Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 5, 1954)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jun 5, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 5, 1954)
Leaf #:
00010
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
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
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JUNE 5, 1954 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST CAPITAL STORY By BILL McLAUGHLIN The Rexy, first of two theatres built by the late P. J. Nolan and located cn Somerset Street West, at the corner of Lorne Avenue, has been closed and is now being used as an auction centre and display department for antique household goods. One of three owned and operated by the Nolan Theatre Enterprises until the death of iis founder, the Rexy remained open to the public in recent years under the management of Maryan N. Roy, daughter of the wellknown exhibitor and former mayor of Ottawa. TORONTO River Of No Return (20th-Fox) and Technicolor with Marilyn IMPERIAL Second weck. CinemaScope Monroe. SHEA‘S Carnival Story (RKO) Technicolor Boxter. UNIVERSITY & EGLINTON Rance, wvom) Technicolor with Mel Ferrer. The Naked Jungle (Para.) Technicolor Chariton Heston. ODEON-CARLTON Seen (Col.) Technicolor with Rita Hayworth. Flame And The Flesh (MGM) Technicolor with Lana Turner. LOEW’S Second werk, William Holden. TOWNE CINEMA penta week, The Livina Desert (RKO) Tcchnicolor, INTERNATIONAL CINEMA Thirteenth week. Hobson’s Choice (IFD) Charles Laughton. DOWNTOWN Those Redheads From Seottle (Para.) Technicolor and EI Alamein (Col.). HYLAND & CHRISTIE Seventh week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter. MONTREAL PALACE Third week. Night People (20th-Fox) Cinema Scope and Technicolor with Gregory Peck. LOEW’S Second week. Elephant Walk (Para.) Techni color with Elizabeth Taylor. PRINCESS Shane (Para.) Technicolor with Alan Ladd. CAPITOL Act of Love (UA) with Kirk Douglas. IMPERIAL Gypsy Colt (MGM) Color with Ward Bond. ORPHEUM Fighter Attack (AA) Color and Jennifer (AA). KENT Eighth week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vin cent Winter. with Anne with Executive Suite (MGM) with with AVENUE Fourth week. The Maggie (JARO) with Paul Douglas. SEVILLE-SNOWDON-STRAND-OUTREMONT Laughing Anne (E-U) Technicolor and The Outcast (E-U) Trucolor. ALOUETTE Violence Charnelle. WINNIPEG CAPITOL Night People (20th-Fox) CinemeScope and Technicolor with Gregory Peck. LYCEUM Saadia (MGM) Technicolor with Mel Ferrer. MET Red Garters (Para.) Technicolor with Rosemary Clooncy. ODEON Fifth week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter. GARRICK The Wild One (Col.) with Marlon Brando. DOMINION Beachhead (UA) Technicolor with Tony Curtis. OSBOURNE The Re'uctant Casanova (IFD) Technicolor with George Cole, VANCOUVER CAPITOL Executive Suite (MGM) with William Holden. ORPHEUM Second week. Rob Roy (RKO) Technicolor with Richard Todd. STRAND Second week. The Living Desert (RKO) Technicolor. STUDIO Sixth week. Hobson’s Choice (IFD) with Charles Laughton. VOGUE Second week, Prince Valiant (20th-Fox) CinemaScope and Technicolor with James Mason. FRASER & DUNBAR Fourth week. The Kidnappers (JARO) with Vincent Winter. PLAZA & PARK Second week. It Should Happen To You (Col.) with Judy Holliday. INTERNATIONAL CINEMA The Diamond Queen (WB) Color and Wide Boy (Alliance). CALGARY CAPITOL Rose Marie (MGM) CincmaScope and Color with Ann Blyth. PALACE Saadia (MGM) Technicolor with Mel Ferrer. GRAND Lucky Me (WB) CinemaScope and WorncrColor with Doris Day. UPTOWN Second week. Vincent Winter. STRAND Alaska Seas (Para.) and Cease Fire (Pora.). SAINT JOHN PARAMOUNT River Of No Return (20th-Fox) CinemoScope and Technicolor with Marilyn Monroe. CAPITOL Gypsy Colt (MGM) Color with Ward Bond. The Kidnoppers (JARO) with ‘ STRAND The Maggie (JARO) with Paul Dougles. KENT Fighter Attack (AA) Color and Texeos Man (AA). Bad PAGE ELEVEN First court action involving a local theatre in some years is now before the present sitting of the Supreme Court of Ontario. Samuel G. Macy, Ottawa real estate broker, claims that he suffered injury on July 4, 1951 when he fell into an open ground level basement shaft behind the Odeon Theatre. Mr. Macy's damage claim states that he was going through the alley at the rear of the theatre to reach his car on a Laurier Avenue parking lot. The case is continuing before Mr, Justice Spence. Talking about Jawful holidays reminds me to pass on the information that Dominion Day will be ceiebra‘ed on Thursday, July 1. This is according to a State Department official, who was commenting on unpublished reports that Canada’s national holiday this year would be observed July 5. A recent act of Parliament provided for ce‘ebration of Victoria Day on the Monday immediately preceding May 25. This act does not affect any other holidays. Chatter... (Continued from Page 10) verstone, we HEARD, was in town this week, fully recovered from his throat operation . . . Chet Friedman, has an Industry-wide public relations plan, that exhibitors and distributors should question him about. Event of the Week . . . Variety Village Open House last Thursday, an ever refreshing experience. Learnt that over 2,000 people have visited the school, from as far away as Ethiopia and South Africa. Convinced after my visit and seeing the students in their own bailiwick, that rumored plan, for Variety Village Annual Graduation ceremoni:s, being held at the Village, is one rumor that should be encouraged, and confirmed. Ray Presents (Continued fron: Page 3) The Brothers Warner who have been pioneers in our industry for so many years are again blazing a path not only by the impressive array of their current and forthcoming productions but by th« demonstration of confidence in the fu ture of our industry which the specia. 21-minute presentation emphasizes. Haskell Masters’ decision — to make this special short available for public showing across Canada will contribute immeasurably to the general public relations of our industry and remind movie-goers that motion pictures remain “the world’s greatest: entertainment.”