Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 20, 1943)

January 20th, 1943 SHEN with the stenographer’s war it came to the picture ery, “Take a Letter, Darling,” John Kurk of the Royal, North Bay, figured rightly that the typewriter wreckers would have a special interest. So John built up a teaser camjpaign, running snappy ads in the press and advising all stenogs to listen to their local radio station mt a given time. They did and learned of a radio ccontest tied in with the picture. Whe local station split the costs, wwhich is nice promoting. > > * i Lane SMART of the Capitol, | Port Hope, didn’t take a tchance on people missing his press | mds on ‘Mrs, Miniver.”’ He mailed ywwindow cards to all nearby ham-| ets. He also got the principals of | tthe public and high schools to dis| miss classes early one afternoon | ffor a special matinee. That's a real accomplishment. | Ihe kids were on his side too. > * > LK’S most placid moments} come when they're’ eating. IThat’s the time to ketch ‘em in gyood humor. So Ralph Tiede of ‘Ihe Community, Welland, handed yut thousands of serviettes with sspecial copy and illustrations on “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” There's nothing like good enterzainment after an enjoyable meal. mood thinking. Capt. Howard Fogg Writes Allies’ Song Captain Howard Fogg, who “wrote original musical scores for \issociated Screen News between 1933 and the time he joined the /’eteran’s Guard in 1940, has writeen a war march called ‘Allies’ “ighting Song.” It was given a ssational bow over a CBC hookup if the Army Show. Howard, who was with the old Soumbelis, is now attached to the Dtirectorate of Special War Ser‘lices at National Defence Headwarters. Movies’ Wrong Word pays Jack Warner According to a Hollywood Re“ort, Jack Warner has asked his mmployees to refer to the cinema eeld as motion pictures, in preferance to “movies.” The idea isn’t new. Thirty years #0 the Motion Picture World married on a campaign against the rowing use of the popular deztription of today. | Canadian FILM WEEKLY Wifely obedience to a husband's wishes cost Mrs. Frank Sinkwich and her sister movie careers. Mrs. Frank is the wife of the famous football star, who was in Los Angeles for the annual Rose Bowl game. A scout from Universal spotted the ladies, who used to be a dance team, and offered them a contract. The girls posed with Abbott and Costello. Hubby saw the picture and became angry at the amount of bare limb revealed by the missus. He put his foot down and that was the end of two movie careers before they even started. The girls are from Georgia. . . . Lee Tracy, who used to portray noisy reporters, has joined the USArmy as a military policeman. > > > A happier story of being discovered is that of 10-year-old Edna May Wonacott. She was standing on a corner of a small California town waiting for a bus when the fattest man she ever saw asked her how she would like to be in the movies. The man was Alfred Hitchcock, on location with his company. The next day Edna May and her mom were taken to the set of “Shadow of a Doubt” and shared things with Teresa Wright and Macdonald Carey. . . . These days, if a Hollywood script calls for food, the words “if available” follow. That's why root beer is passed off as coffee. The days of gusty realism in food and banquet scenes are over. The picture that led every best 10 list of the year’s films is the English-made tribute to the British Navy, “In Which We Serve,” soon to be released in Canada. Bosley Crowther, critic of the New York Times even went so far as to write that it was “the year’s best film by such a margin” that “competition was incomprehensible.” That's some praise. There's a shortage of circus freaks in Hollywood. Some were sought for “Private Miss Jones” and couldn't be found. The midgets were working in defence plants, the bearded ladies were driving taxis and the human skeletons were now waiters! * * . Do you remember when the newspapers reported all the disapproval of Melvyn Douglas holding down a payless government job in Washington? Douglas enlisted in the last war as a boy. Now he has enlisted again, though over the age limit. He is married and has three dependents, each of which had to write a letter in his behalf. One of these was his 17-year-old son, who'll soon be drafted. . . . Charles Laughton did a nice thing the other day. Charles French, the Negro sailor who towed a raft with 19 torpedoed sailors to shore, stopped by and Charlie quit work to coach him for a radio speech he was about to make. . . Two pictures being made in Hollywood at the moment are “Boy from Stalingrad” and “Girl from Leningrad” . . . Which reminds me, have you made your donation to the Aid to Russia Fund?” . . . Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins are carrying on a feud that has everyone on edge. They're making a picture together. , An American paper printed an item reporting a romance between Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou. Betty Lou is Tommy Riggs dummy in his ventriloquist act! .. . Deanna Durbin and her studio are tiffing again Anne Shirley will make her first Technicolor picture, called “Gibson Girl” . . . George Brent will marry Tlona Massey when his divorce from Ann Sheridan is final. Massey just divorced Alan Curtis. Ilona is scheduled to appear in “Ziegfeld Girl.” OF CANADA LTD. 277 Victoria St. Toronto The Answer to that old question: What Does the Publie Want? It Wants Action and Laughter! These pictures have them Rhythm Parade N.T.G., Gale Storm, Margaret Dumont, Robert Lowery, the Mills Bros., Ted Fio Rita and his Orchestra, with “Candy” Candido—the finest combination of music, comedy and beauty yet. Dawn on the Great Divide A tremendous outdoor Ned Sparks Back in Hollywood Ned Sparks, the comedian from St. Thomas, Ont., who quit Hollywood to settle down in Toronto, is back there. He just finished a vaudeville tour, playing to packed houses everywhere. | spectacle with BUCK JONES Mona Barrie, Rex Bell, Ray Ned drew down a million dollars | before he quit the Cinema City} because he was tired, according to} the press, of chiseling tactics, etc. | He starred in several presenta mond Hatton, Christine Metions of the Ontario radio show, Intyre and scores of others aimed at tourists, before it de? i veloped that he wasn't an air | comic.