Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 26, 1954)

Page scan 00011 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jun 26, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 26, 1954)
Leaf #:
00011
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 23, 2024
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CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST 3-D Questions And Answers WILL THE AUDIENCE ALWAYS HAVE TO WEAR SPECTACLES, AND WHY? The right and left eye images must in some way be sorted out, so that each eye will see only its appropriate picture. In Russia, a system developed by Ivanoff which does not need spectacles has for a number of years been demonstrated; but such systems, although theoretically quite feasible, require a theatre to be specially built and the seats mathematically arranged around the screen. In the meantime the pairs of images must be separated at the eyes. This has been done by electrical or pneumatic shutters, worn as spectacles, or by the use of red and green glasses. The use of special glasses is by far the most practical system. CAN AN ORDINARY SCREEN BE USED? No. A matt white screen depolarizes the light rays, and consequently each eye sees faintly the picture intended for the other eye. To prevent this, a special screen surface, with highly reflective and non-depolarizing characteristics, is required. CAN POLA-LITE BE USED FOR 16 MM.? Dr. Leon W, Wells, who developed and perfected the single-track Pola-Lite 3-D projection system, is now experimenting with a similar unit for 8 and 16 mm movie fans. ARE NEW GLASSES BEING PERFECTED? In addition to the Pola-Lite 3-D projection system, the same company now has a new type of Folding Temple 3-D glasses and Clip-On type for persons wearing corrective spectacles. CAN EYE-STRAIN BE ELIMINATED? Under normal 3-D, two prints are projected onto the screen from two different light sources, and, according to Dr. Leon W. Wells, there are very few perfectly matched projection machine lenses. A 1,000th of an inch difference in lens is magnified by 500 times thus becoming a difference of about five or six inches between the images projected onto the screen, This difference in image alignment is the cause of eye-strain in 3-D projection. CAN 3-D HELP UNCOVER EYE DISORDERS? A 3-D movie a day may keep the eye doctor away for hundreds of thousands of persons made uncomfortable by visual defects of a functional nature, according to vision expert, R. A. Sherman of the Bausch and Lomb Optical Co. And the same visual gymnastics which help correct minor defects, will stimulate additional thousands with inefficient visual skills to seek professional care for defects of which they had been unaware. From 12 to 15 per cent of the public have visual disorders of which they will be made more keenly aware by the feeling of tension or discomfort they will experience when viewing three-dimensional motion pictures, Sherman said. A part of the corrective procedure prescribed by the optometrist or eye doctor whose advice is sought by such people, he continued, may be the recommendation to see stereoscopic motion pictures periodically—as often as once a day or once a week. “The beneficial impact on vision of properly produced, projected, and viewed stereoscopic motion pictures will be profound,” he said. “The powerful stimulus provided by such pictures will put the identifying finger on some of us who, for our general well-being, need visual attention and have not previously suspected it.” WARNER’S REPORT PROFIT Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. (Incorporated 1953) and subsidiary companies report for the six months ending February 27, 1954 a net profit of $1,618,000 after provision of $1,700,000 for federal taxes on income and after a provision of $250,000 for contingent liabilities. Film rentals, sales, etc. amounted to $34,059,000. The net profit is equivalent to 65 cents per share on the 2,474,346 shares of common stock outstanding or reserved for exchange at February 27, 1954. PRINT HAPPY HOLLYWOOD product is currently available (or soon to be avyailable when processing now in progress is completed) in the following fourteen combinations: Standard print — standard sound. Standard print — separate stereophonic sound print. Standard print — separate stereophonic sound print; effects on optical track with picture. 3-D—two print system. 3-D—single print system. 3-D—two print system with separate stereophonic sound print. CinemaScope — 4-track stereophonic sound. CinemaScope — single optical sound track, CinemaScope — Perspecta directional sound. CinemaScope—reduced to standard “2-D” print. VistaVision—Perspecta sound. VistaVision printed in SuperScope—Perspecta sound. SuperScope print of standard picture. Motion Picture Herald, May 22, 1954. JUNE, 26, 1954 POLA-LITE’S 3-D SYSTEM How does the POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM make you money? By making it possible for you to show 3-D movies on one film strip ... as cheaply and as simply as 2-D ... and using your present equipment! What is the POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM? THE POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM is a carefully engineered attachment which quickly clamps on your present projector and projects a 3-D picture from a single strip of film! The attachment also allows for the showing of regular 2-D attractions without removing the unit from your projector. How does the POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM benefit you? 1) You save money by showing 3-D films with one (1) projector instead of two (2). 2) You eliminate extra projectionists, because the booths are staffed as in a normal (2-D) film. 3) You need no intermissions, 4) You save by eliminatiag large reels and special rewinding equipment. 5) You save in electric and carbon consumption by running one machine instead of two ata time, 6) You save on Film Express Charges. Why is 3-D on one film superior to 3-D on two films? 1) It eliminates distortion! No longer are there two film strips that constantly get out of adjustment . .. not with a single film strip! 2) There is no eye strain... no longer are there two light sources of different density, or different prints in misalignment. 3) The image is sharp...no longer is focusing a factor, with the problem of one of two machines out of focus and blurring the image. How can the POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM be installed? Only an Allen wrench set is required. The Unit is delivered with complete detailed instructions for proper installation. The attachment on the. projector enables the theatre to have complete flexibility in running a mixed 3-D and 2-D program by a simple adjustment in a matter of seconds. Can the POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM be used in any type of theatre. The POLA-LITE 3-D SYSTEM offers as fine a picture clarity on the screen as any normal 2-D picture, and can be used Jor all screen ratios as well as for driveins. l aE ee | POLA-LITE DEMONSTRATIONS SAINT JOHN—Strand Theatre, Tuesday, July 6th. MONTREAL—Princess Theatre, Friday, July 9th. Contact vour General Theatre Supply Branch for further infor mation. ESS Eo be i