Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 5, 1945)

Page 6 Sentimentalist Leonard Bishop, manager of the Tivoli, was reminded that it was the 28th anniversary of the theatre’s opening recently when he received an anniversary card from Ben Cronk, now Emp-U exploitation chief. Ben opened it as general manager of the Allen circuit, which built it, and placed Herb Jennings in charge shortly after. After all these years the Tiv is still a lovely house, one of the city’s favorites, and many future theatres will be built along the same lines. This is also the 25th year of the Imperial, Toronto, once the Pantages, and still the largest theatre in the British Empire. It was brought to my attention by the souvenir booklet issued at the time by Eastern Theatres Ltd., the Bickle-Nathanson company. The Pantages, which seats 3373, was designed by the famous theatre architect, Thomas W. Lamb, and took 14 months to build. Mayor T. L. Church spoke and Montagu Love and Mildred Harris Chaplin made personal appearances. John Arthur conducted the overture and Fred Radford took over as the house leader. Among the acts played on and off by the orchestra was “Fred P. Allen.” The film was Harold Lloyd’s “High and Dizzy.” The house will have a new front as soon as possible. J.S. Duncan Succeeds Late R. V. LeSueur J. S. Duncan was appointed a director of General Theatre Corporation Limited and Odeon Theatres of Canada Limited at meetings of the respective boards of the companies held recently. He will fill the vacancy caused by the death of the late R. V. LeSueur, and will act as representative of Odeon Theatres Limited (Great Britain), which company is closely associated with the two Canadian companies. Duncan is the president and general manager of MasseyHarris Company Limited and a director of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, and a member of the executive council of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Associa It was also announced that George Peters has succeeded T. J. Bragg as secretary of Odeon Theatres, although the latter remains vice-president. Thieves Get $258 The Empire Theatre, Halifax, NS, was robbed of $258 recently by two well-dressed men who spoke casually to the cashier, pushed a gun through the opening in the window and walked off with the money, saying a polite ‘good night.” Canadian FILM WEEKLY A Ramble With Ramsaye I just finished reading No. 52 of Vocational and Professional Monographs, issued by the Bellman Publishing Company, Inc., Six Park Street, Boston 8, Mass. for 75 cents. No. 52 is ‘The Motion Picture Industry” and it’s by Terry Ramsaye, editor of the Motion Picture Herald. It’s a concise 24-page guide through the movies from then to now. Parts of it are humorous, yet not without truth. “It is essential, or at least helpful, to him who would rise in movieland to believe: that love is the greatest fact on earth, that all men are created equal, that all mothers are sainted, that kiddies and kittens are cute, that success can be measured in dollars, and, finally, that death is a door to illuminated mystery,” he writes. Selecting them at random, he examines the beginnings of ten leaders of “the art and industry of the films.” Each one is a plot in itself for some medium other than the movies. Some can be recognized. Not all are flattered. No. 8, for instance. He is a man who got an unimportant job in a film exchange, studied executives, developed a suave manner, dressed accordingly, waited for his chance and got it, winning distinction mainly for his smooth talk and genial disposition. “He weathered storms and somewhat to his surprise became an international executive, travelling about the world scattering pleasant words.” Then there’s No. 10, a statistician. He took honors at school, went in for accounting, got a job in a theatre circuit office as a bookkeeper, “became the chief statistician, meaning head bookkeeper. He still is. A small success, but a very real one.” A career in the industry, according to Ramsaye, is “in the main something that happens to one” and hardly ever the result of purpose and intention. “Success in the pictures, however, is always accompanied by ability.” It’s a good thing to have a copy of the monograph on hand, for it will save you the trouble of answering the questions outsiders ask all the time — the meaning of this or that term, the relationship of one thing to another, the chances of success, etc. * ¢ * Yoo Hoo, Doc! “Sooner or later in my meetings with the two doctors, journalism takes a panning. Of all the professions that doctors despise—and doctors despise all professions except doctoring—they despise journalism most. I think this is because they recognize that the journalist is a man of very little talent. All he can do, as a rule, is to get along well with his fellow man and write intelligible sentences. As the average doctor can do neither of these, he naturally despises the journalist.” William McCleery in P.M., New York. * * * Observanda The Warner gang has some handy hockey players in it and they are looking for action against other film teams. See Sam Shapero... That “Dakota” of John Wayne's is one of those smashing, crashing westerns that makes everyone-happy. Walter Brennan does one of his fine crusty but kindly characterizations and Ward Bond and Mike Mazurki head the heavies. It maintained our interest throughout the other morning. Wayne, with “Oklahoma” and “Tall in the Saddle,” has ridden his horse into deluxe first-run corrals . . . Bea Pacaud, who left the management of the Rexy, Ottawa, to be married and move to Toronto, is now the secretary of Don Gauld, Odeon supervisor . . . There’s a good, factual story on the Canadian moving picture industry in November’s Canadian Business. It’s by Bryant Fryer .., Talking about pictures to see, RKO “The Bells of St. Mary's,” the Ingrid Bergman-Bing Crosby starrer, will capture your fancy and touch your heart in quite a different way than any movie ever has. It’s grand sentiment and wonderful fun. Bergman incidentally, was recently made an honorary sergeant of the Queen’s Own and she is sending one of her parasols from “Saratoga Trunk” to be auctioned by its association .. . George Rotsky is coming along nicely, after being taken ijl suddenly, December 5, 1945 Short Throws I like the way John Adaskin spoke up for Canadian talent to get a chance on Canadian radio in a speech before the Association of Canadian Advertisers. His remarks were thoroughly reported by Richard Lewis, Canadian Broadcaster. John points out that Canadian advertisers can’t originate programs here for broadcasting into the USA because you must pay for standby orchestras from the various musicians locals’ involved. But the Americans can broadcast right across Canada with no such interference. He referred to the “We'll let you know” days of the CBC, when a clique of artists occupied most of the broadcasting schedule. Other artists were auditioned but rarely heard anything favorable later. He sug . gests Canadian programs by American and Canadian advertisers... Walter Wilson, Capitol, Edmonton, was elected president of the western branch of the Canadian Picture Pioneers recently. New members included W.P. Wilkie and W.J. Lindenberg, both of Vermilion... Overheard: “He suffers from an ingrown hangover.”. . . Odéon’s Xmas party will be on the 13th, that of Famous on the 19th, 20th Century on the afternoon of the 21st and Warners that evening. Joseph Alteen, Mil., Dies in 51st Year A well known theatre manager in Montreal, George Joseph Alteen, died suddenly at the Homoeopathic Hospital there in his 51st year. Seized with a cerebral hemorrhage in the morning he was rushed to the hospital, where he died the same day. A native of Rashaya, Syria, he came to Canada as a boy with his parents, who settled in Amherst, NS. He came to Montreal 20 years ago and went to work for the Maisonneuve Theatre when the theatre became part of the Confederation Amusement Chain. Columbia To Enter 16 Mm. Field Abroad Seeing no interference with the 35 mm. field if the 16 mm. film 1S properly controlled, Joseph A. McConville, foreign manager for Columbia Pictures, announced recently in England that his company was planning to enter the 16 mm. field overseas because controls were necessary. Joseph Friedman, Columbia’s British sales head stated that the showing of narrow guage films in areas away from regular theatres should “create a patronage.”