Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 10, 1957)

April 10, 1957 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 5 IMPACT PASSED (Continued from Page 1) ber of potential situations in which closed circuit pay TV will be initiated in Canada,” the report said. It noted that ‘‘Official government agencies both in Canada and in the United States are giving much time to consideration of the adoption of pay television on a_ broadcast basis.” During the year three theatres held under lease were eliminated as unprofitable or marginal operations, and three properties and one drive-in were sold for the same reasons. It also acquired seven theatre properties in Vancouver which it had held under lease, of which two were subsequently sold. Associated companies dropped eight theatres held under lease, built a drive-in and purchased a new theatre. They also have plans for the erection of three theatres, one of which was destroyed by fire. Famous Players, through an associate company, became interested in two Toronto houses playing Italian pictures. With its partners in CFCM-TV, Quebec City, the company invested $500,000 in the establishment of an English language station in the same location and expansion of existing facilities will take place during the current year. These stations, along with CKCO-TV, Kitchener, in which Famous Players also owns 50 per cent, operated successfully. The company controls the Canadian sales and manufacturing rights of the Lawrence Color Tube, which makes possible a receiver that can reproduce both color and black and white. It will go into mass production in the USA this year. There are now 6,500 employees on the staffs of Famous Players and associated companies and 370 are members of the company’s 25 Year Club. New Production Company Bartlett-Champion Pictures, a new company which will release through Paramount, has_ been formed and its first film will be Zero Hour, based on an original story by Arthur Hailey, Canadian writer. eT OUR BUSINESS (Continued from Page 3) whose main assets are sterling has only been made possible by the unwavering confidence the Bank of England places in The Rank Organization .. . and the sound future of the motion picture industry. There are many more reasons I could give you why we have a continued upswing in our business, but these few must suffice for the present. Therefore, to use a colloquialism, ‘These are the facts.” I hope you find them more stimulating than the most iridescent promises. _~SQUARE MAN OF MANY gifts is Fred Evis, whose recent Calypso number is selling in the West Indies and who, with Freddy Grant, wrote the Spring Thaw hit, A Little Less Talk, A Little More Action. During business he’s Frederick A. Evis, physician, surgeon, barrister, solicitor and Department of Public Health consultant .. . Jackie Fine of B&F Theatres, who dabbles in bowling, fan photos, Esther Williams’ swimming pools and other ways of making a buck, threw this at me during the Variety Club’s Thursday luncheon: “You look like a million dollars — green and wrinkled.” Why don’t you add a restaurant to your interests, Jackie? You could call it The Sign of the Sneer ... An all-time Canadian Hit Parade, which I con casa about recently, would have to include Gitz Rice’s Dear Old Pal o’ Mine. The Montrealer earned $80,000 in royalties for his WWI hit . Len Bishop is now membership chairman of the Canadian Picture Pioneers and would like to sign you if you’ve been in the industry for 25 years. Get in touch with him at the Hollywood . . . Comment by Keith Preston some years ago on the high price of sanity: ‘The alienist is not a joke. He finds you cracked and leaves you broke.” Whatever became of that word “alienist”? Now “psychiatrist” and “psychoanalyst” are the popular ones. JOE PASTERNAK produced his new MGM picture, 10,000 Bedrooms, in Rome and while there decided to ask for an audience with the Pope. Many years ago he had directed a picture in Berlin and the Pope, then a Cardinal, was assigned to advise the director on certain Catholic matters to be touched on. Joe’s letter brought a reply from the Pope’s secretary saying that His Holiness would be delighted to see Mr. Pasternak again. On the day stipulated Joe found himself in a synagogue, it being the holiest day in his religion—Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. He hadn’t realized until that morning that the dates conflicted. He had to make a decision as to where he would betake himself—to the Vatican or to the synagogue. He had chosen the latter. The next day he wrote to the Pope, apologizing for his failure to keep the audience so graciously granted and explaining his decision. Back came a letter through the Pope’s aide. Mr. Pasternak, it said, had shown good judgment. A FELLOW told me about an old Jewish gentleman who goes to the Studio Theatre on College Street, which now plays Italian films because immigration has changed the racial character of the patronage. “Since all the pictures are in Italian now,” his son asked, “why do you keep going every night?” “Nu, when they played English pictures, replied, “did I understand English?” 9? the old man IDEA FOR Italo-American co-production: an Italian Western called Wells Fargo Espresso. Don’t laugh—many a true word, as a comic said, is spoken through false teeth. Same years ago an Italian company made a Western with Buffalo Bill as its leading character—and with a Grand Opera plot. I’m dying to see it but it was never imported .. . How many times does the figure nine occur in all the numbers up to 100? Don’t use a pencil—just tell me quickly. You’re probably wrong. Most people are .. . Youngster, asked what the plural of three is, answered, “Six” . Girl tots of my friends, who used to cheek-peck appointed uncles like me, now cock their heads, take dead aim at the lips and push while squeezing the neck. “She learned it from TV,” explained one mother. Same reason why little boys, using a bat for the first time, swing it in Big League style . . . Nine recent songs have the word “Baby” in them. I think Ill write one called Baby! Baby! Baby! Should stand three times the chance the others have of being a hit. News Clips Decrease of $185,000 in theatre and sports admissions in Nova Scotia was blamed on TV and was given as one of the reasons for a $4,483,000 provincial deficit by Premier Stanfield . . . For his zeal in organizing the Montreal Arts Council Mayor Drapeau has been given a special citation by the Critics Circle, which decided that there had been no outstanding creative work in 1956 worthy of the Critics’ annual award ... Charles R. Rogers, 64, producer of many films while with RKO and Universal and as an Independent, died in Hollywood of injuries suffered in a car accident. Bids to do recordings for Columbia and London Records have been received by the Wm. McCauley Choir, made up of employees of Crawley Films of Ottawa ... A testimonial dinner will be given A. Montague, Columbia v-p, for “his tireless efforts and outstanding accomplishments” as president of the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital at Saranac Lake, NY... Lynn Tracy, Canadian actress and model who was voted Miss Canadian Mink two years ago, has been signed for a big film role in England in the JARO film, Miracle in Soho. Gene Lockhart, 66, born in London, Ontario and a veteran of over 300 film roles, died recently in a Santa Monica hospital following a heart attack. A noted athlete in his youth and a former football player with Toronto Argonauts, he won much distinction on the New York stage, in TV and radio and as a composer, columnist and playwright . . . Net gross of USA theatres in 1956 amounted to $1,204,200,000, over $19,000,000 more than 1955 and higher than either 1954 or 1953. Part of the gain was attributed to raising tax-free admissions from 50 to 90 cents. Paramount's 'The Hangman’ Edward Dmytryk will produce and direct Paramount’s The Hangman. "Man Who Rocked The Boat’ Richard Egan will star in Universal-International’s The Man Who Rocked the Boat. Robert Bray Cast In ' e My Gun Is Quick’ Robert Bray has been signed by producer-director Victor Saville for his first starring role as Mike Hammer in the film version of cee Spillane’s My Gun Is Quick, Parklane production for UA. _ Bray’s casting as Spillane’s famed tough-guy detective follows his appearance in the screen production of Bus Stop, starring Marilyn Monroe.