Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 22, 1954)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
May 22, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 22, 1954)
Leaf #:
00016
Language:
English
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Canada, 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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

MAY, 22, 1954 THE CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST PAGE SEVENTEEN CAPITAL STORY By BILL McLAUGHLIN Ottawa will celebrate its 100th year as a city and Capital of Canada this year. The Centennial festivities open on Dominion Day and _ will continue throughout the 12 months, with appropriate events adapted to the Four Seasons to be celebrated on days and dates C= st TORONTO IMPERIAL Lucky Me (WB) CinemaScope and WarnerColor with Doris Day, SHEA’S The Noked Jungle (Para.) Technicolor with Chorlton Heston. UNIVERSITY & EGLINTON Lure of the Sila (IFD) with Sil Ronen ) ilvana Mangano. Phantom of the Rue Morgue (WB) WarnerColor and 3-D with Karl Malden. ODEON-CARLTON econ week, Prince Valiant (20th-Fox) CinemaScope and Technicolor with J Y a i ames Mason Yankee Pashe (E-U) Technicolor with Jeff Chandler. LOEW'S Executive Suite (MGM) with Willi Hold TOWNE CINEMA area Eighth week. The Living Desert (RKO) Technicolor, HYLAND & CHRISTIE Fifth week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter. INTERNATIONAL CINEMA Eleventh week. Hobson’s Choice (IFD) with Charles Laughton. HOLLYWOOD Scotch On The Rocks (Cardinal) with Ronald Squire. DOWNTOWN Drive A Crooked Road (Col.) and The Diamond Queen (WB) Color, VANCOUVER CAPITOL Rose Marie (MGM) CinemaScope and Color with Anne Blyth. ORPHEUM Hons Christian Andersen (RKO) Technicolor with Danny Kaye. STUDIO Fourth week. Hobson’s Choice (IFD) with Charles Laughton. VOGUE Second week, The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter. PLAZA The Love Lottery (JARO) Technicolor and Shoot First (UA). PARADISE Country Parson (Peerless) with John Beal. SAINT JOHN pope OUNT ose Marie (MGM) Ci San au. ) nemaScope and Color CAPITOL Miss Sadie Thompson (Col.) Technicolor with Rita Hayworth. STRAND King of the Khyber Rifles (20th-Fox) Cinema Scope and Technicol ven or with Tyrone Power. Go, Man, Go! (UA) and Shark River (UA) Color, soon to be released by the Civic Government Program Committee. Ottawa theatre managers are being invited to take part in the celebration along with Ontario Eastern Division managers in Toronto who operate theatres in the Capital district. Use This Information As Your Guide on Release Dates WINNIPEG CAPITOL E!ephant Walk (Para.) Technicolor with Elizabeth Taylor. LYCEUM Man In The Attic (20th-Fox) and Man Crazy (20th-Fox). VALOUR High Treason (JARO) with Anthony Bushell. MET Miss Sedie Thomson (Col.) Technicolor with Rita Hayworth, ODEON Third week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter, GARRICK Moulin Rouge (UA) Technicolor with Jose Ferrer. OSBOURNE Second week, Julius Caesar (MGM) with an a!l star casf. MONTREAL PALACE Night People (20th-Fox) CinemaScope with Gregory Peck. LOEW‘S Second week, Miss Sadie Thompson (Col.) Technicolor with Rita Hayworth. PRINCESS Phantom of the Rue Morgue (WB) WarnerColor and 3-D with Karl Malden. CAPITOL Casanova’s Big Night (Para.) Techniclor with Bob Hope. IMPERIAL Man in the Attic (20th-Fox) with Jack Palance. ORPHEUM The Gay Adventure (UA) and Riders to the Stars (UA). KENT Sixth week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Yincent Winter. AVENUE Second week. The Maggie (JARO) with Paul Douglas, SEVILLE-STRAND-SNOWDON-OUTREMONT Make Haste To Live (E-U) and Jubilee Trail (E-U) Trucolor. AVON-MONKLAND-AHUNTSIC Three Forbidden Stories (Cardinal) with Gino Cervi. ALOUETTE 11 Heures Sonnaient. CALGARY CAPITOL Second week. Hell and High Water (20th-Fox) CinemaScope and Technicolor with Richard Widmark. PALACE Hondo (WB) WarnerColor and 3-D with John Wayne. GRAND Beachhead (UA) Technicolor with Tony Curtis. UPTOWN Witness To Murder (UA) with Barbara Stanwyck. Taking advantage of the current front-page publicity accorded Rita Hayworth and her children (not forgetting her present husband), the Elgin Theatre has been showing Salome at regular prices. The Columbia production showed for some weeks at the same theatre last season at considerably upped prices. The Kidnappers continues to go strongly at the Glebe Cinema. Now well into its fifth week, with five shows daily at regular theatre prices. Manager Clare Chamberlain has a matron in attendance daily to keep an eye on the children who are admitted from four to six unaccompanied by their parents or guardians. The Regent Theatre is doing mighty well with double-bill of 1953 Academy Award winners. Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and William Holden in Stalag 17 are the “Oscar’ winners appearing in the twin-bill. Final Monster Bingos will be held during the next couple of weeks, bringing the season to an end and leaving more money in the family coffers to spend on movie entertainment. And are local theatre managers glad! Movie theatre managers are busily engaged at the moment in arranging midnight shows preceding the 24th of May holiday. Most of the first-run and secondary houses will present the traditional owl shows, while all four Drive-Ins will feature firework displays for the motorcar trade. CARNIVAL STORY Jack Labow, RKO Canadian General Manager, has announced the opening of Carnival Story, at the Shea’s Theatre, Toronto, for May 28th. Mr. Labow stated that Carnival Story, The Silver Lode and Susan Slept Here, as well as Walt Disney’s The Living Desert, will all be nationally released in Canada, during the month of June. RKO, Mr. Labow reported, has sent Al Margolin, RKO Field Man, across Canada to promote and publicize The Living Desert. Mr. Margolin made his first stop in Ottawa, and will then visit Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, where The Living Desert will shortly be shown. The film is now in its eighth week at the Towne Cinema, Toronto. JOHNNY GUITAR Piling up the greatest opening sevenday gross in the history of a Republic picture in the Los Angeles area, the Joan Crawford starrer, Johnny Guitar, registered a spectacular $148,000 at fourteen (14) theatres and drive-ins, and will be held over for an indefinite run. This smashes the former record grossed by Republic's John Wayne starrer, The Quiet Man,