Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 31, 1948)

Pago 10 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST Winnipeg News By J. J. CONKLIN SKING that the 20 percent excise tax imposed on motion picture theatre admissions be removed, the national committee of Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Associations of Canada has submitted a brief to Hon. D. C. Abbott, minister of finance. Pointing out the tax was instituted as a wartime measure, the association states: “We submit that it is unfair that this very high rate of 20 per cent should continue to be superimposed on the various provincial and municipal assessment taxes that already exist in eight of the nine provinces of the dominion and which, together with many other heavy taxes, are still in force. “There is now becoming apparent a very evident decline in motion picture theatre attendance”, the brief points out,“‘which we attribute directly to the fact that the general public have become price conscious due to their struggle for existence against the in creasing high cost of living”. The association pledges itself, should the tax be removed, that the entire amount will be passed on to theatre patrons and that from the date of its removal and continuing for a period of not less than a year, admission prices (exclusive of provincial or municipal taxes) will not be increased. This undertaking was reached at a meeting between Rt. Hon. C. D. Howe, reconstruction minister, Canada’s austerity director and J. J. Fitzgibbons of Toronto, president of Famous Players Canadian Corporation and head of the film industry's special “dollar-saving” comiittee. Plans are also under way, it was learned, for a number of Hollywood full-length pictures to be filmed in this country. xk oe OO The Winnipeg School Board has decided to make a film show ing the many activities of the Winnipeg schools, in studies, rec reation and drama, and other en fertainment in the school auditoriums, together with the industrial instruction carricd on, to bring the work to parents and to the general public. ok Moving picture theatre managers are watching, with the keenest of interest, the progress of the House of Commons legislation, especially in the taxation department, as it is reported in reliable quarters that the government has decided to remove the tax on theatre admissions during this session. Winnipeg managers declare the continuation of the tax, in the post-war period, is the chief deterrent to business in their houses this winter. Adding the amusement tax makes the price of tickets just beyond the capacity of theatre patrons to pay, with employment on the down grade in the west und wages cach week growing less. The example of Henry A. Morton, in giving away sets of dinnerware at the Beacon, to add to the attendance of ladies at the Beacon, the vaudeville and picture centre on Mid-Main street, has proven such a success, that other theatres in the suburbs are adopting the policy. Mr. Morton seldom makes a mistake in working out a policy for each of his four Odeon circuit theatres. x «x The moving picture theatre, located in the large community building at St. Pierre, Man., 30 miles south of Winnipeg, was de destroyed by fire on Jan. 17th, when the building was biurned to the ground. «% x x Passing through Winnipeg on their return to Hollywood, the production company which has been making a film founded on Canada's spy trials, is disappointed at the iron curtain they went up against in government circles on information needed in the film. They're surprised, hurt and disappointed over at 20th Century-lfox by the manner in which the Canadian government seems to be looking down its nose at “The Iron Curtain’, the documentary project based on reports of Russian espionage in Canada and treason trials that followed. When they set out to do this one, the Zanuck forces had high hopes Canadians would lend them all kinds of cooperation in photographing public buildings and gaining access to other important data. The government made it clear that due to many protests against making the movie, it couldn’t possibly extend more than cursory aid. As a consequence, Director William ~ Wellman was forced to bring his company home from location in Ottawa long before he had obtained all material listed. Studio props must be substituted and the jaunt charged off as a most expensive one. Dana Andrews, star of the film has been receiving a large number of letters announcing his future pictures will be boycotted if he finishes ‘The Iron Curtain”. Andrews portrays Igor Gouzenko, the Russian code clerk who revealed the Russian spy ring. Andrews was permitted to see Gouzenko, who is being closely guarded by R.C.M.P. against possible retaliation, ‘The Russian told the star his acts in exposing Soviet spy ring were not to be construed as traitorous to his own people but only against their masters who he fears will lead them to war and destruction. Anticipating protests the studio insists it is adhering strictly to the facts as officially revealed. There’s a secondary reason for this decision. The actual accounts are so dramatic and filled with so much cloak and dagger stuff, that the producers declare they have no reason to go beyond them. January 3ist, 1948 « Prairie News » By BRUCE PEACOCK ASKATCHEWAN’S ban on the educational film “Birth of a Baby is still in effect and no consideration has been given to lifting 1t, D. Vaughan, Saskatchewan film censor, said recently. The film was banned in 1942 because it was considered unsuitable for general re’ease to movie theatres as an entertainment feature. Mr. Vaughan said he had no objection to the film being shown in clinics but he did object to it being shown as a paid admission feature in theatres. He considered it the type of picture that should be handled by the department of health. * * x Harold Gray, manager of the Metropolitan, Regina, was elected secretary of the Optimist Club in Regina. Ron Campbell, assistant manager of the Capitol, is a com-. mittee chairman in the club. i het oe Albert. Rogell, Hollywood director. visited Calgary recently and said he was on a scouting trip, the idea being to find a site for a movie studio in western Canada, possibly near Calgary. With him was Tom Howe. studio engineer from England. Mr. Rogell, who directed ‘Northwest Stampede” in Calgary and district last summer, said he was interested in the former air force station at Shepard, east of Calgary. He announced tha: Kagle-Lion would make two fulllength color movies costing a total of $2,500,000 in Calgary this year. One, “Shadow of Time’, would be started March Ist, while the second, a movie version of Longfellow’s “Hiawatha”, would be started in the fall. KK Ok I, Reinhorn, of the Roxy, Regina, has sold his Roxy, Wadena, to M. Plubator, Wadena, and J. Malowanchuk, Saskatoon, operating as the Roxy Theatre Ltd. A. Malowanchuk imanages the house. x. . * Kinsmen Club took over the Capitol ‘Theatre in Saskatoon in mid-week to present Alec Templeton, pianist, to a sell-out crowd. ‘Templeton’s concert in Metropolitan Church, Regina, under Women’s Musical Club auspices; was a sell-out, despite a roaring blizzard. ee ao ee Donald Wolf's Shakespearean troupe will open a three-day stand at J. B. Barron’s Grand Theatre, Calgary, Feb. 12th, with “Mac beth’ a ee Five dollar door prizes are given away every Saturday night at the Gaiety Theatre, Gravelbourg, Sask. Manager Albert Jeannotte bills his house as “The best theatre in southern Saskatchewan”. Other theatre in the town is the Legion Hall, with J. 1.. Murphy, manager.