Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 24, 1948)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 24, 1948
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 24, 1948)
Leaf #:
0004
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Global Cinema, Early Cinema, and Canada
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, 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:
August 14, 2025
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January 24th, 1948 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST In a whirlwind three day tour. Mary Pickford charmed all who met her in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. At the Dual Auditorium, Ottawa, on the evening of January 12th, when Mary Pickford appeared personally to open the Canadian Appeal for Children through UNESCO, with the world premiere of her first production, ‘Sleep, My Love’, are seen (top left) Ernie Warren, manager of the Elgin; Paul Lazarus, Jr., director of publicity and advertising for United Artists, (N.Y.): Charles S, Chaplin, U-A Canadian general manager and Tom Daly, NFB producer of “Hungry Minds”. In photo (upper right) Mary Pickford is seen with Prime Minister King and His Excellency Viscount Alexander of Tunis. In centre photo, Miss Pickford is greeted by His Excellency Viscount Alexander of Tunis, Governor General of Canada, at the conclusion of her address on the Elgin stage. Also shown are Her Excellency Lady Alexander, and Prime Minister King. Other photos show Miss Pickford being welcomed by children in Ottawa and Montreal: by Mayor and Mrs. Saunders in Toronto. Bottom right is a shot of the tremendous crowds trying to catch a glimpse of Miss Pickford at the Montreal station.