Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 22, 1947)

January 22, 1947 Durbin Leader In Annual Earnings Deanna Durbin, Winnipeg-born Hollywood singing star, topped. all women on the latest USA Treasury list of big earners in 1944 and the business fiscal year ending in 1945 with $310,728. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, film comedians whose earnings are listed together, as a team ‘received the most on the list, having been paid the total of $469,170. All three are with Universal Pictures. This new list supplements previous ones for the same period and is to be followed by more. Evidently at the time this list was issued only reports from two film companies, Universal and Columbia, were ready, as several have not yet appeared on any treasury statements. Notable among the missing are MGM earn‘ings, with its president, Louis B. Mayer, who for the last eight consecutive years topped all salarjes in the USA, figuring to be close .to film producer-director Leo McCarey, high man so far in the 1944-into-1945 period with earnings of $1,113,035. High individual of the 122 on the present list was Thomas J. Watson of International Business Machines Corporation, with $425,548, $100,000 of it. salary and the rest “other compensation.” Others on the list from Universal with their earnings are Walter Wanger, producer husband of Joan Bennett, $301,127; N. J. Blumberg, executive producer, $234,624; J. Cheever Cowdin, chairman of the board, $234,624; Felix Jackson, director who guided his wife, Deanna Durbin, in many of her pictures, $114,875; Merle Oberon, $170,000; Jack Oakie, $150,000; Franchot Tone, $150,000; Charles Laughton, $116,666; Clifford Work, $106,000; ~Brian Donlevy, $93,750; and George Sanders, $82,666. Columbia Pictures high salarjes were Harry Cohn, president, $278,900; Charles Boyer, $160,000: Paul Muni, $127,083; Al K. Hall, $124,291; Virginia Van Upp, $118,833; Rita Hayworth, $110,708; Charles Vidor, $107,500; Rosalind Russell, $100,000; Charles Coburn, 88,3338; and Irving Briskin, $79,291. Fire Chases Patrons Out Of Theatre Several hundred patrons of Famous Players’ Victoria Theatre in Quebec City recently filed their way out in good order when smoke from a fire in an adjoining garage obscured the screen. No damage was cause to the theatre. Gene Autry Joining Columbia Pictures Gene Autry, famed cowboy star, will form his own independent producing unit and move over to Columbia Pictures Corporation April 1st on an exclusive contract to release four high budget pictures per year for two years, with further extensions in prospect. With Armand L. Schaefer, executive producer of Westerns for many years, Autry has organized Gene Autry Productions, which will be given full use of Columbia’s facilities, though producing with its own. staff. WB Sets Turf Short “Millions Cheer,’’ a one-reeler in Technicolor showing the major turf clubs in North and South America with emphasis on their scenic beauty and architectural design, has been added to the schedule of Gordon Hollingshead, chief of short subject production for Warner Brothers. Lee Anthony will direct the short. Belsize Organizes Teen-Agers Club A club for youngsters in their teens, called the Belsize Theatre Teen-Agers Club, has been organized by that 20th Century Theatre’s Toronto house, through the efforts of the manager, Lloyd Mills. The first meeting, held on a recent Sunday after church, had some 450 present, with Mayor Robert Saunders, Controller John Innes, Chief Police Inspector Alexander and Harold V. Locke, candidate for alderman in the recent elections, addressing the meeting. Two of the Teen-Agers, -Bob ‘Collins and Lloyd McClelland, were voted in as president and secretary, respectively, and Mills was given the office of treasurer temporarily. Several noteworthy projects were set under way, the most important being the naming of a committee to visit wounded veterans in hospitals and distribute comforts; organizing of a street bicycle race for May 24th; and the looking into the matter of a summer camp. “This is a concrete step,’ stated Mills, “in building better citizens with greater civic pride. By directing the surplus energy of these youngsters along paths that benefit themselves and the community as a whole, we are helping to eliminate the chance of them becoming juvenile delinquents. Incidentally, one of the by-products of this effort seems to be the complete elimination of all noisiness and rowdyism