Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 26, 1945)

December 26, 1945 showing another in “The Sea Hawk.” Puckered lips, vocal cords, gramaphones and instruments filled the air with such songs as “All Alone,” “T’ll See You in My Dreams” and “The Man I Love.” But Jack Arthur was not to take his place in the midst of all that. Back in Toronto the love of friends and home asserted itself and he listened to those who wanted him to stay. He changed his mind but Hearst didn’t and sued to enforce the contract. Jimmy Grainger, now of Republic but then sales chief of Metro, which company distributed Hearst’s films, intervened and the publisher dropped the suit. N. L. Nathanson and J. P. Bickell arranged the banquet in Jack’s honor. “Had you gone we would have given you a banquet,” explained N. L. Nathanson, “so why not because you stayed?” Was Jack’s a wise choice? Time and the talkies proved him wrong, some of us think, in spite of his present importance in the Canadian motion picture world. A half decade after he turned down Hearst’s offer stage lights began to snap off over all the continent —except New York. There he would have remained, free to enjoy his creative urge to the fullest, reaping the benefit SLUR IAIR IEE REI RRR a nn RE REL RE REE UR UR US MERU NEUE RE RII ENE TERE LE RE REPEL URRY LE UENCE NEUE EEE LEE RE PRE RE RE RE REL LE NEUE LEE EE MAY THE NEXT WEAR BE THE BEST YOU VE EVER KNOWN * CANADIAN AUTOMATIC CONFECTIONS LTD. Toronto ete AMMDMDDDDDDAD DQ DHAARBINNR Va DaDaDrDUDiDDiD eB DeD De DD RE SUD DAD EA (1D Dar Da Bea PAD Daa Aa Sa Uae ar aaa DI Canadian FILM WEEKLY Sack Arthur Presents = (Continued from Page 23) of his years of training and experience. The grapes should not be allowed to wither on the vine nor rare talent to remain unused. Do not misunderstand. He is not unhappy, nor is his heart filled with regret and what is written above is not his opinion as stated but that of the writer. Few men have greater capacity for friendship or zest for life than Jack Arthur. Nor have his talents for production, direction and conducting remained altogether dormant. Production of Canada’s Army Show, which won international acknowledgment, was one of his wartime duties, Famous Players having granted him a leave of absence at the request of the government officials and army authorities. In Ottawa with the show, he was personally thanked by Premier William Lyon Mackenzie King. Jack’s more recent activity was as chairman of the Citizen’s Committee for Troops in Training. Almost 3,000 concert parties have been provided since the beginning of the war and the work will continue through the demobilization period. The hand turneth ever to the first trade, a Georgian proverb says. {pee scrapbooks rounded out by the hands of his wife, the devoted Midge— Margaret, but Midge to folks in the industry and out—reveal aspects of Jack’s activities worth noting here, even in loose fashion. Midge feels that John, junior, and Thom, their sprightly sons, ought to have something to go by when they grow old enough to wonder what kind of a man their father was and is. That is, according to his wi Ray Hague UAT ALAL AACA A ALALAACALS ALA AEA NACA cod PEPER CRUG tS PSR PELE LE tt rg SEGRE rr tS PEP OSES CER ORME ERE CE ROE Distributors of 16 MM. MOTION PICTURES Christmas Greetings Rg DDD DD DNDN DNDMRAMMAMAAMNMNMABMMRNANARDARANDRNARNDM MN own opinion, that of their mother and the world before they came into it. Jack is famed as a discoverer of talent. Francis Shelley, star of Joe Cook’s “Rain and Shine’ on Broadway, worked for him before he took her away from the typewriter and put her in his Christmas pantomines. Theré was Bobby Breen, Arlene Jackson and Grace Moore of Earl Carroll’s Vanities. There was Betty Compton, later the wife of Jimmy Walker, and Fred Emney, now one of Britain’s comedy kings. Many of his chorines took their places in Broadway lines, among them Hilda Eckler, captain of the Radio City Rockettes. Arthur sent Florence Rogge and Leon Leonidoff to Broadway from the Uptown, to which he brought them from Montreal. When the offer came from Radio City Music Hall he told them to take it and promised them their jobs back. They didn’t need them, for they are still in charge of the ballet there. He was a busy man apart from the theatre. There was the Canadian Artists Radio Bureau, which he ran with Harry Sedgwick, for Jack, on old CFCA, was an outstanding radio attraction. There was his ballet school with Boris Volkoff. When Jack first came to Toronto and attended Victoria School a new-found chum carried his violin to concerts. His name was Ben Geldsaler and he has for years occupied the office down the hall as chief booker and buyer for Famous Players. He still enjoys the staunch friendship cf the lad he first knew as a Scottish immigrant. Jack was regularly rated as Dia Blake Smale GRMMAMMAMARAMAAAAARMMBDiOiM Page 27 one of Toronto’s best dressed men. He still is. He is dapper, jaunty of step, hearty of greeting and hasn’t changed a day — and that’s no joke. His favorite indoor game is billiards. A visit to his home on Cheltenham Avenue inevitably leads to the recreation room, where surrounded by the autographed photos of the great of yesterday and today, he gives you a beating while Midge prepares compensation in the form of refreshments. Arthur, it seems, could never get away from one kind of cue or another. Midge was Margaret Phillip Cousins of Washington, D.C.—a grand girl, anyone will tell you. She was a featured dancer with a Publix unit that played Toronto and Lester Allen, the comedian, introduced her to Jack. She came back later to teach dancing to a Junior League group and the romance was on. It still is. That’s the story of Jack Arthur, E & O E—errors and omissions excepted. One thing is a fact, however. There’s no finer fellow and no finer friend. Don’t dissent among showmen. It will cost you your health, change your appearance and _ shorten your life. a RUPEE EPEC IIE ERLE EERE PEPE RE NE Season's Greetings To All My Friends In the Industry J. J. Pau! Esquire, Brantford, Ont. FRMAMAARAMARAMAMAAMAARMAD PEREIRA IER DRAARRADMNMW) v4 “ &