Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 26, 1948)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jun 26, 1948
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 26, 1948)
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Canada
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 11, 2024
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pee June 26th, 1948 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST _ Paramount Sales Meet Held In Toronto (Continued from Page 6) At the conclusion of the dinner, ‘Toastmaster Gordon Lightstone took over the induction ceremonies of the new member, Mrs. Mabel May. After fitting remarks calling to her long and friendly association with Paramount, Mr. Lightstone gave Mrs. May her Certificate of Membership in the Twenty Five Year Club. Then the lights were dimmed and Mrs. May’s anniversary cake with twenty five candles on it was brought in. As _ the lights went up, Toastmaster Lightstone continued with the ceremony. He af fixed to the dress of the inductee, the badge ‘of Paramount’s Twenty Five Year Club — a small dise carrying the Paramount trade mark and mounted with a small diamond. In conclusion, Mrs. May received a beautiful wrist watch suitably inscribed. Induction over, vaudeville acts, supervised by Secretary Treasurer O'Neill, took over the stage and finished off one of the most successful Twenty Five Year Club inductions yet held in the Dominion. TENTATIVE TITLES FOR PARAMOUNT 1948-49 LINE-UP NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES Producer Endre Bohem. Director John Farrow. Edward G. Robinson Gail Russell John Lund William) Demarest Virginia Bruce ISN IT ROMANTIC? Producer Daniel Dare. Director Norman Z. McLeod. Roland Culver Veronica Lake Mary Hatcher Mona Freeman SORRY, WRONG NUMBER Producer Hal Wallis. Co-producer Anatole Litvak. Director Anatole Litvak. Barbara Stanwyck Burt Lancaster Ann Richards THE TATLOCK. MILLIONS Producer Charles Brackett. Director Richard Haydn. Wandra Hendrix John Lund Barry Fitzgerald Monty Woolley Ilka Chase SEALED VERDICT Producer Robert Fellows. Director Lewis Allen. Ray Milland Florence Marly Broderick Crawford Rie GREAD GATSBY Producer Richard Maibaum. Director Elliott Nugent. Alan Ladd Betty Field Barry Sullivan Macdonald Carey Ruth Hussey Howard Da Silva MY OWN TRUE LOVE Producer Val Lewton. Director Compton Bennett. Phyllis Calvert Melvyn Douglas Wanda Hendrix THE PALEFACE (Technicolor) Producer Robert Welch. Director Norman Z. McLeod. Bob Hope Jane Russell NOW AND FOREVER Producer Richard Maibaum. Director Mitchell Leisen. Claude Rains Macdonald Carey Wandra Hendrix WHISPERING SMITH (Technicolor) Producer General Production Office. Director Leslie Fenton. Alan Ladd Robert Preston Brenda Marshall Donald Crisp William Demarest A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT (Technicolor) Producer Robert Fellows. Director Tay Garnett. Bing Crosby Rhonda Fleming Sir Cedric Hardwicke Murvyn Vye Virginia Field William Bendix Henry Wilcoxon DARK CIRCLE Producer Endre Bohem. Director John Farrow. Ray Milland Audrey Totter Thomas Mitchell THE ACCUSED Producer Hal B. Wallis. Director William Dieterle. Loretta Young Robert Cummings Wendell Corey SORROWFUL JONES Producer Robert Welch. Director Sidney Lanfield. Bob Hope Lucille Ball Mary Jayne Saunders William Demarest Bruce Cabot ONE WOMAN Alan Ladd Page 7 First Run Record By International International Film Distributors have set something of a record this week with five Eagle Lion (Hollywood) films playing first run on twelve ‘Toronto screens all at the same time. The Imperial theatre has the “Noose Hangs High’, an Abbott & Costello starrer ; the Nortown and Victoria are showing “T-Men”, which stars Dennis O’Keefe (day-and-date) ; the Danforth and Fairlawn have “Out of the Blue” as their current day-anddate attraction with Virginia Mayo, Turhan Bey, Carole Landis, Georg» Brent and Ann Dvorak; while the “Man From Texas” starring James Craig and Lynn Bari are packing them in at the Ace, Circle, Kenwood and State. In addition to this, ‘Linda Be Good”, featuring Elyse Knox, Marie Wilson, is playing first run on a double bill at the Midtown, Esquire and Glendale. All of which gives International Film Distributors representation in key Toronto situations of three important Canadian circuits. Famous Players operate the Imperial, Nortown and Victoria; Odeon Theatres of Canada operate the Danforth and Fairlawn; and the balance of theatres playing Eagle Lion Hollywood films this week are affiliates of the 20th Century theatre chain. DEAR WIFE Joan Caulfield William Holden Edward Arnold Billy De Wolfe DIAMOND IN A HAYSTACK Bing Crosby Barry Fitzgerald LADY OF LARIAT LOUP Betty Hutton David Niven MASK FOR LUCRETIA Paulette Goddard Ray Milland IBIU EN EUASKO) No casting vet and FOUR PINE AND THOMAS PRODUCTIONS Attending the Paramount Sales Convention in Toronto were, left to right, seated: Tom Dowbiggin, Montreal Branch Manager: Bill Kelly, Calgary Branch Manager: Oscar Morgan, Paramount's sales manager for Short Subjects and Newsreel, New York; Gordon Lightstone, who conducted the meetings; Syl Gunn, Winnipeg Branch Manager: Bob Murphy, Vancouver Branch Manager; Russ Simpson, Toronto Branch Manager, and Pat Hogan, St. John Branch Manager. Standing. left to right: Salesmen Bob Lightstone, Winnipeg; Arthur Hersh, Toronto, and Romeo Goudreau, Montreal.