Cinema: Columbia's Gem

(See front cover)

Tourists in Hollywood are sometimes disappointed by their first visit to a movie set. Unfortunately, there were no visitors on the Columbia Pictures Corp. sound stage where one day last June five albino canaries, a crate of firecrackers, the studio's mascot cat and half-a-dozen property movers were assembled. One of the prop men, breaking rules by smoking a cigaret, dropped a spark into the firecrackers, causing them to sizzle. The whole crateful exploded and, in the ensuing commotion, the five canaries flew away, the cat produced five kittens.

Canaries, firecrackers...