Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 25, 1954)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Sep 25, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Sep 25, 1954)
Leaf #:
0000
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
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.

JAY L. SMITH EDITOR AND PUBLISHER VOL. 46, NO. 39 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST ‘COMPANY LIMITED | 21 DUNDAS SQUARE, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA RAY LEWIS FOUNDER 1915-1954 SEPTEMBER 25, 1954 Canadian Film About i Bell Offer Made To Toronto’s Idol By Top Canadian Film Group A young, 16 year old, slip of a girl, has provided Canadian filmmakers with the opportunity of a lifetime to produce a film, which even before its completion, has garnered for itself, an almost guaranteed By JAY L. SMITH Paid my first visit to the Maritimes in five years last week, and had a chance to say “hello” to a lot of old friends. Joe Lieberman of B & L Theatres invited me to a $100 a plate dinner that he had charge of in behalf of a prominent local charity. The dinner was a huge success in spite of the fact that I was tied upwith another engagement. Mitch Bernstein, the other half of B & L, was busy working on plans for reconstruction of their MacAdam Theatre, which was completely destroyed by fire during Hurricane Edna’s rampage. Mort Bernstein, Mitch’s son, whom I met for the first time, told me how much everybody was impressed with the new format of The Digest, and complimented us on our news coverage. Saw Abe Smith, St. John manager for MGM, and am glad to report that he is looking very fit, and sends greetings to all his old buddies. Ran into Chet Friedman, MGM’s demon publicity director, in Abe Smith’s office. He had just got back from Halifax where, I learned later from Jim MceDonough, FP’s new district manager, he had successfully cracked the hardest nut in the Maritimes, the Halifax paper, for publicity cooperation. Spent a little while with Gerry Hoyt, new IFD branch manager, who was naturally enthused over the lineup Allied Artists will have to offer exhibitors this season. Passed a few profitable hours at the bridge table with Maurie Elman, of B & L Theatres, who formerly was with Alliance in St. John. Missed Gordon Spencer, who was out of town for a few days, but saw his brother, Gerald, who advised me that the Spencer Circuit would have a third drive-in (Continued on Page 2) 50 Quebec Theatres Join New Assoc. A new motion picture theatres association has been founded in Quebec province, with an initial 50 motion picture theatre owners and a membership of 100 antici (Continued on Page 3) market, in Canada as well as the United States. The Digest has confirmed reports that despite the countless newspaper stories of Hollywood offers, the guiding group around petite Marilyn Bell are seriously considering an offer made by a group of Canadians. The group is made up of a top flight film direc (Continued on Page 2) Strongest Boxoffice Ever From Empire-Universal States Plottel Eleven major pictures, nine of them in color of which two are also in CinemaScope, will be released by Empire-Universal during the next five-montis. These pictures represent one of the strongest boxoffice lineups ever released by E-U during a similar period, Mark Plottel, E-U general (Continued on Page 2) MURRAY SWEIGMAN (See Page 3) New Rules For Sask. Drive-ins New regulations for the construction of drive-in theatres in Saskatchewan have been announced by the province’s department of labor. A ruling under the Theatres and (Continued on Page 2) Odeon Theatres Holds Regional Conferences David Griesdorf, general mana ger, Odeon Theatres (Canada) Limited, announced that separate Regional Meetings are being held with theatre managers of Ontario and Quebec. The Ontario managers’ meeting took place last Monday and Tuesday, September 20 and 21, at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto. This meeting was coupl(Continued on Page 3) TV Transmitter Bldg. In Work For Halifax—Picture By Xmas Work has got under way on the transmitter building for the CBC television station in Halifax. Capt. W. E. S. Briggs, CBC director for the Maritimes, announced that the tender of Foundation Maritime Limited has been accepted for construction of the building. C. E. D’'Amboise, CBC architect, who is in Halitax to supervise the work, outlined plans for the building, It will be a onestorey reinforced concrete structure with precast’ concrete wall (Continued on Page 2) TIONS AS, ENDED Is its. a YEAR ALLIANCE vi wae Associated Screen Expand TV Program Mr. Maxwell Cummings, dent of Associated Screen News Limited, announced the appointment of Kenneth Cooper us sales manager for the company in the province of Ontario and at the (Continued on Page 3) presi