Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)

Page scan 00030 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 22, 1943
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1943)
Leaf #:
00030
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
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Best Wishes * "nga NN NR NN NEN : from 3 SAM ULSTER Mi EN * RE EN EE EEE OE OE NE EO Christmas d Greetings COLEMAN ELECTRIC CO. e De DeBe We eee Be De Be Be ee a Bee De ee ee Be ee Dee ee ee 258 Victoria Street TORONTO RN e | iii linn “| ¥ Season's ¥ Greetings ; ¥ { JOE ROSENFELD i ¥ of ae 4 Rosenfeld & Allen | ¥ 21 DUNDAS SQUARE Toronto | Headlines OF THE YEAR GONE BY 1942 DECEMBER Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario launched with Ed. Warren as president. Lucian Roy, Canadian newsreel cameraman, killed in crash. Clair Hague Heads Pioneers. Sam Wells defeats Arthur Milligan for presidency of Toronto branch of IATSE, Press Chops Theatre Space. Ben Freedman succeeds Barnett Laxer as president of Independent Motion Picture Owners Association of Ontario. 1943 JANUARY Premier Hepburn of Ontario bans NFB’s “Inside Fighting Canada” as pro-Ottawa propa-~ ganda. Canadian IATSE and National Union of Projectionists Merge. Exhibitor associations protest 16 mm. inroads. Industry Boosts Russian Aid Drive in Canada. FEBRUARY John Grierson, head of National Film Board, takes over War Information Board. Future Shortage of Prints Seen. Fox, Paramount Back Television. R. T. (Bob) Stevens, Northern Ontario theatre man, passes. Arthur Lee killed in Clipper crash. MARCH Greer Garson picked by Dominion critics as the best player of 1942 in Canadian Film Weekly Poll. Gary Cooper selected as Canada’s best boxoffice star of 1942 by exhibitors. “Mrs. Miniver”’ wins critics’ vote as best picture of 1942 in Canada. “How Green Was My Valley” is selected by Canadian exhibitors as best boxoffice film of 1942. Greer Garson and James Cagney win Academy Awards. No more prints for benefit shows, distributors rule. Ottawa police end midnight shows. Navy founds seagoing film circuit. Theatres busy on fats drive. New Glasgow, N.S., honors N. W. Mason, veteran showman, on his 79th birthday. Alberta annual report shows attendance up almost 1,500,000. Film and theatre men boost Red Cross drive. Saskatchewan exhibitors ask for film depot. Manitoba Legislature defeats bill to ban juveniles under fourteen from seeing adult pictures. APRIL Nova Scotia admissions increased in 1942 by 2,378,654, report reveals. House of Commons argues about justice of amusement tax of 20 per cent on movie showings. Canada’s 1941 movie take $3,710, 304 over 1941, says Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Projectionists get pay boost. Sunday Shows okayed for troops. Film and theatre men all out for Fourth Victory Loan. MAY George “Pop” Phillips, Kitchener, Ontario pioneer, passes. Projectionists and head bookers get special consideration under new Selective Service order. Mary Pickford tours Eastern Canada for war victims. N. L. Nathanson passes in Toronto. Theatre safety praised by O. J. Silverthorne, head of Ontario Motion Picture Bureau, before Dominion Fire Prevention Association in Ottawa. JUNE Percentage policy starts in army camps. Theatre business up 10 per cent in Canada, according to Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Merchants protest curb lineups for theatres. Showmen help Greek Relief. Vandalism in theatres becomes major problem. Government switches Dominion Day and disrupts bookings. Canadian public votes against Sunday shows in Gallup Poll. Paramount holds annual convention in Toronto. JULY NFB refuses to reveal rental returns before House of Commons. Not one life lost through fire in Canadian theatres during 1942, Says report of Dominion Fire Commissioner. Syd Samson comes from Buffalo territory to head 20th-Fox in Canada, pinch-hitting for Jim O’Loghlin, away on sick leave. Fire causes $4,000 damage at National Film Board, Ottawa. AUGUST Tax-free shows bring protests from exhibitors. James P. O’Loghlin passes in Quebec. Empire-Universal convention in Toronto. Leslie M. Frost becomes Ontario treasurer, inheriting jurisdiction of Motion Picture department. National Council of Independent Exhibitors convenes in Toronto and elects A, J. Mason president. Quebec ends pool deliveries. Quebec Allied Theatrical Industries calls for national unity. Groupings okayed by WPTB. SEPTEMBER Theatre men plan coal conserva~ tion. Odeon denies that it has been acquired by J. A. Rank of Britain IATSE unionizes NFB projectionists, ; Canadian overseas troops share American films, Emergency film centres created to guard against missouts in Ontario, “Socker” Coe speaks in Toronto, (Continued on Page HM) . casein tee ¥ r x The : ¥ Season's « FA a i Best * ¥ a z & ° id a y a ¥ a ¥ from ; ¥ a 5 BEN ULSTER ‘ yw Re PRUE lee PEN * F | | J PEERLESS FILMS LTD. 2 EEE EME LEE EEE, [J a JACK ROHER 4 BORD D Ds De Di De De De Ba De Be De De De Be Be * PELE LUC CCT OCT TT ttt Greetings JOE COHEN CROWN THEATRE BROADVIEW THEATRE Be De Be Wy De We De De De Dy Be Dy De De De De De By De De BS Toronto EN OE te EE |