Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May-Oct 1922)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
May-Oct 1922
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May-October 1922)
Leaf #:
000271
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:
July 26, 2023
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Page Twelve EXCERPTS FROM PRESS COMMENTS PICTURES PLAYING TORONTO THEATRES AT HIPPODROME. Programme of Excellent Pictures and High-class Music. The management of Shea's Hippodrome is continuing its program of showing only the best motion-picture plays available in the market. Two photoplays, both of the highest calibre, are offered this week at the popular playhouse. Pauline Frederick, in “The Glory of Clementina,” accompanied by an appropriate musical program on the organ by Mr. Ernest Hunt, is the chief attraction. The other feature is a film the object of which is entertainment pure and simple—and actually so. From beginning to end it is filled with thrills and human interest incidents. Its title is ‘Reported Missing,” starring the well-known versatile actor, Owen Moore.—Globe. AT REGENT THEATRE. “Burning Sands” Proves to Be Picturesque Film. Wanda Hawley and Milton Sills are the central figures in the photoplay, “Burning Sands,” shown this week at the Regent Theatre. The play deals with the political intrigues and small jealousies of certain tribes in the Soudan, and an Englishman in Cairo secretly is hacking up the — trouble-makersr. Eventually all is made right, though not until the hero and heroine pass through many dangers. Wanda Ilawley, as the daughter of the British Foreign Secretary at Cairo, takes her part excellently. The real heroine, however, though the author did not make her so, is the dancing girl at Cairo, who twice saves the life of the hero, and in the end is disposed of as regards plot by being killed. The stirring battle scenes and the flickering lights and shades of desert life and scenery make the play exceptionally —_ picturesque.— Globe. AT PANTAGES. Dorothy Phillips Captures Audience in “Hurricane’s Gal.” Dorothy Phillips, one of the popular stars of the screen, whose attainments as an emotional actress have been previously revealed, is at the Pantages Theatre this week in “Hurricane’s Gal.” Miss Phillips has the role of a wild, untamed girl of the sea, who: inherited from her Irish father a spirit of hate and lawlessness, and from her mother the romance of the Spanish as mistress of her late father’s opium-smuggling ship. She roams the seas and rules the vessel with a ferocity that is usually well balanced by abundant good humor.—-Globe. “The Eternal Flame.” “The ‘Eternal Flame,” in) which Norma ‘Talmadge may be seen at the Allen ‘Theatre this week, is an-claborate photo-drama dealing with life in France in the beginning of the 19th century. The drama is based on one of Balzac’s novels, and deals with a duchess who has become a notorious heart-breaker. She trifles with one man too many. When he finds that she has made a fool of him, he undertakes to avenge all her victims. The task is made easier by the fact that the duchess has fallen in love with him. ‘The Eternal Flame” tells an interesting story. The chastening of a heartless coquette is a subject that always proves popular on the screen. The picturesque costuming of “The Eternal Flame” adds to the attractiveness of the picture. -Mail and Empire. Picture at Strand. The picture at the Strand Theatre this week is entitled “In ‘The Name of The Law,” and tells the story of a policeman. In fact, it has an unusual subject, as an effort has been made to show something of the heart and soul of a “cop.”—Mail and Empire. CALGARY HERALD REVIEWS PICTURE PLAYING THEATRES AT THE PALACE Peter B. Kyne, the author of countless heroic novels and stories which have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post wrote the story of “Kindred of the Dust,” which was given its initial showing at the 36409 B day. So often when a well-known story is transferred to the screen it is changed so that it loses its interest to those who have read the original, but in this instance all the interest. and tenseness of Mr. Kyne’s story have been preserved. : CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST It is a big story of the great out-ofdoors. It is a story of the lumber camps. It is a story of the northwest—not the northwest of snows and snowshoes which Mr. Curwood has tried to make famous, but the northwest of virile red-blooded men who face the battles of life without the timely aid of a mounted policeman. The chief character is “Nan of the Sawdust Pile,” portrayed = by Miriam Cooper. Playing opposite her is Ralph Graves, one of the most talented of screen actors. The picture was given a splendid musical interpretation by A. WeaverWinston and his orchestra who individually and collectively seemed to “feel” what was required. They did not dominate the picture—they interpreted it. Taken all in all the Palace offering this last half of the week is splendid. It is one of the best yet. AT THE ALLEN The William Fox picture, in which Charles Jones stars, opened last night at the Allen Theatre, and scored an emphatic success. Entitled “Rough Shod,” and adapted from a story by that popular author of western adventure tales, Charles Selzer, it caught the fancy of the audience from the start. It deals with ranch life in Arizona; its villainly embraces both the polished and the rough, and its love romance is of the most wholesome sort. Its heroine is a very charm ing young business woman—owner of a ranch—and the hero (Charles Jones) is her foreman, a chap of steady nerve and abundant courage. both moral and physical. The story is well stocked = with exciting incident—including a fight to the death under water—and an unusual feature is that there are two feminine roles of practically equal distinction; one played by Ifelen Ferguson, the leading woman: the other by Ruth Renicks. The popular Maurice Flynn also is in the cast. The star’s work throughout is admirable, and the staging most attractive. It is a picture of powerful appeal to all lovers of rapid-fire action on the screen. “Kindred of the Dust” Tie-Up With Copp-Clarke, Publishers of the Book “Kindred of the Dust,” the R. A. Walsh production, starring Miriam Cooper, is to have a tie-up with the publishers of the book—Copp-Clarke Company, who have canvassed all book stores to work in co-operatoin with exhibitors showing this picture. O p24 C.. fore BigQiag Pictures Read The Digest Advertising Pages.