Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 19, 1944)

Page scan 0009 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Apr 19, 1944
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 19, 1944)
Leaf #:
0009
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 01, 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.

How Can You M AYBE you're one of those M fellows who have been softened up by good busi ness. Things have been s0 good for you that you haven’t had to go after the customers. You haven't forgotten how but you’re just rusty. Now comes the Victory Loan but those mental gears seem to be grinding slowly. Okay, here are some ideas. They have been successful, with personal variations based on the situation. FREE VAUDEVILLE Get some of the neighborhood kids up on the stage and let them play, dance, sing or what have they. Their folks will be glad to let you have them. Then tell the patrons that the kids have made them a gift of their talent as a means of thanking them for buying a Victory Bond. A short show will serve the purpose and place the patron under obligation in a humorous way. Perhaps you could stage an amateur contest for prizes, only kids whose parents have bought bonds in their names being eligible. ART SHOW You could run an art contest among kids or adults, entries to be on the Victory Loan theme, and award passes. It would make a good lobby display, provide a chance for stage announcements and awards, press publicity and at the same time reach into every home. OPEN THE DRIVE If you are an exhibitor with the only situation in town, it is likely that you are a member of the local committee. Probably your theatre doesn’t open until seven p.m. Invite the committee to stage a Victory Loan parade to your theatre and help them do it in interesting fashion by using your knowledge of showmanship and the list of persons who usually co-operate with the theatre. The crowd could be gone some time before your theatre starts its schedule. If you have some special Victory Loan attraction, such as “The Shining Future” or “The Fifth Christmas,” such 2 meeting is a good chance to tell them about it. They'll see the show and get the message in the most acceptable fashion. CO-OPERATIVE ADS This is really the time when each merchant will be glad to join with you in co-operative advertising of every kind. You could tie up his window, get him to share herald and novelty costs, and pay his share of a large newspaper ad. All it needs is organization and application. You’re the man for that. Page 12 Breathes There a Showman With Brain So Dead Who Never to Himself Has Said: ‘This Production Is My Baby—Watch Me Put It Over!’ HERB ALLEN Co-chairman, Ontario NAT. A. TAYLOR Co-chairman, Ontario BUY AND SELL Victory Bonds They're Good For What Ails Us! B and L Theatres J. LIEBERMAN M, S. BERNSTEIN ' they’re ISS? PLANT SHOWS res, ° Part of your special entertainment fare for the week could ~ easily be provided by factory glee clubs near you. They are glad of the chance to appear in public 7m for such a cause. If you never play live acts, your patrons will associate this novelty with the — : reason for it—the sale of Victory bonds. ‘ae SCOREBOARD You could rig up a scoreboard : FS to show day by day how the Victory Loan salesmen are doing in your district—whether theyll beat the last Loan or not and if likely to reach their quota. The committee headquarters will be glad to give you all the information you need. DON’T FORGET THE LOBBY AND FRONT It isn’t enough to put up a You cal -os Victory Loan banner. make your lobby and front something to remember. Your sign man has a million ideas if you s need any about what to do to create something that will startle the eye and make a deep impression. STREET MUSIC Hook up the non-synec outside the theatre and give the folks some patriotic music as a means of calling their attention to your front. Let them dance in the street if they want to. A little excitement will make the goingson about the sale of bonds seem like a special carnival occasion. YOUR RADIO HOOKUP Some showmen have commerclal radio shows from their stages on certain evenings. Find a spot on it for a speaker—a returned man or a well-known citizen. You could rum a oneminute speech contest for kids on the theme. If you use spot ads” make sure their Loan content is high. A parody contest on the subject of the Victory Loan would be entertaining. GALLERY OF HEROES You could attract plenty of attention to your theatre and its Victory Loan message by collecting photographs from folks with relatives overseas who live in ‘ your town or neighborhood. The newspapers would find this interesting. There would always be & crowd on hand to see this lobby display. Don't Take It Easy Men and women of Canada, your Government is appealing to you not to jeopardize this crusade of liberation by curtailing your Victory Bond purchases. Your loans to your Government mean more than an investment in victory, they mean the resurrection of blighted peoples everywhere. Humankind was never accorded a greater privilege.