Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 13, 1954)

Page scan 0008 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Mar 13, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 13, 1954)
Leaf #:
0008
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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MARCH 13, 1954 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST CAPITAL STORY By BILL McLAUGHLIN National Film Board talents scouts are presently on the hunt for a woman with unusual qualifications. She has to be a charwoman with a hidden talent for character acting. When she is discovered, auditioned and selected for the part, she will be starred in a NFB short about the work of the small army of women who clean up Parliament Build ings while the rest of the Capital City sleeps. One NFB crew has just completed a short subject called The Stationmaster at Finch, Ont., about 33 miles southeast of Ottawa. Star of the production is Dalton Henry, joint agent of the CNR and NYC at Finch, who has never acted before. Use This Information As Your Guide on Release Dates TORONTO IMPERIAL The Command (WB) CinemaScope and WarnerColor with Guy Madison. SHEA’S Second week. The Eddie Cantor Story (WB) Technicolor with Keefe Braselic, UNIVERSITY & EGLINTON Second week. The Best Years of Our Lives (RKO) with Fredric Mazch. NORTOWN Money From Home (Para.) Technicolor with Deon Martin and Jerry Lewis. ODEON-CARLTON Beat The Devil (UA) with Humphrey Bogart, HYLAND & CHRISTIE Second week. Personal Affair (JARO) with Gene Tierney. UPTOWN Second week. The Glenn Miller Story (E-U) Technicolor with James Stewart. LOEW’S Third week. The Long, Long Trail2r (MGM) Color with Lucille Ball. DOWNTOWN Crime Wave (WB) with Gene Nelson. INTERNATIONAL CINEMA Hobson’s Choice (IFD) with Charles Laughton. MONTREAL PALACE Third week, Knights of the Round Tab!le (MGM) CinemaScope and Color with Robert Taylor, LOEW'S Give A Girl A Break (MGM) Technicolor with Marae and Gower Champion. PRINCESS Alaska Seas (Para.) with Robert Ryan and Jan Sterling. CAPITOL Torch Song (MGM) Technicolor with Joan Crawford. STRAND The Big Heat (Col.) with Glenn Ford. ORPHEUM Second week. Moulin Rouge (UA) Technicolor with Jose Ferrer, AVENUE Third week. Hobson‘s Choice (IFD) with Charles Loughton. KENT ss Second week. Julius Caesar (MGM) with an all star cast. ALOUETTE Second week. La Dame aux Camelias. WINNIPEG CAPITOL Kiss Me Kate (MGM) Color with Kathryn Grayson. MET Second week. Money From Home (Para.) Technicolor with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. GAIETY The Big Heat (Col.) with Glenn Ford. GARRICK The Man From Alamo (E-U) Technicolor with Glenn Ford. ODEON The Glenn Miller Story (E-U) Technicolor with James Stewart. VALOUR The Red Shoes (JARO) Technicolor. LYCEUM The Moonlighter (WB) with Barbara Stanwyck. VANCOUVER CAPITOL Forever Female (Para.) with William Holden. ORPHEUM Paratrooper (Col.) Technicolor with Alan Ladd. STRAND The Man Between (IFD) with James Mason. VOGUE Second week. The Glenn Miller Story (E-U) Technicolor with James Stewart. PLAZA 99 River Street (UA) and The Neanderthal Man (UA). PARADISE Go Man Go (UA) and Fort Algiers (UA). STUDIO Julius Caesar (MGM) with an all star cast. CALGARY CAPITOL Here Come The Girls (Para.) Technicolor with Bob Hope. PALACE Money From Home (Para.) Technicolor with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. GRAND Fo:bidden (E-U) with Tony Curtis, UPTOWN The Glenn Miller Story (E-U) Technicolor with James Stewart. PLAZA Fourth week, Genzvieve (JARO) Technicolor. TIVOLI CINEMA Second week, The Conquest of Everest (JARO) Technicolor. SAINT JOHN PARAMOUNT Beneath The 12-Mile Reef (20th-Fox) CinemaoScope and Technicolor with Terry Moore. CAPITOL Martin Luther (IFD). KENT The Stranger Wore A Gun (Col.) Technicolor and 3-D with Randolph Scott. STRAND Second week. The G'enn Miller Story (E-U) Technicolor with James Stewart. PAGE NINE Now that the Glebe Theatre has been taken over by National Theatre Services and will re-open shortly with a policy of “arty” films, the Foto-Nites have been transferred to the Century, another of NTS's theatres in the West End. District supervisor Fred Leavens expects to have his first presentations under the nev Glebe Cinema policy lined up within the next week. Four hold-overs created som2thing of a record during the week just concluded. These included How to Marry a Millionaire, in CinemaScope at the Canitol; It Should Happen to You, at the Elgin; The Glenn Miller Story, at the Odeon, and The Holly and The Ivy, at the Little Elgin. The Rideau, 20th Century operated theatre on Lowertown’s busy Rideau Street, is the latest in this city to be equipped with the new curved, wide-angle screen. James Cagney in Public Enemy and Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar were brought back to introduce panoramic presentations to Rideau Theatre patrons. JARO LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN Mr. Frank Fisher, General Manager of the J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (Canada) Limited, announced that the Rank Organization will inaugurate a national advertising campaign, commencing March 27th in Weekend Magazine, followed by 87 insertions over a period of one year in Weekend, The Star Weekly, Liberty and Maclean's Magazine. This will be the first time in the history of the Canadian motion picture industry that a Canadian film distributor has planned a twelve-month advertising campaign in the consumer magazine market. The following J. Arthur Rank productions will be included in the first six months’ advertising schedule: “The Kidnappers’, “The Love Lottery’ (Color by Technicolor), “The Maggie”, “Man With a Million” (Color by Technicolor), “You Know What Sailors Are” (Color by Technicolor), “The Rainbow Jacket” (Color by Technicolor), “Doctor in the House” (Color by Technicolor), and “West of Zanzibar” (Color by Technicolor). The placing of their advertisements in these four magazines will give the J. Arthur Rank Organization a weekly readership of considerably more than the circulation figure of 2,900,000 from coast to coast. Gordon Wallace of Spitzer & Mills Advertising Agency is account executive, and the advertising and publicity is handled by Tommy Knight for the motion picture company. WINNIPEG FILM BOARD The officers of the Winnipeg Film Board for 1954 are, President—Mr. P. Geller, V. Pres —Mr. S. Pearlman, Seeretaryv—Mr. F. Davis, Fire Marshall—Mr, L, Norris, Ass‘t Fire M—Mr, B. Meyers, ——— Pt Bot aves +