Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 1, 1954)

Page scan 00014 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 1, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 1, 1954)
Leaf #:
00014
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 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:
May 18, 2024
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CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST Ray Presents (Continued from Page 8) JANUARY 2, 1954 PAGE FIFTEEN ——_— formation of M.P.T.V. (Canada) Lid. and has licensed its extensive library of films, for distribution, Day. London, Windsor, Ottawa are now equipped with CinemaScope as well as The Imperial in Toronto. Matthew Fox, Chairman of the Board of Motion Pictures for Television, Inc. and E. H. Ezzes, Vice CAPITAL Pres. and General Manager of the Feature Film Division of M.P.T.V., have announced the completion of negotiations with Paul Nathanson, Alf Perry and Alex Metcalfe of Sovereign Film Distributors, of the STORY “ By BILL McLAUGHLIN The importance of the documentary film in contributing to the unity of Canada as a nation was emphasized by Dr. A. W. Trueman, head of the National Film Board, at a luncheon meeting of the editors and public relations group of the Professional Institute. Dr. Trueman pointed out that the unity of any country depended a great deal on communications and the use made of the various media in interpreting one part of the country to another. As one of the methods of communication, the documentary film was playing an important role in Canada, the Government Film Commissioner said. Last year, the NFB’s documentary films had a nontheatrical audience of about thirteen and a quarter million people. Ottawa movie theatre managers helped to play Santa Clause to some hundred men who work in the city and found themselves far away from home and families on Christmas Day. Managers invited the men to free shows following a turkey dinner sponsored by the YMCA. Third dimensional films are beginning to come back on local screens. Latest in this medium is I, The Jury, currently playing the Elgin Theatre. But the calibre of films in general during preChristmas week are much below standard and will continue to be until New Years when a number of important productions will have their premiere showings at the mid-town theatres. Use This Information As Your Guide on Release Dates TORONTO IMPERIAL How To Marry A Millionaire (20th-Fox) CinemaScope and Technicolor with Marilyn Monroe, UNIVERSITY & EGLINTON Little Boy Lost (Para.) with Bing Crosby. SHEA‘S & NORTOWN Calamity Jane (WB) Technicolor with Doris Day. TIVOLI & CAPITOL Peter Pan (RKO) Technicolor. LOEW’S Easy To Love (MGM) Technicolor with Esther Williams. ODEON-CARLTON Paratrooper (Col.) with Alan Ladd. HYLAND A Day To Remember Holloway. TOWNE CINEMA Julius Caesar (MGM) with Marlon Brando. STUDIO Sadko (Astral) Magicolor, WINNIPEG CAPITOL How To Marry A Millionaire (20th-Fox) CinemoaScope and Technicolor with Marilyn Monroe. ODEON Genevieve (JARO) Technicolor with John Gregson. GAIETY The Captain's Paradise (IFD) with Alec Guinness. MET So This Is Love (WB) Technicolor with Kathryn Grayson. (JARO) with Stanley OSBOURNE The Holly and the Ivy (I1FD) with Ralph Richardson. GARRICK East of Sumatra (E-U) Technicolor with Jeff Chandler. VANCOUVER VOGUE Walking My Baby Back Home (E-U) Technicolor with Donald O’Connor. PLAZA & HASTINGS Return To Paradise (UA) Technicolor with Gary Cooper, CAPITOL Torch Song (MGM) with Joan Crawford. STRAND The Kid From Left Ficld (20th-Fox) with Dan Dailey. ORPHEUM Here Come The Girls (Para.) Technicolor with Bob Hope. STUDIO Seventh week, The Captain’s Paradise (IFD) with Alec Guinness. CINEMA Peter Pan (RKO) Technicolor, SAINT JOHN STRAND Calamity Jane (WB) Technicolor with Doris Day. PARAMOUNT Botany Bay (Para.) Technicolor with Alan Ladd. CAPITOL Half a Hero (MGM) and The Twonky (UA), under a ten year Franchise Agreement for Canada. Captain S$. D. Herman, Manager of the Capitol Theatre, Lunenberg, N.S. (F. G. Spencer Circuit Theatre) is celebrating his 89th birthday and still an Active Showman. ARNERS announce, that Hondo 3-D (Wayne-Fellow production), directed by John Farrow, is coming. Genevieve is proving a box-office hit for J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors, 7 weeks in Toronto, still going in Edmonton after 9 weeks, 5 weeks in Montreal, etc. Alberta Pioneers meet in Calgary, with Harry Boyse, Pres., presiding. Rolly Keil, Edmonton, Pres.; Jack Gow, Ist Vice-Pres.; Roy Chown, 2nd VicePres.; both of Calgary and Ralph Neili reelected as Sec’y-Treas. Walter Wanger, Allied Artists producer, suggests that exhibitors can solve their shortage of product problem by helping to finance Independent production and following through with playdates. HE front cover of the Dec. 26th Issue, of The Digest, is dated Dec. 25 Christmas Day. It presents, in its Family Album, a reproduction of the bronze portrait plaque of John J. Fitzgibbons, C.B.E., sculptured by Emmanucl Hahn, the famous sculptor, and presented to Mr. Fitzgibbons as The Pioneer of The Year. The Christmas Digest presents, The Journey Through The Year, announcements of new pictures and cheery holiday greetings. To our Advertisers, we say thanks, for your support throughout the year. To our Non-Advertisers, in production, in distribution and in our affiliated industries, may 1954 be a sufficiently prosperous year, for your operation in Canada, to enable you to avail yourself of the advertising service of The Digest. To our Canadian subscribers, Circuit Theatres and Independently operated Theatres, our thanks for making it possible for us, through your subscriptions, to send The Digest for complete Canadian coverage. To our many friends and wellwishers, our thanks for your Christmas greetings, which make The Christmas Digest a Bearer of Good Tidings. I'll be seeing you next year.