Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1943)

36 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW January 16, 1942 The State vs. Thomas Crosby ifait) {Continued from Preceding Page) their roles and camera detail seems a trifle overdone. The story concerns itself with the trial of a man well along in years, accused of murdering his much younger and loose-moraled wife. Various testimony is heard which tends to point effectively to his guilt but the cleverness of his attorney turns the spotlight of guilt on a boat tender to whom she had refused her favors. Air Raid Warden (Amusing) Univ. (7243) Andy Panda Cartunes No. 3 7 mins. Andy is pounding out forty noisy winks when a blacKout is ordered and he sleepily starts the siren going. As lights go out and the animals start scurrying for cover a nosey goat nibbles the siren mechanism off the hancjle making it necessary for Andy to personally blow out the street lights. This accomplished he causes a traffic accident and the hungry goat again proceeds to devour portions of the wreckage. Andy manages to get the fireflies to douse their lights but the goat, now all lit up from devouring the headlights and battery of a car, runs to the top ot a sky-scraper framework with Andy hot on his heels. Anti-aircraft gunners mistake the suspended beams the two occupy as an enemy plane and begin blasting. Reel is in Technicolor. Designed by Fannie Hurst (Interesting) Univ. (7375) Person-Oddities No. 5 9 mins. Of top interest in this reel of unusual hobbies and happenings is a trip around the three-floor New York apartment of novelist Fannie Hurst showing the wealth of extremely valuable religious antiques the writer has collected. Girdner Provost, the lady who originated those clever Jittle dolls made from pipe cleaners, is shown working at her profitable hobby and William Slavin, a motorman, is shown operating his miniature replica of Fontaine Fox's famous Toonerville Trolley in his backyard for the benefit of his baby son and companions. Other shots show Nathaniel Wilson's famous "President's Acre" hexagonal cemetery at Lancaster, Ohio, and the wreckers at work tearing down the town of Dayton, Nevada, to make way for the working of a gold lode that was passed up by the hurrying '49ers on their way to California. Jasper and the Choo-Chco (Funny) Para. (U2-2) Madcap Models No. 2 7^ mins. Jasper is on his way to trade the nickel his mother just gave him for some sweets when he encounters a scarecrow and is enticed into trying his luck with some loaded dice. When he loses and the cheating scarecrow starts to pick up the money the dice come to life and lead the pair an exciting and rib-tickling chase before Japer hightails it for home. The animation is exceptionally good. Reel is in Technicolor. The Fighting Engineers (Good) Vita. (8002) Technicolor Specials No. 2 20 mins. Richard Travis, Robert Armstrong and James Flavin are featured in this subject dealing^with the training period and simulated combat action of the U. S. Engineering Corps. Travis and Armstrong are prize fighter and manager, respectively, training near Fort Bel voir, Virginia. The morning road work takes them into territory where the engineers are engaged in maneuvers and Travis decides to enusc. Armstrong follows his lead and both are put through their paces, with other enlistees, under Flavin, acting as sergeant. There are some interesting scenes of how these troops of Uncle Sam, who are first to fight and last to retreat, go about the business of making it easy for our ooys to get at and over an objective. .Actual scenes at Fort Belvoir and the battle action shots were produced in cooperation with the U. S. Engineering Corps. Narration is by Knox Manning and direction by B. Reeves Eason. Dick Stabile and His Orchestra (Fair) RKO (34,404) Jamborees No. 4 8 mins. This one reel musical makes up in ear-tingling music what it lacks in production and imaginative presentation and novelty. Gracie Barrie is tne oniy specialty performer and her otterings seem to lacK a lot oi the verve she gave to her uiuaical comedy appearances. Stabile and his musicians go back through the years to offer a novelty interpretation ot the number one hit of iyi4-i8. Pack Up Your Troubles, with Gracie doing tne vocal. She also sings You Go to My neau. i ne uempsey Swing and Melody in F are given nice treatment by rne orchestra. Frederic Ullman, Jr., produced. Barney Bear's Victory Garden (Funny) MGM (W441) Cartoons No. 1 8 mins. Barney Bear manages to get a lot of help in breaKing ground lor a victory garden when he lays out an immense head ot tlitier as American bombers are passing overhead. He puts in practice some very humorous methods ot sowing seeas ana is all set for a grand harvest when a uuugry iittie groundhog" begins burrowing arou.ia and teastiiig on the crop. Barney seeks out the saboteur who gives him the worst of it at every turn until, in desperation, he forces a horse-nozzle into the groundhog's tunnel and starts the water, i he reel is m 'i echnicoior, animation excellent and the action tops in laughs. Barnyard WAAC (Comical) 20th-Fox (3558) Terrytoons No. 8 7 mins. The war spirit comes to the hen-house when a trim egg-layer attired in a pretty blue uniform visits the community and passes out handbills auvising of the need of hens in the WAAC's. the rooster, having just escaped a bunch of first aid bone snappers, is left to care for the fastly natching chicKs and is hard put to stave off an attack by a bunch of hungry cats. The WAAC's come to the rescue and the closing scene finds the cats routed and the girls driving off in their jeeps with the cat tails flying as pennants. Reel is m 1 echnicoior. Destruction, Inc. ( Exciting) Para. (W2-1) Superman Cartoons No. 1 8% mins. Lois and Superman have quite a time of it defeating the plans of a band of saboteurs intent on destroying a large munitions plant. Lois gets a job in the factory but is discovered and placed in an immense torpedo discharged at a target. Superman flys to her rescue and she relates the details of the sabotage plot which he frustrates. There are plenty of thrills and much excitement throughout. A TREAT FOa « ta 60 poLi PALACE ill THIS IT lEMui eaiiHHt men is< ADULTS 30c ■ Incl. TAX Herald Sells Cartoon Show Juvenile attention-getter is the herald reproduced above which Manager J. G. Samartano used to advertise a recent Mickey Mouse Birthday Party at the Loew Poli-Palace Theatre, Meriden, Conn. Ten Walt Disney Technicolor cartoons, released by RKO-Radio, were on the program. Producer ScMesinger Plans Training Films Leon Schlesinger, producer of the "Merrie Melodies" and "Looney Tunes" for Warner Bros., on his return to the coast next week after spending six weeks in the East, will place under way an extensive schedule of animated training films for Army Signal Corps, Navy and Treasury Department use. He will also make a fourth group of shorts for the WPB. Latter series is intended for general showing in theatres. While in the East, Schlesinger had several conferences with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau and other government officials in Washington, where he completed arrangements for the training subjects. He also spent several days with Lt. Col. Robert Presnell, former Warner producer and now on duty with the Signal Corps at the Astoria, L. L, studios. A number of Schlesinger's cartoon animators are now serving in the Signal Corps at the Astoria plant. Schlesinger also has been conferring with Norman H. Moray at the home offices regarding next season's program of cartoon comedies. Boxer Joins Pathe Scripters Herman Boxer arriyed in New York la.st week from Hollywood to join RKO-Pathe's staff of script writers, and has been assigneH to work on the This Is America series. Boxer started eight years ago as a shortfeature script writer in Hollywood, being associated with a number of leading companies. George Pal Adds Sound Stage Because of increased production activity, George Pal, producer of the Puppetoon series of shorts for Paramount, added another sound stage to his McCadden Street studio. The technicians have already moved in to shoot his newest Technicolor puppetoon, "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," written hv Dr. Seiiss. '