Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 27, 1943)

Page 4 OF CANADA LTD. 277 Victoria St. Toronto For 1943-1944 LADY LET'S DANCE Starring the lovely BELITA in a gorgeous skating and dancing spectacle. To be followed by a 2nd BELITA picture as yet unnamed. * WOMEN IN BONDAGE (formerly ‘Hitler's IV’ omen’) The degradation of women under Nazi rule. * WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN Youthful waywardness laid bare. * GROUND CREW starring JACKIE COOPER in a mighty drama supercharged with battlefront action. * FIGHTING QUARTERMASTER A booming saga of the Service of Supply * the fastest-growing Company in the industry MONOGRAM PICTURES Toronto Montreal St. John Winnipeg Calgary Vancouver Canadian FILM WEEKLY Uy, Ox SQUARE Those Days— Gabbing with the Imperial’s Tom Daley about the show scene, past and present, I dredged an interesting story up out of the sea of his experience. It happened in St. John, N.B., Tom’s native habitat, when the century was not so old. In those days a manager never knew what his program was until the train arrived with the fibre film containers, which were tied with leather straps. Nor did the advertising feature the names of any players, the star system being as yet unborn. ‘Nevertheless, the public had its favorites. One of these was an appealing young lady known to all by the nickname of ‘‘Sweet Sixteen’’ and when a perusal of the print revealed her presence, those two words were placed on the advertising. One day Walt Golding, now manager of the Capitol, St. John, showed Tom Daley a card from a Mrs. Smith of Toronto, announcing the engagement of her daughter, Gladys. “Know who that is?” Walt asked Tom. Tom didn’t know. “Gladys,” informed Walt, “is ‘Sweet Sixteen’.” It was right after that that “Sweet Sixteen,” really Gladys Smith, became known widely as Mary Pickford. Even that far back there was a yearning for talking pictures, and this brought attempts at appeasement. One of these was the Humanova films, during the showing of which real actors provided voices for the characters from behind the screen. Humanova films were being shown at Walt Golding’s theatre and the other showmen used to gather there to kibitz with the actors. One of their favorites was a young man named Owen Moore. It was this same fellow who was to become the husband of Mary Pickford. Payne’s Apt Comment Lionel W. Payne, who runs the Capitol, Listowel, Ontario, is famed in many corners of the world for his kindness to the boys in the service. His consistent philanthropy, starting in Listowel, has followed the boys around the world and recently he was surprised, while listening to ‘‘Regimental Roundup” from Britain, to hear himself thanked by soldiers who had received his gifts. His gifts to the boys have amounted to $25,000 to date and he knows just how they feel because he and Mrs. Payne have a boy over there. Both have been the recipients of tokens of gratitude from the community and servicemen. Some time ago we printed a number of mixed-up titles as voiced by the public and Payne offered a personally humorous one when talking with him the other day. He is a big man with a limp that resulted from Infantile Paralysis as a boy. “Will you be getting ‘The Constant Limp’?” a patron asked Payne. “I don’t have to,” he laughed. “I’ve had it all my life!” & ue x 15th Milestone for the Syd Roths Mr. and Mrs. Syd Roth celebrated their fifteenth wedding anniversary last week with the help of many friends, among them a goodly collection of film folk. Syd is a supervisor at 20th Century Theatres. A graduate pharmacist who maintained a number of stores until he sold out to minister to theatres instead, he is popular in the trade and this publication adds its congrats to the many received. Syd, as even-tempered a fellow as you would care to meet, is proof that a soft answer turneth away Roth. His soft answers induce the same feeling. Mrs, Roth is a daughter of Jake Smith. October 27, 1943 Pioneer Offers 15 Strong Reissues Fifteen reissues-of films which enjoyed strong business during their original periods of release were announced by Pioneer Films Limited last week. They are open to immediate booking. Six of the total number offered were formerly United Artists releases for David O. Selznick, who produced them. These are “A Star Is Born,” with Fredric March, Janet Gaynor and Adolph Menjou; “The Young in Heart,” starring Paulette Goddard and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; “Made for Each Other,” with James Stewart and Carole Lombard; “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” with Mickey Rooney and Fred Bartholomew; “Nothing Sacred,’”’ with Fredric March and Carole Lombard; and “Becky Sharp,” with Miriam Hopkins and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Features produced by MGM and now offered by Pioneer are “‘Topper,” with Cary Grant, Constance Bennett and Roland Young; “Mer -|rily We Live,” with Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne and Bonita Granville; and six Laurel and Hardy comedies. The public has shown a revived interest in Laurel and Hardy lately and the six feature-length comedies being offered by Pioneer contain some of their most popular efforts. Titles of the Laurel and Hardy offerings are “Son of the Desert,” “Bohemian Girl,” “Swiss Miss,” “Blockheads,” “Way Out West” and ‘Our Relations.” USA Exhib Outfits Argue 30% Impost Present exhibitor tax situation is now reminiscent of Canada when the federal amusement tax came up. Executives of Allied and the Motion Picture Theatre Owners are arguing with the Treasury. Before the Ways and Means committee Abram F. Myers, Ed Kuykendall and William F., Crocket are claiming that the threatened 30 per cent tax would ruin small exhibitors. Metro Goes After Year's Best Book An annual award of $100,000, plus an additional royalty of 20 cents on each copy above 50,000 sold, will be paid to the author of the “best book of the year,” by Metro, it was announced last week. In addition, the publisher of the book will receive $25,000. The film rights to the book will go to Metro. Winning book of the Award of the Year will be chosen by a specially designated board of experts, and the plan will be put into effect in the spring of 1944. e ————