Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Feb 25, 1956)

Page scan 0004 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 #:
0004
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, Early Cinema, and Global Cinema
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
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FEBRUARY 25, 1956 RANK STUDIO (Continued from Page 1!) will be made at Rank’s Pinewood Studios this year and the tentative program for 1957 is already taking shape. Drama and thrills are represented by: The Spanish Gardener, to be filmed in VistaVision and color, starring Britain’s No. 1 boxoffice star, Dirk Bogarde, in A. J. Cronin’s best-selling story. Checkpoint, VistaVision and color, offers unlimited thrills as Anthony Steel competes, with murder as his co-driver. House of Secrets, VistaVision, and color, reveals secrets of Interpol as this international police organization tracks down desperate counterfeiters in Paris and other cities of Europe. The Magnificent Leonardi reunites Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna, the dramatic team of A Town Like Alice, in an original and suspenseful story of a husbandand-wife mind-reading team who discover grim secrets. Doctor At Large, VistaVision and color, brings back Dirk Bogarde as Richard Gordon’s hilarious medico, the film to be produced and directed by the hit team who created Doctor In The House and Doctor At Sea. Up In The World, the fourth in the Wisdom series gives Norman his greatest opportunity yet as a window cleaner who uproariously foils an attempt to kidnap the spoilt son of a wealthy house. The Big Money, VistaVision and color, will establish Ian Carmichael in the highest class of light comedians in the laugh-a-line tale of a family of crooks. Vaughan Wilkins’ best-selling novel involving the last foreign landing on the British mainland, A King Reluctant, a story of the French Revolution, will come to the screen in all its thrilling magnificence; Ill Met By Moonlight, Stanley Moss’ account of the kidnapping of a German general in war-torn Crete, has the authentic British blend of humour and high adventure; Oasis Nine, takes the moviegoer to North Africa to witness a thrilling story of love and hate; Body Below is set in the West Indies, telling a taut story of shipwreck and murder; The Secret Place relates compellingly how a boy’s love for a girl is twisted to the uses of criminals; Tiger In The Smoke, from Mergery Allingham’s thriller, tells the gripping tale of a nightmare man-hunt through London. Already in production are Jacqueline, set in and around the vast “pIECECT shipyards of Belfast, which will consolidate John Gregson’s strong claim to international stardom; Eyewitness, starring Donald Sinden, and David Knight in a suspense story. Already in the cutting and editing stage are A Town Like Alice the dramatic story from Nevil Shute’s famous novel, which gives Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna the dramatic roles of the year. The Black Tent, VistaVision and Technicolor, largely filmed in the Tunisian desert, stars Anthony Steel, Donald Sinden and Italy’s Anna Maria Sandri in colourful adventure. Who Done It? gives filmgoers the chance to join Benny Hill’s 12,000,000 TV fans in joy at his comedy genius with glamorous Belinda Lee as the girl in the piece. The Long Arm tells how Scotland Yard pursues and cripples a safe-breaking gang, with Jack Hawkins as the detective superintendent. The Battle Of The River Plate is the Powell-Pressburger film in VistaVision and Technicolor filmed largely on location, which tells the classic story of the last days of the pocket battleship Graf Spee, starring Peter Finch as her gallant commander with John Gregson. Reach For The Sky is the magnificent story of the indomitable legless R.A.F. ace, Douglas Bader, and gives to Kenneth (More the most exacting role of his brilliant career. This month eve WITNES? reports on The Sports Car Fan (Ontario) John Furch—Glass Craftsman (Medicine Hat) Water Highways of the North (Alberta) (Ask for Eye Witness 80) Book THIS ALL-CANADIAN NATIONAL FILM BOARD SERIES EVERY MONTH THROUGH COLUMBIA PICTURES PROTEST (Continued from Page 1) coming when revisions to the amusement act are presented during the budget speech in March. At a recent special meeting of the Manitoba Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, when a progress report was given by secretary Ken Beach, on the latest activities of the Amusement Tax Committee, various exhibitors present, voiced a desire for drastic action, should the government not revise the amusement act sufficiently in aid of the individual country exhibitor, as well as the small exhibitor in greater Winnipeg. Operators of small theatres present at the meeting claimed that half measures would not solve the desperate situation they are faced with; the government will have to give them the full measure of tax relief they are asking for (elimination of all tax from tickets 50c and under), otherwise they will be forced to close. “OSCAR” CONTEST (Continued from Page 1) dreams of top industry leaders, with his announcement that over 500 theatres across Canada had joined in the project and that 12 of the top newspapers had agreed to co-sponsor. Mr. Chaplin urged that all cities and towns, large or small, who have not joined in, take immediate steps to participate and benefit from the wide-spread interest in this year’s Academy Award race. A phone call or wire to your nearest Exhibitor’s Association or to the Digest, will provide you with all necessary information. Reports sent in to Mr. Chaplin and gathered by Digest correspondents proves beyond a doubt that the industry as a whole was eagerly awaiting this type of promotion. The trojan work in Toronto set the pace for the entire country and bouquets are due to the committee headed by Jim Hardiman and Mort Margolius for the pattern set and to Jim Nairn, Archie Laurie and Jim Hardiman for arranging the Toronto Tely sponsorship. Latest reports show the following cities participating in the project. Vancouver, with 100% theatre participation, has the Vancouver Province co-sponsoring; Edmonton with the Journal sponsoring; Calgary with the Calgary Herald sponsoring; Lethbridge: Prince Albert; Regina; Saskatoon; Flin Flon with the Daily Reminder sponsoring; Winnipeg with the Tribune sponsoring; London with the Free Press sponsoring; Hamilton with the Spectator sponsoring; the Niagara Peninsula Managers Association in the following towns: Ni PAGE FIVE agara Falls, Niagara on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, Welland, Thorold, Grimsby, Port Colborne; Brantford with the Expositor sponsoring; Peterborough with the Examiner sponsoring; Oshawa; Kingston; Collingwood; all theatres of National Theatre Services; Ottawa with the Citizen, Journal and Le Droit sponsoring; Montreal with the Gazette sponsoring; Saint John and Halifax with the ChronicleHerald sponsoring. From Halifax, Freeman Skinner reports that a committee headed by Jim McDonough as _ campaign chairman, has been set up with Peter Herschorn, Freeman Skinner and Doug Smith as co-chairmen. Skinner reports that over $3,000 in prizes has been promoted to date, with the first prize a oneweek, all-expense round trip to Miami for two, second prize, a refrigerator and the third prize, an article worth over $300. Runner-up prizes will include a fur coat, electric range, ladies and men’s wearing apparel, luggage, movie camera, etc. The Halifax daily, the ChronicleHerald, as well as the local radio stations have pledged their support and the Mayor of Halifax will take part in the drawing ceremony in the lobby of the Capitol Theatre at the conclusion of the contest. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE Prepare Your Projectors For Magoptical or Magnetic Prints Order Now All Your Fox Hole Pad Rollers Sprockets & Nylon PERKINS ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED Toronto Moncton Montreal Vancouver Headquarters for Magnetic Single Track Equipments, as recommended by 20th Century-Fox