who took them himself. The King Canada, Not Congo — Eddie Newman’s Lyceum Theatre lobby in Winnipeg looked like this when Universal’s "Dark Rapture” played at the house. has approved of an exhibition of photographs taken during the Royal tour which will be held in London. The King himself took many hundreds of feet of film in the Rockies. Russell Louden, head bell boy at Jasper Lodge, Jasper Park, who is an amateur expert in motion pictures, showed King George some films he had taken and afterwards gave the King a number of tips on technical matters, which His Majesty recognized on departure by presenting Louden with a pair of silver cuff links bearing the royal crown and monogram. Canadian milk producers and distributors ivill cooperate in production of a film to show the milk industry "from grass to doorstep,” which will be ready this fall. Armand Dupuis, general president of Montreal Catholic School Commission, protested at a recent meeting against the absence of French-Canadian scenes and the French language in newsreels of the Royal visit to Canada. “Any reference to French-Canadians appears to have been carefully deleted from these motion picture reviews,” he declared, adding “No French is spoken in any scene, and there is no indication that French-Canadians exist in Quebec province.” Walter O’Hearn, managing editor of Montreal Herald, comments that "as an old opponent of double bills” he has been confounded several times of late by the discovery that secondary attractions at local theatres were a good deal more entertaining than the feature picture. The Marquess of Donegall, London Sunday Dispatch correspondent on the Royal Tour, deplored the fact that there was a bit cut out of a newsreel showing the Queen nudging the King to salute the veterans when the King was looking another way. “It seems to me to be sheer stupidity to cut that out and spoil a good human story and a lovely shot,” he remarked. London Daily Mail announces that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, the screen’s newlyweds, will spend their delayed honeymoon in England and Scotland in August. Neither has ever been abroad. Motion picture theatres in England are aiding the police in crime detection. Recently Scotland Yard persuaded theatres to broadcast on the screen an appeal to householders in Pontypool district to search their gardens for a missing bloodstained weapon needed as a clue in the murder of a property-owner. Hundreds of girls working overtime in Mayfair (London) dress shops making dresses for aristocratic women to wear at Ascot races are looking forward to seeing their creations on the screen. As one of the girls remarked: "It’s a thrill to see pictures of the things you have helped to make. You get a sort of feeling that you are famous.” Cary Grant, who is British-born, is (Continued on page 77) 74 BOXOFFICE :: July 1, 1939