Film Weekly year book of the Canadian motion picture industry (1951)

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those days in what he called “a ramb¬ ling sort of letter”: “In the first place Guy Bradford was my brother-in-law and we came to Can¬ ada at the instigation of the C.P.R. around 1900 to take a series of pictures which were used to stimulate emigration from Great Britain to Canada. There were three of us in the party, Guy Bradford, myself and a man named J. Rosenthal, who was an expert photo¬ grapher. On our arrival in Canada we reported to a Mr. Kerr in Montreal, who was then General Passenger Agent for the C.P.R., and with the help of Mr. George Ham and a Mr. Armstrong, who I believe was Colonization Agent for the Company, we mapped out a pro¬ gram of what we thought would stimu¬ late emigration from other countries to Canada. These included many scenic shots of the country which the railway road passed through. The principal ones being a trip through the Rocky Moun¬ tains, and scenes around Banff, a trip through the Kicking Horse Canyon and others too numerous to mention. In addition to these subjects we photo¬ graphed Harvesting a 160-Acre Field, Lumber and Milling Logs, Salmon In¬ dustry, Cattle Industry and Manufac¬ turing Plants in all cities from coast to coast. The railroad scenes were taken from a flat car pushed by an engine and the others were usually picked out by Tourist Bureaus, etc., as we visited different cities in turn. “It took us about two years to finish up this work as we could only operate in the summer and we had definite instructions from the C.P.R. not to take any winter scenes under any conditions, as they wanted to dispel from the Englishman’s mind that Canada was a land of Ice and Snow. “These films were then shown in Eng¬ land in Corn Exchanges, Town Halls and Theatres, if available, and all through Ireland, Scotland and Wales, always with a fully qualified lecturer in atten¬ dance at all performances. Results from the emigration standpoint were more than successful, according to reports we received from the C.P.R. These films were exhibited under the title ‘Living Canada.’ “In talking the matter over with Guy afterwards, we decided that there should be quite a successful exhibition field for us in this country, as of course during our trip across from coast to coast we had taken pictures of every city of any size. “Our first engagement was the Wind¬ sor Hall, connected with the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. It was a full twoand-a-half hour show and our prices were $1.00 and $1.50 and we stayed CLIFF DENHAM there for six weeks and did capacity business. We then moved to Massey Hall, Toronto, and one of the first per¬ sons I met on arrival there was Clar¬ ence Robson, who I believe was either the Treasurer or Secretary of Massey Hall at that time. He afterwards, of course, as you know, became a member of Famous Players, then under Mr. Nathanson. It seems strange now look¬ ing back over the years for me to remember him asking me the question ‘What actually makes Moving Pictures Move' or in other words ‘How Was it Done ?’ “Following our engagement of two weeks at Massey Hall we then played principal cities and towns in Ontario, and gradually made our way to the Coast, making four complete trips in all, as we were able to give a complete change of program both coming and going. “The reason Bradford was commis 29