Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 15, 1943)

Page scan 0005 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 15, 1943
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 15, 1943)
Leaf #:
0005
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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Page 6 Canadian FILM WEEKLY December 15, 1948 Do You Remember Bitlee Smith? I sets on the British Empire and the same may be applied to that large but none-the-less select group who comprise “show business.” If through circumstances one retires from the business, his heart is still with it and the memories are so strong that they stay with him for the balance of his life. . Probably he has saved scrap books which he looks at now and again in order to bring back vividly the grand old days. Such a man is William C. Smith, now proprietor of the smartest little pub and hotel in Southern England. Called the Rydal Hotel and situated in New Milton, Hampshire, it is hidden behind a high hedge but once inside the hospitality is of the same quality as one finds in a Canadian theatre. And Billee (correct) Smith is just the one who would know about that. He was a Canadian showman many years ago and knew the film business in Canada from end to end, although more particularly in the Maritimes. Formerly on the stage at St. John, N.B., before the last war, he became one of the most aggressive exhibitors and exchange managers the city ever That was during the last knew. but | your present sound equipment must last for the duration. regular service! DOMINIO 2 | SEE bright things ahead for the postwar | theatre... T IS said that the sun never A Canadian Visitor in England Chanced On An Old Friend of Many of Our Showmen And Wrote This Interesting Article war. Proudly displayed in his pub are framed letters from people still widely known in the business. And in his voluminous scrap books are many echoes of the past. Though Smith left St. John for San Francisco in 1918, he still has many memories of his Canadian show days. One of the first persons he asked for when I met him was Archie Mason, of the Capitol, Springhill, and now mayor of that place. With Mason, then at the Imperial, St. John, Smith, who was managing the Empress, worked out many improvements in the presentation of films and bands. MITH wanted to know about Joe Leiberman and Mitch Bernstein, now of the B. & L. circuit, and A. Garson, who owns the Garrick in Halifax, the Kent in Moncton and other houses. Young Garson, Smith said, was really more responsible than anyone else for his going into the film game. Tom Daley came to his mind. He wanted to know what Daley, now manager of the Imperial, Toronto, —** © = Conserve it with N SOUND EQUIPMENTS LIMITED Head Office: 1620 Notre Dame Street West, Montreal feswceus ay HALIFAX TORONTO WINNIPEG REGINA CALGARY VANCOUVER was doing and he recalled that Tom, then operator at the Casino, Halifax, sported a large moustache. (Hd. note—Daley, upon being made aware of Smith’s recollections, immediately sent him a gift subscription to Film Weekly and said that he still had in his posssesion a contract with the former, which called for the latter to act as operator and janitor of the Empress Theatre for $25 per week.) Smith recalled N. W. Mason eal New Glasgow, Canada’s oldest active theatre man; Lou Rosen feld, who had been manager of Famous Players Film Service and had left St. John for Toronto in December, 1916; Joe Franklyn, who was manager of the Strand, Halifax; and Myer Herschorn of the Imperial. A letter still in Smith’s possession is from the General Film Company of Canada. Written in 1918, it suggests that Smith could get $125 for two programs in Halifax, at the same time offering them to Smith for his houses at $35 for an extra week. In the letter there was a warning: “Now I want you to be very careful and if you should play any of this stuff in Nova Scotia, to see that it is censored. The boys are after us and they would like to get us into @ corner.” TIMELY item in Smith's col lection is from the St. John Standard of January 29, 1916. It tells that Maritime exhibitors hastened to Ottawa when the report came from the fuel controller that Canadian theatres might be closed for three days each week to save coal. A hurried meeting was called. Present among others were Alice Fairweather, R. G. March (now Fox manager in St. John), and Smith. The theatres were not closed, morale being the deciding factor. Another event of those days was the joint meeting of exchange managers and exhibitors to settle problems. Among those present were I. Soskin of Famous Players Film Service, W. O. Fenerty of Fredericton, Mason of New Glasgow and Mrs. Davidson of Moncton. Chief argument was over the condition of prints, each group blaming the other. There was a move on foot to move exchange headquarters to Truro, N.S., because 75 per cent of business was done in Nova Scotia. It never materialized. ‘ Clippings show Smith’s problem! with a local clergyman who in 1917 condemned pictures as im moral. At the time the Empress was playing Baby Marie Osborne, the Baby Bernhardt in a human interest gem, ‘‘When Baby Forgot,” a Pathe five-part photoplay. Pearl White in “The Fatal Ring” was also on the program and prices had been raised from five to ten cents. The clergyman was invited publicly to awaken from his 13th Century nightmare and witness a production which proves him a fool or a knave. Strong words but Smith seems to have won. ND now for some of Smith's show ads: “In the Days of the Thundering Herd” ... owing to the high rental we will have to charge ten cents to all parts ... and due to its length (five reels) we can only show two performances instead of the usual three.” “Theda Bara in ‘Under Two Flags’ . .. wounded soldiers and sailors admitted free at any time. -Lf am doing you no favor — on the contrary you are honoring me with your company.” “Rose of the Rancho’ in five acts and 480 scenes .. . coming— ‘The Goose Girl’ and Lottie Pickford in Chapter 28 of ‘The Diamond in the Sky’ .. . Clara Kimball Young in ‘My Official Wife’... ‘The Fortune Hunter,’ with Ethel Clayton, a six-reel feature—despite the fact that the show will last an hour and a half there will be no extra charge, just five cents. .. Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand in ‘The Sea Nymph’... ‘Ten Nights in a Barroom,’ day and date in three St. John houses... ‘Tillie’s Punctured Romance,’ 6000 feet of film for ten cents in the evening and five cents in the afternoon.’ And so on. ESPITE his advancing years Smith is still enthusiastic about the business and continues his interest, though he is doing very well, He would love to hear from any of the lads in Canada who still remember him-—and I suspect they are legion. So don’t forget to write him. Aiken Takes Over At Odeon, Sarnia George E. Aiken, former mana~ ger of the Biltmore Theatre, Kingston, Ontarlo, recently took over the management of the Odeon Theatre, Sarnia, from W. J. Fawcett who had been acting manager for several weeks. Fawcett returns to Belleville where he is manager of the McCarthy Theatre.