Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 2, 1948)

"< Gif Sundry Notes a — iow ~. One Thing and Another Charlie Weiner, departing chief of SRO in Canada, brought his successor, Joe Marks, in to say hello. Joe, who has a bright sense of humor, was telling some of his troubles with our traffic, which runs in the opposite direction from that in Britain. He’s a nice fellow with a ready smile and you'll like him. Our newest Canadian, who is impressed all-get-out with Canada as the land of the future, finds himself coming from a country where theatres pop up before you every few minutes to a place in which they are comparatively few. Ontario, for instance, is larger in area than the British Isles and Italy together, yet has about 450 theatres, while there are 4,850 British movie houses. Marks was Scottish manager of RKO for many years, he being the first man that company hired in the United Kingdom. In 1944 he -went to Pathe and through it he handled ‘‘Duel in the Sun.” Charlie Weiner, a erat guy, had his wishes respected by his company and he, having concluded the work of setting up SRO in Canada, returns to Minneapolis to resume his home life. He will now handle the Minneapolis and Milwaukee territories. Steve Doane and Frank Owens, chief censors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respectively, dropped in for a chat. Steve told about the time he slipped outside a sports arena for a smoke. The man in the boxoffice had a cigarette in his mouth and shouted to the doorman for a match. The doorman tossed him a box of matches, which was tossed back. A few minutes later the same thing happened and Steve noticed this time that the cigarette in the mouth of the ticket-seller was still unlit. He asked the doorman for a match and the latter searched himself and finally said he didn’t have one. So Steve asked him about the box but he said it was empty. The censor, who also heads theatre inspections and collections, showed his authority and demanded the box of matches. It had 17 tickets in it which had been collected by the doorman. These tickets were to be returned to the seller, who was to resell them and split the money with his confederate. The passing of Hyman Rotenberg, a motion picture pioneer who was well-known on the Toronto scene, caused much regret. He had been interested in various ways in the Pickford, Chateau, Guild and other houses . . . A lively film review program is that written by Gerald Pratley and voiced by John Rae over CJBC at 12,20 p.m. Sundays .. . The day of exploitation as a managerial attribute is returning, I realized when I noticed some of the excellent work being done by Neil Main of Odeon’s Regent, Sturgeon Falls ...A smiling gentleman in rimless glasses saluted me warmly on the street the other day. “Should I know you?” I said to this fellow, who carried a zippered portfolio. “You should,” he answered. “Why?” I asked. ‘Because I’m short of a shilling,” he smiled, jingling some coins in his palm, Just a panhandler with a special approach . . . Lloyd Bochner, Mr. and Mrs. Charlie’s boy, has become engaged to Ruth Roher, daughter of Mr. and Mrs, Harry. Our congrats to all concerned. The Fox offices were broken into by thieves who not only stole machines but smashed up things .. . More radio programs originate in Toronto than in any centre outside of NY or LA... They tell about a king who hired an adviser on the weather. The adviser told him a certain day was good for the royal celebration but an ordinary farmer said no, it was going to rain. Rain it did, so the king fired the adviser and wanted to hire the farmer. The latter explained that he always knew when it was going to rain because his jackass always walked around with his ears lowered before a downpour. So the king attached the jackass to his court. And ever since then the custom of having jackasses in high places has endured. Canadian FILM WEEKLY Troupers Meet SQUARE ls Ne SOSSW People Come and People Go... Two of this continent’s most famous funny men, both of whom have worked in New York at the same time in the past, met for the first time at the Variety Club recently and the result was explosive. One was Bert Lahr and the other Michel Rosenberg, for years associated with Maurice Schwartz’ Yiddish “Art Players. Rosenberg, one of the leading comedians in the Jewish ~ language today, did some of his stuff for and in honor of Lahr, who had never caught his routines. And Lahr was a great audience, for he enjoyed it as much as the barkers and their guests. Mike, whose last appearance in Toronto was in an English play which starred C. Aubrey Smith at the Royal Alexandra, did his stuff in that language. With Rosenberg was the singing sensation, Jan Bart, who had appeared in the former’s Little Romania in Miami this past season. Variety presents guest memberships to visiting artists during their stay in town but Bart needed none of that, for he flashed his membership card in Tent No. 33, Miami. Being among his own, Bart played the piano and sang in that wonderful way of his. He has been signed for a Broadway musical this fall. Also on hand was Felix Brentano, the famous New York director, who is here to stage “Rosalinda” at Ernie Rawley’s Royal. There were other international showfolk mixing with their Canadian brethren. The Variety Club is something Toronto has needed for generations and there is nothing like it anywhere else in Canada. More and more we are realizing what a privilege it is to belong and share in its friendships and its work. Cliff Edwards, playing the Club Norman, and Bert Lahr, starring in “Burlesque” with Fay MacKenzie at the Royal, got together and were swapping Old Country experiences. Edwards told what happened when he asked an English waiter for iced coffee. “I beg your pardon,” said the puzzled servitor, ‘‘but would you mind repeating your order?” Cliff did and the waiter left. Soon he was back. ‘‘That’s a difficult deal, sir,” he said. ‘You see, the coffee is hot and the ice is cold. The coffee will melt the ice.” So Cliff sent for ice and chilled the coffee himself, while the admiring waiter looked on. At the Variety canvasmen’s meeting they were talking about a proposed associate member. ‘‘Who is he?” one asked. ‘He’s just a fellow that a friend of mine phoned the other day for a charity donation, and got $50,000 just like that,’’ said the chief barker. ‘Never mind that fellow,” cracked Doug Rosen. “Let’s sign up your friend’... Martin Bloom was one of a crowd standing around a car that was an obvious smash-up when a woman asked the policemen one of those unnecessary guestions. ‘“What happened?” she asked. The cop pointed at the top of a fourstorey building. “It fell off the roof,” he answered ... John Woolf, head of Rank’s distribution, is visiting here and the USA. Frank Fisher, E-L chief in Canada met him in NY on arrival. One of the Dominion’s most famed statesman, a Confederation figure, liked distillery dew, a fact known to history. One night, while addressing a political meeting, his dew-inspired opinions about the issues of the day and the character of his opponents were sensational. There was but one reporter present and his story was so explosive that the editor ordered him to get an OK from the politico before he would print it. The next morning he called on him at his hotel and the politico, after reading the story with seeming amazement, went through each statement with a pencil, saying “Why, I didn’t say that at all.” Then he inserted what he claimed he said—a harmless comment. As the disappointed reporter was about to leave he was stopped by the politico. “Young man, I am older than you and I am going to give you a bit of good advice,” he said, with the merest twinkle in his eye. “The next time you go to a political meeting, go sober,” June 2, 1948