Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 4, 1956)

| / henna een April 4, 1956 NFB FIGURATION (Continued from Page 1) of an explanation of its accounting methods. Through these methods the NFB, though it operates at a cost of several million dollars, shows a surplus. NFB accounting methods, like those of the CBC, have been criticized in the House of Commons. The 1954-55 report shows a smaller surplus than the previous one, mainly because of some change in the accounting system. States the report: “In addition to the accounts maintained by the Comptroller of the Treasury with respect to cash transactions, the Board (in accordance with the requirement of section 17 of the National Film Act 1950) maintains a system of accounts on an accrual basis from which the financial statements of the Board are prepared. “Section 18 of the Act provides for the establishment of the National Film Board Operating Account in the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and directs that the Operating Account be credited with (a) amounts transferred from appropriations made by Parliament for the operations of the Board in respect of expenditures incurred in such operations, but not including amounts spent for the acquisition of capital equipment, (b) amounts transferred from appropriations for expenditures by other departments for film activities, in respect of work undertaken for those departments, and (c) all other monies received in respect of the operations of the Board. Cheques issued by the Comptroller of the Treasury in liquidation of liabilities arising out of the expenditures incurred by the Board are charged to the Account. Following the close of each fiscal year, an amount equivalent to the excess of income over expense, reflected by the Board’s accounts, iS charged to the Operating Account by the Comptroller of the Treasury and transferred to the credit of revenue.” oe ee eee OUR BUSINESS (Continued from Previous Page) praisal of the type and amount of our advertising expenditures because we need more virulent methods to bring more people regularly to our boxoffices. FOR SALE 400—Theatre seats, like new, ‘leather covered. 2—Simplex projectors, complete with sound equipment, screen and all accessories. All equipment is only 7 years old and is being offered at «bargain prices. os ie CONTACT “MR. J. WALKER P.O. Box 448 Tecumseh, Ont, | a ne ee eine _CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Would It Be an Improvement? (From The Financial Post) The suggestion for a single board of censors for all Canada, or possibly all Canada except Quebec, has been hailed with considerable enthusiasm by the moving picture industry. In theory at least it looks like a big improvement with only one gate into the Canadian market instead of nearly a dozen. But would it work out that way? One can hardly imagine a federal board being any more liberal or broadminded or enlightened, or whatever we prefer to term it, than any of the provincial boards. Such a board, undoubtedly, would have to take into serious consideration every provincial objection real or imaginary. To be on the safe side it would probably ban any picture that might possibly bring any criticism anywhere. Under the present arrangement, cumbersome as it is, there is little chance that a really good picture will be banned by all provincial censors, that the entire Canadian audience will be prohibited from seeing it. That is a real advantage and one that we might lose with a single board of censors. Watch That Adaptation! (Sydney Johnston in The Montreal Star) One of the most astonishing features of that very astonishing business, the movie industry, has been the almost complete lack of worthwhile original scenarios. Although the movies have employed some of the brightest and most creative authors and playwrights of our time, these brilliant men and women have spent their talents on writing ‘first-class adaptations of their own and other writers’ stage or literary successes. There are, of course, quite valid reasons for this. If an author, especially a well-established author, has an idea for a story or a play, the movies would much rather have him develop it into a novel or a play which they can adapt after it has received worldwide publicity, rather than try to launch it themselves. That Film Board ‘Surplus’ (From the Ottawa Journal) News items say that the National Film Board “reported a surplus of $31,156 on its main operations during the 1954-55 fiscal year.’ This is misleading; in the sense that it spent less than it earned and had something left over the National Film Board had no oes On that score, in fact, the Film Board had a considerable deficit. The Film Board in 1954-55 received from the treasury through a parliamentary vote $3,211,060. Without that vote the Board would not have had a “surplus” of $31,156 or any surplus, but a loss of some $3,000,000. The National Film Board does good work, is a_ national service, and it can be argued that it is worth $3,000,000. But, if only for the sake of the record, of knowing what we’re doing, let’s not get the impression that it has operating surpluses. Television and the Movie Industry {Ron Poulton in The Telegram, Toronto) The movie industry has had a picnic with television for a while now. But the ants in the sandwiches are getting bigger all the time. It wasn’t too many moons ago when Hollywood was cold shouldering TV. Movie executives barred their top stars from appearing on home screens and refused to release all but their most cobweb-ridden films to video. Walt Disney broke the dyke. He proved that TV was mighty handy for advertising films. It wasn’t long before Hollywood stars were making more teleplays than movies. It wasn’t long, either, before the film executives tumbled to the best gimmick of all. They started their own weekly TV programs, and actually found sponsors who paid the movie industry to advertise movies. “There hasn’t been a cuter trick turned in the history of meree ay since the invention of snake oil. TV, once the arch rival of the film industry, was being used as the golden calf. ‘Which none of us need object to as long as it leads to good enter tainment. Se Page 3 EDWARDS FAMILY (Continued from Page 1) the son of the late pioneer, P. A. (Paddy) Edwards. The older Edwards, who passed on in 1954, began his film career at 20 under Mike Fewer, who now manages the Nickel, St. John’s. The year was 1904 and Paddy, then 20, was an actor and entertainer before joining the flickers. He then became a projectionist for another Newfoundland entertainer who had opened a movie house, P. J. Kiely of the aforementioned Nickel, now a Montreal resident, who sang the illustrated song's. Paddy came back in 1916 to be the projectionist of the People’s Theatre, in the Town Hall, then became assistant manager in 1926 and manager in 1934. He renamed it “Popular” and kept the name after he acquired the theatre. The new theatre is across the street. The Evening Telegram, St. John’s, reporting the opening in an eight-column story, ran a two-line head reading: “A Dream Began in 1904: Father, Son Team Movie Business Grows, Open New Theatre.” Charlie Edwards, an ex-athlete who manages a championship baseball club, joined the Royal Air Force in 1940, trained in Britain and was sent to Singapore in 1941. Two hours after Singapore fell in 1942 he and a group of RAF men swam out to a Chinese junk and escaped to Sumatra, 60 miles away, in the dark. This was just the beginning of their adventure. They took over a reconditioned USAF bomber left at the airport but engine trouble 500 miles at sea made them return to Java, where their party of 25 hid in the hills for five weeks before making contact with the guerrillas. For five months. they fought hit-and-run actions against Japanese convoys before being surrounded and captured. Four years in forced labor battalions followed before their release a month after V-J Day. Of the 20,000 prisoners who built rail lines 17,000 died. Charlie was hospitalized from September, 1945 to March, 1946, then repatriated home. The new Popular, which has a 50-foot arcade leading into the 600-seat auditorium, opened on February 138, 1956. It is a monument to a fine old showman, Paddy Edwards, one of the best of the hardy, devoted breed that pioneered the movies in the British Atlantic provinces. Today, in that same tradition, Charlie, his son, is fighting to help the movies keep the place in the hearts of the people won for them by the father and his noble legion of the first days. RKO's ‘Public Pigeon No. 1' Red Skelton will star in RKO’s Public Pigeon No, 1,