Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 6, 1954)

Page scan 0005 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Mar 6, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 6, 1954)
Leaf #:
0005
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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Friends and members of Variety Club and Variety Village, at the one Anauel Sreduetion ne sof the scene Variety Village, gathered together to witness and to participate in the diploma-giving ceremonies, Roya or otel, Toronto, urs., Feb. . ; Head Table (Top), left to right: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Stein; Reverend George J. Cherrier, O.B.E.; Mrs. Jack Chisholm? kite ty 2 Realpele Hopper, Executive Director, Ont. Society For Crippled Children; Mrs. and Mr, Jack Kent Cooke; Mrs. and Mr. Harry Kimber, nee Bro ssatyger a? a Mrs. ond Dr, Chester Walters, C.P.A., C.A., Controller of Finances, Province of Ontario; Chief Barker, William A. Summerville, Jr.; ot Being McCraw; Mrs. Wm, Summerville, Jr.; Mayor Allan A. Lamport and Mrs. Lamport; Mr. John J. Fitzgibbons, C.B.E.; Mr, John Bosra acon ne an Telegram; Robbi Slonim and Mrs. Slonim; L. Beattie; Mrs. Reuben Bolstad and Mr. Reuben Bolstad, Immediate-past Chief Barker, Varicty ‘ Toronto. Second Head Toble, left to right: Mr. and Mrs. George Altman; Mrs. Monty Hall; Monty Hall; Mr. Clare Appel; Mrs. Harry Mandel and Mr. Mandel; Mrs. and Mr. J. Arthur Robertson, Principal, Variety Village; Mrs. Madison; Mr. Herbert Allen; Mr. and Mrs, Lou Davidson; Mr. & Mrs. Ernic Rawley and Mr. Madison, Asst. Principal, Variety Village. In Front of the second head table, and to the right, the graduating students of Yarlety Village. Students of Variety Village Receive Graduation Diplomas In Toronto At the Royal York Hotel, on Thursday, Feb. 25th, hundreds of members and friends of Variety Tent 28, and Variety Village, met at the Third Annual Graduation Dinner in honor of the graduating students, of Variety's Vocational School for Handi capped Children. A total of seventy-one students have now graduated from Variety Village School, and we were told, that this year, these students, who have graduated and are in jobs, will earn $140,000 collectively. Looking at the achievement of these students, what they have had to overcome, looking around the ballroom and singling out the members of Variety Tent 28, and measuring the extent and the worth of what they have accomplished, we must be convinced that we have within us a strength which has no limit or boundary, and that where there is a desire to serve, there will always be found The Way. We are reminded here, of the last sentence of a short address which Mr. Fitzgibbons gave during the dinner, reminding us all, including the students, to remember Variety Village, wherever we may be, “and if you cannot send anything back, send back a prayer.” We have, already, in Ray Presents, selected for you, what we considered impressed us most, but we now present Chief Barker William Summerville Jr.’s opening remarks. “I am sure that I need not explain the nature of this occasion, a good many of you, as my fellow Barkers, helped to create it; while those present as guests of Barkers are here because of their understanding and support of our work. “What is happening here tonight, is just another of those traditional ae and enjoyable Canadian customs that we call a harvest celebration. Another FrOp is in, and, like all those whose hopes and efforts have been well rewarded, we are thankful . . . For our crop is the most valuable of all crops—the crop on which the Canada of tomorrow depends . . . Youth. “Once again, we have harvested a reward that is rich, fine and abundant— the happy and independent young Canadians from Variety Village who are to receive their diplomas here later this evening.” Mr. Summerville introduced Mr. John J. Fitzgibbons, C.B.E. with the following words: “What the Variety Club of Toronto owes to John J. Fitzgibbons, cannot be described or measured in one evening, for he was our first Chief Barker, and he led us through the years of struggle that came to a victorious climax with the opening of Variety Village, on November 15, 1949, “When the Heart Award was created, he was a natural choice as the first to receive it. I need not dwell on his service to our community and our country, for these have been many times ac knowledged, and are a matter of public record. “I am going to impose on his good nature and ask him if he would mind saying a few words . . . John J. Fitzgibbons.” Other speakers, introduced by Mr. Summerville, in a similar vein, were, Dr, Chester S. Walters, Controller of Finance, Province of Ontario; Reginald Hopper, Executive Director, Ontario Society for Crippled Children; J. Arthur Robertson, Principal of Variety Village and Col. Wm. C. McCraw, Executive Director of Variety Clubs International. UA’S THIRTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY DRIVE The second six-week lap of United Artists’ 35th Anniversary sales drive honoring President Arthur B. Krim has ended with the Dallas, St. Louis and St. John (Canada) exchanges winning firstprize money in their respective groups, it was jointly announced last week by co-captains William J. Heineman, VicePresident in charge of distribution, and B. G. Kranze, general sales manager. The managers of the UA exchanges taking top honors in the second phase of the six-month sales push are W. C. Hames of Dallas, D. J. Edele of St. Louts and J. J. Davis of St. John. A second-place cash award went to the Vancouver branch, headed by H. Woolfe. MR. EXHIBITOR HAVE YOU STOPPED TO CONSIDER 1h Ot tt ee fee f That the Income You Receive for Showing ADFILMS is NET (Except for Income Taxes) It's Worth About SEVEN Box-Office Dollars to You! Drop ao Card to: ADFILMS LIMITED 77 York Street, Toronto And One of Our Representatives Will Call to Explain How YOU CAN MAKE EXTRA REVENUE — AT NO EXTRA COST