Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 10, 1970)

January 14, 1970 ITS MY BAG By Ed Hocura I don’t care what the gloomy forecasters predict for 1970, I’m excited about the coming 12 months. I'll be too busy turning out this publication every week in 1970 to worry about labor strife, the enforcement of inflationary measures, higher living costs and increased taxes. Not that all of these won’t effect me; it’s just that when the Motion Picture Institute of Canada wanted to make this a weekly publication, I had to forget about everything else. When you are given a job to do that you really like, nothing else matters. And to say that starting off a new year with a paper to get out every week is a big challenge fraught with unforeseen problems is putting it mildly. What I plan to do in the coming months is introduce new features, get out more often to gather indepth interviews from people who make the news in the film industry, and establish a better rapport with subscribers everywhere. Starting almost immediately, a weekly jcolumn devoted to Variety Club activities will be a regular feature. Theatre personnel in Halifax will know what i their counterparts are doing in Vancouver, and vice versa, with a strong liaison between the two areas to be established. If you’re going to turn out a weekly publication dedicated to reporting on everything that is happening in Canada, the on'y way to do it is with better communications. This is where everybody reading this comes into the picture. Let us know what is happening in your town or city, no matter if you might think that it isn’t too important to be published. New subscriptions poured in daily last month from people in California, Australia, Paris, Texas, England and, believe it or not, Russia. The All Union State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow wants to know what is happening in Canada’s film industry. Makes you wonder what they really want to find out? I don’t want to get too maudlin about it, but I can’t help it. I would like to feel that by coming out every week in 1970, Canadian Film Weekly will be welcomed twice as much now as it was in the past. I can only promise to produce a publication whose main function will be to provide readers with the who, what, when, where and why of happenings in the film industry, and to report the truth at all times. So bear with me in the coming weeks as I try to come up with a weekly publication worthy of being filed for future reference — instead of being thrown in the nearest wastebasket. ok ok * THE GRIPE DEPARTMENT: Are you as sick as I am of books about nymphomaniacs and homosexuals written by frustrated married authors? . . . Television performers who tell you how deeply religious they are after teliing smutty jokes? . . . Stories in TV Guide about young television stars who lead miserable lives earning $200,000 a year? . Dubbed versions of foreign films where the sound track doesn’t even come close to matching the lip movements of the actors and actresses? . Broadway musicals based on old movies? . . . Commercials on television which try to show that cleaning a house can be a lot of fun for housewives if they used the right products? . . . Politicians who worry more about the war in Viet Nam than they do about serious problems at home? . . . Television stations butchering so many good movies to squeeze in more commercials? . . . Movie critics who make it obvious with their scathing reviews that they hate the job they are paid to do with no thought to their readers who are looking for guidance in selecting what movies are worth seeing? . . . Feuds between Broadway producers and New York drama critics? . . . The boorish behavior of radio talk show hosts who make it perfectly obvious that they are not interested in helping listeners solve their problems? . . . Newspapers moaning about losing advertisers to television when they go out of their way to give away valuable space publicizing shows sponsored by their “lost” customers? ... Parents who complain about certain movies having a harmful effect on their children, but think nothing of the effect from Saturday morning cartoon shows on television that are loaded with brutality and violence? . . . The under-30 members of the anti-establishment movement who couldn’t survive today without the blood, sweat and tears of the over-30 slaves of the establishment? . . . People who tell you that nobody reads film trade papers, but send out wordy news releases that can’t be boiled down to a two-line filler as real news? . CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY J ly Page 3 PEACEFUL PROTEST — Two of the invited guests to the invitational preview of Explosion at the Towne Cinema in Toronto were Mr. and Mrs. John Lennon. The supporters of their ‘War Is Over’’ campaign were on hand at the theatre to greet them. But they failed to show up. The protesters on the left were recruited by Don Watts, director of advertising for Century Theatres Management Ltd., to give Explosion some sidewalk publicity. (Royal Studio photo) People who complain that theatre admission prices are too high, but neglect to consider that everything else has increased much higher percentage-wise in recent years? . . . Movie reviews in Time Magazine that are taken seriously by people who don’t go to the movies? * * * NAMES THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT: Former CBC producer George Bloomfield and Toronto writer Martin Lavut have been reaping lots of praise for themselves south of the border for their work on Jenny. Bloomfield directed the Marlo Thomas Alan Alda comedy-drama and co-wrote the script with Lavut. Nice to read about two more Canadians making good in Hollywood . . . Toronto alderman Ben Nobleman has been a long-time critic of American discrimination against Canadian performers. As president of the Society for the Recognition of Canadian Talent, Nobleman recently came to the defense of a Toronto singer who was barred from entering the U.S. to fill in for an ailing performer in an off-Broadway musical. Being a part-time actor, Nobleman also levelled a blast at the CBC saying it has “betrayed the Canadian actor, whose status today is the lowest in Canadian history. Many prominent entertainers are unemployed; others are doing menial work. The CBC has become an arrogant bureaucracy with no interest or sympathy for the Canadian performer” . If you thought Ontario Censor Board chief O. J. Silverthorn had many a sleepless night wondering how he was going to pass I Am Curious (Yellow), which he finally did, he’s got more of the same in store when he passes judgment on Female Animal. But if he can’t get to sleep, I’d like to suggest what I found to cure my insomnia. I just keep repeating over and over: Martin Bockner is general manager of Astral Films Ltd. and Jerry H. Solway is chief executive officer. And before you know it, I’m fast asleep . . . Whatever happened to the movies that Steve McQueen and John Huston were supposed to be making in Canada? It was announced months ago that McQueen would appear in a film based on the biography of Jacques Cartier, and Huston was to film The Leathersteckings, an adaptation of three James Fennimore Cooper stories blended into one narrative . . Gordon Sinclair doesn’t regard himself as a film critic but his salty reviews are in a class by themselves on his Show Business with Sinclair programs on CFRB in Toronto. Len Bishop, who recently retired as manager of the Hollywood Theatre, could always count on a kind mention from Sinclair to mean dollars at the box office . . . Sincere wishes for many happy years ahead for Hillis Cass and Mark Plottel, two veterans of the Canadian film industry now retired from their posts at MGM and Universal Films . . . No actor working in Hollywood has a more loyal fan club than Steve Ihnat, a Hamilton buddy of mine for many years. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t get a release from the president of his fan club, whose name is Irene Chapman. I have long felt that Ihnat should fire his agent and hire Mrs. Chapman. The latest news about Ihnat is that the film he wrote, produced, directed and starred in will be released next month. And if Ihnat doesn’t invite Mrs. Chapman to the world premiere, he deserves to have a flop on his hands, —————————————— SS EE ee a