Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 23, 1954)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jan 23, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jan 23, 1954)
Leaf #:
0000
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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RAY LEWIS EDITOR AND PUBLISHER HERMANT BLOG, 21 Dundas Square TORONTO FORTIETH YEAR OF Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY LIMITED VOL. 46, NO. 4 TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE JANUARY 23, 1954 The Class of 1954, Has members whom I’ve seen before, And ’though ’tis said, Time Marches On, Before we know The years are gone, It appears to me quite plain, That many felt The Crash of a Pain, When all the Bulls Were food for Bears, And made Wall Street, A long nightmare. Harnick of Columbia, Grew hair upon his chest, He broke the ice with which to wash, In days of the Golden West. Ralph Dale, of National, We were young together. Harry Braden, I very well knew, Since I could tell the weather. Orpheum, Rittenberg, Played Little Orphan Annie, Wept when she wept, and had a fall, Right on her little Fanny. Ray Tubman, that young one, I’ve known since days of yore, Since Kennedy used to recite, The Face on the Barroom Floor. Russ Simpson in Show Biz, Writing his Big Chief Ads, Long before the Year Twenty-nine Made him a Paramount lad. McCulloch, Petrolia, An Iroquois by name, I’ve known since, ten, twenty and thirt’, All admissions then the same. Tivoli, Trebilcock, With such a boyish grace, He has been in Motion Pictures, Since Morris Stein washed his face. The Pioneer Class of 1954 Rube Bolstad still quite young, Centuries come and go, In quarter-slices nicely packed. He learned, with hands down, our show. Jules Wolfe, Famous Players, With history, his book, Carpeting with linoleum, When amateurs “got the hook.” Now there’s our Roy Miller, The Lincoln St. Kitt’s show, Operator of theatres, Since shows started to grow. The William (“Bill”) Trudell, Prize-winning Famous guy, Always searching for a target, To shoot for a straight bull’s-eye. Cardinal Dave Gordon, Formerly Biltmore Clan, Has to forget the old slogan, “No deal? I don’t give a damn.” Edward (Eddie) Harris, Good from his head to feet, Paul Nathanson’s mother’s brother, Always a pleasure to meet. Jack Clarke of Downtown-Loew’s, With Loew’s when Jules was there, A few more years than twenty-five, In the years so young and fair. With Show Biz in his veins, That Royal Guelph Doney, Has merchants to sell all his shows, And to spend their own money. There’s Daniel and Usher, Peter Grant, Thornberry, Harold Braden of Hamilton, From the Braden Family. H. Harvey, Toronto, Speaking Pictorial, Martin, Associated News, Old-timers serving you all. W. Adams, Capitol, Has a well-trained background, From a booth he’s been projecting, Before The Birth of our Sound. On Wednesday, the 20th, The old King Ed. Hotel, To induct twenty-four members, And to treat each other swell, The Young and Gay Pioneers, Will have their Annual Meet, The Senate of The Industry, Who know their head from their feet. R. L.