Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 5, 1929)

Page scan 00011 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 5, 1929
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 5, 1929)
Leaf #:
00011
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Hollywood Studio System, Canada, and Early Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Media Magazines Project, 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:
June 13, 2024
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 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE 1929 IS PATHE'S YEA Headed by “THE SPIELER,” “THE SHADY LADY” and “GERALDII —the greatest line-up of sure-fire productions ever released on any program is ON THE WAY to crash through to new box office record Pathe Pictures Talk Box Office and you don’t have to put in high-price sound equipment to hear money talk. Look over this list of big hits that will soon be relea The Spieler with Alan Hale, Renee Adoree Fred Kohler and Clyde Cook A Ralph Block Production. Adapted by Hal Conklin and Tay Garnett from an original story by Hal Conklin. Directed by Tay Garnett. from the story by . . Booth Tarkington The Shady Lad with Eddie Quillan, . Marion Nixon, Gastbn Glass and Albert Grain A Ralph Block Production. T Supervised by Paul Bern. Disuggested by Leonard Prask rected by Melville Brown. and Richard L. Sharpe. Direc . by Edward H. Griffith. with Robert Armstrong and -Louis Wolheim | Ned McCobb’s Daughter with IRENE RICH ROBERT ARMSTRONG, PHYLLIS HAVER | HAVER Sal of Noisy a ae Geraldime || puyis Haver i | Singapore : Neighbor | | GEORGE BARRAUD and _| with ALAN HALE and with EDDIE QUILLA THEODORE ROBERTS FRED KOHLER THE QUILLAN FAMILY Adapted by Beulah Marie Dix Aatcee Bie : ALBERTA VAUGHN and from Sidney Howard’s Theatre apted by: ie awson trom THEODORE ROBERT Guild Success. Directed by Dale Collins’ “The SentimentalES William J. Cowen. ists.” Directed by Howard Produced by Paul Bern from Higgin. original story by F. Hugh H bert. Directed by Chas. Reisn It’s in the Cards---It’s in the Stars---This will be Path Greatest Year. A Pathe Contract during 1929 will be Your Most Valuable Asset Pathe’s Canadia: Regal Films Limite Distributors Toronto Montreal St. John Winnipeg Calgary Vanco