Famous News (Spring 1990)

introduced and is the only Polish film ever made without the consent of Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Bugajski has been working in Canada since 1985 on projects such as E.N.G., Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Twilight Zone. As we go to press C/FP Distribution reports that in its opening weekend in Montreal Cyrano de Bergerac broke the box office record for the first week of play at the Parisien in Montreal. hh Ellie Munro, of the Film department, reports that 407 ballots were received for this year’s Academy Awards Contest. The winner was Shane Cawley from Warner Bros., who received $203 for a score of 80 points. Gordon Imlach (Odeon, Vancouver) picked up $121.80 for his score of 70 with a two way tie for third place between Cathy Wallace (Capitol, Victoria) and Cliff Gallant (Park Royal, Vancouver) who picked up $40.60 each for their scores of 69. The booby prize of $1 went to Kent Clegg from the Cornwall Theatre in Regina. The retirement of film settlement clerk Lorna White was marked with a party in the lounge at head office on Thursday 29 March. Everyone gathered after work to wish Lorna, and her husband John, the best of luck after 29 years of service. The party atmosphere was complete with colorful decorations, trays of appetizers and a bar, hosted by bartender extraordinaire Cliff Narbey. Walter Senior presented a Canada Savings Bond to Lorna and Michael Taylor of the film settlement department (pictured here with Lorna) presented her with a gold bracelet. Kudos to the decorating committee (otherwise known as Christie Esau and Liz Sampson), and to the advertising department for designing a very creative, framed card which was signed by everyone in the building. Michael Taylor and Lorna White during retirement party festivities. For some an usher’s job at a cinema is only temporary. One moves on and the only lingering memories are of old films, glimpsed during quiet moments while on duty. For Tony Soccio, 63, an usher at the Loew’s Cinema in Montreal, that means a lot of films. Tony has worked at various Montreal theatre locations for 40 years. Tony was only 23, in 1950, when he started in the business, at the now defunct Belmont cinema. "Customers bought $1 admission tickets for upstairs; 75 cent tickets for downstairs," he remembers, referring to the grand, two-tiered cinemas of the past. He then proceeded to "keep house" at Le Chateau, Grenda, the Strand, the Alouette (now the Spectrum) and Papineau, and has gracefully outlived them all. He was brought over to the Loew’s for what was supposed to be a temporary transfer. "That was in 1977 and I’m still here 13 years later," Tony says. Tony is in charge of controlling traffic to cinemas #4 and #5. "Nobody passes by me," he says proudly. "You know me Tony." And it’s true, everyone knows Tony. His concern for the cinema runs so deep that one is likely to find Tony prepared for work long before he’s scheduled to begin. "I love the cinema, it’s like my home." And the sentiments are returned. "Everybody wants to see Tony each day to make sure he’s doing fine," says Loew’s manager Essam Mokhtar. "Tony is very proud of his service and cherishes the watch he received after 25 years with Famous Players." Tony is thankful to Famous Players for giving him the chance to do his "thing" for so many years. "Everyone has always been nice to me," he says. "I wouldn’t trade this for the world." Long-time usher Tony Soccio on duty at the Loew’s in Montreal. (Editor’s note: this piece was submitted by Eyal Dattel, assistant manager at Cinema V in Montreal.) Famous Players lost a valuable, long-time employee when Jack McRae died in March. The Capitol Theatre, Victoria, manager was recently honored for 40 years of service. He was 23 when he joined Famous in 1949 as a doorman and usher at the Dominion Theatre in