Boxoffice-November.24.1951

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M ARITIMES
JJtitchell Franklin is now directing preparations
Jfor the drive-in between Sydney
and Glace bay, with a Sydney contractor in
charge. Gordon White of Ottawa is no longer
affiliated. He had been with Reg Pope on a
drive-in project about three miles out of
Moncton until work was suspended around
October 1. White is now rumored to be planning
an airer at a location between Sackville
and Amherst. Pope also has an ozoner at
Summerside in addition to the Regent, a
standard theatre . Paramount Theatre
at Amherst has illuminated pictorial displays
in its front for lithographs. These were designed
and arranged by Bert Girouard, manager
of the Paramount and the Capitol, which
adjoin each other; both houses are in the
Spencer chain.
BUI Nash, manager of the Halifax Garrick
in the Odeon circuit, subbed for Ernie Hatfield,
manager of the Capitol at Yarmouth
in the same chain, during his vacation. Hatfield
took an automobile trip to New York
... A yearly license fee of $10 has been set
of itinerant amusements in Halifax county
. . . Linked in special, cooperative advertising
layouts are the current bills at the
Casino, Garrick and Oxford, all in the Odeon
circuit, and with Doug Smith supervising the
trio.
At the Paramount Theatre in Halifax,
Manager Freeman Skinner featured the participation
of Louis Armstrong in the MGM
cast of "The Strip" while the touring bandleader
was in Nova Scotia province. Incidentally,
Halifax was the only stand in the
province or in the maritimes where two performances
had to be given the same night.
The Queen Elizabeth High school was used
for both shows, at 7:15 and 9:30. In the
Armstrong aggregation were Earl Hines, Barney
Bigard, Cozy Cole, Russ Phillips, Dale
Jones and Velma Middleton.
Work on the drive-ins at suburban Sydney,
Halifax and St. John will be continued until
the earth freezes too hard. Construction of
buildings may be finished before the work is
abandoned for the winter. The weather conditions
have been better at Sydney and Halifax
than at St. John, where fog is a vital
liability. The interruption of work on the
suburban St. John airer will be timed with
the departure of Joe Franklin for his Miami
Beach winter home. He has been directing
the clearing, leveling, filling and draining
operations at the Martinon—Grand bay site,
which is about nine miles upriver from St.
John. All three of the F&H drive-ins are
tentatively booked to start down the business
trail early next May.
A search for a magazine photographer from
New York city while he was touring Nova
Scotia by car culminated at the Truro Capitol
Theatre when a Mountie stepped into the
theatre in quest of the New Yorker. The
magazine editor wanted the cameraman for
special instructions. His car was spotted out-
.side the theatre after a radio call. C. E.
Fraser manages the Capitol and Strand for
the Spencer chain, in which Paramount has
a half interest ... A payoff of $1,000 was
made for the photo of one Osborne Hersey
at a recent Foto Nite in the Capitol at Yarmouth.
This was one of the top awards ever
made in a maritime theatre.
New Dispute Arises
On Television Start
OTTAWA — A squabble has developed
among officials of the Canadian Government
and of its agency, the Canadian Broadcasting
Corp., over the introduction of television in
the Dominion.
Federal spokesmen have come out with the
statement that TV broadcasting will be indefinitely
delayed because of the steel shortage.
The earliest for visual programs would
be 1953. they said.
On the other hand, Plorent Forget, telesion
program director of the CBC, has announced
that TV broadcasts of the homebrew
type can be expected next summer or in
the early fall, provided construction materials
are available. As a start, he promised
that the CBC would offer three hours of TV
programs daily.
Meanwhile, the price of television sets in
Canada, particularly around Toronto and
Windsor, has taken a sharp drop because of
plentiful supply in the areas where TV broadcasts
from the United States are available.
Theatre owners are not hoping for domestic
television at an early date.
Mainlanders Now Operate
All St. John's Houses
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD.—Mainlanders now are
operating all the film theatres at St. John's,
according to Ron A. Young, former local
theatre manager now operating an entertainment
agency here. Famous Players has
taken a long-term lease on the Cornwall from
the Cornwall Theatre Co., for whom the
900-seater was built several years ago. The
owners had been operating it until its lease to
FPC.
