Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 6, 1956)

A ES S Re : f b t € 4 i B 4 june 6, 1956 eens CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 3 Vol. 21, No. 23 HYE BOSSIN, Editor June 6, 1956 Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager Esther Silver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canada Authorized as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WAlnut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. HAT TAYLOR (Continued from Page 1) city. His appointment, one of seven promotions from the ranks made by Nat Levy, Eastern sales manager, was announced by Walter E. Branson, RKO’s vice-president in charge of worldwide distribution. Taylor, who started in the Toronto branch of RKO as a clerk 25 years ago, is the son of Percy Taylor, who was RKO general manager for Canada in the early days and later entered the exhibition field in Quebec. The senior Taylor now operates the Border Theatre in Rock Island, Quebec. When elevated to the management of the Boston branch in 1949, the younger Taylor relinquished charge of the Detroit office, to which he had been promoted in 1946 from Montreal, where he had taken over in 1940. He came to Montreal from the management of the Calgary ‘branch, his first important posi tion. Hatton Taylor, known popularly as ‘Hat,’ is the son-in-law of Clare Appel, executive director of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association. Otto Ebert, formerly Detroit branch manager, succeeded Taylor in Boston. Add Three Films To DCA Release Sked Three new films have been added to the release schedule of Distributors Corporation of America, bringing the total in distribution to 17, of which 11 played their first engagements in 1956. Astral Films handles Distributors Corporation of America. The new additions are Bermuda Affair, starring Kim Hunter, Gary Merrill and Ron Randell and directed on location by Edward Sutherland; Scandal in Sorrento, in CinemaScope and Technicolor, starring Sophia Loren and Vittorio De _ Sica, which is a Titanus production directed on location by Dino Risis; and Monster From Green Hell, a Gross-Krasne production, produced by Al Zimbalist, directed by Kenneth Crane and starring Jim Davis. Grow Canada Popcorn? (Continued from Page 1) with us in that regard.” Spiegel was co-chairman of the IPA Canadian region. Nevertheless, little has happened since to vindicate that optimism, despite efforts every year by farmers encouraged by the supply houses. The government, though interested, hasn’t undertaken any serious research, as it did in the case of homegrown tobacco. This is probably because the market is so much smaller than for the weed, which, with a 1954 crop valued at $74,000,000, is now Ontario’s richest cash yield. Tobacco, of course, is still exposed to the same factor which is discouraging experimentation by farmers—loss by frost. Last year an unseasonable frost cost tobacco growers $15,000,000. It is considered that the same area Where tobacco is grown, Southwestern Ontario, would be best for popcorn. The temperature in the triangle between Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair, below Chatham, is almost identical with the South. The trouble is the late frost in Spring and the early frost in Fall. It takes 120 undisturbed days -—-roughly from May 24 to September 24—to grow bonus corn with the best popping volume. There is intensive research in USA schools to develop a 100day corn and this would give Canadian growers a chance if found. However, if it did become possible to grow acceptable corn here, it would then be necessary for someone to build a $100,000 processing plant. Some farmers still grow corn as a small part of their work in an effort to come on a new and profitable crop. Leo Sherman of Beaver Specialties, a Toronto supplier of nuts, supported a cooperative experiment by farmers some years ago but didn’t get a worthwhile crop. The small amount of corn produced hereabouts is still about five points below good popping volume. It is thought that successful growing in Canada wouldn’t make _ the price any cheaper to theatres and other users but that it would create another industry. Freight and distribution costs are higher here than in the USA because of the large area and the small population. Most of the popcorn produced and processed here from USA hybrids is canned and sold in groceterias for the same price as that which is imported. Theatre distributors find no price advantage and hesitate to distribute the acceptable output because it means endangering USA sources of supply, since the Canadians cannot’ guarantee regular and adequate crops. The USA spends about $400,000,000 for popcorn but the fig ure for Canada, which has onetenth its population, isn’t anywhere near being proportionate. Theatres and concessions in stadiums, etc., account for 70 per cent of the USA total and since TV there’s also a big home market. Canada’s per capita consumption is much lower than that of the USA, with Quebec hardly touching the stuff. But Ontario’s per capita sales match the USA figures. The statistics of the popcorn growing business are these: it takes 2,000 bags, from 2,000 pounds per acre, to get 200,000 pounds of popcorn. Will Canada ever be able to match this proportionately ? The suppliers hope the time will come but they now feel that Professor McRostie’s conclusions, while likely valid, were a bit naive and quite a bit ahead of the great day. "Massacre At Dragoon Wells’ Mona Freeman has been signed to star with Barry Sullivan and Dennis O’Keefe in AA’s Massacre at Dragoon Wells. News Clips Beverley Hills investment bankers haye secured an option to purchase working control of Republic Pictures, which recently laid off its studio employees for a period of 90 days . The Georgetown, Ontario Herald was one of a number of Canadian newspapers to run editorials on the comeback of the movies . . . Guy Kibbee, 74, one of the film industry’s best-known character actors and veteran of more than 25 years in Hollywood, died recently in an actors’ home in East Islip, NY after a lengthy illness . .. Famous Players’ Capitol Theatre, one of Victoria’s four first-run houses, has been closed indefinitely. Acting for King Phumiphol of Thailand, Ambassador Pote Sarasin conferred on Cecil B. DeMille the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant at a recent luncheon in the Paramount studio . . . Joseph M. Schenck, who founded United Artists Theatre Corporation in 1926, has sold his 100,000 shares in the 20-theatre circuit to George Skouras, president, and E. H. Rowley, executive vice-president . . Maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $500 fine was imposed on a New York man for storing millions of feet of old film in cardboard containers in a_ seven-storey loft without sprinklers or other protection. Our Business NE can always start an academic discussion in our business on the subject of star values. The mention of the name of a new film will always lead an exhibitor to ask: “Who's in i?” To the producer seeking to develop new talent this can be discouraging. The average exhibitor will argue that there @ are few it any © so-called stars today who guarantee boxoffice attendance if they are not playing in a very good film. Somewhere along the line there has to be more co-operation. The producer casting an important film today seeks to obtain the players whose talents are most admirably suited to the roles involved and who have the highest possible boxoffice lure. This frequently presents a problem _ because, while it may be possible to make suitable deals with such persons, they may not always be available when the picture is ready to roll. There are other reasons. If he casts good but unknown players, he is faced with the problem of exhibitor as well as public acceptance. He can gamble and hope to establish a star by sheer weight of the role involved and the importance of the film itself. Sometimes, because of necessity, he casts players who have passed their peak of public acceptance. Generally, the producer, in planning a new production, can anticipate a problem in casting. For the sake of his own future, the exhibitor must be prepared to do his share of creating public interest in new players. If queried the average exhibitor would probably agree with this viewpoint. Unfortunately, if pressed he will probably admit that he really doesn’t know how to help. The mere showing of the film in which the new players appear is not sufficiently helpful because if enough patrons are not attracted no great point is achieved. Something further must be done. This is a subject which could well merit the attention of everyone engaged in our business. Joint action might bring tangible results. As an example, we have always put a high value on our screen for the pre-selling of coming attractions. No theatre owner would think of publicizing a forthcoming attraction without the use of screen trailers. Perhaps, therefore,.a regular reel may be produced which will devote itself to new and upcoming players. It might be tabbed “Per(Continued on Page 5) .