The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (Aug 15, 1941)

CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE ll Published Semi-Monthly by the INDEPENDENT THEATRES ASSOCIATION HYE BOSSIN Managing Editor Vol. 7, No. 16, August 15, 1941. Subscription Rates: Canada and U.S.: $5.00 per annum <> 28 Address all communications to The Managing Editor The CANADIAN EXHIBITOR 21 Dundas Square AD. 4318 Toronto, Canada Disney Mob in Canadian Capers The Honorable J. T. Thorson, Chairman of the National Film Board, said today that the National Film Board has secured the cooperation of the Walt Disney Studios to make films for the Government of Canada. Mr. Walt Disney has offered his own co-operation and that of his studio staff as a personal measure of support for Canada’s war effort. Two representatives of Mr. Disney’s studios, Mr. Robert Carr } and Mr. Ub_ Iwerks, arrived in Ottawa by plane from Los Angeles to discuss two _ projects which the Disney Studios will begin work on immediately. The first is a series of films for the War Savings Committee. The pictures will be short animated cartoons, done in Technicolor in the inimitable Walt Disney style. Disney’s characters will stage a war savings parade on Parliament Hill, Donald Duck will obey his better self and buy a War Savings certificate, the Three Little Pigs will show how to beat the Big Bad Wolf, and Snow White’s famous Seven Dwarfs will hock their jewels to serve the national cause. The second project is a military training film in the cartoon technique to be made for the Minister of National Defence. Mr. Carr iaand Mr. Iwerks were sent to Ottawa by Mr. Disney to see Canada’s war effort for themselves at first hand. They remained in Ottawa for a week and consulted with National Film Board and other Government officials. August 15th, 1941 The Exhibitor . In the Picture Dust ‘Em Off, Boys “Some theatre is going to make a hatful of money one of these days by introducing a policy of revivals. The 11 o'clock revivals at the Imperial theatre (Toronto) draw enough people to indicate an interest in good old ones (it’s a wonder anyone stays up so late in so moral a city!) “Among the pictures that should be dusted off are “The Good Earth” (which could be used to raise money for China), Noel Coward’s “The Scoundrel” and his “Calvacade,” the Marx Brothers’ “Coconuts.” “Wuthering Heights,” Robert Montgomery’s “Night Must Fall,” Paul Muni's “Black Fury” (magnificent!) and the Damon Runyan story “A Slight Case of Murder.” “What's that. neiqhbour? You say the new movies can’t be as good as I say if I keep wanting to see the old ones. Well, there may be something in what you say.” —A. A. F. in News Hm-m-m-m-m-m “Incidentally, a number of service men have complained to me about the admission prices in our larger de luxe theatres, pointing out that $1.20 to take the girl friend to see a show is quite a bite into the $1.30 a day which the soldier gets. “Down in the United States many theatres have special prices for service men in uniform. In St. Louis, all first-run theatres offer reduced prices to the services, the Fanchon and Marco houses cutting the regular price in half. In Houston, Texas, theatres admit men in uniform for 75 per cent of the regular price. The 20th Century Theatre in Buffalo has inaugurated a policy of 20-cent admissions at any time for men in the service. This 20-cent policy is in effect, too, in Coral Gables, Florida. “The Canadian movie industry has done, and continues to do a great deal toward entertaining the troops, but this particular financial problem is one which comes embarrassingly close to the general public, especially when a soldier has to admit to his girl friend that he can’t afford to take her to a downtown show. Personally, I don’t think the amount of money involved would be important, so I hope the powers-that-be will give a passing thought to the situation.” — Roly Young in the Toronto Globe and Mail. Cinamaternity Stutf “Has any one commented upon the fact that. in a quiet, unfeted but very real way. the cinema has grown up? It is detectable in the final disappearance of a piece of coyness that used to make things pretty terrible for audiences. It took motion pictures forty years to learn how to let audiences know that women were going to have babies. In the last six months fourteen motion pictures have been filmed which discovered a way. All you have to do. a fact perfectly evident to any one even forty years aqo. is let the star in question say “I'm going to have a baby.” It’s simple, unpretentious, uncoy and healthy. but for four decades Hollywood couldn’t bring itself to utter the line either as a silent subtitle or spoken talkie dialogue. Girls were shown knitting baby socks. were shown not engaging in active sports, were shown burying their embarrassed but beautiful faces in the shoulders of their always startled young husbands. But never. or hardly ever. until recently. did a screen heroine walk into a room. look uvon her husband and say: “I am going to have a baby.” Producers shied from this simple exercise in clear, plain English as from an irritated cobra. I have even been told by producers that young women of cinema must not say such things on the screen. The inevitable “Why?” never did bring a cogent answer. “Anyhow dawn is breaking, ladies and gentlemen. The simple and eternal truths of life no longer will be signified on the screen with knitting needles and blushes. Young women will speak straight out.” . —Beau Broadway in the New York Telegraph. Yank Exhibs To Convene (Continued from Page 1) industry’s share of the amusement dollar—what has happend at the boxoffice—and what can be done to stimulate the public’s interest so that motion pictures can recapture the lost audience will receive foremost attention. The competion for the public’s money and patronage as between different types of amusement and also as between other industries and our own can well command the best brains of the industry. And it is sincerely intended that Allied’s convention will provide the platform and :the forum for a thorough-going discussion of this subject. The merchandising of pictures —how to get the most out of the product—what to do with the picture that just misses being good boxoffice—all have a definite bearing on the exhibitor’s income and will be part of the convention’s business program. The relationship of the motion picture theatre to the defense program, the effect of the defense program on the maintenance of equipment, the effect on the audience of certain types of pictures are major questions and will receive major attention. All in all, the Philadelphia Allied Convention will be aimed to produce better commercial relationships. between the _ various branches of the industry, with the full realization that now more than ever before there must be a wnified effort to maintain the motion picture industry’s place in the sun. In |connection with the Convention there will be a comprehensive display which will enable manufacturer’s supply dealers, motion picture distributors, and allied businesses an outstanding opportunity to meet the leading independent exhibitors of the country. To exhibitors it will afford the occasion to inspect the latest developments in all of these fields. A varied and interesting entertainment prognam is being prepared for both ladies'and gentlemen attending the convention. Further details will be announced as plans are completed. Seaman Polakoff Stops By Perking up the Film Belt the other day by his presence was the Navy’s Frank Polakoff, son of Lou and nephew of Abe. The lad looked hale and hearty and sported a seablown tan. He was being kept company by his proud pappy. He was on furlough.