Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 24, 1945)

Page scan 0008 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jan 24, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 24, 1945)
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 15, 2024
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—_~---we January 24, 1945 TomMarsden Was At the Regent One of the two projectionists of the Regent Theatre, Toronto, when it first opened its doors was Tom Marsden, now of the Imperial. The other was Charlie Brick. In 1910, when Tommy started in the movie business, all the theatres were small stores which had been converted. L. J. Applegath operated two such houses on Yonge Street, the Crystal Palace and the Red Mill, and Marsden alternated between them. He became D rojectionist at the Crystal Palace. “In case the film broke,’ Tom recalls, “you had to crank the machine with one hand and rewind and make a film splice with the other to keep the show going. This was quite a stunt.” Quite a stunt? Sounds like it could make the storied onearmed paperhanger, of whom it was said that nobody was busier than, seem like a loafer. “The booth was above the ticket box,” Tom continued, ‘and when a reel was off I stamped hard on the floor. The cashier called the usher, who climbed the ladder and took away the film for rewinding.” When in 1916 Paramount Theatres—to become known as Famous Players in 1920—took over the Majestic and made it the Regent, Marsden went to work there. In 1920 he switched to the Pantages, now the Imperial, and has been there since. T. MARSDEN Prexy Ray Tubman Presides at First First monthly luncheon-meeting of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario (Eastern Division) of 1945, held recently in the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, brought out one of the largest attendances of Ottawa and district managers since the association was formed two years ago. Ray Tubman, Division D Supervisor for Famous Players Canadian Corporation and manager of the Capitol Theatre, was officially inaugurated as president of the association, and Morris Berlin, of the Somerset, took over his duties as secretary-treasurer, in succession to Steve McManus, of the Elgin, and Isser Singerman, of the Imperial, respectively. Canadian FILM WEEKLY A historic photo—that of the Regent Theatre, Toronto. In 1916 the late N. L. Nathanson and his associates bought the Majestic, Adelaide Street West, from Ambrose Small. The Majestic, a melodrama house, was rebuilt into the then modern theatre. A small symphony orchestra conducted by Jack Arthur accompanied the action on the screen and played concerts for the patrons. It was the first deluxe movie house in Toronto and set the policy of comfort and class that became general in the Can adian motion picture industry. JACK ARTHUR Now a district manager for Famous Players, he was the conductor of the Regent symphony orchestra when the theatre opened. Pollock Quits UA Lou Pollock has resigned as director of publicity and advertising for United Artists. His resignation was accepted by Gradwell L. Sears, sales head. Pollock will announce a new connection in a couple of weeks. G. B. Kallee Will Sell Canada Exhibs Film theatre equipment of British manufacture has just taken an important preliminary stride toward post-war dominance in Canadian outlets as reszlt of the disclosure by John Davis, emissary of J. Arthur Rank in latter’s recently concluded deal with the Canadian Odeon chain, that GB-Kalee, Rank’s equipment organiaztion, is set to operate in the Dominion as soon as the war ends. Page 9 Millions Weekly Visit FP Shows fi = week in 1944 in the neighborhood of 2%, mil lion Canadians visited mo tion pictures operated by Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited and associates. Providing for the entertainment, comfort and safety of millions of Canadian theatregoers is the serious responsibility of the biggest theatre operating com THE LATE N. L. NATHANSON (His Fzvorite Photo) pany in the Dominion of Canada which, on January 23, 1945, celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Famous Players was granted a charter in 1920 when the late N. L. Nathanson and his partners obtained from Famous Players Lasky Company a franchise to exhibit their pictures in Canada. The original group consisted of 18 theatres—7 in Toronto, 2 in Vancouver, and houses in Galt, Kingston, Ottawa, Hamilton, Port Hope, Nanaimo, Victoria and Revelstoke. The flagship of the circuit was the Regent theatre in Toronto, the first house in Canada to provide a symphony orchestra to play special musical backgrounds for the silent pictures. The opening attraction in the Regent under the new ownership was “Pollyanna” starring the screen’s greatest box office star, Mary Pickford. From these 18 theatres in 1920 has grown the Famous Players group serving Canadians from coast to coast. Today, under the direction of the President, J. J. Fitzgibbons, the company has an interest in 311 theatres in Canada and Newfoundland. Last year the Famous Players paid out in all forms of taxes, $10,343,158, and provided a payroll for Canadians of $6,000,000. Bette Davis Again “Stolen Light,’’ Bette Davis: next at Warners, gets going on February 1, 1945.