Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Feb 25, 1956)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Feb 25, 1956
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Feb 25, 1956)
Leaf #:
0000
Language:
English
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Global Cinema, Early Cinema, and Canada
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, 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, 48, NO. 9 UT CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE FIRST WITH THE FILM NEWS IN CANADA Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY LIMITED RAY LEWIS FOUNDER 1915-1954 FEBRUARY 25, 1956 *“Oscar’’ Contest Sweeps Canada By JAY L. SMITH beam Canadian interest demy Awards this year is at a new high, both among exhibitors and the public, thanks to the Oscar Derby being promoted by the Public Relations Committee of the Motion Picture Industry Council here. Prizes running into many thousands of dollars have already been lined up and confirmed for the Canadian scheme, including four new 1956 Oldsmobiles, and a number of allexpense-paid trips to Hollywood, New York, etc. On Saturday evening last, the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors sponsored a telecast of the Academy Award nominations, which will serve as the basis for the final balloting, to take place March 21st. These same nominations, of course, will also serve as the basis on which the balloting will take place in approximately 500 theatres participating in the Canadian plan. Unlike last year, when one motion picture, “On The Waterfront” dominated the entire list of nominations, no single picture seems destined to sweep the field, “Marty”, the Hecht-Lancaster production for U.A. release, is tied with 20th-Fox’s “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” with eight nominations in various categories. However, this, in itself, ‘is of more than considerable interest, in view of the fact that while the Fox CinemaScope picture cost at least $2,000,000 to produce, the U.A. release was a “quickie” from a production standpoint, being completed in 19 days at a cost of only $343,000. Nominated for the Best Picture of the Year are: “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” (20th-Fox); “Marty” (U.A.); “Mister Roberts” (Continued on Page 4) in the Aca Over 500 Houses Participating With 12 Top Papers Sponsoring Toronto: Last Saturday’s Academy Award nominations announcement received top coverage across the length and breadth of Canada as the result of the “Oscar” contest developed by Charles Chaplin’s Public Tax Protest Planned By Man. Rural Exhibs Winnipeg: A delegation of rural exhibitors has demanded that all theatres in the province of Manitoba close for one day as a gesture of dissatisfaction if inadequate amusement tax relief is not forth (See PROTEST Page 5) Relations Committee of the Motion Picture Industry Council. The wide-spread acceptance of the entire industry to this first public relations project on the part of the newly revived committee, Chap!in stated, will be translated into additional projects before the year is out. Chaplin, confirmed the wildest (See “OSCAR” CONTEST Page 5) ‘Motion Pictures Still World’s Greatest Entertainment’’—Balaban Toronto: Gordon Lightstone, Paramount’s Canadian general manager, released last week-end excerpts of an important press conference held by Barney Balaban in New York. The excerpts follow. “IT have just returned from a visit to our Hollywood studio devoted to screening completed new pictures and to setting our picture plans and projects for the near future with our production heads, (See BALABAN Page 4) “Canadian Lancers” New York: Walter Branson, RKO Vice President in Charge of World-Wide Distribution, has announced that “Canadian Lancers” will be released March 16 as the eighth of the RKO-Pathe 1955-56 Sportscope series. Produced in Halifax, Nova Scotia, “Canadian Lancers” concerns a crack riding group of boys and girls from 8 to 14 years of age who wear the uniforms of the famous Bengal Lancers of India. Woven into the action of this single reel is the story of a 6-year-old girl, too young to join the troop, who stows away on the train taking them to participate in an anniversary celebration. Finding her, the Lancers make her their mascot. Tent 28 Continues Luncheon Meetings Toronto: The noon luncheon meeting of the Toronto Variety Club in January was so successful that the Crew decided to give a repeat performance for the February business session which was called for the same place, the Shera (See TENT 28 Page 3) ned I s SH SISK yi Manitoba Theatres Promote Bingo Winnipeg: Bingo is becoming an increasingly important Theatre boxoffice stimulant in the Prairie Provinces. There are now over 40 theatres in Manitoba and Sasketchewan alone running Theatre Bingo, and it has just started in Winnipeg’s Western Circuit in the Roxy Theatre. All exhibitors report that Bingo has more than doubled, and in some cases, tripled their business. As a result of the importance of Bingo, Theatre Posters in Winnipeg, are now supplying a com (See BINGO Page 3) 20 From Rank Studio In 1956 16 In VistaVision & Color London: Visit many countries from the comfort of your theatre seat is the theme for 1956, according to news just released from the Rank Studios, who are filming in Spain, Italy, France, the West Indies and North Africa to name a few location spots. A great new production plan calls for 20 major films already planned, with more to follow, 16 in VistaVision and color, in addition to eight others now in the final stages of editing and cutting. Subjects range through comedy, drama, romance and open-air adventure, and never before has a British studio planned so thoroughly, with shooting schedules, cast° ing and production arrangements made on a comprehensive, longterm basis. Eighteen to twenty films (See RANK STUDIO Page 5)