Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 12, 1947)

Page scan 0009 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Feb 12, 1947
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 12, 1947)
Leaf #:
0009
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 14, 2025
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eae crenee Siig aaa? “ pe < Fee Page 10 ~ * ’ ' a 5 | Canadian FILM WEEKLY ——— "2, 19 February Famous Players’ 25 Year Club: Meets in Three Canadian Cities New Theatre Firms Registered In BC Two new theatre firms were recently registered in British Columbia, under the Societies Act and the Companies Act .of that province. Michael M. Goldin, formerly manager of the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver and now owner of the York Theatre, Victoria, has formed West Coast Theatres Limited, with an authorized capital of $100,000. The other firm is Woods Theatre Limited, which has issued 25,000 shares of stock with no par value. Toledo Variety Club Postpones Inaugural Originally scheduled for February 4th, the inaugural dinner of the Toledo Tent of the Variety Clubs International has been postponed to March 11th to coincide with the opening of their beautiful club rooms, A FAMOUS PLATES #3 Pr Os ‘Pa % Bae! > ¥ » Sa Say ead, The first photo of the top two shows the Winnipeg members of the 25 Year Club and Famous Players’ executives. Back row, left to right—M. P. Moran, M. Stein, F. Rabb, H. A. Bishop, W. V. Novack, E. Dean, L. I. Bearg, J. C. Rabideau, George Sim and J. R. Nairn. Front row—A. Entwisle, R. W. Bolstad, E. Colpitts, John J. Fitzgibbons, Daisy McDaid, E. A. Zorn and R. Hainstock. Second photo, top row—John J. Fitzgibbons, president of Famous Players, inducts George Arliss, projectionist at Loew’s, Montreal. This scene is one of many like it which took place at the King Edward Hotel, Toronto, where the easterners gathered. First photo, bottom row, shows Jule Allen, head of Theatre Holding Corporation, an FPCC affiliate, who was introduced as “the dean of the industry in Canada.” He is flanked by Mr. Fitzgibbons and Morris Stein, western division manager, who acted as toastmaster for the Toronto gathering. ; Second photo, bottom row, is a scene from the. Vancouver meeting. From left to right—the Chief Justice of British Columbia, the Honorable Wendell B. Farris and Mrs. Farris; Alderman Miller, representing the mayor; Mr. Fitzgibbons; Senator J. W. deB. Farris and Mrs. deB. Farris; R. W. Bolstad, vice-president of Famous Players Canadian Corporation. a ee a IW as ee eh nS Two Zane Grey Pix James Burke Signed RKO Radio has scheduled two James Burke, character actor, more Zane Grey westerns, “Under the Tonto Rim” and “Wild Horse Mesa,” for production in February and March respectively, with Tim Holt starring in both, ‘ has been signed by Paramount for a role in “Blaze of Noon,”’ being directed by John Farrow. Burke worked in “Two Years Before the Mast” and “California,” both Farrow-directed films. Theatre Property Assessed By City One of the properties affect~ ed by the Civic Square project passed by electors of the City of Toronto on January Ist, is Shea’s Hippodrome Theatre, Limited, Which is operated by Famous Players. One of the buildings to be removed to make way for the park, Shea’s is assessed as 131 feet 5 inches by 165 feet at $850 per foot, making a total for the property of $111,704, The building is set at $150,000, for a combined total value of $261,704. Top Writing Team Signed By RKO RKO Radio has signed Sam and Bella Spewack to write and produce “The Night is Young, under a deal by which this top screen and playwriting team will carry through their original idea to its ultimate screen presenta tion, iin