Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 4, 1945)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Apr 4, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 4, 1945)
Leaf #:
0004
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 15, 2024
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© THE PICK OF THE PICTURES REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Vcl. 10, No. 14 Lake Placid Serenade with Vera Hruba Ralston Republic 85 Mins. ICE SPECTACLE, SKATING WIZARDRY OF RALSTON AND MUSICAL CONTENT SHOULD PROVE THE MAKING OF THIS PICTURE. A musical cut skilfully to pattern, “Lake Placid Serenade’ is qualified to meet the entertainment requirements of persons not unduly critical. What the film lacks in story and finesse, it more than makes up in its physical attraction. Fashioned along popular lines, the eye-catching production constitutes a show of ample proportions that will score heavily with lovers of ice frolics. Frankly, it is the ice-skating scenes, especially those in which Vera Hruba Ralston, who used ta be Czechoslovakian figure-skatjing champ, displays her wizardry on the blades that primarily make the film, which was crisply produced by Harry Grey. Second to the ice maneuvers as a boxoffice lure is a score generously endowed with tuneful numbers. The participation of Ray Noble and his orchestra and Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiians in the musical activities will offer an additional come-on to the younger generation. The * appearance of Roy Rogers in one guest number also should help. Miss Ralston’s own experiences suggested the story, which is about a girl who wins success in America after being crowned iceskating champion of Czechoslovakia and becomes romantically involved with Robert Livingston. Steve Sekely’s direction is commonplace. There are times when the players find the story too much for them. Miss Ralston is to be praised when she’s on her skates. CAST: Vera Hruba Ralston, Eugene Pallette, Vera Vague, Robert Livingston, Stephanie Bachelor, Walter Catlett, Lloyd Corrigan, Ruth Terry, William Fowley, John Litel, Ludwig Stossel, Andrew Tombes, Roy Rogers, Ray Nole and orchestra, Harry Owens and Royal Hawaiians, McGowan and Mack, Twinkle Watts, Merry Meisters. 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