Evening star., 1943-01-12
AL Jolson Is Coming.

Va oo ASehco AVC yCdAo IA COlcOIA
has been invited to attend the Wash
ington Celebration of the Presi-
dents Birthday, but always profess
sional engagements interfered
This year your correspondent got
him on the other end Of the line at
the Sherry Netherlands in New York
and the minstrel boy accepted
1t comes at a time when Hollywood
is trying to get Al Jolson back for
a remake Of the "The Jazz Singer
d. In Hollywood they say you're as
good as your last picture and Al
faded from popularity after he made
"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" This
was an attempt to get away from
the stereotyped musical comedy
formula by using rhymed couplets
to tell the story . It was too drastic
a change for moviegoers and the
experiment can be counted a failure
-. Soon he goes into stage Door
Canteen" He will enact his
familiar role Of real life, master OF
ceremonies in the famous meeting
place, and introduce a new patriotic
song American Boy" written espe-
cially for the picture by AL Dublin
and Jimmy Monaco As master
OF ceremonies for the Hotel May
flower banquet. AL can be depended
upon to keep the proceedings lively
Z. :. Knowing plenty of Hollywood
inside, the visiting stars may expect
quite ribbing AL will bring
along his accompanist and before
the evening is over may be expected
to break forth in song.
North Africa Likes Hollywood.
Charles Collingwood, Columbia
Broadcasting System correspondent
with the Allied headquarters in
North Africa, reports that the ar
rival Of Americans brought that
region Its. frst real news of the
world since June. 1910. One OF the
by-products Of the invasion, he said,
is the re-education of the natives
by newspapers and motion pictures.
These people are crazy for Amer
lean movies" said Mr.. Collingwood
For two years Hollywood has been
strictly illegal in French North
Africa. I suspect that to many
people the best thing about our
presence here is that they can see
American movies again"
Soldiers See 'Em First.
Although troops overseas have
been seeing all the new feature pic
lures, 1t is only occasionally that
overseas transportation facilities
permit such screenings prior to ex-
hibition at home. AS the result Of
a complicated organization for
global distribution, 20 prints of the
new Paramount picture, "Star
Spangled Rhythm" were delivered
for Christmas showings In Africa,
Alaska, Australia, Chungking, Great
Britain, Hawaii, Iceland and India.
prior to its Broadway premiere.
1t. George D. Sweier, jr., handled
the distribution assignment through
the Army mir service, following the
presentation OF twenty l6-mm,
prints to Brig. Gen. Frederick H,
Osborn Of the Special Service Divi-
sion Of the United States Army,
During 1S42, nearly 1900 motion
picture programswere shipped over
seas, combined into 90-minute shows
Of newsreels. features and shorts.
HelIywoed Contributes.
At the year end, ~ per cent Of the
industrys manpoRer had gone ia
war, with 1000 men In uniform
drawn from the 1900 males amons
the 5000 workers In Hollywood
studios. Daily changes make indi-
vidual nstings Impossible, but year.
end figures indicated that With
dTAwals for military service included
l04 directors, 15e writer's, 70 pro-
ducers and 100 sectors. There q IN
exceptional demand ID both Army
and Navy fur technicians, Including
photnox oxaphssa, sound srocialists,
oannedl lA0n txpQst, eieotsI Isisns snd
preciglea An4chig gtsts.