Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May-Oct 1922)

Page scan 000315 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
May-Oct 1922
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May-October 1922)
Leaf #:
000315
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:
July 26, 2023
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Page Twelve CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE pipes! FIRST NATIONAL PROUDLY PRESENTS SOME OF ITS ) | “Great Selection” OF FALL MASTERPIECES A Thos. H. Ince Special “SKIN DEEP” With Milton Sills, Florence Vidor and Frank Cameron. Directed and Adapted by Lambert Hillyer KATHERINE MacDONALD in “White Shoulders” BEN TURPIN, in Supported by Bryant Wash“Homemade Movies” burn, Richard Headrick and “The Shriek of Araby” Nigel Barrie. F Directed by Tom Forman. Mack Sennett presents Thomas H. Ince presents “THE HOTTENTOT” With Douglas McLean and Madge Bellamy. Directed by Del Andrews and James W. Horne. A Mack Sennett Production MABEL NORMAND, in “SUZANNA” By Linton Wells Directed by F. Richard Jones. , ‘ AE AN, Si NR ENG gaa EN RICHARD BARTHELMESS | Pale). A L ae ce wae noel in “The Bond Boy” ‘ With Mi Cc d Supported by Mary Alden and >} Com gO) >) a4 1 Sack Cases, au — ey a one . ; ° Adapted by R. A. Walsh from Directed by Henry King. the novel by Peter B. Kyne. ed HOPE HAMPTON NORMA TALMADGE in “The Light in the Dark” in “The Eternal Flame” Supported by. Lon Chaney Richard Walton Tully presents Adapted from Honore de Balzac’s 2 “La Duchesse de Langeais,” by and E. K. Lincoln. GUY BATES POST Frances Marion Directed by Frank Lloyd. A Joseph M. Schenck Production. n “The Masquerader” Adapted from the play by Richard Walton Tully and the novel by Katherine Cecil Thurston. Directed by James Young Directed by Clarence Brown. a KATHERINE: MacDONALD n “Heroes and Husbands” CONSTANCE _ TALMADGE in “East is West” Adapted from the stage success by Frances Marion Directed by Sidney Franklin. A Joseph M.. Schenck Production. Joseph M. Schenck presents BUSTER KEATON in “The Blacksmith,” “The Frozen North,” “The Electric House” Written and directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline. ‘Directed by Chet Withey. These wonderseas ay a pe te Arrange ful attractions | The Wonder Dog Sntwe > With Colleen Moore and “BRAWN OF THE NORTH” B icieial a es Wheeler Oakman. are coming to Directed by Wesley Ruggles. your theatre. ASSOCIATED FIRST NATIONAL PICTURES | TORONTO MONTREAL . a JOHN” *+WINNIPEG CALGARY VANCOUVER Written and Directed by Lawrence Trimble and Jane Murfin. accordingly .