Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 18, 1943)

Page scan 0002 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Aug 18, 1943
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 18, 1943)
Leaf #:
0002
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
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.

J Se. Vol. 8, No. 34 WILLIAM A. SCULLY Vice-president and general sales manager of Universal, in Toronto, for the EmpireUniversal sessions. He was a guest of honor at a gettogether following the Universal meeting. Vandalism Trailers In United States National Screen Service in the USA has completed a trailer dealing with vandalism. It points out that the vandals are working for Hitler and asks patrons to cooperate in revealing them. No Canadia equivalent of the trailer has been announced here. Hope Tour Short Film record of Bob Hope’s English visit will be issued as a short by Paramount. WALTER KENNEDY The popular general manager of Sovereign ¥Fiims, which distributes Universal 16 mm. reels in the Dominion. COAST-TO-COAST COVERAGE Durbin Aces. ‘Profession’ OK “HERS TO HOLD” UNIVERSAL (Running Time: 93 Mins.) After a period of indecision about how to meet Deanna Durbin’s emergence from teenhood. Her latest, ‘Hers to Hold,” is just about guaranteed to return the Canadian-born thrush to her old place as the sweetheart of the boxoffice. Durbin is decidedly adult in the film. Her childhood charm has been allowed to depart on time and she is now a pleasant lady willing to practice wiles to get her man. This concession to common honesty makes Durbin a real North American girl. Despite the fact that the studio has built an ample production with several eye-filling changes of scene, it is obvious that the success of the picture, a blend*of music, comedy and drama, owes its success to the direction of Frank Ryan. It is fast-moving and filled with fun. Whenever the consistent flow of humor begins to trickle it is speeded up sharply with a very funny piece of business. Musically it is grand. Recent Durbin pictures have had the star more or less marking time until a song sequence. In “Hers to Hold” the public is kept interested all the way and Durbin sings now and then as a matter of course. She renders such old favorites as “Kashmiri Song, “Seguidilla” from ‘Carmen,” and “Begin the Beguine.” The new number is “Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There.” Durbin, the daughter of rich Charles Winninger, is made a pass at by Joseph Cotten while both are in a hospital donating blood to the Red Cross. Cotten thinks he’s kidding but it’s no joke to Durbin. From then on she pursues Cotten until she gets him. The male has softened up in the course of the chase but won’t give in because, as an ex-Flying Tiger, he’s due back in the service. Meanwhile he’s an. aircraft worker and Durbin gets a job in the plant to spur the romance. There’s a swell look at a big plane plant in operation. Doing well in the film are Gus Schilling, Evelyn Ankers, Samuel S. Hinds and particularly Ludwig Stossel. “THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION” REGAL (Running Time: s1 Mins.) Plenty of comedy on an uncommon subject is what “The Youngest Profession” is. That subject is autograph collecting and the comedy is divided between the awe of the graphological gremlins in the presence of their heroes and their ourgangish comedy at home. What takes it out of the class of a run-of-the-mill feature are the guest appearances of Greer Garson, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Taylor and William Powell. Taylor, Garson and Pidgeon are shown dealing kindly with the obvious nuisances. Each star does more than a walk-on—but not much more. The regular cast contains Edward Arnold, Virginia WeidJer, John Carroll, Marta Linden, Agnes Moorehead, Sara Haden and plenty of others. They perform admirably in what is lightweight material. But juvenile personality and occasional hunks of solid slapstick give it substance. The best acting performance belongs to Agnes Moorehead as a trouble-making governess. When called to add comedy to a witchy role she comes through admirably. Of the others, the work of Jean Porter as a bug-eyed, open-mouthed worshipper of movie stars stands out. Virginia Weidler is the president of the high school fan club. The news that Greer Garson is in town sends her on the trail. With Jean Porter, her girl friend, she even has tea with Garson, meeting Walter Pidgeon there—but none will believe her. There are a number of such chases. The other plet has te do with Weidier’s attempts to keep father Edward Arnold from leaving mother Marta Linden— a mistaken idea planted in her mind by the malicious Moorehead. The complications end with the rescue of Weidler from the ranks of the Salvation Army, which she has joined for atonement. It’s a bright, laughable film. lively and will be the star mated cartoon series to be produced by Dave Fleischer, head of the company’s cartoons departnent. The boy from the hills, August 18, 1943 JAMES R. GRAINGER President of Republic Pictures, in Toronto, for the Empire-Universal sales meeting, whe was honored by his friends with a dinner at the Royal York Hotel. "Li'l Abner’ in New Columbia Cartoons “Lil Abner,” the comic strip character with the southern drawl, of a Columbia ani 7 whose antics have already been depicted in a feature film, will have the benefit of color animation. FRANK J. McCARTHY Head of the Eastern and Seuthern divisions of UWniYersal, In Toronto, for the Emp-U convention,