Boxoffice-September.23.1950

: September
Toronto Tent Receives
Higri Variety Award
TORONTO — Nonprofessional activities
this Canadian film industry center reached
a peak Thursday night
(141 when Marc Wolf,
of
I n d i a n a p o 1 is. Ind.
chief barker of Vaiiety
Clubs Inter national
lormally presented the
bronze plaque Great
Heart award to Toronto
Tent 28 for its achievem
e n t in founding
Variety Village, an attractive
school for
handicapped boys.
Marc Wolf
The presentation in
the concert hall of the
Royal York hotel, amid a stirring demonstration,
was made to Chief Barker Morris Stein
by Chief Barker Wolf who paid tribute to all
members of the Toronto tent.
"It is a great achievement for a club as
young as this one to have finished a project
as big as Variety Village," said Wolf. He
told of the difficulty of the selection of the
1949 award club because many of the 37
branches in the U.S.. Mexico, Canada and
England had registered substantial accomplishments.
Finally it was decided to make
two awards, one to Toronto and the other to
Miami, the first time in the 22-year history
of Variety that this had been done.
"This is not the culmination of our efforts,"
declared Stein in accepting the trophy. "The
best reward is the satisfaction of doing something
that we were not asked to do. What
we have done is not charity but an obligation
to make life better for other people."
The great hall was filled with more than
400 persons who heard the history of Variety
Village, opened a year ago at a cost of $300,-
000 on a site donated by the Ontario government
and operated in cooperation with the
Ontario Society for Crippled Children. The
chairman of the dinner was J. J. Fitzgibbons.
the tent's founder and first chief barker.
After reciting the Variety creed. Rabbi A. L.
Feinberg spoke of the happy fellowship within
the club and pointed out that the world,
crippled by doubt and handicapped by fear,
needed exactly that same type of fellowship.
Rabbi Feinberg called on all creeds to join
in the fight against the evils of Russian
totalitarianism.
Mayor Hiram McCallum of Toronto said he
knew of no organization that had done more
than Variety to bring all creeds together.
Helping the underprivileged was where good
citizenship started, he declared. Dana H.
Porter and Dr. MacKinnon Phillips paid
tribute to the tent in behalf of the Ontario
government.
Foster Service by Ansco
BINGHAMTON, N. Y.—Faster service to
motion picture customers in the New York
and other eastern areas will be provided by
a combination district office, processing
laboratory and warehouse which Ansco is
building in Union township, New Jersey.
FPC Earnings Up in 1950
Despite More Building
MONTREAL—Earnings of
Famous Players
Canadian Corp. thus far in 1950 are slightly
better than during the .same 1949 period,
President J. J. Fitzgibbons told the Financial
Post.
"With the economy going the way it is, I
don't see how the amusement industry can
fail to do better." Fitzgibbons said. There is
an improvement in the quality of the pictures
scheduled to come through, he said.
The company has spent more on capital expenditures
this year than it forecast at the
beginning of the year. It expects to open a
new theatre in Kenora. Ont., October 3 and
another new one in Lethbridge, Alta., October
9. New theatres also are under construction
in New Waterford, N. S.; Moncton, N. B,
ijust started), St. John's, N. F.; Prince Rupert.
B. C, and Kamloops, B. C.
The new drive-in at Regina was opened a
few days ago. Drive-in theatres were opened
at Nanaimo. B. C; Saskatoon, Sask., and
Winnipeg during the summer and another is
being finished at Pi-ince Albert. Sask. The
company now is operating 18 drive-ins. These
were moderately successful this summer despite
bad weather, Fitzgibbons said.
In addition the company is continuing to
modernize existing theatres.
Owner of Sandy's Drive-In
Won DEC in Last War
MARSHFIELD. P. E. I.—A. E. Saunders,
owner and manager of the first drive-in in
the maritime provinces. located here was a
flight lieutenant in the Canadian air force in
the second world war. and was awarded the
Distinguished Flyiiig Cross. His 300-car outdoor
theatre has been titled Sandy's Theatre
Under the Stars. Pi-ojection and sound equipment
is Bell & Howell-Gaumont. Charlottetown,
about 15,000 population, is seven miles
away on the road to St. Peter's. Girls in
uniform sell sandwiches and drinks during
each show and intermission. Adjoining the
theatre is Sandy's restaurant, also operated
by Saunders, and after-the-show dinners are
featured, including lobster dishes. The lobsters
are trapped in nearby waters.
Electrohome Earnings Up
MONTREAL—Reflecting improved external
and internal operations, earnings of Dominion
Electrohome Industries for the year ended
April 30. almost doubled those of the year
before, and the company initiated dividends
with a 20-cent payment on December 1. The
net profit was $81,912, equal to 81.9 cents a
share, compared with $44,271, or 44.3 cents a
share in the preceding year. Net working
capital at April 30, is indicated at $528,484
as against $467,478 a year ago. A. B. Pollock
is president.
JJy"'*'^^'*.^^'^^''
Of Ernest E. Moule
TORONTO—Hundreds of lifelong friends
from Toronto, London, Hamilton and elsewhere
joined with relatives in paying a last
tribute to Ernest E. Moule, veteran theatre
owner of Brantford, who died in London
where he was born and educated.
The funeral was held in Brantford Wednesday
(131. where he had been an exhibitor
since 1909, and to London for burial. Among
the many mourners were representatives of
the Zion church, which he attended, the
Rotary club. Famous Players Canadian Corp..
Brantford Theatre Managers Ass'n, the
Shriners club and Masonic lodge.
Ernie Moule, who was one of the most
popular theatremen in Canada, was a member
of the Famous Players' 25-Year club,
having been a partner of the circuit company
since 1921, and of the Canadian Picture
Pioneers.
When he opened a nickelodeon at Brantford
in 1909. Moule regularly appeared as
the singer of illustrated songs while his wife
presided at the ticket booth. For years he
operated the Capitol in that city.
The many floral tokens and the large attendance
at the funeral attested to the great
esteem in which Moule was held over the
years. He had been ill with a heart condition
for many months and one of his last
appearances in Toronto was at the annual
meeting last October of the Motion Picture
Theatres Ass'n of Ontario where he was given
a spontaneous welcome.
Natalie Kalmus on Tour
ST. JOHN—Natalie Kalmus of Technicolor
fame looked over a number of Technicolor
processed pictures while on a vacation tour
of the maritimes and Maine. On her itinerary
were St. John. Moncton. Halifax, Fredericton.
and Houlton. her birthplace which is
only a few miles over the boundary. Her
maiden name was Natalie Maybelle Dunfee.
and her parents lived at Keswick, near Fredericton.
Theatre Building Halt
In Prospect in Canada
OTTAWA—Termination of major theatre
construction is in prospect for Canadian
exhibitors as a result of the adoption
of a policy by the Dominion government
for the diversion of steel and other
basic materials for the manufacture of
armaments.
The directive placed before the house
of Commons calls for the shelving of
building projects which have not been
actually started. It was stated that the
government would set the example for
private enterprise by dropping its new
construction program except where
needed for defense preparations.
Private interests would be expected to
call off new projects, including extensive
remodeling jobs which would require
e.ssential materials. Failing success of
voluntary cooperation, the government
would u,se compulsory regulations, such
as were in effect during the last war.
A construction truce would be given a
trial for a brief period.
100 BOXOFTICE
:
23, 1950