Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 3, 1957)

News Clips Daylight Saving Time will run from April 28 to October 27 in Toronto . . . End of Paramount’s Canadian Newsreel has boosted bookings of the remaining ones. Twentieth-Fox is now using ten additional prints . . . G. K. Fraser, MP from Peterborough, said that a recent NFB subject in the Perspective series for CBC TV “gave the impression of trying to break down all respect for law enforcement.” He asked the Hon. J. J. McCann, CBC spokesman, whether letters of protest had been received. Charles Goldsmith has been named chief officer for MGM in Britain following the retirement of Samuel Eckman, Jr., OBE . . . Motion Picture Centre, Toronto, which Jerry Kedey heads, turned out five three-minute safety promos for the CBC and edited, recorded and printed a 20-minute, 16 mm. color film, As a Mustard Seed Grows, which is sponsored by the Anglican Church of Canada. It was shot by a Japanese firm in that country . . . Camera Thirtyfive Productions Limited has been incorporated in Ontario for graphics, TV films, etc. Premier St. Laurent has issued a proclamation “giving official recognition to the industry celebration’ of Spyros P. Skouras’ 15th anniversary, along with the governors of 48 USA states, while acknowledgments have been received from Sir Winston Churchill and the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand. So states a 20th-Fox news release from New York. Canadian and USA exhibitors have already provided 17,000 bookings for the six-week testimonial which will end May 4, says Alex Harrison, general sales manager. Drive-in speakers that will ring bells and flash lights when anyone tries to make off with them are claimed by two Texas men, who just patented their invention in the USA... Subscription TV was attacked by David Sarnoff, NBC president, as ‘“‘pay-or-you-don’t-seeTV” at a Rotarian luncheon in Ho!llywood . . . G. L. Gardiner has been made sales manager for the battery and lighting carbon products of the National Carbon Company, J. S. Dewar, president, announced in Toronto . . . SMPTE is setting up an engineering committee on Closed-Circuit Television. UA's ‘Ride Out For Revenge’ Rory Calhoun, Gloria Grahame, Lloyd Bridges and Joanne Gilbert will star in Bryna Productions’ Ride Out for Revenge, which UA will release. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Short Throws (Continued from Page 1) amounted to 172,789, compared with 159,930 in 1955, and was the highest except for 1937 in the 23year history of the Code. Advertising stills made up the bulk of the total, which included posters, lobby displays, trade, magazine and newspaper ads and miscellaneous accessories. Material rejected declined to 1.62 per cent from 2.55 and the greater part was revised and finally approved. PROGRAM of Canadian films, to which the guests were invited by The Consul General of Canada and | Mrs. Palmer, was exhibited on a} recent Sunday in The Chicago Historical Society. Government Film Commissioner A. W. Trueman, who was present, was interviewed on WTIW-TV. A reception followed the film program. OFFICERS listed in this department last week as being those of the Toronto Motion Picture Projectionists, Local 173, IATSE were not from that organization. They were actually the officers of the International Projection Society, Toronto Chapter, who were all reelected for the 1957 term. HAMILTON Film Workshop, held in McMaster University on Friday and Saturday recently, heard Guy Beaugrand-Champagne of the University of Montreal, Polly McKaySmith of Ottawa and Cecile Starr of New York speak and join in panels discussing training for films in parent education, discussion programs and in community life. It was a joint project of seven organizations and the committee for it was headed by A. F. Knowles of the National Film Board. TV-RADIO coverage of the National Hockey League playoffs will be provided by the CBC, which will also offer the Stanley Cup finals providing facilities and network connections are available. FIFTIETH anniversary of Svensk Filmindustri, the pioneer film production company of Sweden and its top film maker, is being celebrated. It releases its new feature, The Seventh Veil, on the jubilee date. During the week it showed its past films, among them The Story of Gosta Berling, with 17-year-old Greta Garbo, and the Swedish version of Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gosta Ekman. Present head of the company is Dr. Carl Anders Dymling. PLAQUES for top films in the 1957 ‘‘Films For Safety’? competition of the National Safety Council, held in Chicago, went to First Aid For Air Crew, made for the RCAF by the National Film Board, and Go To Blazes, a subject in the NFB’s TV series. THE UN film, Out, which tells the story of the Hungarian emigration, is being shown in Canada by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, with the NFB doing the distribution. The Department bought 65 16 mm. prints of the film, which was scripted and narrated by John Hersey and directed and produced by Thorold Dickinson. NEIL SNEYD, national sales manager for Times Theatre Advertising Limited, Toronto, Canadian member company of International Screen Advertising Services, may attend the fourth annual ad film festival of the latter organization, states David Coplan, managing director. The ISAS is working with the International Screen Publicity Association in organizing the 1957 Festival, which will be held at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, September 21-26. Ernest Pearl, ISAS president, will represent the Canadian company if Sneyd can’t make it. ZENITH Radio Corporation of Chicago, states its annual report, has made further improvements and cost reduction in its Phonevision equipment. Zenith is hopeful, says Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr., president, that Phonevision, its subscription TV system, will get a widespread test this year. Sub TV is being considered by the USA’s Federal Communication Commission and a decision is expected soon. OPINION varied among Canadian TV critics about the quality of the recent Chrysler Festival, which emanates from the Uptown Theatre, Toronto. In Toronto The Telegram’s Poulton said it wasn’t good and The Star’s Sinclair said it wasn’t bad. In Montreal The Star’s O’Hearn wondered why “‘an hour-long revue with a_ stunning cast’”’ which had ‘‘a_ delightful emcee’”’ in Elaine Grand and which was ‘‘a combination of lavishness and taste’’ should have been confined to Canada, since it was “better than most American network shows.” BOB HOPE will headline the next edition of Canadiana, as Jack Arthur calls the world’s greatest theatrical presentation — the Canadian National Exhibition Grandstand Show, which is played every evening for almost three weeks in August-September before 22,000 people in Toronto. Arthur settled all uncertainties by talking to Hope and getting his personal assurance. Cast In ‘Calypso Heat Wave' Merry Anders has been signed to star opposite Johnny Desmond, vocalist, in the Columbia musical, Calypso Heat Wave. April 3, 1957 OUR BUSINESS (Continued from Page 3) because of low film rentals, low operating costs and big grosses. After all, neither production nor distribution did badly at that time! Distributors must keep theatres open. With a little faith in each other, the film salesman and the exhibitor can always agree on the right terms for product, whether it be on percentage or a flat rental basis. Exhibitors for their part must realize more than ever that what counts most is “How much have I left after paying film rental?” Just like Income Taxes, “the higher the income the higher the taxes, but the more you take in, the more you keep.” Exhibitors must forget the past, when distrust of the distributor was the rule rather than the exception. Today and in future we must live together to stay in business. In our business we have finally reached a stage of respectability; no more exhibition by putting up a couple of posters, an ad in the paper, then opening the doors and getting out of the way! Exhibitors, as well as distributors, have got to go to work each day. Film personnel, from the top executives down to the bookers, must be more interested than ever in the welfare of the pictures they handle and the theatres playing them. They must get together with the exhibitor after making the film deal and discuss plans for advertising, publicity and exploitation, so that each can of film gets the same kind of consideration and_ attention from exhibition-distribution as was given during production, when everybody concerned worked hard and long to make a good motion picture. Finally, to exhibitors and distributors, for goodness sake, let’s get together now. If we don’t we may never have another chance! WANTED PROJECTIONISTMANAGER For Western Ontario city. Salary plus partnership in profits for right man. No investment required. Give full particulars and references in first letter. Confidential. Write BOX 14, CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY, 175 Bloor St. E., Toronto