Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)

Page scan 00028 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 22, 1943
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)
Leaf #:
00028
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.

IN THREE YEARS PRODUCERS RELEASING CORP. HAS MADE MORE PROGRESS THAN ANY COMPANY IN THE INDUSTRY AND KEEPS MOVING FORWARD STEADILY : A\n Up-and-Coming Company DEAL to produce seven Westerns and eight films on a modest budget made by a handful of fil changes banded together as a releasing corporation has blossomed out into one of the finest independent companies in Hollywood. ml €X~ Back in March, 1940, a scant : three years ago, Producers Releasing Corporation was founded on such ‘a -deal with BI Neufeld, now a member of PRC's production directorate. ; This year, PRC, in an historic step indicative of its growing stature in the industry, purchased ' the former Fine Arts Studios on . the West Coast as the company’s aoe rad yroduction centre. ENRY , ; LEON FROMKESS PI tre ge COU ES O. HENRY BRIGGS : = : i e coming year this com: Vice-president : “Re Fr ed 7 fcao a President of any, which starte 1940 wi pet in charge of production ge ON aap aba hconde ta PA pol Producers Releasing Corp 15 pictures, will release 40 picat sats = : ; as] ~ ~5y,. ' tures, 24 features and 16 West| erns, on a budget twice as large as that used last year and three outri an, exchang -Z se ora: . ' a . ta@et for Cc Y <3 th 2 MEME R CEN NE NE EE MEME LMM ENE NEIG times ra ater Pat the budget Lor e wy its first year of production. ay butlior @ ¥ XN After president O. Henry 1942, layout. ; * a 2+ ees ‘aw $ a6 1 -1y forw “cj " ~ WD : wf srigegs took over in January, forward With O. Henry Briews at th | Mm : v2 eer ; : z ¥ & 1941, there was no doubt as to At this helm and Le Re a of a * . +} Bos ~ +f ‘ ™ > 7 + my ~ ¥ r the future of PRC. It was no the fact that PRC was geared t ging the production end of things ) | longer a little company. Produc¢xpani many people won't } irpri ¥ m& tion budgets were increased every pace lr if this new corporation emerges wv r| three months and the company te ‘Prosoon as a major company p 4 A began making a bid for “A” gB > company. He pointed ion. That’s Brigg : b r| playing time in American and out that the advantag £ the for PRC and he and hi 4 x Canadian houses. have a agnifi | y r One month after Briggs came cent jol f putting new bloc 4 A& to the PRC presidency he annto 4 voung p-and-coming ' of | nounced the appointment of ArO 4 A thur Greenblatt, later vice-presi; eteran Ca ¥ | dent in charge of sales, as general n who know a 4 | sales manager. That year, the company’s ability to meet that , } ees it 4 m second of its operation, PRC demand, Briggs stated. helpi = 7 r planned 24 features and 18 Westr Dominio: y & erns. It delivered the whole 42 leveloped in many hief and never miss 1 chaz | ¥ * S with promised promotional cam5s. Besides its stan io fecal | 4 & paigns. Greenblatt has just reard 35 mm. production, this fall . w A signed, being replaced by Leo J. r 4 | McCarthy. } : y a In March, 1943, Briggs decided 4] p RRR eee Ceanaes | 4 a that the company was getting , e A y . | strong enough to need a sharply : #tlerrp x 4 ana ian & stepped-up production plan. He theatrical, educational and enter-4 & ‘ ¥ r| sent Wall Street man Leon From-~ tainment films. ¥ Christ mas A y e a kess to the West Coast as viceProducers Releasing Corpora4 x y a side in charge of production. tion has bee onspicuous! zuc~ } ; } ¥ u oma Ic a pre sident in charge « f prod tion ha een conspicuously ic ¥ and a A ¥ | Fromkess outlined cessful in Latin-American houses & x Me sho' , \ Vika Y\ ry 7 Sa Y 7 ry ; + showman-like producto: ind ft year expanded toward # ); ’ 4 J S A 7 % 42 . i } : +) : . + 2 ¥ « Japp} = € y | for 1942-43 including the Europe th the appointment of ¥ ‘ » Confections oocytes rope ail tie appetat td ¥ x budget film Ce sairepirt ry : Will im G u, rmer t’athe ma 4 New Dear a s the more important circuits smapaging director in Londor a «CS r 2 ed up. This encouraged PRC t PRC’s European representative ¥ “ y ~ pea up. . : : ] re} ative, w 4 . e spend more on future films. On the North American continent ’ PICTORIAL r Gg 4 « the company has a strong setu ¥ 2 4 nm pre is composed of a number with ext hanges in 30 American ¥ DISPLAY A wv * of producing units which key cities operated by franchise 4 ; S < spe ver a million dollars on holders and six in Canada. The ¥& RARRARMAAAP RAMA = SPENE © a Ce De De BeBe De De De Be BeBe Be ee Be Be Be Pe BeBe Be ;