Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 1921-Apr 1922)

Page scan 000748 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jun 1921-Apr 1922
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 1921-Apr 1922)
Leaf #:
000748
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Global Cinema
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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TORONTO, CANADA. Page Nine | a x SS NANA AAAS A TSAI ASTANA ANT SANNA AND NTNTTAN Walter E. Greene, President and F. B. Warren, Vice President of American Releasing Corporation have had in mind for months past the idea of a great independent Canadian distributing organization for the benefit of the exhibitors of the Dominion. The ably-made, competent pictures with which we will begin at once to re-enforce and strengthen our Canadian ally include: Title of Picture Producer “ Sisters” : International Film Service “The Lying Truth” Marion Fairfax *My Old Kentucky Home” Pyramid Pictures, Inc. * Queen of the Moulin Rouge” Pyramid Pictures, Inc. * Belle of Alaska” Chester Bennett “Jungle Adventures” Martin Johnson Film Co. “Jan of the Big Snows” James Oliver Curwood “The Cradle Buster” = Frank Tuttle-Fred Waller S RUUNSAUNUETERASANAN INNA NN TS SAAN TANASE co ca cNST Daring Danger” « Clif Smith “Should Husbands Know” Pyramid Pictures, Inc. * Man’s Law and God’s” Finis Fox “The Three Buckaroos” Fred Balshofer “False Fronts” : The Herolds “The Pillagers” Louis Wm. Chaudet * Destiny’s Isle” Wn. P. S. Earle “The Hidden Woman” Allan Dwan Production * Bluebeard, Jr.” : : James Livingston The stars or featured players in these productions H } include: 40) | 1407 Seena Owen, Gladys Leslie, Matt Moore; Marjorie Daw, 114 Pat O'Malley; Noah Beery, Tully Marshall; Monte Blue, Hy Sigrid Holmquist, Julia Swayne Gordon, Lucy Fox; Wy) Martha Mansfield; Jane Novak, Martin and Mrs. Johnson; {| Louise Prussing; Glenn Hunter, Marguerite Courtot; Wy Betty Blythe; Barbara Castleton, Frank Losee, Edward Wy Earle; Lois Wilson, Wallace Beery, Milton Sills; 44 Florence Billings, Virginia Lee, Ward Crane, Evelyn HV) £8 Thaw and Mary Anderson. t yy 44% 124 “An Alliance of the Beaver and the Eagle” 1 Se ee ee UG Oe 5B oe soe Be PAs MLS A = GLMLILISST VMLBISILIDSSSLLIVS ELA,