Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Feb 23, 1957)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Moving Picture Digest

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest
Date:
Feb 23, 1957
Volume:
Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Feb 23, 1957)
Leaf #:
0000
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 04, 2024
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: CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE JAY L. SMITH EDITOR AND PUBLISHER VOL. 49, NO. 8 FORTY-SECOND YEAR OF PUBLICATION FIRST WITH THE FILM NEWS IN CANADA Published by CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST COMPANY LIMITED 1915-1957 RAY LEWIS FOUNDER 1915-1954 FEBRUARY 23, 1957 Canadian Trade Papers Merged! After 41 Years Of Publication The Digest Sold To Film Weekly Toronto: A joint announcement was made this week by N. A. Taylor and Hye Bossin, President and Vice-President respectively of Film Publications of Canada Limited, publishers of the Canadian Film By JAY L. SMITH beam This is undoubtedly the most difficult column I have had to write in the two years and eight months since I took over as Editor and Publisher of The Digest, upon the death of my late mother, Ray Lewis. It is the most difficult, because it is my last. In the past three years, when writing the weekly column, which I have honestly and sincerely enjoyed, there was “always the saving thought, that if I pulled a “boner”, or muffed a quote, I could always correct it, with a suitable apology, in the following week’s issue, or at a later date. This time, that “insurance” clause is missing, and any errors, or omissions that appear in this week’s column, will have to stand, for with this issue, the Canadian Moving Picture Digest ceases publication, after 41 years of continuous service to the Motion Picture Industry in Canada. Those of you reading this column, who are my personal friends, know only too well, the sad circumstances under which I returned to Canada from Phoenix, Arizona, to take over ‘as Editor and Publisher of The Digest. You also know, that it\was never my intention to remain in Toronto permanently due to a health problem of bronchial asthma which I have had almost all of my life. I am deeply grateful\for the Support and consideration which the Industry has given me, and The Digest, since the untimely Passing of my beloved mother, and illustrious predecessor. I have never made any pretence of filling the footsteps of Ray Lewis. I knoW;-2as well as all of you, that (Continued on Page 4) Bears Award ominees Named Hollywood: Nominations for the 29th annual Academy Awards were announced here Monday night by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominated for the Best Picture of 1956 are: (See NOMINATIONS Page 5) Weekly, and Jay L. Smith, Editor and Publisher of the Canadian Moving Picture Digest, to the effect that Film Publications of Canada Limited have purchased all the shares of the Canadian Moving Picture Company Limited. and commencing with next week’s issue, will incorporate The Digest with the Film Weekly. (See MERGER Page 4) Frank Lawson Named Assistant To Charles Mason At JARFD Toronto: Frank Lawson, Manager of the Odeon Danforth, Toronto has been named as assistant to Advertising and Publicity Director, Charles Mason of J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors. In announcing the appointment, General Manager Frank Vaughan said that the reason for creating the new position, was to increase the scope of the publicity department and afford Charles Mason more opportunities to visit exhibitors and press representatives across the country. (See FRANK LAWSON Page 4) Controversal Films Run Over CBC-TV Toronto: The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. announced that it has decided to book for its television network a National Film Board picture called “The Street” which deals with the rehabilitation of a prostitute, but the program would be shown as a “late movie” when juveniles should be in bed. The CBC also plans on getting a TV film series from the United Kingdom in one sequence of which the birth of a human baby -is (See CBC-TV Page 4) Six Tagged “Adult” Toronto: The Ontario Board of Moving Picture Censors has clas ’ sified the following features as Adult Entertainment: “The Great Man”, “A Woman's Devotion”, “Four Boys and a Gun”, “Guilty”, “Runaway Daughters” and “Wicked As They Come”. Jolley Addresses Service Clubs Toronto: Arch H. Jolley, executive secretary of the MPTAO, spoke Feb. 7 at a joint meeting of the. three service clubs in Paris, Ont., at the White Horse Inn when a gathering of eighty members heard his address on the subject of “What a theatre means to a community.” He was introduced by Kent Craig of Hamilton who recently took over the Capitol Theatre, Paris, which had been closed for nine months. UA Releasing 23 Pix In 5 Months Including 10 Blue Chip Specials New York: William J. Heineman, United Artists Vice-President in charge of distribution, announced at the opening session of the 1957 sales convention in New York that the company will launch a new “blockbuster” releasing program next month that will place 10 blue chip features in distribution from March through July. This represents the greatest concentration of top quality product ever released by .UA in a five-month period and approximately doubles the past rate of “blockbuster” distribution. (See UA BLOCKBUSTER Page 5) Another Bomb Hoax Ottawa: For the second time in a month a theatre in Ottawa had a ‘bomb scare on Feb. 9 when Manager Frank Gallop of the Centre, owned by Don Stapleton, received an. anonymous telephone call which warned that the structure would be blown up at 10 P.M. ~ (See BOMB HOAX Page 4)