Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 1, 1942)

January Ist, 1942. _ Maclean's Boosts Lionel W. Payne (Continucd from Page 1) to repeat here. Just to give you an idea, in 1940 Payne gave to & the boys in the services 60,000 . cigarettes, 1,710 free tickets, 900 cups of hot coffee and tomato soup, 675 chocolate bars, 555 cigars, 350 automatic pencils, 32 cases of tomato soup and five crates of oranges. He has supplied pianos to five army recreation halls. But vastly greater than his personal contribution is the endless list of items promoted by the varied means known only to a showman of 40 years. standing. For Lionel Payne has been in the business a long time. He runs the only show in Listowel and acts as his own projectionist. Which is the tipoff that he has more heart than money. “Next time,’ says Maclean’s, “some morose misanthrope moans in your ear the misquotation that ‘nobody loves a fat man,’ tell him about Lionel Warner Payne, who weighs two hundred and seventyfive pounds and is loved by thousands, especially sailors, soldiers _ and airmen.” To say nothing of the pride the Canadian motion picture business takes in this vast-hearted film pioneer. @& John Huston in Army The son of Canada’s Walter Huston, John Huston, who rang the bell loudly with his writing and direction of ‘The Maltese Falcon,’ checks out of the’ Warners lot soon to join the American Army Signal Corps. He is currently directing Bette Davis, Olivia de Haviland, George Brent and Dennis Morgan in ‘In This Our Life.”” He was to followed that with a sequel to “The Maltese Falcon.” The younger Huston is 35 and married. Season's Greetinas CANADIAN THEATRE CHAIR CO. 277 Victoria St., Toronto, Ont. eee Canadian FILM WEEKLY Mr. Charles Stephenson, Dear Charlie: Well, what’s with you, feller? I hope that hemstitching they embroidered you with after your recent slicing in the hospital keeps that tough casing of yours in the same slick fit of yore. You never did carry much slack. The boys about were glad to hear that you came up wise-cracking—and stayed up. But you were an odds-on cinch to stick around. The good die young. Now don’t start sizzling. I’m strictly on the gibe. My offices are on the fifth floor now—referred to on this end as the “Isolation Ward.” There’s always somebody dropping in. Down here they can let their hair all the way down—or put it in curlers in front of you. It’s that homey. So stop by and let’s swap lies for a while. In the meantime, take keer 0’ yerself. . * Frances Shelley came in the other day for her new boss, Glenn Ireton, Vitagraph’s Canadian hooray man, a right good guy. Frankie, who switched from Famous, was talking about the brighter days when she was a musical comedy and night club singing star. She once shared the billing with Joe Cook on Broadway. Right when she was going dynamite in the game she got into a car smashup that put her out of circulation for many long months. When she got well she said goodbye to the biz. At the time of the accident the first reports had her knocking on the Pearly Gates. Winchell’s column and the other papers took plenty of space to tell about her beauty and talent. Funny. I clipped the story at the time and put it in my scrapbook. And the day before she came in I was reading: it. “That's life,’ said Frankie. “Now I work for Warners. And once I made two shorts for them—at $750 each!” cd % = ce = Dropped into Paramount the other day to see Win Barron on business. Win, who has been around the world and was quite a radio figure around here, is their Canadian drum-beater. While waiting for him I spotted an electric shaver in one of his desk compartments. For a gag I borrowed a mirror from Ruth Cohen of the staff, plugged the shaver in and got ready to let Win catch me. I figured he’d get a laugh out of it. So what happened? He got there while I was still fooling with the shaver. Felt sheepish. I guess he thought I was trying to swipe his razor. A good idea. It’s swell one. Too nice a fellow to say anything, though. Was glad to see that Ruth Cohen, an office favorite, gets around without her cane now. She was ill too long. Know her? She’s a niece of the Hazza boys, looks like a statue made a lemon meringue—and is just as sweet. = = > = = I can’t pass up the chance of letting you see a prize piece of beef. It’s a letter in that new daily, the Chicago Sun, by a fellow who signed himself “Leffingwell Q. Clem”—which I'll wager ain’t his square monicker, as the sharpies say. Read: “Do the people who are responsible for our motion picture fare regard Chicago as a ‘hick town?’ It would seem so. Yesterday I returmed from a trip down South, and as my taxi bowled (or heaved) along State street I ticked off the movies being shown. Two of the ‘first-run’ pictures I had seen two weeks before in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; a third I had heard about in a letter from a friend in New York who had seen it in September! “T am told that one firm controls the distribution of pictures in Chicago. Perhaps a good healthy boycott of all their Loop. houses would convince them that Chicagoans do not relish being treated as hicks.” You probably beat the gun in Kitchener many a time but never thought of it that way. 2: rs ht & * * um Plenty of Christmas parties On The Square. Famous had the prize one, they say, at the Royal York. I haven't been to any yet. Nobody asked me. Do you think maybe it's because I don’t read the magazine ads?” You'll notice that not only have we changed our name from Exhibitor to Weekly but we got trigged out in a gayer hat and trappings for the new year. How do you like our new suit? Well, all the best for the new year. Regards. TAP, Page 3 McLean of NFB in New Post Ross McLean as been made assistant to John Grierson, whose term was renewed recently as National Film Commissioner for Canada. While McLean's appointment has just been announced, he has served in the capacity for some time. The recent reorganization of the setup caused a shuffle. Allan McLean, who was in the film branch of the Department of National War Services, has been appointed secretary and controller of the board. Continuing in their present positions are E. M. Finn, in charge of still photos, W. S. Carter of the laboratory and W. H. Lane in the projection room. The National Film board had added to it the motion picture bureau which was, up till now, part of the Department of Trade and Commerce. Knitted Brow Boom? A new entry in the amusement field will be offered by Fox Wisconsin Amusement Corporation— skull-staggering stuff by leading lecturers. Five well-known speakers have been booked to lecture, Elissa Landi, Jan Valtin, T. R. Ybarra, Dr. Otto Strasser and Cy Caldwell. Twenty houses in the | territory will try to sell the lec| tures in blocks of five. | Pictures will be dropped on those nights. Public discussion will follow. Remake of ‘Merton’ The post-war No. 1 grosser, “Merton of the Movies,” will have another whirl at the circuits. Paramount has scheduled it for production on a streamlined scale shortly. The first “Merton” was Glenn Hunter, who came from the stage role to be directed by Frank Tuttle. Players haven’t been named yet for this one. HEATING AND VENTILATING CONTRACTORS AND ENGINEERS NWA