Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 19, 1942)

VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY Vol. 8, No. 34 TORONTO, AUGUST 19th, 1942 $2.00 Per Annum Leslie Gregory, Hamilton, Dies Leslie Gregory of Hamilton, Ontario, well-known theatre manager and exhibitor, died in a Hamilton hospital on August 10th of injuries received when the plane he was piloting crashed into some trees at Georgetown, Ontario, during a thick fog. Police concluded that the fog forced Gregory to (Continued on Page 3) Fox to Make Carnival of Cops Leading characters in most of Hollywood’s mystery series will be collected in one picture by Bryan Foy under the title of “Four Star Murder Case.” Story concerns Philo Vance, who becomes stymied in solving a murder and calls for assistance from Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, Bulldog Drummond, the Falcon, Michael Shayne and as many more sleuths as the plot will stand. Fred Govan Married Fred Govan, studio technician at Associated Screen Studios for a number of years, has joined the ranks of the benedicts. His marriage to Miss Marjorie McLetchie took place at Verdun Presbyterian Church. A staff presentation was made to Fred at a studio party on the eve of his marriage. Burglars Visit Radio City, Toronto Radio City Theatre, a B & F house, was visited by some persistent thieves last week end. They sawed through a wooden door and two metal ones. They cut the locks out of the metal doors, then reached the wooden one. On being manhandled, the burglar alarm went off and scared the thieves away, causing them to leave their hacksaw on the floor of the operating room. JACK BENNY JOINS UA AS PRODUCER What's Cookin’? Plenty Maybe Buzz Rising to Hullabaloo As Regulations in Sight If activity devoted to a single purpose within the same period, though in several different places, is any Indication, an organized or semi-organized movement is in action to prevent the draft containing the newly-proposed rulings for Killed in Crash Leslie Gregory, Hamilton, Ontario, theatre man, who died of injuries sustained when the plane he was piloting crashed during a fog. Korda to Make "War and Peace’ Alexander Korda announced yesterday the purchase of dramatic and film rights to a new stage version of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” This version, which was performed with great success in Moscow was written by I. Sudakoy, a director of the Malik Theatre Group of Moscow. Negotiations were concluded in New York by Helen Black in behalf of the Press and Publishers’ Literary Group of Moscow. The producer will announce cast and film production plans at an early date. governing the motion picture industry in Canada from receiving official approval and becoming law. The draft, drawn up by R. C. McMullen, Director of the Theatre and Film section of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board, is in Ottawa being studied. Exhibitors from many points in Canada, among them A. J. Mason and Malcolm Walker of Nova Scotia; B. E. Laxer and others from Ontario, have made frequent excursions to the Capital and it can be assumed safely that their business related to regulations in effect and proposed. Other leading Independent exhibitors have addressed regular letters on the sub (Continued on Page 2) Laxer Indies . Famous Players Meets in Toronto Eastern District Supervisors and Partners of Famous Players met in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, August 12th and 13th. The main topics of discussion at the meetings were problems of wartime operation. Present at the luncheon held on Thursday were the Honourable Mitchell F. Hepburn, Mr. Barney Balaban, president of Paramount Pictures Inc., here from New York and Mr. Leonard Goldenson of the Paramount theatre department, also from New York. The annual picnic of the Home Office staff was held at the Rouge Hills Golf and Country Club on Friday, August 14th. Booklet Blasts Chains, Distribs Canadian motion picture distributors were the targets of a volley of charges, the most serious ever fired in native inter-industry strife, aimed at them in a 32-page booklet published by the authority of tne recently-formed Independent Motion Picture Exhibitors of Ontario and bearing the imprinted signature of Barnett E. Laxer. The booklet bears the description: ‘‘Memorandum of the National Council of Independent Exhibitors of Canada to the Wartime Prices and Trade Board and to James Stewart, its Administrator of Services.” Below this are the names of eight Independent exhibitor executives, one from each province, of the National Council referred to. Throughout the document, in various ways, is repeated the charge voiced during the recent Parliamentary session by W. HE. Esling, British Columbia, that the distributors were manipulating product and rentals, “apparently for the purpose of putting Independent theatres out of business and getting control of them.” According to the booklet, ‘“Independents are being driven out of business at an unprecedented rate, while the surviving ones with good theatres are in danger of extinction. “Finding the avenue of new (Continued on Page 5) Oh, That Ace! The Ace, Toronto, never seems to run out of ideas for weird bookings. The latest is a battle of the sexes. Double-billed are ‘Lost Patrol,” a film without women, and “The Women,” one without men. Jack Benny, screen actor and peddler of palpitating pudding via the radio, will found his own production company under the United Artists’ banner. The deal involves $12,000,000 and 12 pictures, two a year, Benny will appear in six of these.