Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Dec 18, 1954)

Page scan 0003 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Dec 18, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Dec 18, 1954)
Leaf #:
0003
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:
June 13, 2024
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CAN MAGS (Continued from Page /) Journal, Life, Saturday Evening Post). New overflow circulation of Saturday Evening Post is 283,706, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation’s figures ending June 30, 1954. While this mag added 83,000 to its list, Life and Ladies Home Journal each increased about 7,000. Their Canadian circulations now are: Ladies Home Journal, 277,849; Life, 235,260. U.S, magazines now have a circulation into Canada of about 5% million. This includes only the magazines with a circulation here over 25,000. The total is lower than the previous estimate, in June 1951. The tabulations here show: what magazines make up the totat; how today’s figures compare with earlier ones. Seventeen U.S. publications listed here have overflow into Canada of over 100,000. Where, in Canada, are most U.S. magazines bought? A rough breakdown of the 5% million total goes like this: 2.24 million overflow into Ontario; 780,000 overflow into Quebec; 700,000 overflow into British Columbia. About three times as many U.S. mags are sold in Ontario than in any other province in Canada. wtes£,:_--_-_-_—_—eceeee.:.°°.... Overflow Circulation of U.S. Magazines Circulation in Canada EERE TAONTA® © acececesoscqnencoroeeseesstocesesciesacsee American Mogazine Argosy Better Homes & Gardens .. Collier's Columbio ...... Coronet Cosmopolitan _......... Dell Men‘s Group UREN TiS ven edeca gens Family Circle ......... Fawcett Men’‘s Unit Focus . Good Housekeeping .......... Hillmen Romance Group ..... Hillman Women's Group Hit Porader Com‘n ... OG Ladies Home Journal .... Life Life Romances .... 0 ee ae Master Detective ... McCall's Mogazine ........... McCall's Pattern Book ... Mechanix Illustrated Men Modern Romances .... Modern Screen .. .-.scc.scescseee Motion Picture & Tel. Mag. . My Romance .......-..:ccccsseeeees Not. Geographical Mag. . Nat. Police Gozette SOI TE SURED D5 0acaies scsi shacecedasedaseane Outdoor Life ......... Parents Magazine People Today ... Photoplay ............. eke Pooulor Mechanics Mag, .... Popular Science Monthly .. Quality Romance Group Redbook Magazine ........ 7 2 Te ee sccm aedipagtions Saturday Evening Post .... Science & Mechanics ... Screenland Unit Screen Stars Screen Stories Seventeen i, a ee Boorts Afield ........:.«.0 SPIN sshshscsdbars cnscsnessraress Thrilling Fiction Group . Today's Woman . True True True True Confessions oper gacevtel DITWES IYO) Pe cashseisnt ids ittedeano? Experience . True Love Stories True Romonce ........ OES Ce Woman's Day BROERDOSKOL oo... sccresresscaseprsccevensssccoseecopicntb acces Woman’s Home Companion seeeenee Young ROMONCeE Group ....cceseceecceeeeseeeerenees June, 1954 June, 1951 Dec., 1949 60.565 65,874 57,578 95,900 85,734 76,108 74,344 99,529 87,834 95,985 76,687 75,440 133,676 83,315 77,369 101,167 96,338 89,048 113,045 123,756 145,043 45,049 43,877 53,090 49,038 31,455 31,960 31,297 26,870 28.612 158.797 103,686 70,125 42,365 33,961 Vabiabsseas 119,163 90,577 39,762 A 55,510 32,615 25.571 60,743 26,052. ee ea, 277,849 270,123 246,507 235.160 229,735 215,410 3/04 ee eM Siesyasisay doe = hadacosie ss 46.017 38,953 38,082 ANON? Siena ae ee DPD ELE RK GEE. OS A ele 214,191 193.217 186,370 28,515 BOM te esas 69.407 72,872 66,714 PUL WES ek TIS, ke I a ul ap a 49,371 46.928 seca 103,627 85,705 62,671 62,312 47,894 46,703 2 aU ee rae Nis Wa flags eiesntig 79,767 63,595 53,740 55.544 eters — oe OS oe 36,208 32 228 33,727 43.408 35.882 33,900 75.005 56,801 52,348 AO AS Ne. RG eatinkree = Se eRe disscbiaes 89.987 62 599 37.649 101,960 69,988 61,365 65.938 56,393 48,832 Th Ht KS age ale he Ve 20 8 Sa ee en oe 124.123 123,403 114,249 BOOS om ~ eektanes <cladediceey 283,706 200 922 189.834 45,013 39,787 42,126 71,802 71,109 56,619 QE AAD» a Mecigl as 26,215 30.567 53,384 61,538 27,570 35,133 37,007 39.067 29,472 39,367 25,195 43,798 41,194 167,736 77,138 87,619 113,414 96,324 100,323 75,478 52,357 54,295 54,548 43,149 49,893 46,597 61,617 55,179 221.479 141,458 239,856 208,071 KAN OF tere oe Xe Saiscetes 147 A89 132,209 VESEY PN et te PIS —— ee “pIEESe— DECEMBER 18, 1954 Strong, Mobile Position For RKO Predicted By Labow For 1955 Six major independent producers will be filming a minimum of 12 top-budgeted pictures—all of them in color and wide-screen process —for distribution by RKO with the start of 1955, Jack Labow, RKO Canadian general manager, reported from New York, where he is attending an RKO sales meeting. In addition, with six films curtently in release and a backlog of four completed and awaiting spring and summer release, the company is in the strongest, most mobile position it has been in since coming under the management of Howard Hughes. Each of the following independent units has a schedule of major attractions ready to go before the cameras in color and wide screen process for RKO release: Edmund Grainger Productions, King Brothers Productions. Benedict Bogeaus Productions, David Butler Productions, Nat Holt Productions and Sol Lesser Productions. Edmund Grainger has two deluxe pictures ready for filming in Technicolor and SuperScope: “The Treasure of Pancho Villa,” to be made in Northern Mexico, and a picturization of James Street’s, “Oh Promised Land.” Coast Just completed by Bogeaus for RKO release is “Escape to Burma,” while a second top-budget picture goes before the cameras in February. First of three to be produced and directed by David Butler, “Miracle at Santa Anita,” starts in January. In February King Brothers start their “The Boy and the Bull,” to be filmed in color and CinemaScope entirely in Spain, locale of the story. In June, cameras roll in England on “The Two-Headed Spy.” Nat Holt Productions has just completed “Seven Bad Men” (tentative title), filmed in Technicolor and SuperScope, while a second production, as yet untitled, is slated to start within six weeks. Already completed by Sol Lesser Productions is “Tarzan’s Hidden Treasure,” to be followed within the next few weeks by another Lesser film. tf. REGULAR THEATRE SERVICE Regular theatre service is more than ever essential to protect your large investment in screen, sound and projection equipment. And DSEL is the logical choice for Canadian exhibitors—branches in every large centre with large stocks of replacements for regular and fast emergency service. Avail yourself of this quality service from Canada’s oldest and largest theatre service organization. For complete details talk it over with your local DSEL representative. DOMINION SOUND EQUIPMENTS LIMITED HEAD OFFICE AT: 4040 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal DS-54-26 BRANCHES AT: Halifax, Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, North Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver.