Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 8, 1945)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Aug 8, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 8, 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 J. DeSeve Heads New Distrib Firm (Continued from Pago 1) Film Distribution, Inc., and has been negotiating with European business men with a view to obtaining support for the erection of studios in Montreal for the production of films in French and English versions. Renaissance Film Distributors, Inc. has acquired the controlling interest in Renaissance Films, which produced the French-language feature, “Le Pere Chopin” in the province of Quebec and is now handling the international distribution of it. Production of new films, all in both languages, will begin soon. Charles Phillips remains production director under the new setup. DeSeve founded Franco-Canada Films in 1932 with Edouard Garand and Maurice West as partners. Later he merged the firm with La Societe Cinematographique Canadienne, which was established in Montreal by the late Robert Hurel and the .company then became France Film. It now owns or controls seven theatres and ‘distributes French Films. 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Arthur Rank will be handled by the new Dominion structure, Present developments in Rank’s USA relations indicate that there is a possibility of more outstanding product being made available if time proves certain ENTERTAINING &at BUILDS GOOD WILL ag CREATES NEW PATRONAGE A BOX OFFICE TONIC Regardless of Conditions Foto-Nite Will Pack Your House IT Means Entertainment and Money For Your Patrons— With Increased Profits For You! HARRY A. KAUFMAN, General Manager CONTACT OUR NEAREST MANAGER FOR FURTHER INTERESTING DETAILS MR. S. JACOBS, 87 Union Street, ST. JOHN, N. B. MR. I. SOURKES, 5969 Monkland Ave., MONTREAL, QUE. MR. H. KAY, 277 Victoria Street, TORONTO, ONTARIO. MR. V. RACKOW, 402 New Hargrave Bldg, WINNIPEG. MR. G. R. LYNCH, 714 6th St. W., CALGARY, ALTA. MR. J. E. ARCHER, 1246 Burrard St., VANCOUVER, B.C. lle SSS unauthorized reports true. 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Vocalite Sound Screen is the result of a series of intensive and costly experiments which have resulted in the production of the finest sound screen made. Flexible plastic coated, flameproof. COMPANY LIMITED 2027 BiEURY sTAESY MONTREAL 877 VICTORIA sTREET TORONTO