Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 12, 1929)

Page scan 0007 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 #:
0007
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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eae STEIN SS ree ee = ok Sree See tae Se = arsed tetate si NSP ars ? MER EST ray pose : ‘ 1 de Ci aE City of Montreal, / ight PRICES IN OTTAWA. "GO UP AND DOWN Interesting price changes have taken place in Ottawa, Ontario theatres, both up and down. With the introduction of sound programs at the Regent Theatre, Manager Ray Tubman has raised the scale 10 cents, top admission being 60 cents. .At the picturesque Avalon Theatre, a silent suburban. house with a unique policy, Manager Ambrose Nolan has reduced prices 10 cents, the new scale being 20, 25 and 35 cents. The Avalon was opened early in December. LATE JAMES CRANG HELD FAMOUS SHARES James Crang, owner of the Oak wood Theatre, “Toronto, who died some weeks ago in Chicago, left an estate valued at $118381, which is bequeathed to his wife and son. Included in his assets were shares in Famous Players Canadian Corp. to the value of $37,080; life insurance and real estate. BROCK NOW IS CAPITOL The Prock Theatre, Brockville, Ontario, is no more, the name of the well-known house having been changed to Capitol Theatre by Fred McI.ennan whose father, the late J. M. -MclLennan, opened the Brock more than 18 vears ago. "The Capitol signalized the change in name by turning on the brightest and largest electric “sign in Brockville. Montreal Taxes Total Over a Million The amusement tax collected in the Quebec; during 1928 totalled $1,000,827, or $138,000 more than the previous vear, according to the report of the tax collection departiient. As the tax is 10 per cenit., total amount expended on amusements during the year in Montreal was ap proximately $10,000,000. Late Theodore Roberts Has Legion of Mourners The death of ‘Theodore Roberts, well known screen star, was received in Winnipeg with deep regret. The Screen Club of Winnipeg entertained Mr. Roberts one year ago at the Fort Garry Hotel at a luncheon, and an address of the greatest interest was given by Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts was the guest of the Famous Players Corporation of Canada, Walter F. Davis having being commissioned to carry out ‘the arrangements. Herald Gets Judgment Against Barnes Circus Published Yarn of Motion Picture Studio Furnished by Press Agent Prosecution by the Herald of Calgary, Alberta, of the Al. G. Barnes Circus Company, and Charles Cook and James Van Shyke, officials of the concern, for furnishing a fraudulent news item announcing the company’s intention of establishing a great motion picture industry in Calgary, resulted in a judgment against the defendants in $2,500 damages and costs by Justice Walsh in the Supreme Court of Alberta. The fraud was perpetrated June 10, 1927, when Van Shyke, representing himself as secretary to Cook, general manager of the Al. G. Barnes Company, sent a faked telegram by a messenger boy for the telegraph company, whom he had bribed, supposedly from Kamloops, B.C., to the Herald. Later it was established the information was false, being an alleged press agency story; hence the action. A number of people have “fooled” the newspapers of western Canada in recent years with similar stories. Moving pictures have been intro| duced at Queen’s University, Kingston, one of the leading colleges of Canada, for regular instructional purposes. Dean J. C. Connell is using moving pictures in the medical college for auxiliary teaching of anatomy and surgery. CANADIAN MOVING eS ok S, PICTURE DIGES 7 Columbia’s Talkies ~Important Booking Six Great Talking Featur Part of Program Columbia’s announcement that si great “talkies’’ would be offered o this season's program has been gree ed with important contracts both fro circuits and representative first-ru houses. ‘Taking “Submarine,” whic in its synchronized version is estat lishing new records everywhere, as. forerunner of the high quality th company will offer in its audible pro gram, exhibitors are signing for Col umbia’s “talkie” productions sight un seen. 4 Publix has booked “The Younge Generation” for the Family, Garden Columbia, Davenport; Ft. Armstrong Rock Island, and Clinton, Meyers, i Duluth ; the last two theatres will als show “The Donovan Affair” and “The Fall of Eve;” “The Lone Wolf’ Daughter” will play the Colfax, Sout Bend. | The Olympic, Utica, and the Grand Columbus, have signed for “Submar: ine,’ “The Donovan Affair’ and “The Younger Generation.” (48 The village of Joggin Mines, Nov Scotia, was swept by a fire which broke out in the moving picture thea tre building owned by F. J. Burke flames first being seen near the fur nace. No less than 21 buildings wer destroyed, including the church, post office, hotel, stores, school and 12 res. idences, the loss being placed a $100,000. eal Leo, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion who appears in the trade mark of that film company, has been silent long enough. Not to be outdone by other stars of the cinema, Leo has been Movietoned. No longer will he yap silently at the beginning of every Metro Goldwyn-Mayer production. The waiting world will be glad to know that Leo’s voice registers with the best of ’em.