Hollywood Motion Picture Review (1944)

Home Stretch By Harold Cowan What’s new with the bangtails ? Plenty, my friends. With the Santa Anita Derby and Handicap coming up, the turf sport is really buzzing. . . . And speaking of buzzing, down through the years there have been few more consistent horses than Buzfuz, the Hialeah champ, who is all set to go up against the best in Florida racing. . . . Another mighty consistent horse roaming around these parts is Supro, who may turn out to be an even greater horse than the much-publicized Galla Damion. So far, Supro has been strictly invincible and though he hasn’t been up against as stiff com¬ petition as Galla Damion, I believe that he’s ready to make the best of ’em look like they’re standing still. Supro, in winning all four of his ’Anita races, has improved readily with each race and on each occa¬ sion, romped home with something left in reserve. He’ll use that “re¬ serve” to good advantage against classier opponents. . . Late racing news from here, there and every¬ where: El Lobo, who usually wins a race when his odds are ’way up, will not see action for some time. He has been sent to owner Stu Hamblen’s ranch to be turned out. . . . Don’t say that horse owners are lazy people. Two of the best known, Louis B. Mayer and Jay Paley, have been visitors at ’Anita during the early morning training hours. Well, I guess if I owned horses like Mayer’s or Paley’s, I’d do the very same thing! . . . Rec¬ ords are being broken left and right at the current ’Anita meeting. Snow Boots established a new track record at a mile and a sixteenth; Ever Roll did likewise at a mile and three-eighths; and Don Conejo broke the track and world’s record at three furlongs. I have a hunch that the six-furlong and seven-furlong track records, now held by Leading Article and Thumps Up respectively, will also be bested be¬ fore this “lightning-fast” meeting draws to a close. . . . The most sur¬ prising horse of the week was Mrs. A. L. Rice’s Son of Chance. This horse, while owned by Don Ameche, never did too much, but since Mrs. Rice became owner and assigned C. A. Roles as trainer, Son of Chance has turned in two brilliant victories, the last being against mighty good horses. They say that a jockey wins or loses a horse race! Well, how about those trainers, trainers like Roles ? . . . The most unpredictable meeting in Santa Anita history is the one now on. Horses that never figured to be even near the first six, have gal¬ loped to victory with ease. For ex¬ ample, who would ever think Nanby Pass would ever grab the $50,000 Santa Catalina Handicap ? On form, the horse just didn’t figure against animals such as Honey¬ moon, First to Fight, Please Me and so forth . . . And the funny part of it is this: most of these horses that come through with sur¬ prising triumphs, never do another outstanding thing for the rest of the meeting, and possibly for life! If you checked the records close¬ ly, you’d find that if you had bet every one of Atkinson’s mounts across the board during the cur¬ rent meeting, and didn’t limit your¬ self to six dollar combination bets, you’d be a rich person today. And have you noticed that because of his phenomenal record, horses that ordinarily would have been 20 and 30 to 1 have dropped to 10 and 5 to 1 just because Atkinson was in the driver’s seat. I’m sure that if any other jockey but Atkinson was on Whirlabout last Saturday, the pay-off would have been much higher. ACE HANDICAPPER Lou Miller nominates as his horse of the week Unchallenged, who was “unchal¬ lenged” in winning the 5th race at Santa Anita last Tuesday. He cov¬ ered the six furlong distance in 1:11 2/5, on a slightly off track, on top by 2% lengths. Miller says you can expect big things from Unchallenged in the near future! We agree emphatically! THE HAPPIEST MAN of the week