Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 27, 1948)

Page 4 ? CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST Toronto and District By BILL PRESS At least six months after its intended opening, the Nortown Theatre bowed in as the first post-war unit in Toronto of Famous Players Canadian Corp. Although the curtain went up on the 17th of March, the new house, on Eglinton Avenue West, got under way for its first matinee performance without public ceremony. For a month prior to the opening, Manager Bill Falls had been right “on location” at the Nortown, as the sparkplug for finishing touches and, sure enough, the theatre opened on_ its finally advertised date. The Nortown, which has 950 seats and boasts a combination front of stone, glass and stainless steel, has been teamed up with the Victoria in downtown ‘Toronto, which means that both product and the price-scale was stepped up for the house managed by Russ McKibbin. The adult evening price for both theatres is 60 cents, whereas the top price at the Victoria had been 54 cents in recent months. The new pairing of theatres has cut adrift the Capitol in North Toronto which has resumed its place as a neighborhood unit. * *k Lois Maxwell, the Toronto girl who made good in pictures, in a big way, returns to Toronto, where she is seen in the Warner Bros. film, “That Hagan Girl’, which played at Shea’s Theatre, this week. What makes this more interesting, is the fact that Lois was once a mentber of the Shea’s staff. Samuel Freedman, father of Ben Freedman, president of Allied CoOperative Theatres, passed away suddenly on March 16th. He was stricken with a heart attack, while on vacation in Miami. <An_ old-time exhibitor, Samuel Freedman entered the industry in 1919 and operated the Monarch Theatre at College and Woodbine and the Palace Theatre. He was 75 years of age at the time of his death. * «Kx * %« After a big week at the Royal Alexandra in downtown Toronto, “Shoe Shine’ has been booked into the Odeon Fairlawn. Likewise “The Barber of Seville” is to have a run at the same theatre. * ¢ #8 I. H. Allen of Astral Films, Toronto, has available six new releases from Film Classics, New York. One of them is “Women in the Night”, from the records of the United Nations, while a documentary feature is “Discovery” the story of Admiral Richard Byrd’s expedition to the Antarctic: ne aa ; A novel twist in newsreel presentation was witnessed in several local theatres, when Win Barron, “The Voice of Paramount’, was heard in Warner's ond Fox's newsreels, interviewing Barbara Ann Scott in Montreal. Unusual angle was that, although appearing in the opposition newsreels, Win was not in the Paramount reel on that particular event. * *e * First function announced by the newly-installed executive of the Canadian Picture Pioneers is a stag and smoker to be held in the Yellow Room of the King Edward Hotel, on Tuesday, April 6th, at 8 p.m. The affair will be for members only. In line with the new activities, the Pioneers now have a permanent office at 4 Dundas Street East. Charles Mavety, secretary of the organization, has issued the first, of what promises to be a very interesting bulletin containing news for all members of the local branch of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. x *€ & During the month of February, the following pictures were classified “Adult Entertainment’ by the Ontario Board of Censors: “Mourning Becomes Electra”, “Patient Vanishes’, “I Became A Criminal’ and “Gangster”. x ok Ok Clare Appel, president of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario; director Morris Stein and Arch Jolley, executive-secretary, were appointed a sub-committee of the National Committee of Motion Pictue Exhibitors Associations of Canada, to meet with representatives of the Musical Protective Society of Canada and the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada for the purpose of carrying on exploratory talks in respect to any proposed increase in performing right fees for theatres. * ¢ «# Mr. and Mrs. Jule Allen have been spending some time in the Southern States for a vacation while Mr. and Mrs. Herb Allen have returned from a holiday in a mountain retreat. * « 8 The-“Odeon -at -Brampton,Ont, formerly the Capitol, was scheduled to re-open on March 22nd, but the strangest thing happened to set back the event." “the Peel County town found itself practically flooded out through the sudden rising of the Etobicoke River, the main thoroughfare being under at least four feet of water which, of course, submerged the theatre floor. March 27th, 1948 The Canadian Moving Picture Digest Entered as Second Class Matter RAY LEWIS Editor and Publisher BERT H. WILKES Associate Editor Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY, LIMITED 277 Victoria Street Toronte Telephone: WAverley 4928 Cable: Raydigest Established 1915. Publication weekly. Subscription: $5.00 yearly — Correspondeats — A. L. FAIRWEATHER Saint John, N.B. j. J. NKLIN .Winnipeg, Man. BRU Regina, Sask. JACK DROY WILL ortaaced Vancouver, B.C. George Oullahan, general manager of Pioneer Films, will personally handle the distribution of “Birth of a Baby’, in the province of Ontario. Although the flim has been released in other provinces, arrangements are only now under way for its Ontario showings. * * * A preview of its all-Canadian production “Design For Swimming”, was held last week by Associated Screen News. It is the first sound motion picture photographed on 35 mm. Ansco color film; the process of which was developed by Associated Screen Studios’ technicians. Another preview showing, held last week, was at the Kenwood Theatre, when the Technicolor” picture, “Raider”, ‘was shown. * 6 « Inspector D. M. McPherson and Inspector Pollock of Chairman O. J. Silverthorne’s branch m the Ontario Government spent some time in Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley for a check-up of theatre operations. x « x C. $. Chaplin, general manager of United Artists Corp., and Arthur Silverstone, general manager of 20th Century-Fox, were both absent from their Toronto offices on business trips through Western Canada. It was the first Western tour for Mr. Silverstone. Simon Meretsky has returned to his group of theatres in Windsor after a lengthy sojourn in the South. » *K* * Miss Isabell Oullahan of Hanson 16 mm. Movies has announced that 12 new religious films from the J. Arthur Rank studios in England are available for distribution in Canada. Prints are also ready for distribution for five subjects in the Modern Age Series,