Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 25, 1946)

Page scan 00035 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 25, 1946
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 25, 1946)
Leaf #:
00035
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 07, 2025
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Page 40 WILLIAM J. SINGLETON Appointed general manager of Associated Screen News. Charles Koerner, RKO executive vice-president in charge of production, dies in Hollywood. Bandits get $7,000 in stickup of Theatre Francais, Montreal. John Davis, managing director of Odeon Theatres of Great Britain, and John Woolf, head of J. Arthur Rank’s General Film Distributors, visit Toronto and Montreal. Regal Films wins law suit arising out of film exchange fire against insurance company. Paul Nathanson resigns as president of Odeon Theatres of Canada and is succeeded by the Hen. J. Earl Lawson, KC. Nathanson, ill for some time, remains as a director but is said to have sold his half of the circuit to his partner, J. Arthur Rank. No official statement of this has ever been issued but British references indicate its accuracy. Famous Players institutes hospitalization plan. March Oscar Hanson named head of Gaumont Kalee Limited, British supply house, with Ed Harris as his assistant. 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William Weiss resigns as head of Allied Co-operative Theatres and later opens Weiss Theatrical Enterprises. JACK ARTHUR Famed theatre figure who was one of those honored in the King’s list with award of MBE. Harvey Harnick named general sales manager for Columbia in Canada. Joe Plottel appointed Toronto branch manager for Monogram, later becomes assistant general manager. Delegation from National Council of Independents, led by President A. J. Mason, meets with WPTB officials in Ottawa and asks for tighter controls. Jack Bellamy becomes PRC Saint John manager, succeeding Johnny March. Tommy Trow manages Quebec Cinema Booking, Reg’d, new Montreal booking and buying organization. Manitoba Motion Picture Exhibitors Association unites with Independent Motion Picture Exhibitors Association of Manitoba, with R. D. Hurwitz heading new organization. April Ross McLean, deputy commissioner of National Film Board, named as possible successor to John Grierson by meeting of board officials. 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Movies. ; Ontario censors will grade certain films as adult entertainment and will require identification as such in advertising. George Altman resigns from Warners Toronto sales staff to acquire Canadian franchise for Hygiene Productions of Canada and ‘Mom and Dad.” Peter Meyers leaves UA to join WB in Altman spot. Roy Tash, veteran ASN cameraman, now director, Roy J. Harrison, Canadian Picture Pioneer, passes in. Cobourg, -Ontario. Mrs. Christine McCaig, acting cd ; 2M FRANK VAUGHAN Resigned from Enmpire Universal to become assistant -general manager of Monogram in Canada. chief censor of Alberta, made chief censor and Col. John P. Fleming and Gordon Geldart added to board. She retires later and is succeeded by Fleming. More than 14,050,000 persons paid admissions into Nova Scotia theatres during 1945, a record. R. W. Glendenning becomes head of advertising and publicity for Eagle-Lion in Canada. Artkino four-year deal with Esquire Films, Empire-Universal company, for distribution of Russian films ends. W. E. Carrick made supervisor in the Halifax district by Dominion Sound and J. HE. Tagg placed in charge of newly-opened office in Saint John, NB. George Ganetakos, president of United Amusements, Montreal, and B.C. Salamis, Quebec Independent, are awarded Silver Medal, highest honor of the Greek Red Cross, for help to Greece during the war. Local 173, Toronto, IATSE, renews contract of William PCovert, business agent, for three years. WPTB authorizes raise in the dealer’s price of theatre chairs of 12% per cent. / Northern Ontario branch of the Motion Picture Theatre Association of Ontario protests against 16 mm. competition. June First drive-in theatre in Canada, serving 700 cars, is opened at Stoney. Creek, Ontario, by Skyway Drive-In Theatres Co., Toronto. Three months later the company, which offered a public issue of stock, opened its Second outside Windsor. It plans five. os