Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jul 28, 1956)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Jul 28, 1956
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jul 28, 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 30, 2024
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JULY 28, 1956 ‘PEG DRIVE-IN (Continued from Page 1) According to one paper, Mr. Diamond will lodge a formal protest concerning alleged “theatre monopoly” in Winnipeg, with the Combines Investigation Commission in Ottawa. He alleges that the Circus Drive-In “is being prevented by other drive-in theatres and film distributors from getting the newer movies that the public wants.” He charges that three of Greater Winnipeg’s major drive-in theatres are chain-owned, and as such, are providing second and third-run_pictures in order that the chain’s downtown theatres are not hurt attendance-wise.” Mr. Diamond further stated, in reports carried in the daily press, that “many drive-in theatres in Eastern Canada and the United States are showing first-run moying pictures.” When the Circus started letting people in for nothing, the legality of its stand on taxes was checked, as the Circus pays no provincial amusement or “seat” tax on its free admissions. Says the provincial government: “Inasmuch as the highest price is nil, and the tax is 10 per cent of nil, the tax is nil.” Diamond’s charges have been refuted by theatre chain owners, who state that as “downtown movie theatres pay the distributors more than neighborhoods or drive-ins ~“BIGEST can,” therefore naturally they get first-runs. Meanwhile, the free admissions every night at the Circus Drive-In are bringing in capacity crowds, forcing the management to turn cars away. Reports here are that the concession stand is doing a booming business, grossing as high as $2,500 per week, giving the theatre a satisfactory profit on its Operations, since it is paying a nominal flat rental to the distribubutors for the pictures it is obtaining. N. B. Diamond’s charges of “monopoly” were termed “ridiculous” by representatives of both exhibitors and distributors contacted by The Digest. As one theatre executive pointed out, the “bidding” system of picture-buying ing in the U.S. has resulted in a number of drive-ins obtaining first-run pictures in opposition to regular theatres, but this does not apply in Canada. In certain smaller situations, where there is possibly only one regular theatre, plus a drive-in, the regular theatre cannot possibly absorb all the product released during a year from all the distributors, and the drive-in, as a result buys pictures which the regular theatre must pass uv. However, in the majority of all situations, the regular theatre charges considerably higher admission scale than the drive-ins, and since most top features are sold on percentage UA Title Change Hollywood: The title of Bel-Air Productions’ “Wanton Murder” has been changed to “Black Stockings.” The mystery, based on Peter Godfrey’s novel, will begin principal photography, on location at Kanab, Utah, on July 30 for United Artists release. terms, the distributors naturally prefer to sell to the regular theatres first, and subsequently to the drive-ins. Insofar as the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association is concerned, the whole affair in Winnipeg is strictly an exhibitors’ problem, according to Clare Appel, executive secretary of the Association, who pointed out that the Association, as a body, could not, and would not, take any stand on the argument. “The individual distributors have a perfect right to sell their product to the Circus Drive-In, or any other exhibitor in Canada, as they see fit,” said Mr. Appel. “The Association never interferes in any manner, with the companies’ sales policies, and any suggestion of ‘monopoly’ as far as the distributors are concerned is completely false.” Licensee of the Circus Drive-In is Max Shnier, brother-in-law of Harold Diamond, who manages the theatre. Shnier is Branch Manager for IFD in Winnipeg. PAGE FIVE Lloyd Nolan Cast Hollywood: Lloyd Nolan has been signed by Copa Productions to co-star with Tyrone Power and Mai Zetterling in “Seven Waves Away,” which is before the CinemaScope cameras in London. Richard Sale directs the Columbia release from his own screenplay, with Ted Richmond as executive producer and John R. Sloan producing. Sturges To Complete Hemingway Picture Hollywood: John Sturges has een signed by Leland Hayward to complete the direction of “The Old Man and the Sea,” film version of Ernest Hemingway’s Nobel and Pulitzer Prize novel which Hayward is producing for Warner Bros.’ presentation, with Spencer Tracy in the starring role, following the resignation of Fred Zinneman, the starting director. U-I Buys Indie Film Hollywood: Universal-International has completed negotiations with Jewel Enterprises for the acquisition of “Beast of the Amazon,” starring John Bromfizld and Beverly Garland. The completed film, directed by Curt Siodmak from his own original, was filmed in its entirety in color in the head hunters region of the upper Amazon with the assistance of the Brazilian government. ASTRALS GREAT ARE USER iae OTHELLO Cannes Prize Winner TWELFTH NIGHT ROMEO AND JULIET MARRIAGE OF FIGARO EVENING OF CHEKHOV MOUSSORGSK Y | YOUNG CHOPIN BORIS GODUNOV THE GRASSHOPPER AND 12 OTHERS ALL IN MAGIC COLOR A Special Presentation Plan Has Been Arranged — Bookings and Information ASTRAL FILMS LIMITED WALNUT 2-3163 130 CARLTON ST. TORONTO