The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (Jun 16, 1941)

June 16th, 1941 Pugilistless Efforts Out The boys who fling fast fists at each other on the screen often land ‘and kmock the other guy kicking. Though the blow is aimed to just pass the chin, it doesn’t always miss the target. Stars have occasionally taken out insurance when a number of fights were in prospect. ' Movie baitles, of course, require a special technique. The real thing looks like a phoney, is poor staging and unphotographicat. In a real fight would-be a blur. Their together and that, like real wrestling, has no theatrical qualities. Besides, the fists and arms of a real fight would be a blur. 'They’re true timing is slower than the camera. Just the same the odd hook spoils somebody’s makeup—to put it mildly. To overcome tcamera limitations the boys’ substitute power for speed. Only last week husky Nat Pendleton knocked in all the front teeth of Ralfe Harolde when he overshot a punch in “Big House Blues.” Film Loop Lads Stage Tumult We went to Trinity Park in the middle of the night (10 a.m. Sunday morn) to catch one of those Film Exchange League sessions of life, love and the pursuit of horsehide. Morrie Rittenberg’s Independent Spitfires tangled with Ben Ulster’s Broadway Aces. Tangled? They fumbled, jumbled and tumbled. By dint of clever ducking the casualties were held down to three. There were more hits, errors and laughs than a Chinaman has cousins. The Ulster outfit looked good until the fourth inning, when pitcher Shookie Greenbaum got hurt and was pulled out. Caught with their stance down from then on, the Aces got whacked around for fair. Even then there was plenty of umpire enmity and vocal acrobatics. The Spitfires outplayed and outweighed the Aces. On the winning team were such paunch-drunk players as McCarthy Rittenberg, Jack Stashin, Gil Sterling and Dawson, Sr. That corpulent icrew blocks a lot of space on the diamond, covers the rest and throws its weight around at bat. A couple of times the game was almost called from exhaustion. The scorekeeper had to have his fingers rubbed down regularly. The score? We quit counting when it got to 28-40. | eae a : The Exhibitor Picture Pickups By TAP KEYES Muscular Vic McLaglen dropped a decision to Jack Johnson at Vancouver on March 10, 1909. What do they do—wheel him on the set? That’s a long time ago... Universal, they say, will build up Maria Montez as “The Mmmm Girl.” Hmmm. Who remembers when Ann Sheridan was weighed down with “The Oomph Girl”? It turned to Humph. When will they stop naming the flamethrowers after glad cries? Nobody can tell me what to utter involuntarily when a kissworthy miss flashes onscreen. bo * * * * The studios have just paid over $2,000,000 for 24 Broadway productions. (I had to whisper that figure. So much money frightens me.) ... Serials are a big business. Twelve parts take four hours to screen—a “Gone With the Wind” proposition... Donald Meek will sport a beard in MGM’s “Barnacle Bill.’”’ The last time Meek flaunted the facial spinach was in “The Captain Hates the Sea.” He was a scream. * * * * % It’s said that the ASCAP-BMI tiff will end in a merger. Well, well, so Jeannie’s gonna marry My Man... . Winchell recently wrote about a girl so dumb she thought ASCAP was a new kind of girdle! .. . Mickey Rooney has just published his sixth song. What’s that kid want—all the money in the world? ... Judy Garland will sing “God Bless America” in the next Hardy feature. Which reminds of what the fellow said while reading the European headlines: “Thank God my old man didn’t miss the boat!” Your Bond is Your Word Here there is still the quiet sabbath. broken only by that incomparable music. the laughter of little children. Here the regular beat of daily living has not been broken. Quickened, that’s all. The noise of a distant plane is still a lulling purr, not the sudden sweep of a slaughterer. Nor is death a sure and silent partner of the pilot. But there are places this very minute where life is as vivid as the noonday sun and as grim as a pool of blood. There is Britain. There is Cyprus. There was Dunkirk and Crete. In many places, under strange suns, men guard the high-roads of democracy—and stand where others have fallen. A grotesque gallery of tin gods, led by a horror in human form, would throw centuries of social gain on the scrap-heap of history. His legions are marching on the double. The noise of them reaches all ends of the earth— the bludgeon and the jackboot beating time to Hitler's madness on the bodies of the innocents of many lands. Dark forces have set man against man by reviving ancient hatreds and libels. They repudiate democracy, scorn mankind, mock civilization. They must be stopped. We must help those who are trying. Democracy is the torch of mankind. And none on the home front have worked harder to keep it lit than the people of Canada’s motion picture industry. We have pitched in publicly, privately and personally. We have worked in groups and individually. Men have gone forward from all branches of the art to bear arms for the cause. The fight isn’t half over. Soon it will be our turn. We must get ready for the return match on their home grounds. Men need the things of war and the tools to make them. But first men need the money to pay for them. That's the why of Victory Bonds. What's idle money? You can’t take it with you—and you won't be able to do anything with it if Hitler and his hordes aren't stopped. Who wants to be the richest corpse in the pile? If it's spendable, its lendable. The outposts of Canada are the battlefields of democracy, no matter in what far lands. On them men are fighting for the greatest stake in history—freedom. Tell them that you're with them all the way. Your bond is your word. | Thanks, Laura, Said Shearer Now that Norma Shearer has returned to her native Canada to help the Victory Loan campaign, there is a story about her that should be told. Some time ago a Toronto group was staging a show in connection with one of the drives. Various Canadian and American stars had promised to apear. It was learned that Miss Shearer would be in New York on a certain day. A member of the committee got on a train and tracked Norma down. She explained that only the most urgent business had caused her to fly to New York for the shortest visit possible. Disappointed at not bringing home a rich prize, the committeeman explained the matter haphazardly. Truth to tell, somewhat wunfairly. The impression got around that the gracious and well-loved Canadian star had refused point-blank to help the cause. Miss Shearer’s great ianti-Nazi movie, “Escape,” was playing at Loew’s. She had been one of the most active in the film colony for English aid, a leader in the Bundles for Britain campaign. But the thoughtless, fed misinformation, were giving Miss Shearer the worst of it. Slight as the fuss seemed here, she was hurt deeply. But she let the matter die out rather than provoke an ugly controversy. The columnist of a Hollywood film daily, a very good friend, knew Miss Shearer’s mind on the matter. He wrote to a Toronto pal about the unfairness of the situation. The Toronto man told the story to Laura Elston, who delivered a popular radio broadcast of Hollywood chit-chat several times a week for Vix Vapor-Rub. Miss Elston went right to bat for Norma Shearer—and did a grand job of clearing the atmosphere. Shortiy after there came a note from the grateful Norma, thanking Laura for her kindness. Flush-A-Way SELF-DISPOSING SANITARY Toilet Seat Covers a An Indispensable Safeguard for Cleanliness and Personal Hygiene s The Service That You Owe Your Patrons — @ SOLD BY Sunclo Products 19 RIVER ST. TORONTO WA. 8601 Page ) ee ee ON eee ee i q Smeets ait anlage litt