Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 19, 1945)

Page 10 seemingly rapid, is still a favorite subject of awed conversation by industry oldsters, who admire him, and industry youngsters, who want to emulate him. Nat Taylor fought his way to the top during a time when it was said that little men no longer stood a chance to become big men. He proved there was room for more big men and still plenty of hope for bright and brave little men. In ten years one theatre became more than 50. The man mainly responsible didn’t work himself into a readymade job heading a circuit. Nor was it there to be born into. Through the leadership he provided for his associates and partners he was instrumental in creating his own eminence by creating the source of it first. Taylor will be the first to tell you that it was not a one-man job. Raoul Auerbach, his partner from the first, is still his chief mainstay. We will continue with Nat and return to Raoul later. The chief of Twentieth Century has a number of distinctions. He is probably the youngest member of the Canadian Picture Pioneers, having earned a steady income from exhibitors from the age of 12 on. In spite of his position in the industry, that of being one of its top three figures, he is just about the most popular individual in the Canadian field. Anyone can talk to him—and does. He has a grand sense of humor, a complete absence of stuffiness and, believe it or not, you can almost sell him anything if he thinks you're being honest. Such is his attitude that he nearly always does. He is quick to express admiration and appreciation, a quality many employers avoid. Taylor’s story is no ordinary rags-to-riches routine. He came up in the big decade of the rugged individualist and you had to be darn devious to get by and grow. So his story has enough twists and turns to serve as plots for a season’s product— and a heavy schedule at that. This is not the time to write that story because the chickens are still coming home to roost, bread cast upon the waters is being returned in better form, and so on. Use your favorite metaphor. But by the time another decade has passed some of the plot strings will be tied together and the result will be intriguing, if not fascinating. AC in many other things, acci dent is followed by design. Nat Taylor wandered into show business in the most casual of ways. A relative suggested to the willing 12-year-old that he might Canadian FILM WEEKLY Acorn to Forest in One Decade Part of the Story of the Fastest and Greatest Growth in Recent Canadian Theatre History (Continued from Page 1) make a few extra pennies by selling heralds to theatre owners for a printer. The printer had nothing to lose and neither did Nat so out he went. Weeks of night work went by and he couldn’t snag a single order. Finally the fellow who ran the Adanac Theatre, Toronto, bought enough heralds to yield Nat a 2742-cent commission. Taylor marched back to the printer in triumph. “I got an order,” he said proudly, like a man who had finally proved his point, “and I quit.” The boss laughed. It seemed that he didn’t think the boy would even get one for months and, admiring the way he had stuck to it, induced him to remain. In a few months Nat was earning $5 per week. The following summer a fire in his plant caused the printer to drop heralds from his schedule of work. Nat, then 13, promptly entered business for himself and was soon earning what was a considerable salary for ane his age. Taylor’s purpose in carrying on after-school business activities was to make life through school more independent and comfortable. School or no, show business had him and in 1923, during his first year at the University of Toronto, Nat and his brother Morris—M. C. Taylor, the advertising man—took over the operation of the Monarch Theatre, Toronto, a 240-seat house, as a family investment. It was sold a year later at a profit. Having a strong. streak of curiosity and an interest in the meaning of things as set down on paper, he was drawn to industry politics. In 1924 Taylor became secretary of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners Association, which was affiliated in a loose way with the USA organization of that name. He later was a leader in the organization of the Independent Theatres Association. Today he is president of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario, which represents almost one-third of the theatres in Canada. His bent for examining and weighing things was of great value, for a favorite industry Saying still is “The big type gives it to you and the little type takes it away.” The idea is that many people never bother to read the little type before signing the contract. Nat’s love for checking the little type was second nature, for while he was secretary of the MPTOA he was studying law at Osgoode Hall. He is a solicitor by profession, even if not by practice. TH the late Bud Lennon and Earl Lawson, Taylor was responsible for starting the first booking and buying co-operative in Canadian film history, Exhibitors Co-Operative, Limited. The three later bought out the shareholders and the next change was the withdrawal of Bud Lennon because of ill-health. In 1931 Exhibitors Co-Operative, Limited, merged, with Oscar MHanson’s Community Theatres of Canada, Limited, the new company trading under the name of Associated Theatres, Limited. It still does. At the time of the merger it dealt for 80 accounts. Oscar Hanson was_ general manager of Associated and Nat Taylor assistant general manager. In 1935 Hanson and Taylor separated and a short while later the latter, with Raoul Auerbach, who had been his assistant at Associated Theatres, started the still successful Exhibitors Booking Association. In 1934 Nat Taylor acquired what was to become the first theatre in a great chain, the College, Kitchener, now the Century. The veteran Charlie Stephenson was made manager and he is still with the company as head of its advertising. Then the Community, Hamilton, was added. Both houses were purchased in partnership with Fred C. Brown. Next followed a partnership agreement for the operation of the Strand, Toronto, now the Victory, one of the city’s finest neighborhood theatres, but at the time of the change a legitimate house. The year 1941, at which time Twentieth Century Theatres had 17 units in operation, was an historic one. The business and theatrical world was still excited by the resignation of the late N. L. Nathanson as president cf Famous Players and the battle that was looming between his newly -founded Odeon Theatres and his former outfit for leaderShip of the Dominion exhibition field. Of major conjecture was the matter of which side would win Taylor’s support. The financial and political September 19, 1945 weekly, Saturday Night, an authoritative and respected journal, announced that Taylor would become vice-president to N. L. Nathanson and would act as general manager. It was Nathanson who provided the news, a sensation in the industry. What followed was an even greater sensation. Taylor chose an association with Famous Players instead. There had been more hope than truth in the Nathanson story. The Famous Players friendship proved so fruitful for both that it was extended and expanded recently. AYLOR doesn’t know how to say no to worthy causes. He is a working member of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry War Services Committee and acts as Ontario co-chairman for Victory Loan drives, Red Cross campaigns and such. He is active in the new Variety Club. He just can’t be unbusy. For the record, Nat Taylor is president of Twinex Century Theatres Corporation and Raoul Auerbach general manager. The name ‘Twentieth Century Theatres” is used to describe all the theatres operated by the TaylorAuerbach setup. Such theatres are owned by a variety of companies, some of which own but one theatre. Hach of these companies has its own name and its own type of business arrangement, such deals being made by those who head the companies. All are grouped under the Twentieth Century banner for the purpose of easy identification by trade and public. In other words “Twentieth Century Theatres” is a name, not a company. What has been printed here is but some of the raw material for a story that would be the most interesting one in the Canadian industry today. It would be a shame to spoil it by putting it on paper too early. Nat Taylor’s adventures in the various sections of the motion picture industry are interesting and amusing — but they are just starting. The same is almost true of Raoul Auerbach. What should be recorded here, however, is the fact that recently, after Taylor had purchased the holdings of several partners in behalf of himself and’ Famous Players, those partners wanted to make sure that the trade receive no wrong idea about the dissociation. They were painfully anxious that their devotion to Taylor as a friend be understood by all and that a separation of business interests had been through mutual desire and with no personal or business disagree (Continued on Page 12)