Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Nov 6, 1954)

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Nov 6, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Nov 6, 1954)
Leaf #:
00010
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Canada, 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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NOVEMBER 6, 1954 ae That Could batter ! By MAX CHIC Dan Krendel’s District 5 new Showmanship Contest has been named “Ballyhoo S.O.S.” Over 50 girls from_ practically every film office in Toronto gathered last week at the Wariety Club to launch a Toronto branch of WOMPI . yours truly was the only male present . . . my job outlining the principles behind the proposed club. The first night of “Dream No More,” an Alliance release set for the Avenue, Toronto, will be turned over to the building fund of’ the new reformed Hebrew synagogue now being planned . . . Irving Seigal, United Artists, is the President of the new group . our condolences to Sam Jacobs on the death of his 19-year-old daughter in Montreal last week. Marilyn Bell may open the Movie Trade Show set for November 23, 24 and 25... . many filmites from up here are attending the TOA convention in Chicago this week . Sam Vinson reports he has become the exclusive rep for Valley Forge Flag Co., the largest U.S. manufacturer of banners, valances and pennants. Wannie Tyers is the proud recipient of a Beau Brummel tie from MGM as part of Metro’s exploitation blitz on their new film of the same name (what about me, Chet?) . . . 20th-Fox will be running from 10 am. to 5 p.m. C’Scope shorts in the newly equipped CinemaScope screening room for the benefit of exhibitors attending the varied trade meetings in Toronto, Nov. 22-23-24-25. Russ McKibbin at the Imperial, Toronto, introduces a cute trick from time to time . . . instead of using a film trailer on his next attraction, he provides an oral plug through his PA system describing the feature . . . the voice, the soft mellow tones of Russ himself. The Motion Picture Event of the Week .. . the honoring of Lionel Lester and George Altman, who were co-chairmen of the fi,Im division committee for the United Jewish Welfare Drive for “good group organization and fast coverage for the 1954 campaign”... exceeding the 1953 returns, the two will be presented with the “Stephen E. Berger” trophy at a joint annual dinner of the United Jewish Appeal and the United Jewish Welfare Fund, Tuesday, November 16, in the auditorium of the YM & YWHA, 750 Spadina. Cc Charles Skouras 65 Charles P. Skouras, president of National Theatres, Inc., and the eldest of three brothers who have been identified with the motion picture industry for more than a quarter of a century, died last week of a heart ailment in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. He was 65 years old. Mr. Skouras suffered a_ heart attack in January, 1953, in New York. He had a second seizure last November in Chicago while attending a conference of the Theatre Owners of America, of which he was chairman and a founder. Surviving are his widow, Florence; a son, Charles Jr.; two daughters, Mrs. Margi Curti and Mrs. Edith Jungmeyer; his brothers, Spyros, president of Twentieth Century-Fox, and George, president of United Artists Theatres, and six grandchildren. Vs to se THIS INFORMATION AS YOUR GUIDE TORONTO IMPERIAL Second week. Broken Lance (20th-Fox) C’Scope and De Luxe color, with Spencer Trocy, SHEA’S Fourth week. The Caine Mutiny (Col.) Technicolor with Humphrey Bogart. ODEON Second week. Woman’s World (20th Fox) C’Scope and Technicolor with Clifton Webb. HYLAND & CHRISTIE Ninth week. Doctor in the House (JARO) Technicolor with Dirk Bogarde. UPTOWN Betrayed (MGM) color, with Clark Gable end Lana Turner. LOEW’S Second week. Brigadoon (MGM) C’Scope and Color with Gene Kelly. INTERNATIONAL CINEMA Fourth week. Pickwick Popers with Hermione Gingold. DOWNTOWN The Saracen Blade (Col.) and Devil Girl From Mars (IFD). TOWNE Julius (MGM) Brando. HUMBER-FAIRLAWN-DANFORTH-SAVOY The Seckers (JARO) Jack Howkins, Glynis Johns. MONTREAL CAPITOL Sabrina (Paza.) with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. LOEW'S 2nd week. Rear Window (Para.) Technicolor with James Stewart. PALACE 3rd week, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (MGM) C’Scope & cotor with Jane Powell. PRINCESS Operation Manhunt (UA) with Harry Townes, KENT Fabian of