Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 18, 1947)

Page 6 All Around the Town Observanda Bobbie Rosenfeld, the Globe and Mail’s “Sports Reel” unwinder, suggested in print recently that the Variety home and school ought to contain a swimming pool, that-form of fun and exercise being among the few suitable for crippled kids. So the Lakeshore Swimming Club will turn half of the proceeds of its meet at the West End Y over to the Variety Club to help create such an addition ... Jim Nairn, the hard-working and uncomplaining public relations chief for Famous Players, has been appointed publicity director for Tent 28 ... O. J. Silverthorne, Ontario censor, was biogged on CFRB’s “Headliners” recently. Remarkable was the Canadian and American reaction to his recent annual report, with news stories and editorials appearing in dozens of papers and Leo McCarey quoting him. Can it be that everyone is surprised to hear about an intelligent censor? ... Bob McStay: Will you pick up those dozens of book matches I collected for you during my recent jaunt to Pictureland? ... Forgot to mention that at Paramount’s luncheon for Variety in Hollywood Bill Demarest showed up in costume for his role in “Whispering Smith” and every little while shot the place up with blanks . . . Sherrill Corwin, Tent 25, LA: I thank you, sir. * = * The Din and the Glare Did you happen to see that swell first edition of Odeon News, the monthly gotten up by Larry Graburn, which is so excellently dressed with Bill Bounsall’s art work? From it I learned that Wannie Tyers of Niagara Falls became the father of a girl recently . . . Answering the phone at a friend’s house the foreign-born maid asked me to hold the line “a little bit”... The continuing decline in theatre receipts and the fond hope for its climb back reminds me what the man said who was asked to describe middle age. “Middle age,” he said, “is when you keep thinking that tomorrow you'll feel better but you never do”... Kid stuff continues to interest me—and I hope you. I saw a 10year-old boy flag 2 cab downtown and the driver looked at him curiously but the kid, with the utmost aplomb, climbed in, gave the surprised hackie directions and waved him on... A friend was telling me that as a youngster his dad regularly gave him a letter to mail to his uncle and suggested that if he shouted “Go to Chicago!” after he dropped it into the box, it would proceed properly. For years he did that until he realized that he had been dadwinked . . . I often notice that when an Englishman wears odd trousers-and-coat there is something different about him from Canadians who feature the same attire. The other day it came to me—the Englishman also wears the vest. % * = Suggests Commonwealth Reel Mr. and Mrs. Ray Phoenix of, Australia were in for a chat and were surprised at the lack of “theatrettes’” in this country. (That’s what they call newsreel houses there.) He’d like to create a commonwealth newsreel . . . Gamest manager in the game is Norman Clavir of the Kino. The theatre, though it attracts folks from all sections, is near a tough district and muscle men, apparently accustomed to pushing past other managers, have tried it with him. Not so long ago he stood up to one tough guy and the fellow was fined. The other week another beat him up but those kind of lice will have to lick Norm every hour to get away with their stuff and the newest assaulter was punished by the court. Some indication of the habits of certain of his neighbors came to Norm when he discovered that the screen had been sewed up after being punctured by a thrown bottle. Then he heard stories of bicycles having been ridden in the aisles, I'll bet on Norm to win the battle ... “Where money talks it often drowns out the voice of conscience’—Daily Commercial News and Building Record . . . Ruth Shumer, popular member of Odeon’s head office staff and sister of Emp-U’s Gerry, resigned to live in New York. . . . Finest-looking haberdashery in town has been opened by your old friend Johnny Shapiro (of Sammy Sales &) on College Street, near Borden. Canadian FILM WEEKLY > tf . June 18, 1947 Island Theatre Proposed On Th OZQUARE Centre Island Theatre A delegation representing Centre Island business men has protested against the City of Toronto issuing a permit to Al Samuels for the erection of a theatre there. ‘We don’t want to make Toronto island a Coney Island,” said the spokesman. For an Islander that’s the biggest laugh of the year. If ever there was a place filled with shacky hot dog stands, etc., it’s Centre Island’s main street, known as “The Drag.” Protests against the theatre are probably being made because the dime-greedy tenants of that commercialized thoroughfare who don’t want a place handy that will keep 550 people away from their cash registers—unless they stand to benefit financially in some way. . Alderman Alan Lamport is wise to them. “I have met Island residents who told me they are starving for entertainment,” he said. “As for it being an ugly-looking building, plans reveal it will be much better looking than a number of ramshackle buildings already there.” Since the housing shortage thousands of people live on the island the year-round and they are just as entitled to see movies as are residents in other parts of the city. Certain island operators have always had a selfish attitude about the place, city-owned and controlled, which they seem to regard as created for their own financial benefit. The city, however, seems to have gotten on to the rooming-house dodge and will force such places to pay for the same types of licenses operators in other parts of the city have had to obtain. The islands have changed character somewhat in the past three decades. In other days the city’s old families had summer places on them but these have mostly moved to Muskoka and other areas. The newcomers have been carrying on room-renting businesses for years on a large scale and the city had overlooked licensing them. A shameful thing is the city’s neglect of Hanlan’s Point, to which thousands of poorer people go on Saturdays and Sundays to escape the heat of the city. No shelter exists in case of sudden summer storms and a mad rush for the ferry shed takes place. There’s no telling how many children and others have caught cold’ because: of that condition. There is one building beside the park, formerly a restaurant, which has been empty for years and dangerous indifference has kept it closed during emergencies. As for a theatre on Centre Island, it can’t do anything but add to the appearance and pleasures of the place. * = + “ Typodermic Injections Isabel Hughes, whose novel “The Serpent’s Tooth” will distinguish the Fall list of William Collins and Sons, is the daughter of the late Tom Bragg and a niece of George Beeston. A portrait in oils of her by Carrie Appel, Clare’s wife, will be reproduced on the dust jacket . . . Last week I made reference to Lloyd Gurr’s “daughter” when I meant ‘“son’—as if I didn’t know about Jimmy, the wizard of the keyboard . . . Charlie Chaplin of UA is at Lake Placid with his family, after which they will go to St. John for the summer and pappy to NY . .. The ASN’s ~Jim Campbell, newsreel editor and v-p of the Montreal Camera Club, has been accepted as an associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. That’s a high honor among lensmen... Bill McConnell, veteran projectionist who was a star on the flying trapeze in his youth, passed away in Toronto recently . . . Louis Jackson looked at the old Dufferin Shipbuilding property on Fleet Street as a possible’ production centre while here . . . Will whoever borrowed our 1945 Film Daily Year book please return it? . . . The Byline Ball was big, boisterous and very enjoyable, with Glenn Ireton’s department, the movie, stage and radio show starring Barbara Ann Scott, the best part of 4 crowded, varied and entertaining evening . . . Jack Fitzgibbons, Jr., became the father of an eight-pound son, Michael Radcliffe, last week. That’s two boys for the Fitzgibbons. .. . Max Wein berg of MGM’s NY sport club dept was at the Byline Ball with Dewey Bloom,