Canadian Film Weekly (May 7, 1947)

Page 6 The Din and the Glare... Cinema Buns One of those radio juke-box jocks played a. record of Jolson singing ‘California, Here I Come” and when it was over en- thused: “Open up those pearly gates, California, here I come! Isn’t Jolson wonderful?” Golden gates, you dope. Reminds me that I heard a movie actor in “Dishonored Lady” describe a two-man tussle as a battle royal. It takes more than two to make a battle royal. But of Jolson—after his film opened he was thrilled at his first public sight of it until he heard two women talking. “Jolson is a great singer,’ said one. “Yes,”’ said the other, “It’s too bad he’s dead”... . Wig Waggery: Two fresh hair fiends, among which are Bing, Benny and Boyer in the movie colony, were taunting each other about their sans-toupe tops. “How can you tell where your face ends and your skull begins?” asked the first. “What about you, replied the second. “I supose you tie a piece of string across your brow so you won't wash more than your face?” Another smooth-domed lad, asked by a child how he became bald, answered gravely: “By sleeping in too many short beds”. . . Hollywood stereotypes: Gabby and dumb switchboard girls, a libel on the bright persons who keep you in touch with the world... Overheard: “It was all right while he was telling me about the moon and the stars but when he got to the birds and the bees. . .” * = * Lines and Outlines Modern Fan, a fan club mag, is being readied in Toronto by Thelma Brown and Catherine Hooper for domestic and USA distribution in June. . . Syd Banks has succeeded Brian Fryer as production chief of Cinema (Canada) Films, the short-making company owned by John Frame, broker. The company, skedded to make the Mencken bathtub hoax story, produced “Farewell to Britain” for Eagle-Lion, profits of which went to the Amps. Syd’s most recent stint was on “Whispering City”... Joe Lieberman heads the United Jewish Welfare Fund jn Saint John... Lloyd Mills, formerly manager of the Belsize, returns to management, it’s said, as worrier for the Midtown, buifalo . . Famous Players has purchased three quarter hours weekly on CKEY’s Make Believe Ballroom and Vic Growe, who just resigned as the circuit’s radio director but continues his association as consultant, will check on them. Vic, a top-flight radio idea man who is a prize buy, will write and narrate a Hollywood news-type presentation for the J. J. Gibbons’ agency’s client, Oliveon Lab. . . Famous Players, along with Fred Gregor and Eldridge Gouthro of the Majestic, Glace Bay, NS, are providing 700 free tickets weekly for th hard-hit miners there. * a * Takes and Mistakes ‘The Hamilton farewell party in honor of the Century’s Lloyd Gurr, who decided to go straight by switching to the hotel business, will be in the form of a dinner in the Royal Connaught at 9.30 on May 29th. .. A fellow. who resigned from a relative-ridden company, asked a year later if he was happy about the move, answered: ‘What would I have had if I stayed? Another ulcer and a few more bosses’. . . Glenn Ireton, WB p.a., eats in a certain restaurant where there are several phones. Each day he uses one of the phones and when finished drops a nickel of his own loudly into the cup. The cashier, seeing this daily, is going nuts trying to get nickels back himself. . . The Daily Star cut-lined a-photo of Irene Dunne “Ingrid Bergman”. . . A fellow, asked how his financial relations were with his business partner, answered: “Great! In 1945 we had a big year and my partner sent me a postcard from Miami. In 1946 we had another terrific year and he gave me a ride in his new Buick. I just can’t wait. for 1947 to see how I make out” ... “You're never in when I phone,” a man complained to another. ‘‘That isn’t so,” was the answer. “J’m in all the time.’ To which the first replied: “Is that so! Next time you’re somewhere phone your office and see if you're ever in” ... Chinese proverb: Take no notice of what you hear said on the pillow. Canadian FILM WEEKLY May 7, 1947 Wins Bet on Al Jolson Recoil From Steele You recall that I recently reported Ingrid Bergman’s thanks to this publication and the Canadian motion picture critics after the former had picked her as the best actress of 1946 in our annual poll. Miss Bergman asked Joseph H. Steele to thank us he wrote on a sheet letterheaded “Hampshire House” and signed by him. I suggested that this was rather an offhand way to acknowledge an honor of such importance but that there was “Nothing personal, I assure you, nor do we require anything further on the subject.” Mr. Steele, in a letter too long for word-for-word publication, thinks we ought to have more on the subject—from him— and accepts the whole responsibility. I couldn’t have known the facts, he writes. Miss Bergman is a very busy and tired lady, he explains, detailing her activities, He recalls his and Miss Bergman’s visits to Canada during War Bond drives as among their most cherished memories, says he had no intention of slighting us or the critics, that their “affection for Canada is a . very special one,” and that, while his letter is not an apology or part of a controversy, hopes that the “facts will incline you towards a little more indulgence.” The line that interests me most was: “But it has been difficult for many people to understand that it was simply humanly impossible for her to respond to everything personally.” Come, come, Mr. Steele. Miss Bergman can’t be too busy to sign a four-line note of thanks to the critics of a country which is, next to Great Britain, the world’s greatest motion picture exhibition field outside the United States. Nor does anyone question her sincerity. . I think she was just badly advised, that’s all. Or wasn’t advised at all. _* * * Short Throws George Beeston, Emp-U secretary, has resigned from Odeon’s board of directors ... James McGarrigle, Saint John, NB, pioneer, passed away recently .. . Variety’s Bob McStay collects match books . . . Wallace Reyburn did a pungent piece in Liberty about the pencil man of the J. Howard Boothe boys, Jack of the Globe and Mail. Liberty will carry a story on censorship in Canada soon ... A New Mexico Indian was sending up smoke signals when he saw that terrific cloud of smoke from the atom bomb experiment. “Gee,” he muttered enviously, “I wish I'd said that.” * wt Eary Notes Sam Korman of Rouyn settled the argument about whether Jolson appears personally in any part of “The Jolson Story.” He wrote to Alfred E. Green, the director, who answered that Jolson was in the long-shot runway scene and Sam collected $5. . . “Life to me,” said Fred Allen on his program recently, “is a lull between the stork and the epitaph.” To that morbid observation may I add my own: You spend the best of it pecking your way out of the egg of immaturity and the rest of it dodging the axe of ‘insecurity. . . Puzzling plugs: Throwaway for the stage play of “Laura” describes it as “the strange and passionate story of a woman “so desirable she was beyond desire.” You figure it out. . . A vigorous affirmative shake of the head for Burton Rascoe’s comment that “What no wife of a writer can ever understand, no matter if she lives with him for twenty years, is that a writer is working when he is staring out of the window”. . . Rough but very interesting reading is “Nightmare Alley” by Gresham, a carnival story bought by 20th-Fox. Do you know what a “geek” is? The book will tell you and you won't forget it soon. . . Laura Wells, another one of the beautiful * boosters, was here to bedazzle the boys and girls of the public prints into becoming interested in Enterprise’s “The Other Love” and ‘Arch of Triumph.”