Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jul 24, 1954)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jul 24, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jul 24, 1954)
Leaf #:
0001
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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ic PAGE TWO CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST JULY 24, 1954 Chatter... that could matter! By MAX CHIC Mrs. Jean Ford, who operated the York and Windsor theatres, Hamilton, in partnership with Odeon is retiring... both theatres have been taken over completely by Odeon . . . the Century, Lindsey and the Geneva, Orillia, two Twinex houses, will go CinemaScope on August 9th, with Metro’s “Knights Of The Round Table”, Myer Axler told us the other day . . . NFB’s “Corral, the Wild Stallion” placed first at a Festival in Venice. Win Barron had a busy week... releasing some 1,000 balloons from the top of the Royal Bank Bldg. in cooperation with Famous Players, to advertise “The Greatest Show On Earth” and acting as judge, to pick Miss Toronto... a Republic camera crew spent 10 days near Victoria, B.C. searching for location sites for “Timberjack.” A UNIVERSAL smile beamed on the faces of Alf Perry, Mark Plottel, George Beeston and Walter Kennedy after screening Universal's first CinemaScope venture, “The Black Shield of Falworth” . . . Mort Margolius is discovering relatives on all sides of him...a cousin has charted a family tree . . . result, a cousins’ club of over 76 families will be launched . . . the 400 Drive-In, opened on Thursday . . . reports have it, with the largest curved screen in Canada. Sam Glasier wired from Saint John . . . demonstration here of “Advancing Techniques of CinemaScope at Paramount theatre drew widespread praise from Maritime exhibitors . . . I’m certain Reg March and the equipment dealers will be very busy from now on selling and installing CinemaScope. Tommy Knight has scored again with JARO's “Man With A Million”, due August 6th at the Odeon, Toronto... Dominion Stores are giving out 500,000 entry forms with a crossword puzzle based on the film . .. the winning FAMILY will be flown to England, courtesy TCA for a two weeks’ Millionaire vacation . . . on their return they will find a Nash Rambler auto (value $2,800) waiting at their door-step. Interstate Television Corp. has appointed Sterling Films Ltd. their representative in Canada . . . Calgary and Vancouver Pola-Lite demonstrations have created great interest in a revival of 3-D, Tex Cates reports . . .Archie Laurie in Montreal to publicize UA’s “Heidi.” The Event Of The Week . . . Frank Fisher's announcement that JARO at the end of their financial year, June 26, 1954, had their greatest business year in the history of the company, since it was formed in 1945, Joseph Bernhard, nationally known executive of the Stanley Warner Corp., died suddenly in New York last Thursday, fol lowing a recent operation. @ Capacity crowd of 3,200 attend World Premiere of Universal’s “Magnificent Obsession” at the RKO Palace Theatre, Cleveland. @ UA acquires distribution rights to prize-winning “Little Fugitive” in Canada, Great Britain and rest of Commonwealth countries. @ Murray Sweigman’s Theatre Poster, who have the exclusive rights to the Superscope lens in Canada, planning a trade demonstration in Toronto. The date will be announced in a week or two. @ 70 shorts will be released by RKO in 1954-55 of which 44 will be one-reel, and 26 two-reel subjects. Eighteen Walt Disney one-reelers will be in Technicolor. ° Variety Club, Tent 28, has postponed its regular monthly meeting in July, but plans are under way to resume its regular schedule of monthly sessions in August. © Five in Superscope (Tushinsky) have been set by RKO. In addition to “Son of Sinbad” and “Jet Pilot,” “The Big Rainbow,” “The Americano,” and “Cattle Queen of Montana” will be released in Superscope. e Tex Cates, Canadian Pola-Lite representative, and Cliff Yonson, General Theatre Supply, report enthusiastic reception to PolaLite demonstration in Winnipeg, and first successful demonstration of Pola-Lite’s 3-D single-strip system at the Circus Drive-In, Kirkfield Park, just outside of Winnipeg. ® MGM’s Canadian persennel, across the country, will share in the bonus money won for MGM’s 30th Anniversary Drive. Bonus chegues range from 114 weeks to 5 weeks full pay. John Huston signs with Allied and becomes important stock owner in the company. @ Steve Broidy, President of Allied, states that similar deals to those with John Huston are nearing completion with Billy Wilder and William Wyler.