Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 29, 1954)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
May 29, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (May 29, 1954)
Leaf #:
0000
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Hollywood Studio System, Canada, and Early 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 Oundas Square TORONTO FORTIETH YEAR OF Published by CANADIAN MOYING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY LIMITED CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE PUBLICATION 1915-54 VOL. 46, NO. 22 TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA MAY 29, 1954 Famous Players executives, heads of many of Canada’s distribution companies and members of the press, gathered at a Luncheon, last Friday, in the King Edward Hotel to pay their respects and do honor to Charlie Doctor, 2nd time winner of the Quigley Grand Award. Doctor, manager of Famous Players’ Capitol theatre, Vancouver, flew into Toronto, accompanied by his wife, before going to New York, where he will receive personally, the coveted award that all showmen vie for, the world over. Master of ceremonies Bob Eves, Famous Players’ Western Division Manager, led off by presenting Mrs. Doctor with a gift and then called on Rube Bolstad, Treasurer and Vice-President of Famous Players to express to Doctor the feelings of the assembled guests. “We are gathered together, here, to pay tribute to a world champion”, Mr. Bolstad said, ‘who has brought honor on to himself, Famous Players and the entire Canadian Motion Picture Industry. He has shown,” Mr. Bolstad continued, “a way of leadership to the industry of the whole world.” “The late Larry Bearg,” Mr. Balstad stated, “gave to our boys and Charlie Doctor, a sense of showmanship, an inspiration for leadership, which will make him live in our hearts for all time.” Mr. Bolstad presented Charlie Doctor with a cheque from Famous Players and expressed the regrets of J. /. Fitzgibbons, President of Famous Players who was unable to be present. Concluding his remarks, he said, “each year there is a Pulitzer Prize for writing, an Oscar for acting and a Quigley Award for Showmanship . . . no one can attain a higher achievement than this, in our industry.” es oe ~ ti 7 Charlie Doctor, Bob Eves, Mrs. Doctor and R. W. Bolstad, at luncheon honoring Charlie Doctor, Friday, May 21st, King Edward Hotel, Toronto. Peter Myers, Canadian General Manager for 20th-Fox and President of the CMPDA, speaking for the distributors, “applauded Doctor for the wonderful campaigns he has had all year,” and stated, “when Showmanship is tops, the result, upped business at the box-office, and I humbly thank Doctor and all other showmen for the leadership they have given.” Charlie Doctor, a 30-year veteran of the film industry this summer, thanked all those present and voiced his appreciation to the entire industry, J. J. Fitzgibbons, Rube Bolstad, Jimmy Nairn and to the memory of Larry Bearg, who he said, “will always be alive to me.” At the head table were, Peter Myers, Morris Stein, Jimmy Nairn, Charlie Doctor, Bob Eves, Mrs, Doctor, Rube Bolstad, Ben Geldsaler and Ken Leach from Calgary. 15th ANNUAL DIGEST SHOWMANSHIP CONTEST ! Famous Players Pays T: ribute To Charlie Doctor