Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 26, 1942)

TR, me da ee August 26th, 1942 Pioneer Gets Alliance Pix (Continued from Page 1) deal, which turns over to pioneer some 20 pictures for distribution, is for a period of years. Pioneer’s other product is limited but specialized. There are some Westerns on hand but Hanson’s big winner is “Birth of a Baby,” which is yanking them in in droves. He also has the “Chaplin Festival.” Pioneer Films now has five offices across Canada. H. T. (Tubby) Long recently joined the company as general manager and Jim Foy is treasurer. The St. John branch, at 87 Union street, is headed by Sammy Jacobs; the Montreal branch, at 5975 Monkland avenue, by John Levitt; the Winnipeg branch, at 402 New Hargrave Building, by Victor Rackow; the Vancouver branch, at 1012 Davies street, by J. E. Arthur; and the Calgary branch is being readied now. Pioneer Films is coming along in the business since Oscar Hanson separated himself from the Nathanson interests and went on his own. Foto-Nite, under Pete Barnes, is another Pioneer enterprise. Film Folk Join Arts' War Couneil Ray Lewis, editor of the Digest; Hye Bossin, editor of Film Weekly; Glenn Ireton, exploitation chief of Vitagraph, and Dewey Bloom, Regal exploiteer have joined the newly-formed Canadian Writers’, Broadcasters’ and Artists’ War Council. Bloom is one of the organizers and a member of the executive board representing the film section. Almost 50 Canadian radio, newspaper, film and art workers attended the first general meeting at the Carls Rite Hotel in Toronto last week. John Collingwood Reade acted as chairman and among those present were such names as Margaret Gould, W. A. Deacon, Raymond Arthur Davies, Henry Peterson, Monica Mugan, A. A. MacLeod and William BrownForbes. The purpose of the new body is to assist in stimulating the war effort through the use of individual and callective talent represented by the membership. Newman Here Eddie Newman, manager of the Metropolitan, is in Toronto on vacation. He used to manage the .Midtown before shifting westward. Eddie enters the RCAF on his return. There’s a new kind of censorship being applied to Hollywood Canadian FILM WEEKLY | USA Censors Outgoing Films right now and it’s certainly the most reasonable one ever imposed. Washington is behind it. USA officials won’t stand to see Americans caricatured any longer in films going to other countries. People off this continent have a way of accepting our native characters as true to life when shown by the movies. Back of this ban is the Office of the Co-ordinator of InterAmerican Affairs, one of whose functions it is to see that nothing offensive to South American susceptibilities or unrepresentative of the American way of life is portrayed in films destined for the Latin-American market. The Co-ordinator of Inter-American Affairs’ office advocates the principle that American films are in reality ambassadors and “must accept the responsibility of faith fully representing the United States.” “Juke Girl,” “City of Silent Men” and “Panama Hattie” failed to obtain an export permit from the Office of Censorship’s Board of Review, and as a result will not be shown in Latin-American countries. Threatened lynching sequences of white men in both “Juke Girl” and “The City of Silent Men” and the flippant portrayal of a sailor character in “Panama Hattie” were reported as responsible for the bans. It makes Hollywood’s task all the harder, since the Hays Office stopped the exaggerated characterization of people from other lands. When the Hays Office overlooked it, the ambassadors from those countries took the question up. The war has allowed some leeway in the matter of presenting German, Italian and Jap nationals in a bad light. In the August issue of its publication ‘Hemisphere Reel News” is a statement emphasizing this policy: “A motion picture which portrays members of our armed forces other than men of courage and conviction is performing a disservice to the United States.” The article continues: “A motion picture which portrays the war effort in the United States as anything less than the determination of a free people to guard their freedom and to regain freedom for others is performing a disservice to the United States.” Canada, though it never pro tested, was always pictured as a country of forests, Mounties and backwoodsmen. “Captains of the Clouds” did much to help remove the idea and one day we will see Canadian city life pictured. If the current attitude is maintained, we can expect to see stupid cops and drunken newspapermen vanish from the screens, It’s time they did. Fan Photos Shrink As Saving Measure Publicity stills from film studios received their second war shrinking recently when the Public Relations Committee decided to ban all future mailings of 11x14 photos to the press as an economy measure. While 11x14’s will be sent in rare instances in response to specific requests, from here on in, for the duration the 8x10 will be standard on all art mailings from every studio. Some weeks ago, the committee made its first cut when it eliminated the big and costly 16 x 20 stills from wartime issue. Grierson, NFB Get "New World’ Boost The National Film Board and its founder and head, John Grierson, received well-deserved praise when New World, the Canadian weekly illustrated magazine, devoted considerable space to pictures of the NFB at work and reading matter about its accom plishments. NFB shorts, it read, play 900 theatres across Canada each month, 70 of these being French. & XHIBITORS “BOOKING _ASSOCIATION Page 5 |Paramount Meets In Toronto (Continued from Page 1) was the 15th year of Paramount News. Gordon Lightstone, Canadian general manager, acted as chairman, Other speakers were Neil Agnew, general sales manager, who discussed the general quality of the product, saying that Paramount’s lineup was unparalleled in the history of the company; and Bob Gillham, advertising head, who promised that the program would receive the finest exploitation support. He told of the elaborate way in which “Holiday Inn” was being pre-sold and said it was his intention to go all-out in attracting public and trade attention to the company’s product. Paramount men came from their posts in different parts of the Dominion to talk it over and meet the head office executives. Among the Canadians at the convention were Russell Simpson, Vancouver, B.C.; Bill Kelly, Calgary, Alta.; Dave Brickman, Winnipeg, Man.; Pat Hogan, St. John, N.B.; Tom Dowbiggin, Montreal, Que.; Jack Hunter, Bill O’Neil, Hugh Burns, Leo Haag, Harold Pfaff, Jack Bellamy, Bob Murphy and Win Barron, all from Toronto. Three telegrams were read to the convention, one each from Y. Frank Freeman, in charge of production at the Coast, Barney Balaban, president of Paramount, and David Rose, English managing director. Frank Morriss Here Frank Morriss, screen critic of the Winnipeg Free Press, is in Toronto taking in things. He spent a while on the Square. Phone: Adelaide 4316 A thoroughly reliable, tried and proven buying and booking service for Independent Theatre Owners. 21 DUNDAS SQUARE Toronto Frank Meyers, Manager