was Harry James, America’s Number 1 trumpet tooter. And Harry had reasons for rejoicing. JESSE STOOL & DAVE MALL present the Modern Debusy ERROLL GARNER ESQUIRE POLL WINNER FOR 1946 ROY MILTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA and the VIVIAN GARRY TRIO COMING FRIDAY, FEB. 22— RAY RALDUC AND HIS ORCH. Susie >uSie 6700 Hollywood Blvd. GL-5673 NATIONAL RATINGS BY PHIL SOLOMON LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS MIDDLEWEIGHTS World’s Champion Gus Lesnevich Tony Zale 1 Archie Moore 1 Holman Wliliams 2 Lloyd Marshall 2 Jake LaMotta 3 Billy Smith 3 Rocky Graziano 4 Billy Fox 4 Charley Burley 5 Jack Chase 5 Tiger Aaron Wade 6 Phil Muscato 6 Steve Belloise 7 Freddie Mills 7 Sonny Horne 8 Joe Kahut 8 Artie Levine 9 Fitzy Fitzpatrick 9 Bee Bee Washington 10 Nate Bolden 10 Cocoa Kid His speedy grey horse Sundial hit the winner’s circle and paid 45 dol¬ lars on the front end. This is James’ first victory of the meet¬ ing, and you can be sure it won’t be his last! . . . The unluckiest horse of the meeting is W. E. Boe¬ ing’s Devil’s Slide. Here’s a horse that seems to always be in the money, but never occupies the win digit. Devil’s Slide is one horse that’s ’way over-due. He better hit the winner’s circle the next time out, or there’ll be a lot of people who will never bet that horse again. As if Devil’s Slide cares! . . . Here’s a good one: the other day, I saw a gent betting hundreds of dollars on every race. The same evening I saw him at a Hollywood night club in his regular task of waiter. I didn’t realize waiters made quite that much! . . . Con¬ gratulations to KGFJ and the Na¬ tional Scratch for the swell job they’re doing in bringing Southern California’s many horse racing fans the instantaneous results from all the major race tracks through¬ out the country . . . And speaking of broadcasting, why doesn’t the Los Angeles Turf Club make it possible for a major radio network to carry a running description of a big race every so often! The East¬ ern track do so! . . . Horses to watch next time out, and you might bet a few bucks on them, too: Auto Fly, who ought to fly right into that winner’s circle; Cressida J., Maltese Betty, The Shah, Danada Flash, French Para¬ sol, Bunny Hallow, and as my Broiled Steaks, Delicious Sandwiches GUS' STEAK HOUSE GUS N. CHACONAS “The Place With Personal Service” HOllywood 9614 1621 CAHUENGA BLVD. three-star specials JEEP, K-ROUNDER and TOPPET. Of course, be sure to wear pants with extra-sized pockets so you’ll be able to carry home all that money you win on the above horses! (Listen to Harold Cowan’s “To¬ day in Sports,” sponsored by Un¬ der the Gaslights, broadcast over KMPC, 5:05 to 5:15 p.m., every Saturday.) Knox Manning Hides Knox Manning, who is the world’s champion narrator of short subjects, from the standpoint of credits, is the man nobody ever sees — on the screen. “I’m also claimant to the title of the invisible man,” laments Manning, who is one of radio’s top newscasters and commentators via CBS. “During the past year alone, I’ve recorded the narrations for more than 60 Warner Bros, short subjects, including ‘Hitler Lives,’ which is a robust attack on na¬ tive Fascists. But under such cir¬ cumstances, of course, I’m mere¬ ly a voice. “Most of my professional days I’ve been destined to be invisible to the American public. Some day I hope to see the Manning face on a screen.” Our New Address . . . Hollywood Nite Life New Offices Are Located at 7264 SUNSET BLVD. TERRY HUNT HEALTH SYSTEM PRE-WAR SERVICE RESULTS Phone CRestview 6-9131 128 No. La Cienega — Beverly Hills BILLY BERG Presents DIZZY GILLESPIE and His Orchestra SLIM GAILLARD TRIO HARRY "THE HIPSTER" GIBSON Nitely SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAM SESSIONS 1356 N. Vine Street in Hollywood HI-9593 Page Twelve Hollywood N I T E L I F E