Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 11, 1954)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Sep 11, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 11, 1954)
Leaf #:
0004
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, 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 23, 2024
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SEPTEMBER 11, 1954 “DIGEST Separate Theatre Set-Up For Loews — Effective Last Week FS Directors of Loew’s, Inc., voted last week to increase the quarterly dividend from 20 cents to 25 cents a share. It will be payable Sept. 30 to holders of record of Sept. 14. The board of the production and distribution company that continues under the name of Loews, Inc. also elected as new directors Charles M. Reagan, general sales manager, and Benjamin Melnicker, attorney. They succeed Joseph R. Vogel and Leopold Friedmar, who recently resigned to become directors of Loew’s Theatres Inc., the new theatre holding company formed to meet the requirements of the U.S. Governments consent decree in the separation of motion picture production from theatre operations. Mr. Vogel is president and Mr. Friedman, vice-president and treasurer of the new company. Mr. Reagan and Jesse Thursion Mills, the controller, were elected vice presidents of Loews Inc. Irving H. Greenfield was made secretary to succeed Leopold Friedman, who resigned, while Marvin Atlas Was made assistant secretary. J. Robert Rubin resigned as a vice president and general counsel of the company, but will continue as a member of the board. Nicholas M. Schenck will conitnue as president of Lozw3;, Inc. The Prodigal Richard Thorpe will direct and. Charles Schnee will produce “The Prodigal” for Metro with Lana Turner and Edmund Purdom sct for leading roles. Goldwyn Sets Award For Creative Writing The University of California has accepted a gift from Samuel Goldwyn, for the establishment of an annual $1,000 award for the “Best Creative Writing” submitted by a student in yearly university competition. The writing prize will be known as the Goldwyn Award. The University also revealed that Mr. Goldwyn last year had made a grant to the university’s medical school for a four-year scholarship totalling $2,000 annually. The funds for both are provided through the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, which was set up about ten years ago. New Production Co. Anne Baxter and Russell Birdwell, a press agent, announced the formation of B. & B. Productions, Inc., to make a film version of “They Call Her Woman.” Aben Kandel has arrived in Hollywood to write the adaptation of his own novel. Mr. Birdwell said he and Miss Baxter exoected to work out an arrangement with a major studio to make the film before she has to report for work at Paramount in “The Ten Commandments.” Gordon Lightstone (seated, center), Canadian general manager for Paramount Pictures, photographed ot last week's (Sept. 1-3) top-level company sales conference at the New York home office. Seated with Lightstone are (left) Oscar A. .. romount Short Subjects and Newsreel Sales Manager, and Buck Stoner, “ ision Manoger. Standing, left to right, are: John G, Moore, Assistant Eastern Division Manager; H. Neol Eost, Assistant Western Division Manager, ond A. M, Kane, South Central Division Manager, Morgan, Po Central Div HISTORY OF TY (Continued) 1929 Zworykin announced the invention of a non-mechanical receiver using a special cathode-ray tube called the Kinescope. Color television picture the size of a postage stamp sent by wire from one end of a room to the other. . . . In Germany the French Co. was formed, using mechanical television. 1930 NBC opened experimental television station atop New York’s Amsterdam theatre. . . . Television pictures shown on 6 foot by 8 foot screen at RKO-Proctor’s 58th St. theatre, N.Y. Two-way telephone television demonstrated, speakers at either end of a three-mile telephone line seeing one another as they chatted. . . . In Sweden the Baird Co. demonstrated television in a Stockholm movie theatre. 1931 Beam of light used instead of wire or radio wave to send television picture across Schenectady laboratory. . . . Television shown on 10-foot screen in Broadway theatre. Five television stations went on air with experimental programs. They were: RCA-NBC, CBS and Gimbel Brothers. in New York: General Electric in Schenectady; and Don Lee in Los Angeles. General Electric sent geometric patterns through the air to Berlin, Germany. (To be continued) PNT SSIS SHELLY (Continued from Page 1) pany is currently located in the Small Arms plant in Lakeview, a short distance away from the new site. Reeve Marie Curtis of Long Branch, predicted in a statement to the Toronto press, that she expects Long Branch to become the TV film centre for Canada, Reports have been published, that a Hollywood producer, unnamed, is due in Toronto, to investigate the possibility of locating a further studio in the same area. The Vanishing Prairie Walt Disney’s “The Vanishing Prairie” has established a boxoffice record at the Fine Arts Theatre, New York, for the first week of its world premiere engagement, with a gross of $22,400, according to the management. To accommodate crowds, the theatre now opens its doors every day, except on Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. Pat Henning (left), who is appearing with Roy Rogers (right) ot the CNE Grandstand show, will be seen in Columbia’s “On The Waterfront” opening at the Imperial, Toronto, next week, Ken Johnson meets Maurice Denham, star of THE PURPLE PLAIN, at the J. Arthur Rank Organization head office at South Street, London,