from the theatre, something that has marred many a performance here.” Canadian FILM WEEKLY Gardner To Odeon Kid Club Wing Successor to Hillard Conway as assistant to Tom Bowyer, head of Odeon Movie Club for Young Canadians, is Bob Gardner, formerly of Odeon head office. Conway has joined National Theatre Services, Odeon affiliate, as booker. Carey Assigned To. Para's ‘Catalina’ : Macdonald Carey has been assigned a starring role in Paramount’s Technicolor musical, “Catalina,” which goes before the cameras early next month with a cast which includes Sterling: Hayden, Olga San Juan, Cass Daley, Billy DeWolfe and introduces Nanette Parks in the feminine leading role. Carey will portray a millionaire playboy who vies with Sterling Hayden for the love of Miss Parks. UK Govt Official Pans Hollywood Hollywood-produced films have brought a lot of money into the USA from Britain, but at the direct expense of American prestige and reputation, stated Herbert Morrison, lord president of the council, at a recent meeting of British film exhibitors. The dinner at which he spoke was a banquet given by the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association and the National Association of Theatre and Kine Employees to celebrate the successful conclusion of a national agreement concerning wages and working conditions for men and women in the trade. Affecting over 140,000 persons, the national agreement replaces 36 regional pacts previously in effect. “Many good Americans would agree,” said Morrison, “that Hollywood had given a false picture of America through films that depicted an over-sentimentalized and over-glamorous version of life there, “We must see that our contribution to the world output of films is of the highest quality— sincere, truthful, witty — using this new art form fully and not imitate the stage or anything else,’ continued Morrison, ‘for here in Britain. we have some of the finest film producers, actors, cameramen and designers in the world, backed by the traditions and living music of the English language. Indeed, the cinema in the right hands can become a great civilizing influence as have been the great languages of the world of which English is by no means the least.” Page 15 Canadian Edition Of Para Newsr | A special Canadian edition of Paramount’s “Two Decades of History” has been made up by Win Barron, Paramount publicity head in the Dominion and narrator of Paramount Canadian News, from clips taken from thousands of newsreels. Issued in celebration of 20 years of newsreel releases by Paramount, the short runs 18 minutes, with the voice of Barron highlighting history’s important episodes. An authentic and stirring document of the last two decades, it covers the period between the two World Wars and the return of peace after the second. In addition to the library film that Barron scanned in Toronto, A. J. Richards, editor-in-chief, reviewed over 14,000,000 feet of film to make up the USA contribution to the short. A new and effective documentary technique was used to enhance the already great value of the two-reeler. Going back to the latter part of the ’20’s, the film runs the gamut from crystal radio sets and ankle-length fashions through the stock market crash and the subsequent depression to the rise of fascism, the outbreak of war with all its attendant defeats and victories, the coming of peace and the building of the UNO. The climax of the film is reached with this pledge by Paramount News, “This we pledge— to mirror the living history of this new world, in fearlessness, in fairness, in honor—we will report on the world at work, the world at play and we hope the world at peace. “In this we seek to serve. That the Eyes and Fars of the World shall bring the truth. To let people see, to let people know.” ‘Lost Weekend’ Tops In Film Daily Poll “Lost Weekend” was selected by 447 out of 559 radio, newspaper and magazine film critics in the USA as their choice for top award in the 25th annual “Ten Best Pictures” poll conducted by the Film Daily, New York trade paper. This number of votes was only once exceeded by a feature in the previous 24-year history of the poll, “Gone With the Wind” having been picked by 452 voters in 1941. The other nine selections and the order in -which they were chosen are “The Green Years,’’ “Anna and the King of Siam,” “The Bells of St; Mary’s,” ‘‘Spellbound,” “Saratoga Trunk,” “Henry V,” “Notorious,” “Leave Her to Heaven” and “Night and Day.”