Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1945)

August 25, 1945 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW 33 Spade Cooley, King of Western Swing (Excellent) W.B. (2601) Melody Masters Bands 10 mins. The film opens with shots of Spade Cooley with a small group of Western musicians playing for their own amusement and subsequent shots show the group having turned professional and playing with larger instrumentations. Background scenes change to rodeos, dude ranches, etc., and the film closes with views of the aggregation playing a square dance in swing tempo and finally via radio. Produced by Gordon Hollingshead and directed by Jack Scholl. Excellent. it Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (fair) RKO (499) Leon Errol 18 mins. An overheard conversation between his wife and the milkman leads Leon Errol to believe that they are plotting to murder him but in reality they plan to kidnap his dog, which his wife believes is coming between them. A series of scenes in which the unbelievable mistake is the motivating force are just moderately amusing. Dorothy Granger is the wife, Emory Parnell the milkman and Tom Kennedy is seen as a detective. Just fair. No Sail (Good) RKO — Disney Cartoon 7 mins. Donald Duck and Goofy hire a U-Drive sailboat and become becalmed when they run out of nickels to keep the boat's mast and sail in service. They hunger and they thirst, becorrte Involved in several screwy incidents about catching fish, sea-gulls, etc., before Donald's beak gets into the nickel slot. The sail goes back into service and the duo sail into the Technicolor sunset. Good. School for Mermaids (Good) 9 mins. Univ. (9377) Person-Oddity An unusual school teaches college girls the art of deep sea diving and the picture changes to the home of an elderly couple who have spent their adult lives collecting curios. A former vaudevillian, now an Army officer, demonstrates the use of his knife-throwing technique as applied to bayonets and the closing scenes show a collection of walking sticks gathered from 40 countries. Flivver Flying WB (1510) Sports Parade (Interesting) 10 mins. The newest development in two-seater flivver planes is shown flying easily to wherever its pilot desires, landing on almost any small level piece of ground. The Technicolor shots from the plane show long lines of traffic-bound automobiles in contrast with the plane's freedom of movement. The film pictures the rosy future which will come when sports-minded Americans go "flivver-flying" to reach the scenes of their favorite sports activities. ( Funny) 7 mins. Crow Crazy Univ. (9239) Andy Panda Andy Panda puts his dog, Milo, on the job to keep his cornfield clear of bothersome crows. The Crow fools Milo into believing that goats, bulls and others really are crows but he finally catches on and chases the Crow away. A Walter Lantz Technicolor cartoon. The Legend of Coyote Rock (Very Funny) RKO — Disney Cartoon 7 mins. A natural rock formation resembling a coyote in the Western desert is the basis of a legend about its origin, according to the narrator who goes on to explain that Pluto, guarding a flock of sheep against the ravages of coyotes becomes involved in a chase of one of the animals. The hops from out-croppings of rock during the chase cause them to collapse and in reforming the coyote formation takes place. The film is delightfully funny in spots and the Disney studios' reputation for re-creating natural beauty in Technicolor animation will be enhanced through this one. Very funny. Village of the Past (Good) Alice in Jungleland (Interesting) Warner Bros. (2401) Vitaphone Varieties 10 mins. Alice reads her picture book about jungleland and later in a dream sequence she is seen playing with a monkey and with a real, honest-togoodness lion ! The child walks with the beast with her arm around his shaggy mane and the lion protects her from a tiger and a black panther. The short maintains a scary attitude throughout and is interesting rather than entertaining. Alice is played by Rebekah Joy. Directed by Marjorie Freeman. Screen Snapshots No. 10 (Excellent) Col. (6860) 10 mins. Shots of Eddie Cantor entertaining wounded veterans at Birmingham Hospital change to views of Ginny Simms' radio show in which Ginny sings, entertains soldiers and demonstrates how Miss Sifnms encourages returned veterans to participate in her programs. An excellent short. Community Sing No. 10 (Good) Col. (6660) Don Baker 10 mins. Don Baker and the Song Spinners give out with a group of songs including : I Dream of You, Oh Moytle, My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time, Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night and Rum and Coca Cola, with the usual cartoon characters on the screen accompanying the flashing words of the songs. Mexican Playland (Good) RKO (54,312) Sportscope 8 mins. Scenes of Acapulco, southwest of Mexico City, are the background for this interesting Sportscope which is principally concerned with swimming, diving, deep-sea fishing and diving for fish which are impaled on short tridents. Scenes of high diving by native boys are thrilling, but the beautiful scenery is the picture's real attraction. Hot-Foot Rhapsody (Funny) Col. (6504) Color Rhapsody 7 mins. Cartoon versions of W. C. Fields, Martha Raye and Red Skelton are the principal characters in this funny short in which sneeze powder, distributed by a comic, nearly spoils the show. The comedy trio emerges successfully, however, from the complicated Technicolor situations. Univ. (9358) Variety View 9 mins. Henry Ford's Greenfield Village near Detroit is the subject of this interesting trip through a re-created American village of more than 100 years ago. The film takes audiences through the old Clinton Inn, the general store, the village blacksmith's shop and the Lincoln County court house where Abe Lincoln practiced law for several years. Edison's laboratory, Stephen Foster's home and an old covered bridge also are shown. Fresh Airdale (Very Funny) W.B. (1709) Merrie Melodies 7 rains. This Technicolor comedy tells of a no-good mutt who nevertheless is able to deceive his master and gets the best of everything with a patient cat taking the rap for his misdeeds. He becomes a national hero and the cat goes violently nuts, unable to understand the dog's successful conniving. Very funny. Hare Conditioned (Excellent) W.B. (1724) Bugs Bunny Special 7 mins. The incredible Bugs Bunny again is the wiserthan-wise guy who vies with a department store manager who has the quaint idea that Bugs would be perfect in his taxidermy display. Bugs thinks otherwise, however, and the whirlwind finish finds him on top of the heap, as usual. Community Sing No. 9 (Good) Columbia (6659) Don Baker 10 mins. With vocal assistance from the Song Spinners Don Baker presents There Goes That Song Again, One Meat Ball, I'm Confessin' That I Love You, I'm Making Believe and Meet Me in St. Louis, with accompanying cartoons. Another good entry in this enjoyable, get-together series. Kukunuts Columbia (6753) Fox & Crow (Funny) 6]/i mint. On a Technicolor desert island the Fox is sick of his diet of cocoanuts. When the Crow approaches in a boat he makes plans for a Crow dinner. The bird's ingenuity, however, gets him out of a couple of tough spots and the Crow sails away safely. Funny. Idiots DeLuxe (Fair) Columbia (6405) Three Stooges 17^ mins. The Three Stooges go on a hunting trip to relieve the shattered nerves of one who reaches the verge of a nervous breakdown when confronted with the asinine antics of the other two. He is acquitted of assault with intent to kill as he tells his tale of woe to the court. Fair. Barbershop Ballads (Fair) Warner Bros. (2101) 20 mins. This short moves so slowly that interest lags and entertainment values suflfer. The ballads rendered by the Lady Killers Quartet and the Main Street Melody Makers are well done musically but they drag. A total of fourteen numbers are delivered with changing backgrounds and costumes in accordance with the changing musical themes. Produced by Gordon Hollingshead. Directed by Jack Scholl.