Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 11, 1945)

Page 10 FPCCss Fine Gift To Sick Ch. Hosp. (Continued from Page 1) will extend also to photography equipment necessary for a study of case histories and surgery methods. All equipment will be of 16 mm. size. At present there is inadequate projection and photographic equipment, although the need for recreation for the children and visual education for patients and the medical staff has increased. Motion picture records of treatment and cure have accumulated and are of use in training doctors and nurses. At present portable projection equipment is serving for ward entertainment and visual study. The new auditorium will provide more comfortable conditions of motion picture entertainment for patients able to leave their beds. It will be a school as much as a theatre, in which children, deprived of ordinary means of education because of illness, will be educated visually. Famous Players will provide whatever hospital officials feel is necessary and let them supervise installation. ‘Trail Town’ to Be Jules Levey's Next Film version of Ernest Haycox best-seller, “Trail Town,” will be rroduced by Jules Levey with Ann Dvorak, Randolph Scott and Barbara Britton in starring roles. United Artists will release. Canadian FILM WEEKLY MM me | 2 : AA i: [acl F7 On SQUARE Notes Ted Allen of Akron, Ohio, brother of Esquire’s Izzy and PRC’s Harry is in town. He’s not in the film business .. . “Son of Lassie” and “Thunderhead—Son of Flicka” were both shot with Technicolor’s Monopack, a one-neg process which replaced the three-neg process still general. George Geroux, Technicolor’s ambassador, visiting town and being welcomed gladly, told me that ... At the golf tournament Archie Laurie was having a tough time making out the lucky draw numbers in the dark and obliging Tom Daley went to his car to get a flashlight. While he was gone his number was called and being absent, the prize was awarded to someone else ... Arch Jolley, MPTAO secretary, has been busy touring the province and his visits to the various towns yielded quite a few press stories about the part the movie industry is playing in the war effort .. . Ernie Roberts of ASN turned columnist for Sean Edwin in the Montreal Herald, pinch-hitting a one-day stint while the latter was vacationing. Spike got off some stickfuls about the work and hazards of Canuck war lensmen ... Roy Disney, business manager for Walt, was around RKO... John Cohn went down in two at gin. Very embarrassed, he was, if you can imagine jaunty John that way ... Syl Gunn was in to say so-long and tell how sorry he was to miss the golf tourney. Syl’s work last year helped get it under way right. Everyone wishes him well in his new job as Winnipeg chief for Para... Dorothy Wilson threatens to start a ladies’ golf tourney, seeing as the gals are barred from ours, * * * Peculiar Point of View During the golf tournament a number of old-time exhibitors were among those enjoying leisurely conversation while loafiing in the shade. Too often such conversations move inevitably toward one thing—counting the other guy’s money. Not this time, although the talk did fall into an accustomed pattern. This group was measuring and weighing the character of distrib executives. The conversation finally caught up with one general manager, reputed to be a hard bargainer. One exhibitor named him the hardest of all. Let’s call the exhibitor Jones and the general manager McTavish. “I disagree,” said another exhibitor. “When I rebuilt my theatre I put every cent I had and could borrow into it. It had b2en closed for 15 weeks and so I had made no money while I spent what I got my hands on. My contract with McTavish called for percentage pictures. That contract would have ruined me, because the money it called for would have left me without any financial protection against the people who held my notes, I told’ McTavish my story. He tore up the contract and gave me a new one which called for flat rentals at a small raise in the price of each film. He kept me in business.” Turning to the exhibitor who had excoriated McTavish, he said: “Now, do you call that a break or don’t you?” The listeners nodded their heads in agreement and looked at Jones for the answer. . “I admit,” said Jones, “that McTavish gave you a break— but he never gave me one.” “But,” protested a listener, ‘this man needed a break and you didn’t.” Jones fell silent and again everyone waited to hear his reply. “So what?” he answered. ‘‘Would it have done me harm?” % EG * They Wouldn't Believe It Some exhibitors were talking film terms. “Do you know,” said one, “when Epitome Productions came to me for permission to raise the prices of pictures ten per cent in my house—after pee refused them—I allowed’ them to raise them 25 per cent? Everyone expressed disbelief. “Take another look at this guy, will you?” said one. “Is he an exhibitor—and is he alive?” July 11, 1945 NFB Operating on Internat | Scale ‘International distribution of Canadian films will increase steadily during the next few years,” predicted Dr. Malcom Ross, the National Film Board’s director of distribution, in an address before the Ontario Rural Circuit Conference at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph recently. In addition to an extensive exchange of films between Canada and other parts of the British Commonwealth and the United States, arrangements have also been made for exchange of documentary films between Canada, France, Mexico and many other countries. A new film “This is Canada,” is being made by the National Film Board at the request of the Soviet Government, with dialogue in Russian, and will be shown in all schools of the Soviet Union, Dr. Ross announced. Along with this film, a large display from the board’s graphics division and photographic material for use in schoolrooms will be sent to the USSR. Films are also currently in preparation at NFB studios for the liberated countries of Europe and four pictures are being prepared in German. Fourteen films in Spanish and Portuguese are being prepared now for distribution in Latin America and Canadian films recorded in Chinese and Hindustani are being shown in the Far East through the British Ministry of Information. : é “We hope to present a fair picture of Canada abroad as well as to bring to Canadians an authentic picture of other nations,” stated Dr. Ross. Pioneers’ Picnic For Calgary Film Folk The Alberta division of the Motion Picture Picture Pioneers sponsored its first annual picnic for theatre and film exchange employees and their families in Calgary recently. The picnic took place at Sandy Beach on the outskirts of the city at Glenmore Dam. About 400 guests attended and draw prizes amounting to $500 for the Pioneer Victory Loan sale were awarded. The Committees in charge of the affair were: Entertainment, Joe Palansky, Empire-Universal; finance, J. K. Randall of the Capitol, Calgary, and Roy Chown of the Strand; transportation, Jack Reid of United Artists; sports, Vernon Skorey, 20th Fox, and Paul Cardell, Famous Players; supplies, L. Hick and K. McLellan.