Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 22, 1943
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)
Leaf #:
0004
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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Em kee = 8®e, + 4x°-—'* £+— *_ - Christmas, 1943 Control Smallies Right at Source (Continued from Page 3) insisting that features starred in by their players while on loan be limited to the 35 mm. field. Current clauses of companies with this company forbid any issuance of films with borrowed players as home movies but this doesn't seem to work out rigidly. Other companies feeding the 16 mm. field are growing thoughtful about the competition they are creating for their 35 mm. product. Something may come of their deliberations that will give the rural exhib, plagued by the intinerants, a break. The Motion Picture Branch of the Toronto Board of Trade examined the situation recently and decided that it was against distributors peddling small-sized product in zones where their 35 mm.’s were not being played. Any kind of competition was frowned on, though it was admitted that 16 mm.’s aften did the groundwork for 35 mm. theatres. Because of the number of 16 mm. prints made available for the entertainment of men in the services, there is a great amount of such product. iWthout rigid control it may have a really detrimental effect on the nation’s boxoffice. * SK EE NE EO EE OE NE OE UE NE NE NEE EG Season's Greetings * Regardless of world condilions, one thing remains unichanged, my message of Goodwill and Good Cheer. And so, to you, whose friendship has meant so much to me, I send Sincere Greetings and Good Wishes For Christmas and the New Year. * L. W. Payne CAPITOL: THEATRE Listowel, Ont. NE EN NN OO NE OE ENE NE EE Supe ene ze De Dee Deb De DDD De DD DDD DBD DMR DRM DDH D ADM MADR MAM MDD RRMA MPR RPI, PRIMA H Canadian FILM WEEKLY Mu Memoriam Sorrowfully but with reverence and affection do we remember at this time the passing from our midst of our most highly esteemed and respected friends and associates, Mr. N. L. Nathanson, Mr. J. P. O’Loghlin and Mr. C. M. Robson. These men were pioneers in the motion picture industry in Canada and, as leaders in their respective spheres, left an indelible imprint which will be long reflected in the welfare and progress of the industry. Many of us were privileged to enjoy an intimate and delightful friendship with them and we now feel a deep sense of personal loss at their decease. The motion picture industry has lost three of its outstanding personalities, and Canada three loyal and devoted citizens. To the members of their families we extend our heartfelt sympathy and our sincere hope that they will find comfort in the knowledge that the memories of their lovéd ones will be forever cherished in the minds and hearts of all those who knew them. A CONDOLATORY EXPRESSION OF THE MOTION PICTURE BRANCH OF THE BOARD OF TRADE OF THE CITY OF TORONTO Page 5 H wood Gears for Academy Awards (Continued from Page 3) Eve, many of 1943’s most important productions will beat the deadline this month. Universal leads the December rush with three candidates: “Blesh and Fantasy” and “Corvette K-225,” opening this week, and “Gung Ho,” the 3ist. The valley lot has Deanna Durbin’s “His Butler’s Sister’ playing in the hinterlands, but the comedy is not due home until in January. Looking back on earlier starters, the studio figures “The Phantom of the Opera” and an earlier Durbin, “Hers to Hold,” among the year’s possibilities. Twentieth-Fox springs “The Song of Bernadette” with a roadshow premiere on Christmas Day and may also present “Happy Land” before the year is out, but that is doubtful. “Jane Eyre,” also, will not bow in until 1944. Behind it, 20th has “Guadalcanal Diary,” “Heaven Can Wait” and “Claudia” among outstanding releases. Two Warner entries are due in December, “Destination Tokyo” and “The Desert Song.” They will give the studio a total of eight possible top-Oscar grabbers. Others are “This Is the Army,” “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” “Air Force,” “Mission to Moscow,” “Watch on the Rhine" and “Old Acquaintance.” Frankly proclaiming it their chief hope, RKO will trot out “Tender Comrade” on the 29th. Samuel Goldwyn’s “The North Star,” which RKO is releasing, will not reach local marquees in time. MGM is another with a Single challenger, “Madame Curie,” which opened on the 16th, although “Thousands Cheer” bows in on the 30th, and earlier the Culver City lot had “The Human Comedy” and “Bataan.” Columbia breaks the December tape with “Sahara” and hopes judges recall its earlier “The More the Merrier.” Viehatoe certain tetanic ¥ BEST WiIsHES & : JOE PLOTTEL | ¥ Vitagraph ‘ FONE MORRIS SINGER 4 : Hermant Building ¥ §CIGARSTAND 4& J CCC CCOCEA ¥ GREETINGS & : SID KARLEN 3 : Victory Theatre, Toronto 3 ADD BBE Be De De De Dee De De De De Pe De Be De %