Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 20, 1948)

Page 6 First 50 Years For Lil Whelan (Continued from Page 1) ada’s largest English-speaking city, Toronto, and you will have encountered every type of human being. And if the live ones don’t suit, there is always the screen a few hundred seats away. On September 4th, while attending to her present duties as checkroom attendant at Shea’s, Lillie Whalen entered upon the period that will lead to the com pletion of her first 50 years in the service of the theatre. It was in 1899 when Jerry and Mike Shea came over from Buffalo to open a theatre in a building which had housed earlier several of the musees that dotted the entertainment world in the 90s. Into this Yonge Street showshop came a little girl from Hamilton who had never even been in such a place before. Jerry Shea hired her and she has been associated with that name ever since. To take the job she gave up her organ studies at Loretto convent. It took money to pursue them and she didn’t have it. Eight acts performed twice daily and the public was charged 15c, 25c, and 50c for the evening performance and 15c and 25c for the matinee when Shea’s opened. Shea’s Victoria opened in 1910 and Lil went there, then in 1926 she moved to Shea’s Hippodrome, This was when Famous Players took over the Shea houses, so Lil won’t be eligible to join the 25 Year Club until 1951. In other years the vaudeville houses closed for three months during the summer, so Lil worked for the late Lol Solman, first at Hanlan’s Point and later at Sunnyside amusement park, as office assistant. She has seen the great of the stage come and go. Many she has known personally and her collection of autographed photos is probably the best in the city. Actors and patrons alike have always been fond of the bright, likeable girl who takes care of the troubles of the moment. And the same is true of her fellowworkers and colleagues of the Toronto amusement scene. Mountie Yarn Mulled By Marx For Metro Sam Marx, MGM _ producer, spent several days in Ottawa recently conferring with representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Metro is considering a story about Canada’s historic police service. Twentieth Century-Fox has one in prospect, and several others have given thought to such a picture. —~ Canadian FILM WEEKLY : re) n The SQUAR ; 7 A Theatre Is Born The sense of having done a difficult thing well is a priceless vitamin for the spirit. Pride of such worthy origin need not be hidden, for that would be false modesty at its falsest. There were a number of people at the corner of Yonge Street and Dundas Square last week who held their heads up just a little higher. They were the men who had played some part in the creation of the Downtown Theatre and as they observed how completely real their dream had become, their smiles vied with the brightness of those ASN searchlights which lit up the longto-be-remembered scene at the opening of the house. Each bit of approving comment from the first patrons and each pleased smile was to them an indirect compliment. “I cannot remember when I have ever seen so beautiful a theatre.” said one, and that was the sum of the sentiment. And yet those who helped create the Downtown did not contend that their effort was superior in beauty and service to other Toronto theatres built in the last few years. Beauty takes many forms, even in the same family. Anyone who adds beauty to life performs a divine task and intelligent humans will never share or sanction efforts to deprecate by making wrongful comparisons. None know this more than those associated with theatre companies responsible for the erection of other new and beautiful theatres in Toronto. Their praise and congratulations were sincere. They felt good at what their industry was doing for the physical beauty of the community and for the entertainment of its people. And they were aware that such places as theirs and the Downtown would increase the showgoing habit. Showmen know that there are certain levels on which rivalry is silly. Credit Where Credit... The Downtown Theatre has many outstanding features, described here previously, and it seems so unified as to have been moulded out of a single block. It is an artistic and architectural innovation and achievement. The best possible use of its natural advantage, that of being located on a corner, was made. Some Toronto theatres are located on corners, yet their fronts are no different that those in the middle of a block. Others must be approached through plush and illuminated alleys, for their auditoriums are on the next street, and the patron sees nothing of the structure’s exterior. The Downtown provides a pleasing prospect for the eyes from almost any perspective. The night before the official opening there was a private view of the theatre for the trade. Since it was in the nature of a clan gathering Nat Taylor, Twentieth Century’s chief executive, told the audience about those who deserved his personal thanks. He welcomed the guests from the stage, then praised Peter Dalton, Harry Shaw and Fred Smollner of the Dalton Construction Company. He thanked Abe Sprachman of Sprachman & Kaplan, the architects, then singled out Myer Axler of 20th Century Theatres for a special tribute. The driving force behind the enterprise, he said, was Axler, ‘without whose unceasing effort it would have been impossible to open this theatre for the next three months.” Taylor referred to others of his staff and associates, among them Raoul Auerbach, Harry Mandell, Sydney Roth and David Mandell, who had helped but naturally said nothing of the part he had played. But the limitless imagination and extraordinary capacity for breathing life into ideas of this man is fast making him a legend in this continent’s theatre world. And yet time has increased his ability and standing without corrupting his congeniality. He is a man with his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds. Quite a combination, you’ll admit. Everybody On Hand Counting both nights, the Downtown hosted quite a parade of general and trade celebrities, among them Joe Krol, Lorne Green, Samuel Hersenhorn, Controller John Innis, Helen Allen, Jack Karr, Roly Young, John J. Fitzgibbons, Clare Appel, R. W. (Continued on Page 10) October 20, 1943 USA Screen Time UK Peace Price (Continued from Page 1) Canada as a guide to the financial possibilities of Rank films in the USA if they received what he considered to be fair representation in theatres. “T would like to reach an understanding with USA producers, but I doubt if it can be reached until the leaders of the Hollywod industry are prepared to accept the fact that the British film industry is an established industry and is one which must be treated on that footing. I am equally satisfied that there can be no peace or real understanding between the American industry and the British indvstry until our films receive reasonable playing time in the USA which they are not doing today,” said Rank. “In 1945 I was told by Hollywood leaders that the Canadian and American markets were virtually the same. I can only reiterate that if the earnings of British films in America bore the appropriate relationship to those which we achieve in Canada we should receive many millions of dollars per annum from the USA.” Although the Financial Times of London called Odeon’s financial condition “at full stretch” in view of bank loans reaching $54,360,000, Rank and others considered the report good because it showed increased profits for the parent company. Consolidation of companies for purposes of economy and rearrangement of credit on a longer basis were steps to be taken soon. Total assets of Rank’s film empire, the statement revealed, aggregate £66,810,000 ($267,240,000) but this constitutes a pyramid which is controlled, finally, by shareholders of Odeon Theatres, Ltd, which has ordinary capital of only £946,911 ($3,787,964). Actvilly, Odeon’s total capital and reserves amount to £7,075,000 ($28,300,000), but this is less than the minority interests of £21,776,000 ($87,104,000). Net profit of the parent company for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 1948, increased to £1,194,000 ($4,776,000) from £1,137,190 ($4,548,760) in the preceeding 12 months. It took £2,247,000 ($8,988,000) to cover minority interests’ dividends, interest and other charges in the latest fiscal year; while general reserve used up £345,000 ($1,380,000). After charges and dividends, the amount carried to surplus was £160,000 ($640,000). "The Betrayal’ Dorothy Lamour will star in Pine & Thomas’ “The Betrayal. —_—