Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 9, 1943)

wall) ee June 9, 1948 V-Loan Exec. Thanks Industry From J. P. Alwyn, assistant chairman of the Ontario Public Relations section of the National War Finance Committee, J. J. Fitzgibbons, of Famous Players, who led the motion picture end, received a letter of praise and thanks. Wrote Alwyn, in part: “The co-operation of theatre managers generally throughout the Province has been very much appreciated by Victory Loan organizers and I hope that you will convey to all members of the Motion Picture Section of the National War Finance Committee our sincere thanks and warm appreciation of their important contribution to the success of the Fourth Victory Loan Campaign in the Province of Ontario.” He also thanked the Famous Player chief for his personal assistance and that of his company. Burden-Lipton Wed Wedding bells have rung for Len Burden, assistant manager of the Marks, Oshawa. He was married recently to Miss Lillian Lipton. Both are formerly of Toronto, and have now taken up residence in Oshawa. Alexander, Rouyn, Helps Community The management of the Alexandra Theatre, Rouyn, Quebec, will donate the receipts of a number of Saturday evening shows to the committee for the beautification of the town. Part of the work will be to create playground facilities for the children. Film exchanges in the Detroit area required to work a 48-hour week by the law. Some have protested, claiming that certain staff members must be available at all times needed ... If the increased public demand continues, Westerns may soon find increased playing time In downtown houses .. . “Snow White,” which grossed $1,600,000 in England, is being reissued there . Metro has placed its Henry Ford story on the production Ist .. . Sol Lesser is already preparing a second Canteen film, Mae West is coming back in a United Artists film . -Now that England unfroce American film money, production wil] increase there because of the expected revival of the quota laws. Studios are required to spend so much on English production before any amount of distribution Is allowed on American-made plctures . . . Newest among the actor-producers is Pat O’Brien . . . 20th-Fox elected the same board of directors, which includes Wlllkle, whose book, ‘‘One World,” is being bid for by Metre and Goldwyn, — Canadian FILM WEEKLY Marguerite Chapman has four brothers in the USA services. «« Cheryl Walker, star of “Stage Door Canteen,” has been married for two years to a doctor, it was revealed. ... “The responsibility of coping with right script, with complicated salary matters, and the 1,001 big and small things connected with a career makes a girl prematurely old,” says Joan Fontaine. Plenty of girls would still trade places with her. ... The real name of Hedy Lamarr’s stand-in is Sylvia Lamarr. ... Kathryn Aldridge, star of many of those hair-raising serials the kids love, has never been hurt at work. The other night, on the stage, she broke her leg. ... Canadian girl making good in Hollywood as a writer is Rohama Lee of Toronto, who just wrote “Tonight We Bomb Calais.” } % % Mary Dowell, chorus girl in a New York cafe, has been signed as a writer by a Hollywood studio. She wrote such interesting letters to a publicity agent that, with her permission, he showed them to the powers-that-be, who were properly impressed. Which is another blow at the legend that chorus girls are dumb. ... Charles Bickford, renowned as a movie tough guy, plays a priest in ‘‘The Song of Bernadette.” He is flattered enough to get to bed early to get rid of some wrinkles. ... Reason for the success of Ernst Lubisch as a director is his thoroughness. His new film, “Heaven Can Wait,” took two years to plan. He tested 397 actors and actresses for it. . . . Cornelia Otis Skinner, one of the leading actresses of the stage for many years and a writer of note, was brought to Hollywood to do a screen treatment of the book on which she collaborated, “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.’”’ Now she will become a screen actress—but not in the film she wrote! % % % A certain Hollywood producer has the habit of scratching his head. “Why do you always scratch your head?” someone asked. “Because,” he answered, “I’m the only one who knows where it itches.” ... “Rags” Ragland, the comedian who has appeared with Red Skelton in a number of films, is an example of the uncertainties of life. An itinerant prizefighter, he liked to hang around backstage in burlesque houses with his actor friends. He became a burlesque actor and from that a screen star. But before he was a prizefighter he made his living as a handy man, washing windows, painting chimneys, etc. There’s no royal road to stardom, it seems. ; oe & oS Canada’s Mary Pickford, whose dream is to help establish a Girl’s Town along the lines of Boy’s Town, once trouped with Clare Boothe, beautiful authoress and congresswoman. That was in 1918 and they both played child fairies in “The Good Little Devil”. ... A friend of Betty Grable with the Yanks in Africa wrote her that he met an Arab who, on seeing her picture, offered two camels and three goats if she would be his wife! And that’s a high price out there. ... The ambition of Osa Massen is to be a film cutter again. In Copenhagen she used to sort, cut and stitch film together, often for her own films. She thinks that other cutters favor the stars and leave many a hopeful on the floor. While working at celluloid slicing in England the studio made a test of her, which she cut, and followed with a contract. CVwCve Grr [MJ ALLEN, Prestsbent Five All-Time Greats! * SIR ALEXANDER KORDA presents Searlet Pimpernel Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey * The Ghost Goes West Robert Donat, Jean Parker, Eugene Pallette ” Elephant Boy Sabu * Sanders of the River Paul Robeson * Henry VIL Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon -—— | | | | Leo the Lion to Fly With RCAF MGM’S Leo will join an RCAF squadron of sky scrapers while its Canadian, English and American members go about their business. The group, to be known as “The Lion Squadron,” was presented with a bronze figure of the screen growler at a ceremony in England. The bombers will bear the names of different MGM stars. ‘Reap’ and ‘Rhythm’ Pile Up Piastres Paramount’s “Reap the Wild Wind,” fashioned by DeMille in Technicolor, has gone over the} $3,000,000 mark in Canada and the USA, and “Star Spangled Rhythm” has already hauled in $2,400,000 in advanced runs alone. “China” is coming along in great style also. “Reap” is expected to bring in another million before it reaches the shelves. * Producers Releasing Corporation LIMITED Executive Offices: 277 Victoria St., Toronte, 2, Oné,