Without any pretence that it was attempting to uncover pertinent scientific or sociological data, the Fifth Avenue Playhouse (New York) recently conducted a poll among the
York asking the teen-age customers members of the Boys Club of New questions like these: "What kind of navies do you like?" "Who is your favourite actor who is your favourite actress?" "Of all ' the movies you have seen, which did you like test?" "What scene or part o! any movie do You remember most?
Some 680 youngsters, average age fourteen years, participated in the balloting. The answers to the last question were apparently written in a flush of diabolical glee. The following samples are typical of the impressions made by scenes of fighting, murder, death and general violence:
"When the preacher in 'Grapes of Wrath' is killed," "The scene in 'Wuthering Heights where he (Laurence Olivier) cuts his hands," "In 'Robin Hood' when the man was cut open,' "The way they pull the bank job early in the morning in "Invisible Stripes!" "When a German threw a pineapple at an American and hit him in the face and he ran without a head" ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), "The way Raffles goes about stealing the things he desires" "When the Hunchback of Notre Dame pours boiling oil on the people," "When James Cagney stopped the bomb from exploding with his belly" ("Fighting 69th").
A distinct minority cherished the memory of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" and the experiments of Ehrlich and Pasteur.
On the choice of favourite actors, James Cagney placed first, Errol Flynn second, Mickey Rooney third. Orson Welles and Boris Karloff tied with one vote each. Bette Davis walked off with honours in the feminine division. Alice Faye was second and Ann Sheridan third, Mae West got seven votes, Gypsy Rose Lee received three and Betty Boop one.
In the favourite picture class "The Fighting 69th" won by a walk from such runner-ups as "Blondie," "Captain Blood," "Gone With the Wind, "Pinocchio" and "Gunga Din.
Percentage Basis The fact that "Gone With the Wind" opened simultaneously at three London theatres—the Empire, Ritz and Palace—and that it attracted considerable critical acclaim apparently failed to make much of an impression on the majority of British theatre owners, Mr. W. R. Fuller, general secretary of "the British Cinematograph Exhibitors Association, issued a special bulletin advising the organization's membership, reputed to be 90 per cent, of the country's theatre operators, to refuse to.show the picture under the terms asked for by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, According to a United Press dispatch, Metro asked for 70 per cent, of the gross receipts and proposed minimum admission prices of 3s, 6d. *or matinees, and 4s. 6d, for evenings, Top price at most theatres in the: uburbs and provinces is said to be 1 and 2 shillings, Executives of Metro's foreign sales department expressed surprise over the action of the British exhibitors' association because the picture has not yet been offered for general release in England. Consequently, it was said, no announcement has been made to the trade sbout the manner in which "Gone With the Wind" will be sold.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.