Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 6, 1948)

Page scan 0007 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Mar 6, 1948
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 6, 1948)
Leaf #:
0007
Language:
English
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:
April 18, 2024
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Page 8 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST RAY PRESENTS (Continued from Page 3) d Mase see is an interesting story in connection with the financing of a picture, “The Argyle Secrets’, to be released by Film Classics, of which Samuel X. Abarbanel, is Hollywood local press agent. As reported in the New York Times, Abarbanel joined forces with Alan H. Posner, a graduate of a New York brokerage house and between them they had $3,000, the extent of their capital. Cyril Endfield, who had directed one picture and written a radio play, “The Argyle Album” was next in line for a contract. Endfield wrote a scenario from his radio play and taking this to Film Classics, this company promised a release and approved a budget of $125,000. The Bank of America provided the standard production loan of 70%, $87,500, providing an additional thirty per cent could be raised and an unlimited completion bond to guarantee that the picture would be finished. There was still $37,500 to be raised by Endfield’s group. Deferrment.of charges provided $22,500; the deferrments including their own salaries, payment for script and directing salaries of some of the crew, laboratory and General Service Studios charges. The next financing was for each of the three to borrow $5,000 from respective friends at 6%, offering in addition to the 6%, a share of the profits. The bond was secured through another personal loan of $12,500, which Abarbanel raised without security. Camera work commenced and Endfield finished Box-Office Booster TEE Bahies PRESENTS @ 25 THE THEATRE'S ER GREATEST MONEY MAK CREATING AND SUSTAINING BOX OFFICE RECORDS Head Office STERLING FILMS LTD. 431 Yonge Street Toronto AS Quebec & Maritimes Quebec Cinema Booking Reg’d. 754 Sherbrooke St. W. Montreal Western Canada FOTO-NITE DISTRIBUTORS, Inc. Room 216, 319 West Pender St., Vancouver, B.C. "RS AT RT TERA DEES EY PS AT LEE LALLA IE EL. 0141 shooting in eight days, $12,000 ynder the budget, and with William Gargan in the lead. The split up, percentage-wise, 1s as follows: Abarbanel and Posner each get 10% of the producer’s share of the profits and their deferred salaries. Endfield gets 18% and deferred salary, Gargan gets 10%. Six members of the crew will divide 20%. The three friends who put up $15,000 will get 1714% per cent. Cannot help but admire the trio’s courage and determination; hope the com ' bination makes a million, incidentally, the last friend who put up the $12,500 will get 8% and the lawyer will get 814 per cent for keeping these producers within the law. If the picture makes money, the trio will be looked on as financial wizards, but, God Forbid, if it does not click, who is going to pay who, and who 1s going to remain friends? FOR SALE NEW AND MODERN Electric Popcorn Machines ® 1 Lb. Popping Pan (Creetors Model) ® Stainless Steel ® Floor or Counter Model and 60 Cycle Models ® Moderately Priced $825.00 — COUNTER MODEL $875.00 — FLOOR MODEL ® Simple Maintenance ® Pops Corn at the Rate of 1 Lb. Every 90 Seconds ® Pays For Itself In No Time A FEW MACHINES IN STOCK WITH FAN AND FILTER ATTACHMENTS POPCORN MACHINES ARE NOW ON THE EMBARGO LIST WE ADVISE YOU TO PURCHASE NOW WHILE THEY LAST FROM THEATRE CONFECTIONS LTD. 284 KING STREET EAST TORONTO EL. 0141 March 6th, 1948