Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 1, 1954)

September 1, 1954 Telefusion Busy In Kitchener, Ont. A leading English company, Telefusion, has been operating its first overseas community antennae subsidiary in Kitchener, Ontario since March and is quite satisfied with its progress. Telefusion Canada Limited now has 150 subscribers of an estimated potential of 3,000 in Kitchener and has made arrangements at one stage or another with the councils of such Ontario communities as St. Thomas, Stratford, Listowel, Waterloo and St. Mary’s. As with Kitchener, none of the licences are for exclusive operation but James A. Mendham, general manager whom the company sent from England, believes there is a major advantage in being the first in action. The Kitchener setup, which has a staff of seven, can be adapted to closed circuit activity as a pay-as-you-see venture. It is interesting to note that Famous Players, which controls the Canadian franchise of Paramount’s pay-as-you-see method, Telemeter, is a 50 per cent partner in the local TV _ station, CKCO. It has not moved toward the installation of Telemeter. Kitchener was chosen, explained Mendham, because it was the first of several applications for suitable territories that came back approved. Today Telefusion brings its subscribers, who pay a $35 installation charge and a $4.50 monthly fee, stations in Kitchener, Buffalo, London, Toronto and Hamilton. Mendham says the monthly fee is a little higher than is charged by others because of superior service but that the installation fee is very much lower. About half of Telefusion’s subscribers are new TV viewers, while the rest are persons who took down their aerials for the sake of better reception. A rush of subscribers is expected in the Fall. Telefusion is the chief rival in the British-community antennae field of Rediffusion Inc., which opened Canada’s first service of that sort in. Montreal several years ago. The first-named company is only now looking into possibilities in Portugal, Switzerland and other countries. "Rebellion Of The Hanged’ Jose Kohn will produce Rebellion of the Hanged in Mexico with Pedro Armendariz starring for release by UA. Hall Wallis Acquires Rights Hal Wallis has acquired rights to Global Mission, the autobiography of the late General H. H. (Hap) ‘Arnold. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Canada 1954 f eves best book bargain of the year is again the 332-page slick-stock, beautifully-illustrated Canada 1954, “The Official Handbook of Present Conditicns and Recent Progress,’ published by the authority of the Right Honorable C. D. Howe, Minister of Trade and Commerce, and prepared by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa. This fascinating volume, priced at 50 cents, has much information for those interested in the motion picture industry as such and the entertainment field as a whole, as well as its allied arts and crafts. We won’t put much stress on film figures here, since they have all been reported earlier by us, but an interesting note is that in 1952 the average Canadian saw 18 motion. picture programs and paid over $8 in admissions. But the educational phase of the _ non-theatrical equipment market can be understood from this paragraph, part of “Motion Pictures’’: Schools, adult education agencies, and other community groups are making increased use of films. More than 4,000 schools have motion-picture projectors and more than 3,000 have film-strip projectors. There are some 200 film libraries and community film councils in existence, usually developed by public libraries, provincial departments of education, or university extension departments, with the co-operation of school boards, service clubs, ete. The National Film Board has established some 160 rural circuits for periodic film-showing and local libraries receive assistance in obtaining films from the Film Board and the Canadian Film Institute. The distribution of Canadian films abroad has become an important part of the Board’s work. Here’s some interesting information about the position of radio and the rise of television, under “Radio and Television,” in terms of receiving sets: “The number of radio receiving sets made available in Canada through domestic production and imports has averaged about 700,000 per year since the end of World War II. From a high of 836,000 in 1947, Canadian producers’ domestic sales declined to 569,000 in 1952. The census of 1951 found that 93 p.c. of the 3,408,000 households in Canada had radios. In some cities there were few households without a radio and in the country as a whole one family in ten had two or more. “With the establishment of television service by the Can adian Broadcasting Corporation in 1952 the demand for television receiving sets increased greatly. Producers’ domestic sales mounted from 29,600 sets in 1950 to 137,000 in 1952 and to over 366,000 in 1953.” However, in the “Television” section of “Canadian Broadcasting Corporation” there are other TV figures: “The development of Canadian television is being accompanied by a great expansion in the electronics industry. In 1950, there were 30,000 television sets in use in the country; in 1951 the figure had climbed to 70,000 and in 1952 to 200,000. The estimate at the close of 1953 was 450,000 sets. Television receiver sales now total about $7,000,000 per month in Canada.” How many radio stations does Canada have? Here is what it says under “Radio”: “There were 162. standard broadcast band stations operating in Canada on Novy. 1, 1953, of which 20 were Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stations and 142 were privately owned stations. In _ addition there were 37 shortwave stations, 29 of which were CBC and eight were privately owned together with five CBC and 29 privately owned frequency-modulation stations.” Under “Theatre” it is noted that 31 per cent of the 68,660 tickets sold at the 1953 Stratford Shakespearean Festival were bought by residents in nearby cities in the United States. Canada 1954 explains: “Because Canada has only a few large cities in its vast geographical area, it is not served by touring professional theatrical companies, and the country has been obliged to develop a nation-wide system of amateur theatre activities. This system, which functions on a local and regional basis, reaches its peak of interest in the Dominion Drama Festival, annual climax of Canada’s national theatrical competition “An important development of post-war years has been in the direction of local professional repertory theatre in many Canadian cities and this trend was. particularly noticeable in 1953.” What about writing, the basic and essential art of all which go into fictional screen and stage fare? Without writing of good quality Canada will never arrive at its own feature film industry. Under “Literature” it says this: “Critics in other countries as well as in Canada seem to be of the opinion that creative writing in Canada has emerged from Page 5 Jane Russell, Jeanne Crain In UA Musical Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, a multi-million-dollar musical comedy, will be Jane Russell’s first starring film for United Artists release. The lavish musical co-stars Jeanne Crain and will be produced in CinemaScope to capture fully all the values of the sparkling and colorful comedy. Featuring a score comprised of all-time hit songs by George and Ira Gershwin and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, it will be filmed on location in London, Paris and Monte Carlo. MGM Finalizing Plans For New ‘Ben Hur' Ben Hur as a brand new bigscale production has been given a Spring, 1955 starting date by Dore Schary, MGM studio production head, following decisions reached at recent MGM executive conferences with Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Loew’s Incorporated. Sam Zimbalist, who produced Quo Vadis, faces an even more imposing production task in every department with Ben Hur, which has 42 major speaking roles and 97 key sets. Three top male stars are being considered for the title role, according to Zimbalist, and a director will be announced shortly. the localism that characterized it for many years, and is taking its place beside the work of cosmopolitan and mature literary craftsmen elsewhere. This does not mean that Canadians are successfully writing great works that impress the world, but it does mean that on the average Canadian writers are turning out novels, belles lettres and works of non-fiction which can compete successfully for readers’ attention. The fact is that the craft of writing is becoming a profitable means of livelihood for an increasing number of Canadian men and women and the number of copies of Canadian books sold in Canada and in other countries has increased manifold in the past several years. A record number of new books was published by Canadians in 1953 and of particular interest was the increase in the number of biographies offered to the public. In the past, Canadians have been remiss in their failure to record and relate the stories of the lives of the men and women who have made great contributions to the welfare of their country and of mankind; the new trend toward biographical writing and _ publishing is welcomed.” We've drawn on Canada 1954 enough to indicate its value — and we barely touched it. Get one at any bookstore.