Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 18, 1920)

Page scan 00043 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
May 18, 1920
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 18, 1920)
Leaf #:
00043
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Global Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Editors: Merrick R. Nutting (1917-18), Raymond S. Peck (1918), Ray Lewis (1918-19 and 1920-54), Walter Greene (1919-20), Jay Smith (1954-57)

Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1917-57) was initially a Montréal-based rival of the first film paper in Canada, Toronto-based Canadian Universal Bulletin (1915-18, edited by W.A. Bach 1915-17, J.W. Cambridge 1917-18, Raymond S. Peck 1918). The two periodicals were combined in 1918, keeping the Digest name, but moving production to Toronto with Peck as editor. Canadian Moving Picture Digest assumed The Bulletin’s volume numbering and always claimed 1915 as its year of origin. Ray Lewis (née Rae Levinsky) was a writer and playwright, who spent time in early Hollywood’s publicity departments. She briefly took the Digest helm in 1918, then long-term editor, later owner and publisher, from 1920 until her death in 1954. Under Lewis’s leadership, the trade paper claimed to serve as a voice for independent exhibitors and advocated for a Canadian cultural presence in cinema, particularly emphasizing British films as a way to keep a distance from Hollywood. Lewis's editorials were notable for their advocacy, wit, and critique of American dominance in the Canadian film market. While initially positioning herself as an outsider, she became integrated within the industry and a true insider. She even had an ongoing correspondence with Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, advocating for the industry as a whole and supporting British film imports. She was well-known at Toronto’s Dundas Square film row as well as in New York and Hollywood. Variety’s Sime Silverman called her “the Girl Friend in Canada,” and she delighted when U.S. writers not “in the know” presumed “Ray” was a man’s name. Lewis was later an inaugural member of the Canadian Picture Pioneers, eventually the group’s first female president and Pioneer of the Year. After she died in 1954, her son Jay Smith took over editorial duties until Canadian Moving Picture Digest was bought by Nat Taylor’s Film Publications of Canada in 1957. Taylor incorporated the legacy journal into a joint masthead for Canadian Film Weekly (1942-70), which subsequently dated its roots back to the 1915 origins of the film press in Canada.

– Jessica Whitehead and Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

  • Whitehead, Jessica, Louis Pelletier and Paul Moore, “‘The Girl Friend in Canada’: Ray Lewis and Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1915–1957).” In Daniel Biltereyst and Lies Van de Vijver, eds., Mapping Movie Magazines: Digitization, Periodicals and Cinema History, 127-52. London: Pagrave-Macmillan, 2021.

Date Added:
May 29, 2025
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EDITORIAL FROM “TORONTO GLOBE” MAY THE MOVING PICTURE. Differences of opinion regarding -the motion picture asa portrayer of drama. still exist. They do-not extend to its usefulness and interest in presenting for visible observation the events of the day, and in making it possible to sfore these ayay for study by future generations. More important for the students of coming years than many millions of the words printed about the-world war will be the moving pictures taken on land and sea relative to that tremendous conflict. Ten, fifty, or one hundred years from now it will be possible for those who read of the armies, their leaders, and the statesmen of the Allied and belligerent countries to know not only how these looked, but how they bore themselves in many amd varied scenes and circumstances. Nothing in the way of still portraiture can ever. convey the impression of real life that the moving picture is able to give. It is to the educational possibilities of film presentation to the general public that the attention of-those who have a thought 7th, 1920 Some proprietors and managers make a> specialpoint of presenting the best Cana . = . . dian topical pictures every week, with others of international interest. Many. of: them, and_often these-are enterprising Americans, continue to present a jiimble of pictures from across the boundary line. These -frequently are really of very little importance ; but constant repetition fills the minds of a large number of moVing-picture patrons with the thought that there is nothing so ‘good in their own country.” The Dominion and .Provineial Governments and the great railway systems of the country know. better than that. They are using many films in their advertising and propaganda campaigns for immigration, agriculture, and health instruction, and tourist traffic. Canada’s natural beauties, her industries, and her events are no less important’ tothe people ‘than those of other countries. With nearly three-quarters of a> million Canadians attending moving pictures daily, theres ought to be on ae part of all organizations interested in good citizenship and bevondeevanescent pleasure of a“ moyie™ may showd be consistently direeted, — This is partteularty +1 Tee Of Canada. Thore™tée how 840 niovirrgepicture. theatres in this country, some 300-0f which are cin ‘Qutario, 2 loronto has just over 100.) The daily avere age ageregate attendance at moving-picture houses in Canada is between 650,000 and 750,000..~ In Toronto alone it is 75,000, Thousands of people who witness these perfofmances. throughout Canattrsce sgbres of topical -events depicted) in lifelik reality upon the sereen. Up to a very shh time ago the majority of these were foreitn and the largest percentage of them from and about the United Statesvhere the moving tworthings clean plivs an. : Het af the oer a ds : Q tion-of Aopieal eveuts relating tt their own Tuntry. It would be childish; of courses to bar news pietures from other lands, but these should not, as is too often the case, entirely supersede Canadian events. —Themen who own or operate the moving-pieture shows are not in business for their health alone. A great many of them are anxious to Irow whatethei? patrofis, think, aad the ~ sugetstion box is a ‘feature in their louses. Phisds one medium by whieh publie opinion may make itself-felt. Because of its cgnparatively low prices, the imeotion-piettRe house has become in many centres-a family institution, Its influenee will be to a very super-exeellence= It isnow possible for any. show house in the country to obtain topical events pietures taken in Canada that rank in eyery pliase of comparison with those taken large-extent what the heads of ‘the’ families make it. If they dnsist on having the best for amusement and well-selected educational features about their own country, they will get them, CANADIAN NATIONAL PICTORIAL THEALI -CANADIANWEEKLY