Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 16, 1942)

Page scan 0003 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Sep 16, 1942
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 16, 1942)
Leaf #:
0003
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
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
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.

Canadian FILM WEEKLY September 16th, 1942 * SLES reas Sa. New Reviews PIERRE OF THE PLAINS (Regal) Pleasant picturization of a brawling, lusty Canuck in Saskatchewan, with feeble attempts to give it a Canadian touch. Kind of a Western. With John Carroll, Ruth Hussey, Bruce Cabot, Henry Travers, Reginald Owen and Evelyn Ankers. An even half of a double bill. THE BIG STREET (RKO) The Damon Runyon characters caper in their peculiar way in this fanciful yarn of a crippled but imperious ex-star and her love-smitten stooge. Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Eugene Pallette, Sam Levine, Barton MacLane, Louise Beavers and Ozzie Nelson and his band. Good escapist feature. UNITED WE STAND (20th Century-Fox) Patchy history of the world since the Versailles treaty and the events leading up to the present conflict. Needs something light on the bill to balance but can be sold well. ‘MAJOR AND THE MINOR, THE (Paramount) First-rate feature in which the audience is asked to accept Ginger Rogers as a 12-year-old for most of it. She does well, too. It’s novel. Ray Milland, Rita Johnson and Robert Benchley. HERE WE GO AGAIN (RKO) Fibber McGee and Molly, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Ginny Simms and Ray Noble and band. Some music but the usual radio capers. It has a guaranteed patronage. Reviewed Earlier ACROSS THE PACIFIC (Vitagraph) Crackerjack follow-up to ‘Maltese Falcon.” Spy stuff. Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Keye Luke. > ARE HUSBANDS NECESSARY? (Paramount) Ripe and prclonged laughter for adults, About a wife with an adolescent mind and a tolerant husband. Wifie’s nitwitiness causes constant trouble but everything turns out okay. Ray Milland, Betty: Field, Eugene Pallette, Leif Erikson and Patricia Morison. ARMY SURGEON (RKO) Story of medicos under fire told in flashback to Great War I. James Ellison, Kent Taylor and Jane Wyman. Top-notch topper. ATLANTIC CONVOY (Columbia) Tight, suspenseful little drama about spies in Iceland that has much to recommend it from a standpoint of timeliness and mystery. Virginia Field, Clifford Severn, John Beal, Victor Kilian and Bruce Bennett. & XHIBITORS BOOKING _ASSOCIATION A thoroughly reliable, tried and proven buying and booking service for Independent Theatre Owners. @ 21 DUNDAS SQUARE Toronto Phone: Adelaide 4316 Frank Meyers, Manager Reviewed Earlier BAMBI (RKO) Mr. Disney has turned out his best yet. The story of the growth of a fawn in the woods told in beautiful color. It has a waiting audience of old and young. BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON (Paramount) Technicolor escape fare about a jungle search to find proof of inheritance. Dorothy Lamour is a daughter of the wilds and Richard Denning is her loin-skinned sweetheart. Cliffhanger stuff. Walter Abel, Jack Haley, Patricia Morison, Ann Todd and one musical number. BIG BLOCKADE, THE (Esquire) ‘Interesting documentary made in England and showing the Ministry of Economic Warfare in action. Leslie Banks, Robert Morley, Michael Redgrave and Will Hay. BILLY THE KID TRAPPED (PRC) A good Western action-thriller fon the short end. Billy gets out of jail to catch up with a mob posing as his and doing bad deeds. Buster Crabbe, Al St. John and the rest of the outfit. BLONDIE FOR VICTORY Blondie forgets her wifely duties because of patriotic fervor. Dagwood pretends to join the army to bring her back to the kitchen. In the same popular groove. Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Stuart Erwin, Larry Sims and Jonathan Hale. BOMBS OVER BURMA (PRC) Good filler for action fans dealing with a. Nazi agent on the Burma Road. EAGLE SQUADRON (Universal) Swell picture of Yanks in the RAF with some prize air fight stuff. Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore, John Loder, Leif Erikson, Evelyn Ankers, John Hall, Nigel Bruce, Gladys Cooper and Eddie Albert. ENEMY AGENTS MEET ELLERY QUEEN (Columbia) Worthwhile addition to the series. About Nazi diamond thieves robbing refugees of their smuggled ice. William Gargan, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, Sig Ruman, Gale Sondergaard, Gilbert Roland and James Burke. FIRST COMANDO, THE (Esquire) A top-grade picture about an Englishman who outwits the Nazis, recovering important machines under their noses and racing them to the coast and safety. Clifford Evans, Constance Cummings and Robert Morley. FLIGHT LIEUTENANT (Columbia) Well-played air drama with good names. Glenn Ford is the young flyer son of a disgraced aviator father, Pat O’Brien. The old man kicks off to redeem himself in the eyes of all. Evelyn Keyes, Jonathan Hale, Minor Watson and Frank Puglia. FOOTLIGHT SERENADE (20th Century-Fox) Betty Grable, a showgirl, loves John Payne while being loved by Victor Mature, prizefight champ starring in the show in which Payne and Grable work. Good entertainment and plenty of music, though on a modest scale. Phil Silvers and James Gleason. GLASS KEY, THE (Paramount) High-class murder mystery about civic corruption with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, Frances Gifford, Joseph: Calleia and William Bendix. Full of suspense, swell scene-staging and featuring a great performanee by Bendix as a cruel hoodlum. HOLIDAY INN (Paramount) Here’s a hit. Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Walter Abel, Louise Beavers and Virginia Dale, along with a swell score by Irving Berlin, make an outstanding musical. HI, NEIGHBOR (Republic) Nice musical about college, the farm and matrimony which shows off radio talent. Pappy Chesire, John Archer, Janet Parker, Janet Beecher, Lullubelle and Scotty, Vera Vague and Don Wilson. (Continued on Page 7)