Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 19, 1929)

Page scan 0005 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 19, 1929
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 19, 1929)
Leaf #:
0005
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 Bight Montreal’s Regulations Makes Business Difficult New regulations for exhibitors in the City of Montreal have been coming rather frequently of late and the most recent civic order has caused some commotion among theatre proprietors. The managers have been ordered to throw away their ‘“Standing Room Only” signs by Ald. Desroches, chairman of the City Executive, because, under a new ruling, there will be no such a thing as gin a Oem The order, which has just been put into effect provides that all admission tickets entitles patrons to immediate possession of seats. When all seats are filled, no more tickets are to be sold. The Montreal Police Department has been instructed to check up on all theatres to see that no patrons are standing in the back or other portions of the building. No tickets are to be sold on the understanding that they entitle the holders to stand. Intimation has also been made by the Montreal Civic Administration that legislative steps will be taken immediately to prevent the forming of queues outside of theatres or other buildings for the purchase of tickets for any performance. The new regulations are intended to improve safety conditions in places of amusement. In Ottawa Theatres The Kiwanis Club of Ottawa, in co-operation with Manager Ray. Tubman of the Regent and Imperial Theatres, has at last been able to stage its annual treat for the poor children of the Canadian Capital. It was impossible to do so during the holiday season because of the flu scare and the cluh shows had to be delayed two veeks. Both houses were jammed to the roof-——and still they came. The guests at the Regent were givera sound program while a special picture, “Flying Luck,” was secured for the free performance at the Imperial. More than 2,500 children were accommodated. “Necktie Party” Pleasant as “Necking” Fred McLennan, manager of the Capitol Theatre, Brockville, Ontario, was the victim of a “necktie party” but not of the lynching sort when the entire staff of the theatre assembled to pay their respects for the new year. Mr. McLennan was loaded with an assortment of haberdashery. CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIC Children Given Treat Dominion Victoria Wired | To “Sound” Pict The Dominion Theatre, Vict B.C., J. M. Robertson, manager, been added to the growing lis wired theatres in Canada, the h also being redecorated, recarpeted provided with new opera chairs well during the transformation. theatre re-opened with “Mo Knows Best” and got away to a Start. mr RE CISTERS. The Superior Mechanical Features otthe NEW Model 29 GOLD SEAL ancleude Automatic Ticket Register C _723 SEVENTH AVE. NEW YORKCI het ax tell your bow lhe Stlent Sentinet will Safeguar. your BOX OFFILE Receipts and Speed, £3 82 SIFIE SS. aire your | Don’t 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 — cr 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. Keep your shirt on! 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 | conform to these conditions— 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 quoted. It will have proper speed control of the two turntables, proper modulation of the amplification without dis _ than some prices we have heard tortion, 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. It will have several types of loud speakers available, as what suits one theatre does not suit another on account of the acoustics. It will be housed in a suitable cabinet of neat design with ready access to records in use and a record cabinet d 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? © You will hear from us fully on this shortly. THE COLEMAN ELECTRIC Co. 258 Victoria St. Toronto, Ont. “Courtesy With’ Service”