Scotland Yard (Astral). AVENUE 2nd week, Doctor in the House (JARO) Technicolor with Dirk Bogarde. ORPHEUM The Bounty Hunter (WB) WornerColor with Randolph Scott, WINNIPEG CAPITOL Second week, Seven Brides for Seven Brothe-s (MGM) C’Scope & Color with Jane Powell and Howard Keel, (1FD) Cocsor with Marlon ~“plererT Car Heaters Soon For Drive-ins A new combination air conditioner and heater for drive-ins is being developed by Jack Farr, head of Farr Amusement Co. of Houston, Texas. Unit can be attached to the posts next to the cars and is so designed that it will not interfere with the parking of the vehicles, according to Farr. It is a coin-operated device, with patrons obtaining two hours of heat or cool air for 25c. Farr is planning to sell the device for $250 per unit plus 10% of the take. Despite the high initial cost, Farr feels drive-in operators will be able to recoup their costs in a short time. In addition, he maintains that it will permit drive-ins in most sections of the country to operate on an almost all-year-round schedule. TrausCanada ‘a ON RELEASE DATES -~-~-~-~~ LYCEUM Drums of Tahiti (Col.) and Massacre Canyon (Col.). MET Second week, Broken Lance (20th Fox) C’Scope and Color by De Luxe with Spencer Tracy. ODEON The Caine Mutiny (Col.) with Humphrey Bogart. GARRICK Francis Joins the Wacs (E-U). OSBORNE CINEMA Scotch on the Rocks (Cardinal). CALGARY CAPITOL The Egyptian (20th-Fox) C’Scope and De Luxe color with Jean Simmons ond Victor Mature, PALACE Technicolor Her Twelve Men (MGM) Color, with Greer Garson. UPTOWN Second week. Dregnet (WB) Weorner Color with Jack Webb. GRAND From Here to Eternity (Col.) with Surt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. | VANCOUVER CAPITOL The Egyptian (20th-Fox) CinemaScope and De Luxe Color with Jean Simmons and Victor Mature. ORPHEUM Second week. The High and the Mighty (WB) C’Scope and WearnerColor with John Wayne. VOGUE Second week. The Caine Mutiny (Col.) Technicolor with Humphrey Bogart, STUDIO Melba (UA), Tech. with Potrice Munsel. DUNBAR Eighth week. Doctor in the House (JARO) Technicolor with Dirk Bogarde. PLAZA West of Zanzibar (JARO) with Anthony Steel. Technicolor ST. JOHN STRAND On the Waterfront (Col.) with Marlon Brando, CAPITOL Bounty Hunter (WB) WarnerColor with Randolph Scott. KENT The Lone Gun (UA) Treasure Islond (UA), PARAMOUNT Father Brown Alec Guinness, and Return te Detective (Col.) with PAGE ELEVEN Coat,” story of Benedict Arnold and his treasonous dealings, on location in the vicinity of West Point, with MGM’s “The Scarlet star Cornel Wilde . . . Seventeen magazine for November chooses JARO’s “High and Dry,” as movie of the month .. . tumultuous welcome accorded Cecil B. DeMille when he arrived in Egypt for filming of “Ten Commandments,” first scenes have now been shot atop Mt. Sinai. Yul Brynner left New York to join cast of this Paramount release . . . New job for Burt Lancaster when he joins Diana Lynn, Una Merkel and John McIntire singing three folk tunes in UA’s “The Kentuckian,” CinemaScope color spectacle .. First Dennis Morgan starrer for Columbia, in the next year, will be Technicolor Western, “The Gun That Won the West” .. . Busy times at Allied Artists with “John Brown's Raiders” just completed and “Sweet Charity” now before the cameras . . . Mervyn LeRoy to pinch hit in directing “Mister Roberts” for Warners, Director John Ford rushed to hospital for emergency operation . . . Universal set to release two box-office attractions for Christmas-New Year's: “Sign of the Pagan,” CinemaScope and Technicolor and “So This Is Paris,” Technicolor musical .. . Dore Schary announces that MGM will produce “The International Revue,” a musical featuring top studio stars and leading singers and dancers from various countries, film to have running time of from three to four hours, and will be filmed in locales all over the world “Passage Home” ts scheduled to start filming at the J. Arthur Rank Pinewood studios, top starring role of the ill-tempered captain has not been cast... James Cagney celebrating his 25th year in pictures on the Warners’ “Mr. Roberts” sect .. . Robert Donat’s long absence from the screen terminated with leading role in “Lease of Life”... Stan ley Kramer signs Lon Chaney for key role in UA's “Not As a Stranger,” which already has a star-studded cast consisting of Olivia De Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Broderick Crawford and many others,