The Exhibitor (Nov 1948-Feb 1949)

November 10, 1948 STUPOR SALESMAN. Vitaphone— Looney Time. 7m. DafEy Duck, a sales¬ man, stumbles on the hideout of a bankrobber, and tries to sell him all manner of gadgets. The usual murderous chase ensues. Finally, the crook blows up the house by lighting escaping gas with a cigarette lighter, which up to then had failed to work. FAIR. (4714). Comedy SO YOU WANT TO BE ON RADIO. Vitaphone— Behind The Eight Ball Com¬ edy. 10m. Joe McDoakes, George O’Han¬ lon, and his wife have some amusing ex¬ periences with radio. They get on “People Are Ridiculous,” “Double Up Or Drop Dead” programs, and get a house full of gifts, although encountering some harrow¬ ing experiences by not knowing the an¬ swers. Finally, Joe guesses who the “Sneezing Man” is, but misses out on the jackpot question, blows his top, and wrecks the radio studio. This is a good rib on giveaway radio programs. GOOD. (5402) . Musical MY HAPPINESS. Columbia— Commu¬ nity Sing No. 2. 10m. Dith Dick Liebert at the organ and The Song Spinners blending on some of current season’s top hit songs, this is a particularly tuneful issue. The songs rendered are “Nature Boy,” “Woody Woodpecker,” “My Happiness,” “At A Sidewalk Penny Arcade,” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.” GOOD. (1652). RAY EBERLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA. Columbia — Thrills Of Music. 10m. Featur¬ ing the band of Ray Eberle, with Ebefle and Connie Haines doing the vocals, and with Fred Robbins jive-talking at the turntable, this presents “Prisoner Of Love,” “Tree In The Meadow,” and “How Come You Do Me Like You Do.” GOOD. (1952) . MARTIN BLOCK’S MUSICAL MERRYGO-ROUND No. 5. MGM. 10m. Frankie Carle and his orchestra are featured, with Block explaining Carle’s success. The numbers delivered in the smooth Carle style are “Sweet And Lovely,” “SleepyTime Gal,” “Oh What It Seemed To Be,” and “Sunrise Boogie.” GOOD. (M-985). MARTIN BLOCK’S MUSICAL MERRYGO-ROUND No. 6. MGM. 10m. Art Lund is featured vocalist, with Martin Block, and Les Brown and Tex Beneke and their or¬ chestras contribute, too. Lund sings “Mam’selle” and a cowboy satire, “The Sad Cowboy.” Brown and his boys add some zing to the “Blue Danube,” and the Beneke crew swings “Somebody Loves Me.” GOOD. (M-986). Color Novelty BANNISTER’S BANTERING BABIES. Vitaphone — Adventiure Special. 10m. Pho¬ tographer Constance Bannister demon¬ strates her technique in photographing babies. The babies are cute, the Techni¬ color is nice, and it is a nice plug for career girl Bannister. FAIR. (5802) . CIRCUS TOWN. Vitaphone— Adventure Special. 10m. The Technicolor camera visits Gainesville, Tex., where the annual amateur circus is a commimity enterprise. The natives are seen frolicking in tanbark and grease-paint. GOOD. THE GLASS ORCHESTRA. Paramoimt — Unusual Occupations No. 1. 10m. The first imusual occupation depicted in Magnacolor is the teaching of tribal dance lessons by Chief Waterfall on a New Mexican Apache Indian reservation. Laura NcNeill’s vocation is making elaborate, THE EXHIBITOR colonial-costumed ceramic figurines, and Helen Martini, Bronx Zoo. is a nursemaid to baby animals. The featured sequence shows orchestra leader Billy Glass, New York, making and playing plexiglass in¬ struments. GOOD. (L 8-1). Novelty APPOINTMENT WITH BABY. Para¬ mount — Pacemaker. 11m. This is the humanizing story of Jinz Falkenberg and Tex McCrary, preparing for the arrival of their second baby. Depicted with ingrati¬ ating simplicity and naturalness, the actress and her husband, well-known by a large radio audience, have difficulty in naming their expected, and enlist the aid of Harry Conover. They also hear a lullaby sung by Patrice Munsel, &nd Jinx continues her shopping, athletics, and radio show until the arrival. Tennis champion Bob Falkenberg arrives to see the baby, who soon captivates everyone. GOOD. (K 8-1). CALL OF THE CANYON. UniversalInternational — Variety View. 10m. Grand Canyon is the locale for this average series issue, and the camera roams around from sun up to sundown. The lodge at the top of the canyon affords a panorama, includ¬ ing the down-the -canyon ride on burros and the vari-colored rock walls. Also seen in the footage are some ancient-dance per¬ forming Indians and a wild game sanc¬ tuary. FAIR. (3348). CHRISTMAS DREAM. Universal-Inter¬ national — One Reel Special. 