Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

40 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW. February 1, 1947 THE SHOW BUILDER MGM Subject Previewed At Lighthouse Rally A preview of the new MGM Pete Smith Specialty, "Playing by Ear," which illustrates the techniques developed for teaching blind men to take part in various sports, was held one day last month at the auditorium of the Lighthouse of the New York Association for the Blind in conjunction with the opening rally of the association's fund-raising campaign. Attending the rally were members of the Women's and the Junior Women's Lighthouse Committees, and over a hundred volunteers who pledged their aid in raising $250,000, the goal of the campaign. Following the screening of the short, which features the famous blind athlete, Bob Anderson, and Al Schmid, ex-Marine hero who lost his sight at Guadalcanal, the audience was addressed by 26-year-old Francis J. Chambers, who was blinded by enemy action during the invasion of Europe, and is now a Lighthouse member. The work of such an organization as the Lighthouse is so important, Chambers explained, because a blinded person's confidence in life and in himself must be restored before any adequate readjustment can follow. At the Lighthouse, he said, "it is possible for the blind to develop hand-skills, learn music, get the benefit of all kinds of advice and help — the only requirement being that they need help." Following the rally and preview it was learned that MGM is making available to organizations and the blind activities groups throughout the nation prints of the Specialty to be used for special previews. Errol, Kennedy Sign New Contracts at RKO Marking their 10th and 15th years, respectively, as RKO Radio's top short subject comedians, the studio again has signed rubberlegged Leon Enrol and Edgar (Slow Burn) Kennedy to new contracts calling for six tworeelers each for the 1947-48 season. Besides their comedy stints, Errol and Kennedy also appear in several feature pictures each year. Their comedies are produced by George Bilson, and a large percentage of them are written and directed by Hal Yates. Finish 2 Errol Comedies "Borrowed Blonde" and "Taming the Wolf," first two subjects in the, 1947 series of Leon Errol comedies for RKO, have been completed. Errol is supported by Dorothy Granger, Peggy Naley, Lee Frederick, Vivian Oakland and Carol Forman in the former, while the balance of the cast in the latter includes Dorothy Granger, Harry Harvey, Peggy Naley, Robert Clark, Carol Forman and Dick Wessel. Both shorts were directed by Hal Yates and produced by George Bilson. Stooges Comedy Begins "Hold That Lion," Three Stooges two-reeler, went into production last week at Columbia under the direction of Jules White, who is also producing. Besides stars Moe and Shemp Howard and Larry Fine, the cast includes Kenneth MacDonald. Felix Adler wrote the script. Shorts Shopping (Continued from Page 39) their lives into their own hands. In the back of our mind is the faint memory of a subject made along these lines several years ago, or is our imagination working overtime? Whichever is true, the fact remains that the problem is again worthy of treatment with the 'Berger article as its foundation. For 15 years now, Edgar Kennedy has been slow-burning for RKO in a series of comedies, and for a decade Leon Errol has been making comedies for the same studio. That audiences have continued to be delighted with the antics of these, comedians for those periods of time is ample proof, no matter what the skeptics may say, that Kennedy and Errol fulfill a most important public need: bringing laughter and consequently escape from life's problems to millions. Waterbury Theatre Plugs 'Football Highlights' Special attention given to RKO Radio's "Football Highlights of 1946" by Julia Smith, manager of the State Theatre, Waterbury, Conn., paid off in extra dividends at the box.office. Sports writers on local and surrounding papers were invited to the opening performance and the result was excellent coverage on the sports pages, thereby attracting the male element outside the usual movie .patron. Posters on WB Short Used in Scout Drive Posters using the Warner Bros, short subject title "Men of Tomorrow," are being distributed throughout the country by the National Boy Scout Foundation in its 1947 fund drive. The Warner two-reeler also will be used by the Scouts in promoting their campaign, with several hundred bookings and re-bookings of the subject already set in tieups with local theatres. Comedy All the Way With a comedy feature booked, Manager Jack Cantrell of Interstate's 25th Street Theatre, Waco, Texas, decided to go against the conventional idea of booking serious short subjects for balance. Instead, Cantrell thought it would be a good idea to go all-comedy, and that's just what he did, by booking humorous shorts. He advertised the bill as a Fun for the Family show in his newspaper ads and on the marquee. Tedf ord on Eanehers Short Charles Tedford has been assigned by Warner Bros, to write the narration for "Ride, Ranchero, Ride," one-reel Technicolor subject being produced for Warners by Gordon Hollingshead. The short is a pictorial story of the annual ride undertaken by the Rancheros, group of Santa Barbara sportsmen, along old Spanish trails in Southern California. Paramount, WB, MGM Enters Shorts for Award Ten short subjects have been nominated by Paramount for the Motion Picture Academy runoff screening. Nominations include four cartoons, five one-reelers and a two-reel Technicolor Musical Parade Featurette which will be submitted to the judges. Included in the cartoon classification are George Pal's Puppetoon, "John Henry and the Inky Poo," narrated by Rex Ingram ; "Klondike Casanova," a Popeye short; "Musicalulu," one of the Little Lulu series, and a Noveltoon, "The Friendly Ghost." One-reelers submitted are: "Brooklyn, I Love You," a Justin Herman Pacemaker; Jerry Fairbanks' "Lonesome Stranger," in the Speaking of Animals series; an Unusual Occupations and a Popular Science short and the Grantland Rice Sportlight, "Dive Hi Champs." "College Queen" is the Technicolor two-reel Musical Parade. Four MGA'I subjects — two two feelers and two single-reelers — have been entered as contenders for the 1946 Academy Awards. The two-reelers are a Crime Does Not Pay subject, "The Luckiest Guy in the World," and "Traffic With the Devil," which has been, entered in the two-reel documentary division. The onereel entries are a Pete Smith Specialty, "Sure Cure," and a James A. FitzPatrick Traveltalk, "Land of the Mayas" ; also a Tom & Jerry Technicolor cartoon, "The Cat Concerto" ; a John Nesbitt Passing Parade, "Our Old Car," and a Carey Wilson Miniature, "Bikini — The Atom Island." Warners has entered "A Bern and His Dog," two-reel dramatic subject in Technicolor, as its candidate for the best two-reel short in the forthcoming Academy Awards balloting. Warners Name Prinz to Direst 'Robert E. Lee' Impressed with LeRoy Prinz's first dramatic directorial assignment, the two-reel subject, "A Boy and His Dog," Warner Bros, has assigned him to direct another dramatic short, "Robert E. Lee," two-reel Technicolor film based on the life of the famed Confederate general. First Memory Lane Ends Production has ended on "Let's Sing a Song of the West," first in a series of six1one reel Memory Lane musicals being produced for Warners by Gordon Hollingshead. Jack Scholl directed and Dudley Chambers handled the musical arrangements. Second subject in the series will be "Let's Sing An Old-Time Song," with Scholl again directing. Start Year With Bang Jules White and Hugh McCollum, Columbia two-reel short subject producers, started 1947 with a bang. Between them, when the year began, t-hey had nine comedies scheduled for the next six months, including two Andy Clydes, two Gus Schilling-Richard Lanes, two Stooge comedies and one each for Vera Vague, Harry Von Zell and Sterling Holloway.