Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 22, 1944)

Page 6 Releasing &. i ted (e «S RS > Ll cc oO > Oo “ths “ A © ~\ { Truth Fr TH. J. ALLEN, President] Talked About Whenever Exhibs Meet! IT'S THE NEW— THE GREATER PRC Isle of Forgotten Sins John Carridine Gale Sondergaard Sidney Toler Rick Vallin Veda Ann Borg * SUBMARINE BASE John Litel Alan Baxter Fifi D’Orsay Eric Blore * TIGER FANGS Frank Buck Duncan Renaldo dune Duprez * We Urge You to Screen the Buster Crabbe, Al (Fuzzy) St. John WESTERNS * YOU CAN RELY ON PRC Producers Releasing Corporation LIMITED Executive Offices: 277 Victoria St., Toronto, 2, Ont. Canadian FILM WEEKLY On The Square with Ave Bossin Music in the Air It may be that this same hurdy-gurdy music that enlivens the Square these brighter mornings has been making a vain appeal all winter to our gayer spirits to come out, come out, wherever you are. Most of us have been too busy playing hide-and-go-seek with Jack Frost. We never seem to hear those twangy melodies until some vague stirrings within us, peculiar to this time of year, get on the same personal wave length. Then, though March is still roaring like Leo the Lion, we pull our chins off our chests for the first time in months and observe the first sign of the age-old annual rebirth. The new position of your head brings into sight the cornice of nearby buildings and the distant gleam of sloping copper roofs. The varied architecture of the town occupies your curiosity until pretty girls get in your eyes, the images of bright new bonnets lingering on. The voices of noisy children at play stay with you after you are back in your office. When winter pulls up its retreat, turns about and makes its last furious stand, you become impatient to have this snuffling and shuffling over with. You refuse to push your chin back against your chest. It’s spring in your heart and you are going to main tain that attitude if it takes half the summer to bear you out. s e ce Those Hippling, Riffling Notes Some time before noon the moustachio’d maestro of the wheeled lyre begins his welcome whirling of the arm to churn Song out of what looks like the packing case of a piano. He stations himself on the Victoria street side of the Hermant building, an ideal location. It is beside the bank. The native psychology of the maestro tells him that persons with a pile of bills don't mind shaking off a few pieces of silver. It is recorded on the ledger of his mind that the occupants of this building are generous unto a profit. As the music goes up the silver comes down—but not until the maestro has looked up impatiently a few times, wondering what is holding back the customary acknowledgments of his patrons. The concert is usually well under way, “When You Wore a Tulip” haying been rendered and the second chorus of “Melancholy Baby” half through, before a piece of silver hits the ground. Then the interruptions start. Each time a coin lands the tune stops abruptly and there is time out for keen-eyed searching of the street. After that has happened a number of times, the office Wise guy pretends to drop a coin. The music is stilled while the maestro is tricked into wasteful examination, But, haying had his fun, the wise guy returns and really gives his bit. After a while the herald of brighter days to come removes the crank, gets between the shafts and, with a farewell wave of the hand like those with which he has offered his individual thanks during the sporadic spatter of silver, moves on to more fertile territory. se e a Fast Changeovers Walter “Buzz” Blondel, popular treasurer of the Imperial, Toronto, is slated for the RCAF... Quentin Maclean, whose organ solos at Shea’s are a big thing with the city’s showgoers, was married to Dorothy Baker of the staff recently. Dorothy, a grand gal, has adorned the local theatre scene for years... Get this!—a manager reports that one of his ushers quit him because @ patron occupied her seat... Percy Faith, Toronto musician who conducts the Carnation Milk program from QOhicago, is 1-A in the US Army. He’s a brother-in-law of Harold Kay, Toronto exhibitor... At the Queen's, Hespeler, the cleaning woman has been tossing all pennies picked up into a milk bottle. It was decided by Manager Jack Melzer that she could use them to send her overseas soldier son cigarettes. She refused, insisting that the cigarettes go through a fund so that all might share them. There is the real spirit of sacrifice ... That old nuisance of men remoying their hats in elevators because women are present is getting the treatment it deseryes In one New York hotel. A sign reads: “Though some of us are very slim, a few of us are fat. Since space is small, we ask you all, please don’t remove your hat,” March 22, 1944 Lawson, Beeston Odeon Directors (Continued from Page 1) The placing of both in important posts of Odeon is evidence of the reorganization and preparation going on inside that company, the second largest theatre chain in Canada, to meet the demands of the post-war period for more extensive avenues of public entertainment in the Dominion. The circuit has undergone steady development under the guidance of Paul Nathanson during the past three years. It has established itself in many parts of Canada for the first time and has expanded in those areas where it ‘was already powerful. Odeon has made great strides on the Pacific Coast. Empire Universal, at present the largest distributor of motion pictures in Canada and one of the leading exchanges of the world, is also gearing for the future. Though Hollywood product was fewer last year than in the immediate past, there are more first-rate producers of films at work today than at any time in the last fifteen years. It is evident that the distribution picture will be a more varied one in the years to come. The small companies are now making quality pictures with increased budgets and a number of stars have entered production on their own. England promises to be the Source of top product. The Eurcpean countries are, of course, a mystery from a_ production standpoint, though it is conceded that they will provide a tremendous market. Mr. Lawson has also been appointed a vice-president and will act as general counsel of the companies. Formerly Minister of National Revenue under the present Lord Bennett, his services have been requisitioned by business circles since his retirement from the House of Commons in 1940. He is a director of Viceroy Manufacturing Company Limited, Clark Ruse Aircraft Limited, Barker’s Bakeries Limited, and Burry Biscuit Corporation of the United States. George H. Beeston, an accountant by profession, has been actively connected with the industry for many years. Though a key man enjoying wide popularity and identified with the industry, his surface prominence has not been as great as many others holding less important “posts, ‘Touhy’ Approved Fox’s “Roger Touhy,” Story of USA gangster now jailed, has been okayed for release by the FBI after alteration. It’s been off the bench for six months,