11m. This European-made special, employing back¬ ground music instead of dialogue, tells the tale of a little girl who foi’sakes her rag doll on Christmas Eve for the beautiful tree and new toys, but has a dream in which the rag doll comes to life. The doll performs acrobatics, dances, and brings the other toys to life to participate in the party which ends when he starts up an electric fan just as the girl awakens, and notices everything as it was before the dream. EXCELLENT. (4203) . THE FABULOUS FRAUD. MGM— Jolm Nesbitt Passing Parade. 11m. John Nesbitt goes back into history to tell the story of the meteoric rise and fall of Anton Mesmer, discoverer of hypnotism. Mesmer’s use of shock treatment, part science and some fakery, cured many patients. He had no regard for the patient’s wealth or lack of it, but his famous case was the treat¬ ment of a blind girl, wherein he discov¬ ered “Mesmerism.” His fame was hotly contested even when he appeared before the Acadamie Francaise, but in the end his detractors won out as his use of the gift as a panacea killed twice as many as it cured, and he disappeared. GOOD. (K-976). Color Sports SPORTS DOWN UNDER. Vitaphone— Sports Parade. 10m. In Australia, through the eyes of the Technicolor camera, one sees a motorcycle scramble race over a rough course, cricket, bowles, golf, inter¬ national Davis Cup tennis matches be¬ tween U. S. and Australia, horse racing, the life saving clubs at Sydney in action, and sail boating. GOOD. (4512). SPORTSMEN IN THE FAR EAST. Vitaphone — Sports Parade. 10m. The Tech¬ nicolor cameras go to Bombay, India, where are captured such sports as yacht¬ ing, fakirs on the beach, swimming, diving, field hockey, cricket, polo, ancient swords play, gymnastics, and horse racing. GOOD. (5502) . Sports HOT ROD SPEEDSTERS. Paramount— Grantland Rice Sportlight. 10m. The drive for increased speed in miniature, midget, and hopped-up autos is shown with the attendant drivers and cheering spectators, first, the model cars going around a board track, then the hopped-up jalopies spurt¬ ing on the Mojave Desert against a stop watch, and, finally, the racing, spilling midgets in the Los Angeles Colosseum. GOOD. (R 8-1). TEXAS REDHEAD. RKO — Sportscope. 8m. The redheads in this sports short are ducks, and the locale of the hunting is near Harlingen, Tex. The shooting is done by experts, who set out the decoys in per¬ fect order, and then hit the bullseye when the ducks swoop down. The Labrador re¬ triever then does his job, and the happy hunters, the publisher of Field and Stream magazine and an international sportsman, call it a day. GOOD. (94301) . Too late To Classify Features: When My Baby Musical Smiles At Me (845) (20th Century-Fox) (Color by Technicolor) Estimate: Show biz entry should prove highly popular. Cast: Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, Jack Oakie, June Havoc, Richard Arlen, James Gleason, Vanita Wade, Kenny Williams, Jean Wallace, Pati Behrs, Robert Emmett Keane, Jerry Maren, George “Beetlepuss” Lewis, Tom Stevenson, Sam Bernard, Mauritz Hugo, Frank Scannell, Tim Graham, Dave Morris. Produced by George Jessel; directed by Walter Lang. Story: Betty Grable, singer-dancer, and her comic husband, Dan Dailey, who has a tendency toward pretty girls and drinks, * are hits in burlesque. Stage manager James Gleason and fellow performers Jack Oakie and his wife, June Havoc, often cover up for him when he is late for a show. When Dailey gets an offer to appear in a Broadway show, Grable is suspicious when another member of the burlesque troupe, Jean Wallace, also leaves for the same show, but she lets Dailey go, and he is a hit. He tries to boost Grable for a spot in the show, but Wallace is teamed with him in a number. This brings Grable to town on a visit, and she is reassured that he still loves her. Shortly after, however, she sees a photo in the paper where Wallace and Dailey have been arrested together in a speakeasy raid. She notifies him that she is going to divorce him, and marry Richard Arlen, a wealthy rancher, v^o has been a con¬ stant fan of Grable’s. Later, in town after the divorce, and prior to her marriage, Dailey, Gleason, Oakie, and Havoc show up for a farewell party, and Dailey breaks down, still in love with her. Dailey goes from bad to worse, and winds up in an alcoholic ward. Gleason, taking pity, offers him a spot in his new burlesque show but on opening night he shows up plastered again. Grable puts in an appearance, and tells Dailey that she isn’t married, and that she still loves Dailey, which puts him on his feet, and the show and their lives go on again. X-Ray: 20th-Fox’s success formula for musicals in Technicolor is once again utilized, and the result is a crowd pleaser that should go over well. It has swell music, good comedy, pleasing dance num (Continued on next page) S«ivis*ction 7 2507