Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 30, 1942)

Page scan 0007 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Sep 30, 1942
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 30, 1942)
Leaf #:
0007
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, 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 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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Canadian FILM WEEKLY TRAILER AND PRESS BOOKS AVAILABLE 13 REELS COMPLETED... 13 IN PRODUCTION Weekly Release—Running Time 9 Minutes “MOVIE QUIZ” builds civilian morale . .. Victory Bonds or War Stamps given to highest scores. Help your country and help yourself.” G % JOHN Ww. COHN VICTORIA ST. “ gf Exclusive TORONTO, ONT. ae Canadian Distributor TEST YOUR “I. 0." WITH “M.Q.°/ 1 1 } a ees eS 6606660808 8 Se September 30, 1942 Chuck Had Bats— But Not in Belfry Charlie “Chuck” Smith, the laughing lad who manages the Royal, North Bay, told how Nature takes care of the eternal fitness of things—even in theatres. Chuckieboy was running Monogram’s “Spooks Run Wild” in his house and the patrons were indulging in that form of horrified joy known to those who go for the cinematic chilly-willies. Suddenly the patrons became aware of whirling and whirring forms in the dark above their heads. Four bats had gotten into the theatre somehow and were doing the loop-the-loops! The folks, thinking it was planned, got a kick out of it. It’s said that another manager, with the same picture booked, tried to borrow Charlie’s trained bats. Chuck, incidentally, is headed for the navy. Well, there’s something about a sailor and there’s something about Chuck Smith. Put them both together and you have one helluva human cocktail. Ontario Pastor Pans "Birth of a Baby’ Pioneer’s record-breaking film, “Birth of a Baby,” which was sponsored by the Department of Pensions and National Health, didn’t sell itself to Rev. B. Babcock of Newmarket, Ontario. The showing of the film, which was endorsed by cabinet ministers and top medicos. drew the following letter to the editor of the Newmarket Era and Express: “After all has been said, there are many people in Newmarket and vicinity who are opposed to the ‘Birth of a Baby’ film advertised in your paper. We look upon it'as a reproach on modesty and a harmful thing to the morals of our rising generation. Our prayers for peace will not avail much while our morals are low.” “Birth of a Baby” did big business just the same. St. Kitts Managers Help S. A. Drive Motion picture managers in St. Catharines, Ontario, have set up & special committee to assist the Home Front campaign of the Salvation Army in the city. The mark is $10,000. Kent Craig of the Capitol is chairman of the committee, which consists of Roy Miller, Lincoln, Leo Coyle, Granada, Sam Freedman, Centre and Dewey McCourt, Palace. Boyle is handling advertising and Miller the collecting. They did the same thing before to stage a picnic for soldiers’ wives.