Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 18, 1954)

4 j 1 q August 18, 1954 LANGSTON WINS (Continued from Page 1) and matched luggage for being second, while Roy McLeod, Hastings, Vancouver, and Ralph Connor, Odeon, Trail, BC, took home $50 each — and _ like all prizewinners, additional prizes for their ladies. Ron McGill and Al McKinnon of Langston’s house, along with D. Lucky of Gauld’s staff and Margaret Brewer of the Hastings, won the assistant managers’ section. Art Bahen of Quebec just beat out Steve McManus of Ontario B for the $200 prize among supervisors. Regional prizes were also $200 each and these went to Vic Nowe, Odeon-Toronto, for Ontario A; Ralph Bartlett, Odeon Sarnia, Ontario B; Ed Burrows, Odeon Brantford, Ontario C; Charles Mason, Roxy, Brampton, Ontario D; Ray Resky, Broadway, Saskatoon, Mid-Western; Jacques Martin, Mercier, Montreal, Quebec; Frank Marshall, Lux, Vancouver, BC Big Top; Constance Smithe, Odeon, Duncan, BC Little Big Top; and C. K. McLean, Highland Drive-in, New Glasgow, NS, Maritimes. Regional prizes for assistants went to John Locke and Walter Godfrey, Odeon-Toronto; L. Dunbar, Odeon, Sarnia; J. Warner, Odeon, Brantford; and G. Drougin, Mercier, Montreal. Best improved manager over last year was Ken Davies, Odeon, Guelph, which won him $100, while Sam Binder, Rialto, Edmonton, got $50 for second place. New-manager prize of $75 was taken by John McKim, Odeon, Ladysmith, BC. There-were 99 theatres in the contest and a total of $3,330 was available in cash prizes, supplemented by $2,500 in sponsored merchandise awards for managers, wives and families. The wives-and-family prizes were all of a high order. Mrs. Nicky Langston was given a Bulova wrist watch and a silver insulated teapot. Among the other prizes to the ladies were Irish Linen pillowcases, pop-up toaster and crystal marmalade pot, 60-piece dinner sets, and a chest of silver and family picnic cooler. Diana Lynn Added To ‘The Gabriel Horn’ Diana Lynn has been signed by Hecht-Lancaster productions for one of the two leading feminine roles opposite Burt Lancaster in The Gabriel Horn, it was announced recently by Harold Hecht, who is producing the CinemaScope color spectacle for United Artists release. In the epic film drama of the American frontier, Miss Lynn joins Diane Foster, John McIntire, Una Merkel, John Carradine and screen newcomer Walter Matthau. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY ee 7 “SQUARE oe BACK FROM MAINE and: Mass., where I spent most of my vacation with that good companion and urbane guide, Tom Daley, so let’s riffle through the piffle and see what’s up, Doc . . . That oneman cartel of film criticism, Clyde Gilmour, who makes with the good-and-badinage for two top national outlets, Maclean's and the CBC radio network, to say nothing of an NFBboosting stint over CBC TV, reviews himself in the magazine’s current edition . . . Paramount wants to mug Shirley Harmer, the Oshawa Oriole told Gerry Clark in NY. She made the Big Town as one of the Garroway seeds . . . Have you been catching the Terry Ramsaye opinions about the possibilities of a Canadian theatrical film industry in Motion Picture Herald? He ticks off Powell & Pressburger, Nat Taylor and Ken Johner son, all of whom have been writing on the subject. By the way, when will the USA Pioneers or the Academy honor him for his contribution to the development of the American motion picture industry, part of which is his now-classic history, A Million and One Nights? Did you know that Ramsaye helped establish ASN in 1920? . . . Gad, it seems years since ve seen Victor Mature with his pants on. DID YOU KNOW THAT in Ontario lobby exhibits of sculpture, ceramics, woodcarving and painting are subject to the authority and opinions of film censors? One manager learned this the hard way. In the current Liberty there is an article called The Cranks Who Boss Canada by Jarvis Warwick. Says he: “In the realm of movie censorship, Canadians are at the mercy of eight provincial censorship boards (Newfoundland and P.E.I. get movies already censored by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) which are made up of career civil servants and political appointees. These boards are subjected to pressure by all kinds of daffy pressure groups, which object to movies on the grounds of salacity, race, religion and politics”. . . Anyone run into Josh Pechet? I'd like to hear from him... Back in 1904, a Syrian wafflemaker, BE: A. Hamwi, made the first cone for ice cream and now 4,000,000 are used annually. The late N. L. Nathanson, one