Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 1921-Apr 1922)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jun 1921-Apr 1922
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 1921-Apr 1922)
Leaf #:
000223
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Canada
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
New York Public Library
Sponsor:
Google Books
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:
June 13, 2024
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First Goldwyn Italian Fall Release “Theodora” Bigger Than ‘‘Cabiria” HE: Ambrosio production of “‘Theodora,’’ a film version of the Victorien Sardou drama in which Bernhardt won great renown, will be the first of Goldwyn’s Italian photoplays to be released in the fall, it is stated. The spectacle probably will receive a New York pre-release showing in a legitimate theatre at the regular theatrical scale of prices, as in the case of ‘‘The Old Nest.’’ In keeping with Goldwyn’s policy to give the exhibitors who have rented and shown Goldwyn productions a chance to make first money on ‘“Theodora,’’ the film will not be ““roadshowed,’’ according to present plans. ‘““Theodora’’ was two years in the making and a total of 30,000 persons spectacular’ were employed in picturizing the famous story. The sets were prepared by the Vatican architect and it required six months just to build them. Rita Jolivet, the actress who was brought to this country from France, to ple~ the lead with Otis Skinner iu *‘Kismet,’’ acts the wonderful role of Theodora. This spectacle, made by the men who produced ‘‘Cabiria,’’ is declared by Goldwyn to be a bigger and more spectacular production than that famous photoplay, which is now being revived as a big theatre attraction. Its story is based on the attempt of Empress Theodora of Byzantium (Constantinople) to revive the old paganism which the Emperor Constantine had suppressed in favor of Christianity. Harry Carey’s First Universal Fall Release to be “The Fox” forthcoming Universal-Jewel production, will bring scenery to the screen which never before has been recorded by a camera. It is now being produced under the direction of Robert Thornby at Ficardo, a sign board on the Mojave desert. Leaving Mojave, the straggling little cluster of sun-blistered shacks on the fringe of the desert, the road to the Universal camp leads straight out into the smouldering sands to Cathedral rocks, the most remarkable geological formation in America, For miles the rocks along the mountain slope look exactly like a magnificent group of castles, cathedrals and palaces. The rocks are absolutely suggestive of imposing architecture and are burnished to a blaze by the sun. Farther on one encounters far flung amphitheatres of rock, niches Tt FOX,’’ Harry Carey’s PARAMOUNT CLUB FORMED T the meeting held recently A at the home office of the Fa mous Players-Lasky Corporation, the organization of the Paramount Club was effected. More than one hundred employees and executives of the company were present and the following officers were elected: Subscribe to the Digest Page Hight hewn in the earth’s surface by prehistoric convulsions of nature, grotesque buttes of white-hot stone and over all the drifting, sizzling sand. Harry Carey made a sacrifice to art when he selected the Red Rock district as the background for his story. To accomplish it he took a company of seventy-five and two troops of regular United States cavalry to the desert and settled down for three blistering weeks. “‘The Fox’’ is a story that Harry Carey wrote himself as his idea of a great human narrative. Universal bought it and assigned Robert Thornby to direct it from Lucien Hubbard’s continuity. Betty Ross Clarke plays the leading feminine role. The opening scenes were made at Universal City and the whirlwind finish is being filmed now on the desert. President, Eugene Zukor; vicepresident, Oscar Morgan; secretary, Belle Goldstein; treasurer, E. A. Brown; board of governors, H. C. Wiley, G. E. Akers, R. W. Saunders, G. B. J. Frawley, Paul J. Morgan. The next move will be the adoption by officers and board of governors of a definite plan of operation. The purpose of the club is purely social, with special attention given to athletics and amateur theatricals. All members of the home office staff including both executives and employees, are eligible to membership. »y Google ABOLISH CENSORS HE Ohio Board of Motion Pic| ture Censors has been abolished and its powers and duties have been transferred to the Department of Education. This information has just been conveyed to the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry in a letter received from the newly created Division of Film Censorship in the Ohio Department of Education. The abolition of the old Ohio Board of Motion Picture Censors was brought about by the Reorganization Bill which has just gone into effect in Ohio and has made many changes in the executive departments of the state government. In transferring the powers and duties of the Ohio censors to the Department of Education, a Division of Film Censorship was formed for handling all matters in connection with the licensing of pictures. Under the new arrangement in Ohio there will be a Chief of the Division of Film Censorship and two assistants to the Chief. LITTLE ITALY EALART’S latest Alice Brady R picture, ‘‘Little Italy’’ was the attraction at the Rivoli Theatre recently. Dr. Hugo Reisenfeld, in booking this picture, pronounced it as an exceptional production and the best in which Miss Brady has ever appeared. ‘Little Italy’’ was written by Frederic and Fanny Hatton and concerns the thrilling experiences of Rosa, the belle of an Italian colony in America. A particularly strong cast supports Miss Brady, being composed of Norman Kerry, Jack Ridgway, George Fawcett, Louis Alberni and Marguerite Forrest. George Terwillinger directed. Released through Regal. ““A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court’’ ‘“‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,’’ is a picturization of Mark Twain’s famous satire produced so successfully by William Fox. The ‘‘Yankee’’ has been the laughing hit of Broadway for several months and its clean humor and thrilling situations have won for it the approval of both public and critics.