Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 28, 1955)

Page 8 Chaplin Ignored? No, Says Card The visit of Canadian film writers and commentators to the recent Eastman House Festival of Film Artists in Rochester resulted in a controversy. On his return Clyde Gilmour of The Telegram, Toronto, wrote a column-long criticism based on the absence from the film-excerpts program of one of the winners, Charles Chaplin, noting also that he was not mentioned from the stage. “Rochester’s massive decision to pretend that Chaplin never existed was a cheap, shoddy and shameful thing,’ Gilmour stated. James S. Card, curator of motion pictures at the Eastman House, one of those responsible for the Festival, wrote to the editor of The Telegram, saying of Gilmour that “Without any substantiating evidence he had drawn his own conclusions on the reason no Charles Chaplin films were shown. Nothing can be further from the truth than his inference that the Eastman House or the festival committee intended to discriminate against Mr. Chaplin, for whom we all have the highest respect and admiration as an artist.” Chaplin, sent an announcement of his selection among the winners, did not acknowledge it, nor did he reply to a cable asking his permission to show excerpts from films of the 1915-25 decade, to which he owns the rights. He refused to be photographed by Life as one of the winners. Was Chaplin mentioned from the stage by Jesse L. Lasky, the chairman, when he named the winners not present? Card says he was. So does Hamilton B. Allen, columnist of the Rochester Times-Union, who used his column to rebut Gilmour’s, and also quoted the Variety report of the event by William K. Everson. After Lasky had given the names the Toronto press group, sitting in the balcony, talked about whether Chaplin’s name had been mentioned. Not one of the four recalled hearing it. In the group were Gilmour, Hye Bossin of the Canadian Film Weekly, Germaine Clinton of Canadian News Reel and Gerald Pratley of the CBC. Several days after Card’s letter was printed, one from Pratley appeared in the same space. He wrote that he came away with the same impression as Gilmour about the omission of Chaplin being ‘‘deliberate and in poor taste.” And unless Jesse Lasky “so mumbled Chaplin’s name that those of us in the balcony failed to hear it, I’m positive that he did not refer to him.” Card agreed that there was CANADIAN \E Tent 28, Toronto Variety Club, Installs New Crew FILM WEEKLY Some 150 Barkers of Tent 28, Toronto Variety Club, and their ladies were in attendance recently at the installation of the 1956 Crew and Chaplains in the Balinese Room of the recently-opened Sign of the Steer. Harry S. Mandell, the past Chief Barker, officiated at the induction ceremony and was presented with a jewelled pin signifying his retirement from his position. In the top photo, from the left, are Rabbi Reuben Slonim, Chaplain; Mandell; David Griesdorf, who was elected by the Crew to the post of Chief Barker; N. A. Taylor, named First Assistant Chief Barker for the new term; and Reverend Ray McCleary, Chaplain. Father G, J, Cherrier, OBE, the third Chap lain, is not shown, The bottom photo shows the 11-man Crew. Seated in front are Griesdorf; Taylor; Dan Krendel, elected Second Assistant Chief Barker; Lou Davidson, voted in as Property Master; and J. A. Troyer, named Dough Guy. Standing at the back are Herb Allen, George Altman, Clare Appel, Joe Bermack, Jack Fitz gibbons and Ernest Rawley. Re The Year Book If you are a subscriber and haven’t gotten your Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, will you please notify us? Several that came out of their envelopes have been returned to us by the Post Office. MGM, Clift Deal For the first time in his career, © Montgomery Clift has signed a multiple-picture contract, calling for three starring roles in MGM productions. In his first he will star with Elizabeth Taylor in Raintree County. DBS NEW-THEATRE FIGURE: 96 In 1954, when, according to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, paid admissions to movie theatres dropped by over eight per cent and 77 theatres closed, 96 new cinemas opened in Canada. In addition 13 previously closed reopened. This shows how difficult it is to maintain accurate figures on new theatres in Canada. It is likely that the above ones include 16 mm. places of exhibition, for they give 17 as the figure for Newfoundland and 27 for Quebec. Canadian Film Weekly figures for 1954, gathered from the most authoritative sources, show the figure for new theatres, presumably newly constructed in all cases, to be 91 — and these are all 35 mm. situations, of which 56 were drive-ins. Quebec had ten new theatres and Newfoundland none by our records. In the same way quite a few of the DBS closed theatres may be 16 mm. situations, many of them in halls classed as theatres. press irritation because of the lack of the usual facilities and privileges. “Unfortunately they were far from adequate and far short of what press representatives have come to expect,’ he wrote to The Telegram. “We offer our sincere apologies for this, but Eastman House has no one experienced in press relations, nor a budget to hire one for the occasion.” Lloyd Nolan Cast Lloyd Nolan will star with William Holden in Toluca Productions’ first picture for Warner Bros. presentation, Toward the Unknown, which Mervyn Leroy will produce and direct. Scheduled for January the WarnerColor film will be based on an original story and screenplay by Beirne Lay, Jr. December 28, 1955 TANGLED TRAIL’ (Continued from Page 1) tion page under the title, How TV Made the Movie Industry Wake Up. The sub-heading read: New Equipment and Big Budgets For Next Year to Offset 755 Losses. Various film and theatre people, with only one named, contributed opinions and information. “If you want to talk about Canada’s. film industry, bring along a towel,’ is the opening sentence. The rest of the article has little new for industry people, except perhaps the _ information below, which gives ‘the tangled trail’ of 1955’s expected theatre gross, $103 millions: Millions TRAE Soy ie Bee aes $15.5 PYOMOMONE Se. Bo ae ee 17.0 DAATIOS HG oe Pee here orn 16.5 Overheads ee: 18.0 Fen tal sere 235 oes eb nae 33.0 ROL Gece eee es A 3.0 The distributors’ share of the total ($33 millions) consisted of: : Millions Wages and salaries Taxes and censorship ........ 3.5 Operating costs To producing companies .. “The $18.5 millions goes out of Canada to producing companies in the U.S., United Kingdom, France and Italy,’ the article said. “Estimates are that about 8c of every $1 earned for a movie in North America comes from Canada. The actual film makers average a profit of about 4 percent of their total gross.” Bomb Scare Empties Toronto Theatre Toronto’s Odeon Humber Theatre was emptied by police and staff when a crank telephoned a local newspaper and said that he had set a time bomb. The 800 patrons were given re-entry tickets but some 75 demanded a refund and were given it. No trace of a bomb could be found even though the theatre was searched completely twice. Similar incidents have been reported recently in Los Angeles and New York. 20th-Fox To Release Alperson's 'Mohawk' Mohawk, an Edward L. Alperson production in Pathe color, starring Scott Brady, Rita Gam, Neville Brand, Lori Nelson and Allison Hayes, has been acquired for release by 20th Century-Fox and will permiere next March. Based on a legend of the Mohawk Indian tribe, part of the Iroquois group who lived in the Mohawk Valley of New York State, the picture will be given a long advance build-up and open initially in that upstate area via a saturation campaign in which several hundred theatres are expected to participate.