Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 13, 1945)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jun 13, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 13, 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 O'Donnell Will Talk Variety (Continued from Page 1) film industry in Canada are expected to attend this social evening and join in the discussion of Variety Club ideas and ideals. This dinner will be the first in a series of similar monthly affairs with which it is planned to launch the first Canadian tent in Toronto, as well as introduce the idea in other centres across the Dominion. The Variety Club Committee in Toronto, headed by John J. Fitzgibbons as chief barker and Paul L. Nathanson as first assistant chief barker, is planning to send delegates to the 10th national business meeting of the Variety Clubs of America, which will be held in New York from August 16th to 18th. The original Variety Club was founded in Pittsburgh in 1928 when showmen adopted a baby abandoned in the Sheridan Theatre. Since then 26 tents have been organized in film centres throughout the United States, devoted to charity and welfare. Working with Fitzgibbons and Nathanson on the committee to organize the Toronto tent and spread Variety Club ideals in Canada are Oscar Hanson as property master (secretary), and Ben S. Okun as the dough boy (treasurer). Canvasmen (executive members) include William P. Covert, Henry L. Nathanson, Ben Freedman, Gordon Light stone, Ernest Rawley and Nat Taylor. Canadian FILM WEEKLY June 13, 1945 Golf Tournament On June 26th (Continued from Page 1) Players is chairman, arranged for increased facilities. There were 150 golfers and non-golfers present for the contests and dinner last year and it is expected that 250 will take it in this year. Ontario men from various points in the Province have made known, their intention TOM DALEY of being present and it is hoped that contenders and guests from Montreal and other places will see their way clear to be on hand. Ken Cragg of the Tivoli, Hamilton, is acting as Western Ontario chairman. It is likely that there will be several motion picture conventions in Toronto at the time and these will provide a strong turnout. The committee has made a close study of last year’s results and will take every means within its power to make the day an enjoyable one. Jack Arthur, last year’s chairman, and Tom Daley, secretarytreasurer of the first tournament and one of its originators, were chosen unanimously to act in the same capacity. Other committees are: Grounds and Dinner: Martin Bloom and Al Troyer, co-chairmen; Harvey Harnick, Harry Lester, Arthur Milligan. Prizes Committee: Ralph Dale, chairman; Archie Laurie, Walter Kennedy, Harry Lester, Len Bishop, Jay Smith, Clare Appel. Entertainment: Archie Laurie, chairman; Hye Bossin, Walter Kennedy. Ticket Committee: Dick Main, chairman; Len Bishop, Paul Maynard, Hye Bossin, Archie Laurie, Syl Gunn, Frank Vaughan. Others will be added. Publicity Committee: Hye Bossin, Jay Smith. Starter and Handicapper: Al Troyer. Prices will be $4.00 for golfers and $3.00 for non-golfers. Applications for tickets and/or entry JACK ARTHUR blanks may be made to this office, any member of the committee or Tom S. Daley, Imperial Theatre, Toronto. A. J. Jeffery, UA Dies in Toronto (Continued from Page 1) of Universal, under the late Clair Hague, in Western Canada. He returned to Boston for a year, representing Harold Lloyd productions under the Pathe name. In 1927 he joined United Artists as its Montreal branch manager and in 1941 was transferred to Toronto in charge of that territory. When David H. Coplan became British general manager for United Artists in 1941 Mr. Jeffery was named his successor as Canadian division manager. He is survived by his wife, Lilla, and his brother, George, who is manager of the New Haven branch of United Artists. His passing was the second in a short time among the Canadian industry’s members. McComber Bereaved George McComber of the Lyceum, Port Arthur, Ontario, was doubly bereaved recently. His mother and father passed almost at the same time. best known. Paramount, PRC Groups Okayed (Continued from Page 1) The conditions under which PRC may distribute the four Lida films are in accordance with WPTB regulations, specifically as follows: (a) that these pictures will be offered first to exhibitors who hold basic contracts with Producers Releasing Corporation; (b) that the maximum price that each such exhibitor holding a basic contract will be required to pay to obtain these pictures will be the highest price in each case paid by that exhibitor for specials released by Producers Releasing Corporation under his basic contract, whether flat rental or percentage as the case may be;° (c) that the basis of maximum prices set forth in paragraph (b) above does not preclude the distributor and an exhibitor from mutually agreeing to the payment of higher prices, but not exceeding in any case, 35%; (d) that the maximum rental for pictures released to an exhibitor who does not hold a basic contract will be 35% of gross. Phone Service OKd by FPCC (Continued from Page 1) are kept just as busy, despite the considerable number of calls handled by the switchboard. Most patrons still call their neighborhood theatre, since they remember its telephone number. When such telephones are busy, as they usually are at the time the patron wants information, the central service gets attention and saves the annoyance of having to wait. It has also proved valuable to those who must take time to get from their homes to downtown theatres. The board handles several hundred calls per day, quite a few in those hours prior to the opening time of neighborhood houses, when no one is on hand to answer the phone. Traffic naturally increases on Saturdays and holidays. On V-E day 1300 calls came through. The number of calls varies on other days of the week, one Monday exceeding another greatly, with no obvious explanation for it. Three calls came in the first hour the board opened on September 15, 1944. Patrons want to know the name of the feature or features, what time each starts, who the players are, what time they get out, prices, type of films and other information.