Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Dec 8, 1956)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Dec 8, 1956
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Dec 8, 1956)
Leaf #:
0000
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
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. 49 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY LIMITED RAY LEWIS FOUNDER 1915-1954 DECEMBER 8, 1956 Elvis Cops Toronto Headlines Press Coverage Tremendous For Love Me Tender” Special Show Toronto: For the first time in the history of the Motion Picture Industry in Toronto, a film opening at a local theatre captured the headlines in both evening newspapers, from the first edition right through By JAY L. SMITH beam I attended a private screening last Thursday night of the new J. Arthur Rank production, “The Battle of the River Plate’, and would like to go on record with the opinion that if the Rank studios can keep on turning out pictures of this quality and appeal, they will have no difficulty cracking the American market with their own distribution company. Personally, I have always been a sucker for British war films, ever since as a youngster in short pants 1 was taken to the oid Regent Theatre in Toronto to see such epics as “Ypres”, “The Flag Lieutenant”, “Zeebrugge”, etc. When it comes to this type of picture, somehow the British have a way of underplaying the dramatics so effectively, that you are convinced what you are seeing is the real thing. Such a picture is “The Battle of the River Plate”. Produced by Powell and Pressburger, a team that have achieved international fame with such previous hits as “The 49th Parallel”, “Stairway To Heaven”, and others, the picture holds the interest from the opening scene right through to the closing sequence. It is packed with suspense and excitement, as well as human interest. A man’s picture, it will prove of equal drawing power among the women, and the teen-agers and youngsters will find it as thrilling as a shoot-em-up western. As a box-office picture, it should not only equal, but exceed “Reach For The Sky”, which is JARO’s biggest hit in years, for “The Battle of the River Plate” has the added attraction of VistaVision and Technicolor, and I do not believe I have ever seen as magnificent color (Continued on Page 4) Norm Simpson New Para. Branch Mgr. Toronto: Gordon Lightstone, Canadian General Manager for Paramount, has announced the appointment of Norman Simpson, formerly salesman in the Winnipeg Branch, to the position of Saint John Branch Manager for Paramount, succeeding Robert Murphy, who last week tendered his resig (See SIMPSON Page 4) to the four-star final. The antics of 3,000 teen-age Elvis Presley fans, at the special morning matinee showing of 20th Century-Fox’s “Love Me Tender” at Shea’s Theatre, was the subject of the headlines of both the Toronto Daily Star, and the Evening Telegram, with several columns long frontpage articles backing up the headlines. Reporters from both papers, and from the CBC were on hand at (See PRESLEY Page 5) RKO To Release 14 Pix In First Six Months Of 1957 Toronto: Fourteen film productions, representing a total expendit ure of $33,000,000, will be released by RKO Radio Pictures during the first six months of 1957, it was announced last week by Jack Lebow, Canadian District for RKO. Spearheaded by the multiple million dollar aviation spectacle, “Jet Pilot,” starring John Wayne. one of the costliest productions ever filmed, the group of releases represents the strongest product lineup ever presented by RKO during a corresponding period. The program runs the full entertainment gamut, including spectacle, historical drama, adventure, (See RKO’s 14 Page 4) Emp-U Execs Attend U-I Sales Meeting Hollywood: Among those _attending the week-long Sales Executives Conference at the UniversalInternational Studios here this week, are A. W. Perry, President of Empire-Universal Films Limited, which distributes Universal’s product in Canada, Mark Plottel, Em (See EMP-U Page 5) Manager LEN BISHOP TO MANAGE HOLLYWOOD, TORONTO, WHEN F-P TAKE OVER DECEMBER 21 Odeon Hosts 00R Halifax: On Thursday, Nov. 22 and Friday Nov. 23 Odeon’s Oxford Theatre, Halifax played host to The Queen’s Own Rifles Battalion, which is at present in Halifax awaiting word to go to Egypt. It was split into two groups of ap (See ODEON Page 5) Two weeks prior to the opening of ‘Love Me Tender” at Shea’s, Sam Glasier, 20th-Fox’s Canadian publicity head, and Shea’s manager Len Bishop held a screening of the picture for the presidents and vice-presidents of the Elvis Presley Fan Clubs in Toronto. At this screening, arrangements were made for the special Saturday morning showing of the picture which was such a ‘roaring’ success. DORE SCHARY OUT AS M-G-M PRODUCTION CHIEF. BEN THAU TAKING OVER AS STUDIO ADMINISTRATOR. SOL SIEGEL SEEN AS LIKELY SUCCESSOR TO SCHARY.