Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 11, 1945)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Apr 11, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 11, 1945)
Leaf #:
0001
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 15, 2024
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Page 2 Ne MWheelaly Address all communications—The Managing Editor, Canadian Film Weekly, 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada. Vol. 10, No. 15 Published by Film Publications of Canada Ltd., 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Phone ADelaide 4317. Price 5 cents each or $2.00 per year. Entered as Second Class Matter. Printed by Eveready Printers Limited, 78 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario. SHOWMEN Gall Shaosw “Em Flow (Continued trom Page 1) our minds? We won survival and with it time to prepare. Now that victory is near, we must not lose the fruits of it—security and peace for the nation and the individual in the future. Without them the fight will have been in vain. That members of the Canadian motion picture industry will buy their share—and more—of the Eighth Victory Loan is a certainty. But that isn’t enough. We must communicate with the public through our medium, the theatre, to make obvious the need for victory in the Victory Loan and what it means to the Canada of tomorrow. Surely no one has a better appreciation of the part the theatre industry plays in the success of Victory Loan drives than the Minister of Finance, the Hon. J. L. Isley. In a letter to J. J. Fitzgibbons, president of the Canadian Motion Picture War Services Committee, he does not refer to our purchas ing potentialities but declares that our help is “a major element of our appeal.” Writes Mr. Ilsley: “The Motion Picture Industry has once more surpassed its previous efforts in plans for support of Canada’s Eighth Victory Loan Campaign. I regard the help of the Motion Picture community, both in Canada and in Hollywood, as a major element of our appeal. “While I know we all look forward to an early termination of the European conflict, I wish to emphasize the need for intensive application to our task on the home front. Even should our hopes be realized, the need for funds will continue at a high level. The continuance of our effort here in Canada will be an important factor in consolidating the Victory. In addition, Canada will share large responsibilities in prosecuting the Asiatic war. ‘I am sure that members of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry are aware of these circumstances and that, come what may, they will devote all their energy to the successful achievement of the Eighth Victory Loan.” That theatre man who thinks he has done his share by purchasing bonds is shirking his obvious duty and not keeping faith with his colleagues or his country. Make your screen; lobby, marquee and advertising help tell the story of Canada’s Eighth Victory Loan. The arrangements of your committee makes part of that task easier. You are being offered gratis what is probably he most starstudded entertainment short in the history of the industry, “All Star Bond Rally,” made without charge by Twentieth Century-Fox for you and starring Crosby, Sinatra, Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly, Grable, Harry James, Harpo Marx, Miranda, Darnell, Vivian Blaine, Jeanne Crain, June Haver and others. Previous reticence to feature the short on programs was abandoned with a bang when it was screened for the first time and the policy now is to sell for what it’s worth—and it’s worth a “special” and more. Stills, mats, one-sheets and ad drop-ins are available at any Fox exchange in Canada and if you are not alive to the possibilities of this film and the Purpose it was made to serve, you are not a good showman. And we believe that you are not only a good Canadian but a good showman as well. Canadian FILM WEEKLY April 11, 1945 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor DeSeve Resigns From Fr. Film (Continued from Page 1) bearing his name, who is president of France Film, has assumed the administrative duties left by DeSéve. The latter was also secretary-treasurer of the company. DeSéve, who held both executive offices since 1934, founded Franco-Canada Films in 1932 with Edouard Garand and Maurice West as partners. Later he merged the firm with La Société Cinématographique Canadienne, which was established in Montreal by the late Robert Hurel and the reorganized company was given its present name. France Film then bought the St. Denis Theatre, Montreal, and started expansion in Quebec. They now own or control seven houses and distribute French films. Future plans of DeSéve have not been announced. April 11, 1945 Alf W. Perry Now Emp-U President (Continued from Page 1) in that position, has been general manager since 1932, when the company was known as Empire Films, Limited. In 1935 a franchise for the Dominion distribution of Republic was obtained and in 1937 Universal product came to the organization, causing the company name to be changed to its present one. In addition Emp-U distributes a number of the films made by J. Arthur Rank’s production groups in Britain. Mr. Perry is also vice-president of Sovereign Film Distributors, Ltd., 16 mm. organization, a past director of the Canadian Picture Pioneers and a member of the Canadian Motion Picture War Services Committee. He has long been identified with motion picture distribution in the Dominion and is known as one of the industry’s most capable executives. At UA Canadian Sales Meeting igen = SG he Here are United Artists’ Canadian executives and USA repre. sentatives at the company’s Canadian Sales meeting in Montreal recently. Front row, left to right — branch; Barry Buchanan, S. Munitzky, salesman, Montreal director of advertising and publicity, hon{e office, New York; E. O. M. Schnitzer, home office, New York; Herb Berg, branch. publicity department; Al Iscove, salesman, Toronto Back row, left to right — Chas. S. Chaplin, Montreal branch manager; Doug. V. Rosen, Toronto branch manager; Abe Feinstein, Winnipeg branch manager; Jack Harry Woolfe, Vancouver branch John branch manager. Technicolor's Profit Technicolor’s net earnings in 1944 were $859,156, a reduced figure when compared with 1943, although net sales were $2,000,000 higher. Taxes did it, Reid, Calgary branch manager; manager; George Heiber, Saint OO Jolson Busy Al Jolson, who got plenty of publicity through his marriage, is at Columbia working on the film about his life. Sydney Skolsky is producing,