Canadian Film Weekly (May 15, 1957)

May 15, 1957 HAMATEURS (Continued from Page 1) Department of Education. The one that welcomes its special attentions to non-profit theatricals is made up of about 300 local drama groups in various parts of the province. How does the Province serve these groups, out of which come many who later are part of some section of entertainment or communication? The Community Programs branch, which operates from 106 Huron Street, Toronto, under the direction of K. L. Young, has a library made up of plays and technical volumes. These, chosen from a catalogue in one of the eight district offices, are sent on request of a group representative. They are to help provide ideas and must not be retained for use in some enterprise of the group. Also available are a number of technical films on aspects of drama presentation and these also are not available to individuals as such. The branch supplies parttime advisers to groups. These, chosen from Drama League affiliates, earn extra money on weekends. There is no objection to the use of pros, Young says, but they aren’t available. Just recently the Canadian Equity Committee of the Actors’ Equity Association ruled that its members may appear with amateur companies, the fees being $5 per performance for junior cardholders and $25 and special billing for seniors. In an advisory capacity to the branch is the Ontario Drama Council, made up of lay people from different parts of the province, which meets four times a year to discuss the best way to serve the groups. Its president is James Dean, who is on the staff of Central Technical School, Toronto. The other members are Charles Tuck of Kitchener, president of the Western Ontario Drama League; Vida Peene of Toronto, who was recently appointed to the newlyformed Canada Council; Michael Micklejohn of Ottawa, president of the Eastern Ontario Drama League; Mrs. Marion Little, Kirkland Lake; and Mrs. Arthur Fort, Port Colborne. The Community Programs branch covers many other activities—teaching English to immigrants, square dancing, recreational projects for older folk and teenagers, etc. A busy field is puppetry. There are three puppetry guilds in the province and another is being formed. There is an Ontario Puppetry Association. The Community Programs branch has about 50 persons on its administrative staff, counting Young and his top officers. It employs 13 field people and eight specialists. The Ontario Department of Education also maintains an audiovisual section with numerous films of educational and _ instructional character. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY CHIVALRY is not dead. A number of ladies got on a Yonge Street bus carrying shopping parcels. They stood because every seat was occupied by men, not one of whom offered to give his up. After a few blocks one, more of a gentleman than the others, tugged at a woman’s coat. “On your toes, lady,” he whispered. “I get off at the next block”. . . Early May was darned chilly and I said so to John Edwards, the almost-75 massage man who gives the Twinex execs a going-over twice a week. John, whose sayings and stories remind me of the England of Thomas Hardy’s Life’s Little Ironies, warned: “Until May is out change not a clout.’’ The Oxford re clout: “‘(arch.) piece of clothing.” Also a patch .. . Lorne Greene, in Hollywood for Columbia’s The Hard Man, his first Western, may play the prosecutor in MGM’s The Brothers Karamazov. That would make him the third Canadian in it. (See News Clips, this edition) .. . The kids use ‘“‘demolicated” to describe what happens to someone beaten badly. When I was one we'd threaten to “mobilize” someone. The word sounded ominous, I guess. Chinese proverb, a variation on the one about a picture being worth 10,000 words: “To see once is better than to hear a thousand times.” STRATFORD Film Festival will seek recognition from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations and issue Certificates of Participation. Incidentally, Michael Langham, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival’s artistic director, wouldn’t deny Nat Cohen’s suggestion — on Fighting Words — that a touring troupe would take off when the the theatre on Ontario’s Avon goes dark this fall . . . Dick Newman and his Free Press colleagues in London, a onepaper town, will have a Press Club soon. . . That Look story about Sinatra made him out half angel and half jerk. I don’t think the first half entitles him to tolerance for the second half . . . Story around here is that a Vancouver daily will fold shortly . .. At a time when TV claims weekend time that used to go for reading the Toronto papers are piling big, fat Sunday editions on us . . . Brooks Atkinson, reviewing Theatre for the NY Times, says the author, James Lee, brought out these truths about backstage life in Manhattan: “the spurious enthusiasm for old friends, the cynicism and squalor, the ruthless competition, the corruption of personal character, the affront to personal dignity.” It’s true that unhappy experiences in NY make terrible jerks out of some very nice people, who aren’t quite the same when they come back home. SATURDAY NIGHT featured The Fitzgibbons’ physog on its cover last week as an introduction to Mary Lowry Ross’ inside story, Man Behind a Shadow World . . . Another Stratford note: There’s room for a 600-seat theatre in the bowels of the new building. That’s where future film festivals may be held . . . Michael Taylor, Nat and Yvonne's boy, will spend the summer at the Associated British-Pathe studios in London, then return to the University of Toronto... I found much of the Westbury Hotel’s charm in its newness... Overheard: “I’ve got a warm spot for him — and I wish he’d go there” .. . Friday night shopping in department stores has provided a weekly adventure for the kids that used to come downtown but twice a year before — Easter and Christmas. Watch them rushing gleefully out of the subway, dragging Pa and Ma after them toward the store . . . Probably the only branch of Perkins Electric still open is the Toronto one, which Bill Walterhouse, with the 40-year-old firm since 1928, is managing. A major factor in knocking it out was the large amount of credit allowed exhibs during the wide-screen changeovers . .‘Calypso is just sunburnt Rock ’n Roll,” cracked Bill Curley of the Scarboro Drive-in after a screening of AA’s quick cashin feature, Calypso Joe ... There’s a good press yarn in the plumber by day who’s a Latin-dance teacher by night . . Brevignette of The $64,000 Question: Skullerama. MARK PLOTTEL Elected president of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, He is sales manager of EmpireUniversal Films Limited. Toronto Exhib Sued For Capac Fees Payment of damages and costs and discontinuance of all performances of music copyrighted by the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada Limited has been ordered by the Exchequer Court in the action brought by Capac against Stephen Majnik, operator of the Academy Theatre, Toronto. Legal costs amounted to $176.55. According to C. R. Matheson, licencing manager of Capac, Majnik was notified on numerous occasions that he would require a licence to perform copyright music and legal action ensued when he ignored all requests for payment of fees. Columbia Acquires Novel Columbia has acquired Alistair MacLean’s new novel, The Guns of Navarone. Maurice Chevalier Signed MGM has signed Maurice Chevalier for the role of Uncle in the musical, Gigi. Radio Engineers To Meet October 16-18 Convention and exposition of the Institute of Radio Engineers has been set for October 16 to 18 in Toronto and more than 90 per cent of the available space for the exhibition has already been booked, it was announced by Clare Norris, P.Eng., general chairman. It is expected that over 100 papers will be read and that exhibits will include TV and radio transmission equipment, radar, control mechanisms, computers, aeronautical and navigational aids, nuclear industry supplies and service and many other electronic devices.