Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 12, 1929)

Page scan 0006 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 12, 1929
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 12, 1929)
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Global 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
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‘TORONTO 2, ONTARIO. — Sunday Interpretation Cause Judges to Disagree _ Exhibitors to Appeal Decision A legal complexity has arisen in § y Montreal, Quebec, in the rendering of a judgment by Mr. Justice Choquette against two local moving picture thea handed down by Mr. Justice Desaul_niers a few days ago in which the latter dismissed the action against | United Amusements, Limted, Mon_treal, for conductng Sunday shows. Justice Desaulners ruled that moving pictures did not constitute a performance under the law and, therefore, a Sunday picture show was legal. _ Mr. Justice Choquette, on the other hand, has now found the Victoria and Cartier Theatres guilty of infractions of the Sunday law and levied a fine of $25 and costs. When solicitors _ drew his attention to the recent ruling, Justice Choquette said: “Knowing Desaulniers as I do, I should be very _ much surprised to learn that this was » a fact.’ He called for a record of the Desaulniers judgment and_ this not being forthcoming, continued: “And if he really did make this depsion, with all due respect I must _ disagree.” Further he gave the opinion that a cinema where an admission is charged “‘is certainly a theatre.” Keep your shirt on! conform to these conditions— quoted. of the acoustics. Sound Pictures Montreal Dual-Language Titles “A Woman Of Affairs” is First Feature in Sound with Bilingual Titles An important development has taken place at Montreal, Quebec, in the introduction of bilingual titles in sound productions when presented at the Capitol Theatre. ‘This action was taken by Manager Harry Dahn in collaboration with the film exchanges to meet the wishes of many Frenchspeaking patrons, all titles being shown in both French and English whenever they appear on the screen. Mr. Dahn pointed out that the title re-arrangement in sound features would entail considerable cost. The first synchronized nhotoplay to have the combination titles was “A Woman of Affairs,” starring Greta Garbo, which was presented during the week of January 5. Manager Dahn said that the Montreal Capitol was the first theatre anywhere to offer sound pictures with dual-language _ titles. Sound programs have been presented in Montreal since September 1. One of the big runs of the year in Ottawa, Ontario, was the engagement of “Lilac Time,” in silent form, at the Centre Theatre for 10 days over the holiday season. Manager Don Stapleton saw packed houses all day long. It will be made in Canada as far as possible. . It will be offered you at a price that, we hope, will sound more like sense than some prices we have heard x ~ You will hear from us fully on this shortly. THE COLEMAN ELECTRIC Co. 258 Victoria St. “Courtesy With Service” ps Be in a Hurry! Just recently, out of a blue sky, there has appeared several makes of double disc record reproducers with amplifiers and loud speakers intended, with musical and effect records, to supplement or replace the orchestra, piano or other common forms of musical accompaniment in Theatres. And we have heard of several Exhibitors who are worried to death because they cannot sign up for one of ~ these units, immediately, right now and quicker than that. The form of music you have been using all along will surely do for a short time longer until the situation gets down to common sense, because there are pitfalls galore. We are interested, naturally, and when we get through investigating we will, we hope, have a unit that will Ray Presents (Continued from Page 5) especially when ore considers the investment. oe I went over to the Lafayette Thea| tre, Buffalo, to see it previewed, and I came back convinced that it is the | best picture, from a standpoint of being professional, which has yet been — nace in Canada. It is not a big picture, but it has a cood story, a fine cast of plavers, it shows that pictures can be made in Canada which will be entertainment without the necessity of spending one | half of a million dollars on them, or even one half of that sum. i IS INTERESTING to note by way of comparison, the attitude of the French President, Gaston Doumergue, as compared with Premier T'aschereau’s attitude in connection with ra the admission of children to Motion — Pictures. ; i President Doumergue in giving lis annual Christmas dinner to two hundred children chosen from the poorest families of Paris, headlines as a special attraction: that he will present Buster Keaton’s picture, “The Operator.” . HE FRENCH President is a ba-. -chelor, and personally distributed the gifts to the children from a Christmas tree in his salon in the Elysee Palace. = a party and picture The children’s took place on Sunday, Dec. 23rd. It will have proper speed control of the two turntables, proper modulation of the amplification without distortion, a microphone for announcements and special effects and quick changes or fading as required. It will have interchangeable amplifier units to provide medium or great amount of volume without blasting or distortion according to the requirements of each theatre. a It will have several types of loud speakers available, as what suits one theatre does not suit another on account It will be housed in a suitable cabinet of neat design with ready access to records in use and a record cabinet also for storage of all records not in use. It will be supplemented by a reliable cueing service, giving number of record and name of selection or effect, so that the entire production may be followed and accompanied throughout. Until you can obtain a unit at a reasonable price that embodies these products why be in such a wild rush? Toronto, Ont.