Canadian Film Weekly (May 24, 1944)

Page scan 0008 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
May 24, 1944
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (May 24, 1944)
Leaf #:
0008
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 01, 2024
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a May 24, 1944 Announce New Sound System In announcing the new Theatre Sound Systems, the Northern Electric Company wants the Canadian exhibitors to know that they will not have to depend on hastily manufactured pre-war models or on reconditoned equipment after the war is over, As soon as materials and labor are released by the government for such uses, completely new equipnent will be made ayailable by the Northern Electric Company. This equipment has been devised by skilled Western Electric Company and Northern Electric Company engineers with an eye to the future, and is so designed as to be adjustable to take advantage of all the most recent developments resulting from extensive research in the laboratories of the Western Electric Company. These developments include automatic volume control track, multi-track or stereophonic sound with a minimum of expense and adaptation. The new systems are definitely superior to any existing equipment. For example, an entirely new and simple method of suppressing flutter has been used with such effect that flutter in this new equipment is less than half the academy standard and is no longer a problem. These new Western Electric sound systems will be many times more powerful than previous systems, will be simpler to install and operate and will he much more efficient. While there will be a large immediate demand for Sound Reproducing Equipment to be filled as soon as peacetime commerce is resumed, the wise exhibitor will make only temporary arrangements involying pre-war designs or reconditioned equipment, since much simpler and more effective equipment adaptable to future developments will be available. Several Theatre Men Reported Missing Sergeant James Barry Chess, RCAF, formerly of the staff of the Uptown, Winnipeg, was reported missing some months ago after a bombing mission over Germany. His father is a projectionist at the Arlington, Winnipeg. Flying Officer R. W. Murray, formerly of Famous Players’ Audit Depar iene is reported missing. He was stationed in the Middle East. Flight Sergeant Gerald A. Carson, formerly of the Tivoli, Winnipeg, is reported missing. a His father lan Carson, is organist of the the eatre. MRS. BESSIE K. MOORE In Jast week's “Flashbacks” we showed a photo of Mrs. Moore as a belle of other days. This picture brings you up to date. She operates Moore’s Theatre, Grimsby, Ontario A scene from “Address Unknown,” dramatic new Columbia hit, starring academy award winner Paul Lukas, Page 9 Dominion Search For Snow White er < Pa “ CONTEStant ee Toronto, S* te etatar iu 15 Stated. ighClass. Barn ernie Beach Missing WALTER COCKERILL or has just completed 27 at the Marks, Oshawa, he is maintenance e-door