Canadian Film Weekly (May 26, 1943)

Page 4 Mary Pickford On} Canadian Tour (Continued from Page 1) ness Men’s Association of Toronto, was given its first impetus when a Toronto property owned by Miss Pickford was sold for $5,000 and the money used to set things in motion. East York, a Toronto suburb, donated land and a $10,000 bungalow was built at O’Connor Drive and Glenwood Crescent. Miss Pickford arrived in Toronto on May 21st. On the 22nd she attended the running of the King’s Plate at the Woodbine. She left Toronto on the 25th, visited Peterboro, Ont., on the 26th. In Montreal on the 30th, the next day she will appear at a great share-selling rally in the Verdun Auditorium, where a _ two-and-ahalf-hour show will be staged. Before going to Quebec Miss Pickford returns to Toronto for a banquet in her honor given by the Lion’s Club at the King Edward Hotel. Fifty per cent. of the proceeds will go to the Lion’s British Child War Victims Fund, the headquarters of which is the Waifs and Strays Home, London, England. Forty per cent. will be donated to the Evening Telegram War Victims Fund and 10 per cent to Maltese Relief, the latter work being carried on by the Maltese people in Canada. The Mary Pickford Honeymoon Bungalow project was originated by the Gerrard Business Men's Association last year, during which term Harry Lester, operator of the Bonita Theatre, Toronto, was president. Lester is now Public Appearance Chairman. Desiring to extend the sale of shares, the Lion’s Club, a national organization with 5,000 members was invited to join the work. The head office of United Artists in Toronto, through Dave Coplan, sent Ben Cronk out to arrange the tour. Cronk worked with committees from the organizations and Sam Clark, Miss Pickford's personal representative, who came to Canada one week ahead of her. Pursel to Re-Locate Lyric, Simcoe, Ont. Fred Pursel, old time member of the Pioneers Club, who has operated the Lyric Theatre, Simcoe, for the past 34 years, has purchased a garage on Robinson Street and has received a construction permit to re-locate the old theatre on the new site. Work will commence very shortly and the theatre will be opened on or about August Ist. Theatre Holding Corporation will continue to be associated with Pursel in this situation. Canadian FILM WEEKLY He Knew Another Day Well The presence of the late George M. Cohan at Shea’s, on celluloid and impersonated by Jim Cagney, brings to mind one of my favorites among the old-timers, Dick McAvoy. I haven't seen Dick around for some time. He has probably surrendered somewhat to age and is taking it easy. Or he may be working somewhere as a theatre doorman, a post he has held frequently in the past few years. Back in 1888, Dick, 2 local boy, became a vaudeville actor and was soon joined by the partner, Alice, who became his wife. The team worked for Tony Pastor and shared audiences with the elder Barrymore, Lillian Russell and George M. Cohan, among others. No one in Toronto knew George M. Cohan better than Dick, whose reminiscences of days that are gone are worthy of being put out in book form. Dick could turn out tunes with the best of them in the old days and Witmark published several of them. In 1903 he wrote “The Racetrack Sport.” It’s about a lad “who once was bright and gay, until he got among the sports—and he was led astray.” The chorus tells how and contains a large number of witty lines such as these: “He bet on a horse named Umbrella; Umbrella was good in the wet, And he bet on a horse called Niagara—Niagara is running yet!” Other actors used the song and the audience loved to take up the lyrics, especially these concluding lines: “He bet on many horses, and that I will allow, But he’s through betting on horses—he’s in the asylum now!” Now that hoofs are beating out a daily tattoo of hope and despair at the Woodbine, I recommend Dick McAvoy’s musical wisdom to some of Los citizens SOF The Square: The Reward BY Rode Lieut. Ted Greenslade, ex-newspaper correspondent, dropped in the other day for a chat. Ted enlisted as a private in the Tank Corps. He has many theatre friends. He told about a visit to Buffalo last summer, during which he wore the summer issue, featured by shorts. A youngster spoke to him. Ted replied politely. “I belong to Troop 98 of the Boy Scouts,” said the boy. ‘What troop do you belong to?” 2 * * Atia Girl, Rohama! Rohama Lee, who used to journalize around these parts and is now a Hollywood script writer, gave a movie knocker what for and why not the other day. One Northrop Frye, writing in the Canadian Forum, opined that movie music wasn’t much. Rohama, a music lover and a Hollywood loyalist, wrote to the Forum from the Cinema City and fried Frye. She hit him verbally on the cocoa. Wrote Rohama: “I don’t profess to know nearly all there is to know about motion pictures, but I do know quite a bit about them, I should. I’ve served them for almost 12 years now, in many capacities— secretary to a distributor, a producer, a writer; publicity woman; reader; now a writer with experience in England and Hollywood, in features and in short subjects. And, while I wouldn’t think of setting myself up against Mr. Oscar Levant, even he admits that what he says is ‘A Smattering of Ignorance.’ Nobody knows everything. But Mr. Frye SHOULD know more if he wants to write about music in the movies. He seems never to have heard of Miklas Raczas, for instance, whose score for “Jungle Book’ has been recorded, and several times performed by outstanding symphony orchestras in this country. Nor does he know, apparently, that the music of movies IS lMstened to by producer and ultimate consumer: witness the annual Academy Award for score, orchestration, best ‘popular’ numbers, etc.” Rohama just copped a screen credit for her work on “Tonight We Bomb Calais,” for Fox. She spent some time in England, where she did a picture for Gracie Fields. Her first job in Hollywood was as secretary to Louella Parsons. Softball Loop (Continued from Page 1) Devitt at Empire-Universal, Ted Smith at the York Theatre, Al Perly at the Midtown or Murray Sasloff at the Ace Theatre. RULES 1. Games called for. 10 a.m Sunday. Rain is only reason for postponement and schedule drops back a week. 2. Hach team will be allowed to field no more than two players not connected with the industry and they must not be from any organized league on the basis that the team cannot field a full nine-man team. 3. All players must be directly connected with the film industry in Toronto with the exception of the two outside players previously mentioned. 4. Any player that is drafted into the armed forces or selective service will be allowed to play as they are only on leave of absence from their respective firms. 5. Softballs for the games will be supplied by the home teams. 6. During the game the umpire’s decision is final. SCHEDULE May 23rd—B. & F. vs. *Twentieth Century; *Regal Films vs. Empire Universal. May 30th—*B. & F. vs. Empire Universal; *Twentieth Century vs. Regal Films. June 6th—B. & F. vs. *Regal Films; *Twentieth Century vs. Empire Universal. June 13th—*B, & F.. vs. Twentieth Century; Regal Films vs. * Empire Universal. June 20th—B. & F. vs. *Empire Universal; Twentieth Century vs. *Regal Films. (*) Stands for home team. Firestones Leave Odeon, Join 20th (Continued from Page 1) Esquire, Toronto; and the Hsquire, Brantford, Ontario, The Firestones, Sam and Harry, have associated themselves with 20th Century Theatres, the houses released through the dissolution of the Odeon deal becoming part of the chain. The Firestones and 20th Century Theatres have had joint interests in the past. They are mutually interested in the Midtown, Toronto neighborhood deluxer,