Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 1, 1944)

g March 1, 1944 Meet to Talk Care of Film (Continued from Page 1) committee will be organized to sift through the suggestions and make the best of them. It was shown that there are twice as many transfers from one theatre to another by film carriers than there used to be. The wearing of gloves while revising film, effect of zero weather, checkup on the handling of film in camps and non-commercial situations, and the placing of responsibility in all places where film is handled were some of the things brought up. Empire-Universal now sends a notice printed in red ink informing the operator that the film is tail-up and asking him to be sure to inspect it. The notice instructs him to loosen tension if Technicolor, contains a checkoff box for every reel, and tips on care. At the same time the exhibitor is asked to send bookings three months in advance and not to change dates. Empire-Universal policy is now to have each film at the theatre one day ahead of the opening. Express companies have asked for closer attention to shipping time and care. All present at the meeting displayed a willingness to reach defined responsibility and were anxious to work out methods designed to protect film. Empress, Vernon, B.C., Re-opens The Empress Theatre, Vernon, B.C., twenty-five years old and closed since 1938, has been reopened after redecoration. Walter Bennett, manager of the Capitol, also FPCC, is doubling. Montague Switches T. K. Montague succeeds Maurice Coste as manager of Capitol, Brampton, Ont. He was formerly manager of the Alexander, Wallaceburg. Robertson Sick, Ostrander In Andy Ostrander, assistant manager of the Capitol, Winnipeg, is pinch-hitting for. Dave Robertson as manager of the Uptown. Mrs. Roberta Pearce, Capitol treasurer, replaces Ostrander. A. Laurie Engaged to Miss Sylvia Olivier Archie Laurie, one of Canada’s most convinced ‘bachelors (it seemed), has become engaged to Miss Sylvia Olivier. Archie bosses Esquire and Republic and Miss Olivier is at the Toronto Telegram. You can’t keep films and publicity apart. They can’t live without each other. Canadian FILM WEEKLY ) OnThe Sey quave with tye Bo $sin A Manager's Experience A youngster large for his age, his excessive friendliness had an ulterior motive behind it. His every move was designed to get him admission into the Royal Theatre six nights a week. For he loved the movies much too much and this oppressive affection was too strong for Manager Al Daniels. Al understood the boy—he had been that way himself as a youngster and it had led him into vaudeville in its declining days. So the amiable and. persistent boy, doing the minor tasks Al found for him as an excuse, sat in the theatre night after night. The boy must have been no more than sixteen when he enlisted and no doubt his size helped fool the army. AI really missed him. Then one day not so long ago he got a letter from the boy, who told how things were in England and how he yearned for Al and the Royal Theatre. That afternoon Al entered the tobacco store across from the theatre and ordered a carton of cigarettes to be sent to hir erstwhile patron. The lady who kept the store seemed suddenly upset. There was something on her mind but she didn’t know how to say it. “I suppose you haven’t heard,” she said gently. “He was killed in an air raid. The news of it arrived a while ago.” Daniels was shocked into silence. The lady said nothing until the pain of ill tidings had passed. “Yes,” she continued, “he was killed while sitting in a theatre.” Z an % Fast Changeovers Archie Mason, Mayor of Springhill, N.S., who is also president of the Nova Scotia Baseball League, prominent in the hockey league, president of the National Council of Independents, and so on, took in a little ice hockey at the bangup Mercantile League while here recently . .. Jack Karr of the Star did a whole column on Evelyn Lillie of the Village Theatre as Toronto’s first lady manager. Friends of Mrs. Flo Simmons have been asking me to tweak Jack’s nose ever since, pointing out that Flo, EBA booker, managed the Crown until a year ago. Karr jumped the tracks, they say . .. Newsworthy things happen at Lloyd Gurr’s Century, Hamilton. A cutout in the lobby of Frank Sinatra got kissed by an emotional dame who left lipstick Imprints and the radio told the story; then the theatre was emptied in two-and-ahalf minutes when a severe fire started nearby, which won acclaim from press and radio . .. Joe Paul pulled a good one at the Park, Welland. Mounted the stage and asked for the oldest mother in the house, then presented her with a dozen beauty roses for St. Valentine’s ...%In “The Uninvited” Paramount has the greatest chiller in years. Time Magazine wrote that “ “The Uninvited’ is about the best case of the shakes anybody can buy during the liquor shortage.”. I can verify that. My bumps were so big I couldn’t get out of my seat in the screening room. Yet it’s done with beauty and restraint. A real triumph. x * cd Remember the Adage Some sporty lads were agreeing about the perfidy of Man the other evening and brought up fixed examples. Tales were told about press-mooted grudge fights that turned into drudge fights, boxers who found divers ways to the canvas when the lettuce was on the line, and horses that finished on schedule. Bookmakers, they said, had no respect for their bettors. One quoted an apt adage of the late Abe Orpen. “Never bet,” said the old sportsman, “on anything that talks.” That was a moral that adorned ome of Orpen’s tales. In other days long distance running was a great sport and attracted much wagering. At certain stations along the route an announcer gave out the names of the judges, ending this Information with “by mutual consent,” a popular term, Orpen had wagered heavily on the favorite, laying the odds, but an unknown entrant whom I shall call Joe Doaks won the race. Orpen suspected that it had been arranged that way beforehand. He whispered a request into the ear of the announcer, a friend of his, who was about to broadcast the name of the winner. “The winner is Joe Doaks,” shouted the announcer, “—by mutual consent!” _— Page 3 Qo &,, ry Lg as Promised * CURRENTLY * 24 Features 16 Westerns * ALL AVAILABLE BY MAY * Read Your Own Trade Papers For Reviews or Better Yet See THE NEW AND GREATER PRC PICTURES x Stars, Stories, Directors, Production Values—AIl Going Up With PRC * Producers Releasing Corporation LIMITED Executive O 277 Victoria St, Toronto, 2, Ont.