Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 14, 1945)

| | | i February 14, 1945 ———— MORRIS MILLIGAN Everyone will be glad to hear that he won a decision over the guy with the white beard and scythe and will be brightening up the haunts of the trade soon. Morris, still in the hospital, had pneumonia. Tidbits-and-Bites Harry Bercovitch, Odeon partner from Regina, was in town last week and Sydney Samson and Haskell Masters took him to dinner in Chinatown. Chow Mein, etc, as you probably know, doesn’t have enough body to’sink your teeth into. And such is its composition that things disappear into it like a shovel into soft mud. When mud suddenly, for any reason, reverses its direction, the shovel is apt to go with it. After all that vague prattling, I might say that Harry suddenly and unexpectedly lost his china choppers. It needed small-sized grappling irons to retrieve them. And since there weren't any around at the time—and since my information ends there —I wonder did Harry get them back? They Like Him There isn’t any doubt that Haskell Masters is one of the most popular upper bracket boys in the Canadian industry — and not just with the others in the same deduction group. The boys and girls who worked for Haskell in the head offices of Odeon have maintained a constant crush on him and his departure from that company was met with regret that almost became mourning. The office staff presented Haskell with a box of cigars. His secretary, Lil Levey, who is also leaving, was given a book. Although Haskell hasn’t announced plans for the future, he’ll be back in the business no doubt. He has too many friends hereabouts to stay away long. Canadian FILM WEEKLY Sot 2m, 5 oe q ia Ft at America’s Newest Hobby From the News Bulletin, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science “If England is to be characterized as a country of shopkeepers,” a visitor to these shores once remarked, “and China a land of scholars and seers, then the United States may be termed a nation of collectors, for Americans collect anything and everything: sea shells, stamps, old motorcar plaques, and a most curious ’ hobby of all, cinema photographs.” The visitor was referring to “still” collectors, those people who gather scenes and publicity shots of Hollywood’s motion picture productions. Still collecting in an organized fashion is probably one of America’s latest hobbies, but one that is growing in interest and in the number of collectors. There is a serious aspect to this hobby, too, and one of the finest of allmotion picture still collections—and there are reportedly thousands of them—is the one held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, the Hollywood institution which annually holds the Academy Awards Event for outstanding pictures, performances and technical achievements. The Academy owns about 20,000 stills with an evaluation of $50,000. The value is purely relative since a majority of the stills in the Academy Collection could never be replaced. A Few Each Year The Academy job of selecting each year a few of the best stills from almost all of Hollywood’s annual output of some 500 feature-length productions is in itself 2 monumental task. Hollywood turns out about 100,000 different still pictures each year, representing publicity shots and scenes from features, short subjects and documentaries. Because of the astronomical proportions of the problems the Academy restricts itself to no more than six to 10 stills from the annual production output in Hollywood. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences now has a complete file of stills of pictures made since 1927, the year of the Academy’s organization. From time to time as a result of donations — some of them by collectors themselves — and through the cooperation of Hollywood studios the Academy has succeeded in building up its collection of stills from pictures made before 1927, so that at present the Collection is fairly complete from 1915 on with a scattering of earlier stills. They're Worth Money As in all collecting hobbies Still Collecting has its rarities and high prices. One private collector, for example, paid $100 for a set of 20 stills from the Hollywood film classic, D. W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation.” Other fine collector’s items that bring high prices are scenes from “Mary Queen of Scots” with Sarah Bernhardt (1895) “The New York Hat” with Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore (1912) and any stills from “Intolerance” (1916). Age naturally determines rarity, although scenes from Academy Award winning pictures have also become fine collector items. In addition to its outstanding collection of Hollywood stills, the Academy also has an important collection of stills from foreign pictures. Through the cooperation of official British, Russian and Canadian film agencies among other nations, the Academy has acquired a sizeable representation of the best feature and documentary films of other lands, The entire collection is a pictorial revue of the world making motion pictures of the world and how it has lived during the years since Edison’s invention fifty years ago. SE TT a a Might Be Ship Ahoy A fellow who ought to be able nTheSqu sont oh RPE Soe $ About three dozen filmites to provide a good opinion about the possibility of so many new theatres springing up after the war said something worth thinking about. We were talking about several theatres being erected in the same zone and he observed: “Might just be a battle of signs.” will be guests of The Royal Canadian Naval Film Society at a luncheon conference aboard the HMCS York on February 20. The Honorary Board of Supply is made up of industry men. There will be a short tour to observe normal] training in progress, Page 15 Notes Ed Wells, secretary of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, took a firsthand look at the state of things during his recent coast-to-coast trip . . . Morris Milligan, you'll be glad to hear, is coming along nicely now and should be out of the hospital in a couple of weeks. There was a time during his illness when he was given less than an even chance to see his friends again but he fought his way out in great fashion . . . The Goldhar boys went to Detroit to attend the wedding of the daughter of brother Jack, who is the United Artists’ boss in the Motor City. . . . The Imperial staff presented Manager Tom Daley with an antique rule and sterling silver case in honor of the FPCC anniversary ... Phil Ulster, who says that he’s the youngest union class A projectionist, wants to be the youngest exhibitor. It’s his tenth year in the business . . . This is really some country for weather. During his recent trip Leo Devaney, RKO chief, ran into 35 below in Winnipeg, 45 above in Calgary and four days of rain in Vancouver. How About It? I would appreciate it if you lazy guys and gals will fill in our ballot for the “Ten Bests” and send it back here in a hurry. Story The announcement that 5,757 Canadian servicemen have lost their sight during this war brings to mind that touching story which appeared recently in some newspapers. You may have missed it. A blind man had his life made easier by the guidance of a Seeing Eye dog. This dog was welldisciplined, intelligent and devoted and the blind man had a great love for it. Then in some fashion the admirable qualities of the dog began to leave him. The blind man began to feel that, because of seeming carelessness and indifference, the dog was no longer so devoted as formerly. It made mistakes and seemed distracted. The blind man was puzzled. He spoke of this to a friend, who had the formerly faithful guide examined. The dog was almost blind. For three months cataracts on both eyes had impaired its sight. The blind leading the blind. Observation It takes all kinds of people to make a world—and a bad one at that,