of the founders of Famous Players and Odeon in this country, always claimed that he introduced the ice cream cone on this side of the line while a concession operator in Toronto and Montreal . . . Sudden thought: Is money won in court subject to income tax? . . . What’s with Alexander Knox, the fine actor from Ontario? I don’t hear much about him . . . Ever watch the fascinating method of getting old buildings out of the way? They don’t wreck them. Just unbuild them brick by brick .. . I wish I had a dollar for every joke about Liberace hitting to the wrong field. One thing about him—he’s dentally sound’. . . Know why drive-ins make money? They have no overhead. (Laugh it up, staff—these are the jokes.) BILL AND ZETELLA Summerville surprised their son Paul after catching the first performance of his Johnny Paul Trio at the Chiswick Empire Theatre, London, England. Paul, a third generation showman who plays piano and does comedy, got tired of Canadian radio and headed for the Old Country. The trio records for the Phillips label. Billy, Chief Barker of the Variety Club of Toronto, was looking forward to visiting with the brethren in London but there is no clubroom and no meeting until September 6... Newsweek quote: “The average weekly may yield its proprietor a fairish living, but he is usually quite aware that if he put the same amount of time, energy, talent and capital into almost any other field, the fiscal rewards would be greater.” True, so very true — | like to think. Life would be a pleasure except for the small group of fellow-irkers who are underbrained, overpaid and bigheaded . . . Suffering from occasional telephone hangups and bangups? There’s an epidemic of them. It seems that older DP ladies who don’t speak English hang-up in your ear when, on hearing an unfamiliar voice, they realize they have the wrong number. Many of them, from European villages, never used a phone until they got here. They learn how to dial but they don’t know what to say in English if they get a wrong number so they just hang up... Interviewer: “Is it true you were born on the stage?” Actress: “Goodness, no! What would I have done for an encore?” . . Albany garage sign: “We take the ‘dent’ out of accident.” Page 11 News Clips Marciano-Charles return bout will be the eleventh on USA theatre screens via TV . ... Sterling Hayden will star opposite Vera Ralston in Tinitberjack, to be made by Republic on Vincou-_ ver Island . lumbia River forced the closing of the Elk Drive-in at Castlegar, BC for a couple of days... L. W. Brockington, QC, CMG, president of JARO of Canada, will be guest speaker at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Thunder Bay Medical Society on November 3-4... A $695 color TV set will be offered soon by Emerson in the USA. Manitoba theatre operators will pay twice as much and more to the Provincial government through the business tax which replaces the licence fee based on the seating capacity of each theatre. The tax, which also applies to billiard parlors and bowling alleys, was opposed by the Manitoba Motion Picture’ Exhibitors Association on the grounds that TV was about to slice movie income. But theatre operators said they would not raise prices to make up the loss .. . Alberta Cree Indian: Jonas Applegarth, who was in U-I’s Saskatchewan, will be seen in Battle Cry. Chuckwagon full of cowboys recently visited a Calgary drivein. Horses were unharnessed and speaker was attached to the wagon... Vincent H. Jefferds is now manager of the Disney Character Merchandising Division .. . Westbrook Pegler used a column to attack Mary Pickford for her defence of Charles Chaplin, during which she had criticized the writer . RKO’s petition to restrain Ohio from collecting censorship fees was dismissed... Norway theatre organization cancelled its agreement with the MPAA over it 45 per cent price for “super films,’ the usual rental being 40 per cent. Bert Lytell, who was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, will make a one-month tour as a lecturer for 20th-Fox’ great spectacle, The Egyptian ... Harry Wilson of the Capitol, Chatham organized co-op newspaper pages on both Kiss Me Kate and Rose Marie, as well as switching jobs for a day with a local newsboy — under the eye of a reporter . . Kodak now takes safety Can’t use nitrate. Try Discarded Film Products, 117 St. Patrick St., Toronto for scrap nitrate... MGM will make Highland Fling, starring Spencer Tracy, from the novel, Digby, by David Walker, who won the Governor General’s Medal two years ago. . . Rise of the Gor “> film scrap only. / &