Canadian Film Weekly (May 6, 1942)

Page scan 0006 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
May 6, 1942
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (May 6, 1942)
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Global Cinema, and Canada
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Canadian Film Weekly

  • Editor: Hye Bossin (1942-64)
  • Renamed Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly (1965-69, editor: Stan Helleur)
  • Renamed Candian Film Weekly(1970, editor: Ed Hocura)

Canadian Film Weekly (1942-70) was edited by Hye Bossin and published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., wholly owned by leading exhibitor, Nat Taylor. In the late 1930s, Taylor was head of the Independent Theatre Association and his Toronto-based chain, Twinex-Century (Twentieth Century), was the largest independent circuit in the country. In 1941, however, he negotiated for chain affiliation with upstart Canadian Odeon before leveraging a better deal and greater booking control with nationally-dominant Famous Players Canada, Ltd. No longer independent, he took ownership of the Independent Theatre Association’s semi-monthly magazine, The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (1940-41), installed Hye Bossin as editor, and laid plans to relaunch in January 1942 under a new name, Canadian Film Weekly. This enduring key publication was no longer solely focused on independent exhibitors but instead covered the entire industry on a national scale–exhibition, distribution and production–with some attention given to studio news from New York and Hollywood.

Bossin was a vibrant writer with a canny way with words, admired in the industry in the United States as well as Canada. He was one of a large family who lived above their father’s secondhand shop in the Jewish “ward” downtown in Toronto. His older brother was a bookie with ties to the underground; his younger brother was a famous journalist, protégé of Walter Winchell, and Hollywood screenwriter. In contrast, Hye spent nearly two decades learning the publishing trade in a printers’ shop before trying a stint as a Hollywood publicist, then writing a column for the Toronto Star Weekly before taking Taylor’s offer to edit the Film Weekly. Bossin was central to the creation of the Canadian Film Archive, the Canadian Film Awards, and he wrote some of the first histories of early cinema in Canada, published in the first volumes of the annual Canadian Film Weekly Year Book (1951-70).

In 1957, the Film Weekly had incorporated the rival Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1917-57), and began dating its start to that paper’s earlier start as the Canadian Universal Bulletin (1915-18). Subsequent variants of the Canadian Film Weekly and its yearbooks always claimed their roots all the way back to 1915 and the origins of the film industry trade press in Canada. After Bossin died in 1964, the Weekly’s new editor, Stan Helleur, renamed the magazine Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, scaling back the pace of publishing but adding a purview for television and broadcasting. The annual was renamed similarly, its subtitle amended to “Year Book of the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” An attempted renewal to weekly format in 1970, edited by Ed Hocura, was short-lived and Nat Taylor decided instead to relaunch under an entirely new title, Canadian Film Digest (1971-77) and Canadian Film Digest Yearbook (1971-86).

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

  • Bossin, Hye. “Canada and the Film: The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 21-41. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951.
  • Moore, Paul. “Chronicling a National History: Hye Bossin’s Canadian Film Weekly and Year Book.” In Eric Hoyt and Kelley Conway, eds., Global Movie Magazines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024.

Date Added:
August 08, 2024
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May 6th, 1942 The British Keep | Right At It You can’t beat the British for imperturbability. There was a time when that quality in the English character was _ inseparable from complacency in the minds of many. But any such impression has vanished in the face of the superb manner in which the people of the Isles go about their appointed tasks regardless of the desperate measures of the Luftwaffe to knock them off their course. The surest evidence of this indifference to violent opposition is the annual report of the Association of Cine Technicians, the union of the workers of the motion picture industry. The membership of this organization has nearly doubled in the past year and it is 50 per cent higher than its previous top figure in 1936. Much of this is due to the continuance and development of the film as an instrument of Government policy, to the increasing production of propaganda films by, or on behalf of, the Ministry of Information, to, no less, the huge programs undertaken by and for the various Service units, the Army Film Unit, the RAF Film Unit and the lesser body which at present is working on behalf of the Admiralty. Beside this special war activity, the British are continuing their usual cinema chores of making dramas and comedies for domestic entertainment and for overseas exportation. Every available film production unit is operating at top speed and maximum capacity. The recent past has seen the presentation of more than one ambitious and worthy film. Many more are planned for immediate production and it is certain that, unless the military situation becomes worse, or Britain is subject to invasion, there will be no unemployment among British film workers this year. An added stimulus to British film production is the presence of American troops. There, as in Australia, Sunday blue laws are still enforced, but also as in Australia, the week-end entertainment of the American soldiers has become a problem, one that the motion pictures can go a long ways in solving. Even now a precedent on Sunday opening in Britain has been created by the intervention of the war office in Northern Ireland. The Belfast Corporation refused to allow Sunday entertainments. The war office took the initiative and ordered a show to be given at a Belfast music hall. The show was given and attended by troops in the city. Canadian FILM WEEKLY What’s going on out there? Don’t Be in the Dark! Read VOICE ef the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY Covering Canada's Film Front Page 7 {Famous Players Kickback Huge According to President J. J. Fitzgibbons’ announcement at the annual meeting of Famhous Players’ stockholders, the big circuit turned back $5,500,000 in taxes last year. This is the total of the various taxes levied by the federal, provincial and local governments. He also revealed that the payroll of Famous last year was $4,400,000. Fitzgibbons, in addressing the stockholders, pointed out that “rapid changes in the social life of our public have been reflected in the greater demand for comedy, melodrama and action pictures.” He added that greater interest has been shown in topical subjects, particularly in newsreels and documentary films. He concluded by saying that “the motion picture screen must be preserved vigorous and intact to play its important role in the world construction that must follow after peace with victory and to this end we pledge our services.” At the annual meeting of the board, also held during the past week, Fitzgibbons was reelected president; R. W. Bolstead, v.p. and treasurer; N. G. Barrow, secretary; L. G. Geering and J. A. Troyer, assistant secretaries; A. MacCunn and W. E. Kerr, assistant treasurers. Those reelected to the board were Fitzgibbons, Bolstead, Barney Balaban, Barrow, Wendell Farris, Stanton Griffis, Austin C. Keough, MacCunn, N. S. Robertson and H. P. Robinson. Canadian Film Execs Toast Donald Crisp Donald Crisp, 1942 Academy winner for his work in “How Green Was My Valley,” was the guest in Toronto last week of the Canadian Motion Picture War Services Committee. The event was a special luncheon at the King Edward Hotel under the sponsorship of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. Mr. Crisp was in Toronto in connection with a tourist-luring broadcast by the Ontario government. N. L. Nathanson, chairman of the War Services Committee, acted as toastmaster and introduced Mr. Crisp. Those present, beside Mr. Nathanson, were Lt.-Col. John A. Cooper, Leo Devaney, Alf Perry, Tom Bragg, Ray Lewis, Clair Hague, Oscar Hanson, Jack Arthur, Bob Eves, J. P. O’Loghlin, Ed Wells, Glenn Ireton, Harry Alexander and Morris Stein.