The recent death of J. K. Condon of Condon
& Jackman resulted in the permanent
shuttering of the Majestic and the temporary
closing of the Star. PFC will reopen the
1,000-seat Star. T. R. Jackman was a partner
of Condon in both houses.
FPC is continuing the Paramount and
Capitol. The Paramount was built some
years ago for the circuit, and the Capitol
resumed operations last year in a new
building following a fire and reconstruction.
The building is owned by the Total Abstience
society and the upstairs house seats
about 900. The Paramount has a capacity
of 1,195.
J. P. Kiely of Outremont, Que., is lessee
of the 1,100-seat York and 800-seat Nickel.
Variety Slow on Tickets
TORONTO—Delinquent members of Toronto
Variety Tent No. 28 have been criticized
by the ticket committee for the annual
benefit performance because of their delay in
picking up reservations for the show scheduled
January 10 at the Imperial, featuring
Betty Hutton, in aid of the Variety Village
school for crippled boys.
When it was found that 75 of the 300
members had taken tickets, the opening of
the public sale was held off for another club
canvass. The seat prices range from $10 to $5
and the club's objective is $30,000.
The chairman of the ticket committee is
Gordon Lightstone while payment for the
pasteboards in the advance sale are being
accepted by W. J. O'Neill at Paramount Film
Service Limited, 111 Bond Street, Toronto.
TORONTO
pvery section of Toronto was covered in the.
combined booking of "Show Boat" as thf
Show of the Week at eight key neighborhooc
units of Famous Players Canadian Corp., j
record number locally for chain showing. The
theatres comprised the Beach, Bloor, College
Oakwood, Palace, Parkdale, Runnymede anc
Village.
C. S. Chaplin, Canadian district managei
for United Artists, was the chairman of the
film industry division of the Red Feathei
The Aliens brought a British feature
drive . . .
to the fore with the Canadian premiere
of "Comin' Through the Rye" at the Toronto
Hollywood.
To fill the vacancy caused by the departure'
of Joseph M. Ziegler from the city, the Toronto
Variety tent has named A. J. Laurie as
a member of the crew for the balance of the
year. He is a former exploitation managei
for Canadian Odeon . Toronto Theatre
Managers club of 20th Century Theatres
will present its annual benefit show for Variety
Village School for Crippled Boys Sunday
night (25) at the Victory. (TJ
. . .
L. I. Bearg, western general manager for
Famous Players Canadian Corp., is back at
the head office here after a swing around the
circuit in western Canada as far as Vancouver
John Davis, Rank's emissary, is expected
in Toronto shortly from England for semiannual
conferences with local representativesj
Manager Jack Clark of Toronto Loew's is
pushing the contractor to finish up construction
of the boxoffice at the side of the new
entrance which will replace the old-fashioned
kiosk. Meanwhile the city council has finally
decided that all overhanging signs on Yonge
street will have to come down December 31.
Theatre marquees can remain in place, however,
it is understood . kids at the
Saturday matinee at the Palace, St. Catharines,
got a big kick out of the fire-alann
demonstration on the stage.
France Film Challenges
Petition on 'La Petite'
MONTREAL—France Film Co. has chal-i
lenged a petition seeking to prevent the show-i
ing of the picture, "La Petite Aurore-L'En-i
fant Martyr."
The petition for an injunction is being
sought by Telesphore Gagnon and ten other
relatives of Aurore Gagnon. The petitionersi
maintain that the picture is based on the
nine-year-old's tragic death at the hands of]
her stepmother 30 years ago and state thati
considerable harm and prejudice is being!
caused members of the Gagnon family by ad-i
vertisements announcing that scenes shown
in the film pertain to the private life of the
Gagnon family.
The company argued that characters and
events in the picture were ficticious and that
if the facts presented had any resemblance
to persons living or dead it was pure coincidence.
Projectors Made in
Germany
Most of the 301 projectors owned by the
Netherlands Foundation for the Distribution
of Educational Films were made in Germany.
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BOXOFFICE :: November 24, 1951
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