Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 18, 1954)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Sep 18, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 18, 1954)
Leaf #:
0005
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Early Cinema, Global Cinema, and Hollywood Studio System
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

ee rere Across the Country (Continued from Page 3) are in no mood to shutter for a week or so to allow installation of the expanded screen, oO e e Michael (Mickey) Goldin, manager of downtown Studio Theatre and executive member of B.C. branch of Canadian Picture Pioneers, died suddenly of a heart attack. Mr, Goldin was manager of the Vogue theatre in Vancouver between 1942 and 1946. Funeral service was held in Winnipeg. He was in his early 50's when the heart attack killed him. Sydney Freedman, his assistant at the Studio, is in charge of the theatre until a new manager is appointed by Eastern head office officials. es e oS FPCC party of executives will be in Vancouver next week headed by J. J. Fitzgibbons, president. While here induction ceremonies will be held for new members of the FPCC 25-year club at Hotel Vancouver. e s oO Tom O'Brien, general secretary of England's NATKE, which corresponds to the IATSE here, was a local visitor on his way to the Canadian Trades and Labor convention at Regina, Sask. a e e Stan Trout who operates the Hope theatre at Hope in the Fraser Valley 100 miles from Vancouver, has started construction of a drive-in near the town, Chester Berry opened his 375-car drive-in near Camrose, Alberta. The recently opened Ridge Drive-in at Hammond in the Fraser Valley, built by a group of Port Coquitlam businessmen at a cost of $60,000, is doing good business, report distributors. The 360-car Blue Moon Drive-in at Foam Lake, Sask., owned by the Blue Moon Theatre Co,, has opened, e e e Local BSE International Union Local, 244, has finalized an agreement with the Continental Janitor Services, which has taken over the cleaning and servicing of the Odeon Theatres. The agreement calls for the same wages and working. conditions as are in existence in other theatres in Vancouver, and was signed under most favorable condtions. o e oO The Pacific National Exhibition which closed Labor Day, moved up « notch to fifth spot in the ranking of North America's big annual fairs. A Labor Day crowd of 145,524, has put the PNE among the big five. Record attendance for 1954 was 871,426 and 36,391 above last year's total of 835,035 despite small crowds in the first few days. Canada’s other big annual show—The Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto, is No. 1 followed by the Texas State Fair, Pomona State Fair in California, and the Illinois State Fair, with the PNE displacing the Minnesota State Fair as fifth on the continent. THE SEA SHALL NOT HAVE THEM Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogerde es they appear in THE SEA SHALL NOT HAYE THEM, also starring Anthony Steel, Nigel Patrick and Boner Colleano ond released by JARO, iS ~“pIeCECT SEPTEMBER 18, 1954 JARO’s 10th ANNIVERSARY IN CANADA (Continued from Page 1) Vaughan, General Sales Manager, made the following statement: “Having seen ‘Romeo And Juliet’ in New York, we consider it a masterpiece of screen entertainment.” A cablegram had just arrived from England announcing that “Romeo And Juliet” had won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival as the best film from any source, and that it had received the “Golden Lion of Saint Mark” Trophy. Frank Vaughan said, “As JARO prepares its biggest sales promotion drive, celebrating its tenth anniversary in the Dominion, and following its most successful year, with such top grossers as “The Kidnappers,’ “Malta Story,” “The Conquest Of Everest,” “The Cruel Sea” and “Man With A Million,” we at JARO pledge to Canadian exhibitors the biggest and best lineup of product ever released in the history of this organization. At present, a program of productions is being scheduled for the Rank Organiaztion to be made in VistaVision which is adaptable to all types of projection.” Frank Fisher pointed out that “JARO and its lineup for 1955 js not selling just titles but important film properties, completed or in production, which will be delivered in the next twelve months. “Canadian exhibitors and the movie-going public are becoming more and more conscious of the great screen entertainment which comes from J. Arthur Rank’s producers, stars and_ technicians, through a carefully planned national advertising campaign, promotion, exploitation, and addition THE BEACHCOMBER THE BEACHCOMBER stors Robert Newton, Johns and Donald Sinden In Somerset Maugham‘s celebrated story made In Ceylon in Eastman Colour Glynis by JARO. al advertising aids, which have produced some of the most outstanding showmanship campaigns of this past year.” He recalled the recent visit by Mr. Frank Morriss, movie columnist of the Winnipeg Free Press to view the British entertainment industry, and the current tour being made by columnist Ken Johnson of the Toronto Telegram, bringing to hundreds of thousands of Canadian people the latest production and star news from the studios. JARO intends to continue developing on an even greater scale this co-operation with Canadian exhibitors, backed up with these twenty-five features. Playing in two theatres in Toronto and at selected situations across Canada, “Doctor In The House” has already broken records. Mr. Fisher emphatically stated that there are no “Gambles” in this array of quality but solid Box Office merchandise. For comedy in 1955, JARO will present Ronald Shiner, fresh from his recent success in “Reluctant Heroes,” in a_ farce about the Royal Navy called “Up To His Neck.”” Norman Wisdom, a great success in his first film ‘Trouble In Store,” follows with another comedy called “One Good Turn,” with Joan Rice as his co-star. “Mad About Men” in Technicolor stars Glynis Johns, playing opposite Margaret Rutherford and Donald Sinden. The master of make-up and comedy, Alec Guinness returns, in his first Technicolor film, “To Paris With Love,” playing op (Continued on Page 7) THE PURPLE PLAIN Gregory Peck stars in THE PURPLE PLAIN adapted In Technicolor by JARO from H, E. Bates’ best-selling novel, and filmed In Ceylon.