Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 5, 1947)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Mar 5, 1947
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 5, 1947)
Leaf #:
0004
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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March 5, 1947 Quebec Argument Over French Pic (Continued from Page 1) bassador of that country to Canada, Count Jean de Hautecloque. The cultural counsel of the French embassy, M. de Messieres, arrived for the showing at the university as the representative of the ambassador but withdrew when. informed of the decision of the censors. The ambassador caused to be issued through the embassy’s information service a public state‘ment of his position ‘before Canadian opinion, so that it may judge the perfect correctness of his attitude and the lack of courtesy shown to a representative of France.” Repercussions in the press and elsewhere made necessary the correction of certain errors, he stated. A request for the film was made by the association to the consul-general in Montreal for showing at a pre-Lent celebration and it was informed that it could not be forwarded to the French government unless endorsed by a rector of the university. This was answered with an official bid from Monsigneur Olivier Maurault and it was granted. The first enquiry was made in November, 1946, and the showing was scheduled for February 7th at a by-invitationonly gathering. The ambassador explained that he would never have lent his good offices to obtaining the film had he not been convinced of its worth and had the request not been endorsed by the rector of a ‘Catholic university. . M. de Roussy, manager of La France Films, told Jack Karr of the Toronto Star that his company had been asked to purchase the film by the French embassy but its Paris representative judged it unsuitable for Canadian audiences because it contains scenes which are considered immoral. The film just began a run at the Ambassador Theatre, New York. General Films Opens Edmonton. Office General Films Limited has opened a new branch office in Edmonton at 10022-102nd Street, providing the final link in Dominion-wide coverage. The company now has an office in every province except the Maritimes, which are served from Moncton. In charge of the Edmonton branch is Kenneth D. McRae. He has had over eight years experience in the motion picture and photographic field, including four years in the RCNVR. Canadian FILM WEEKLY Radiomen Render ‘The Verdict Joan Baird, Toronto radio éommentator, is flanked by four other etherites as they all look through the pressbook on Warner Brothers’ “The Verdict,” at a special screening at the Famous Players Victoria Theatre in Toronto, arranged by Russ McKibbin, manager. At the extreme left is J. Frank Willis of CBC; Spencer Gordon, CHUM producer; second row right is W. Jack Dunlop, CBC public relations contact; and J. R. Scott, another from CBC. One of the highlights of the occasion was the solving of the crimes committed in the film by two first-year law students and the failure of two Toronto regular-force detectives to do likewise. Return Your Ballots for the ANNUAL POLL of the Canadian Film Weekly To Determine the Ten Best Boxoffice Films and the Ten Best Canadian Boxoffice Stars OF 1946 Page 5 Selznick Sells UA Stock, Ends Suit (Continued from. Page 1) battle which followed. The latter ended abruptly last week when Selznick withdrew his lawsuit against Toronto-born Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin for damages totalling $2,000,000. Late in 1946 the United Artists bcard of directors notified Selznick that the company was terminating relations with him and shortly after the distributor issued a public statement announcing his withdrawal. At the same time Selznick Releasing Organization, newly-created, assumed the sale of Vanguard Films, first of which was to be the controversial ‘Duel in the Sun.” Selznick followed with lawsuits in superior and federal courts, charging that Pickford and ChapJin conspired to break an agreement for distribution of his films. Sale of his capital stock was part of an out-of-court settlement and the suits have been dropped. United Artists, however, will continue to sell some of Selznick’s previous productions. As yet the Selznick Releasing Organization, a sales setup functioning under Neil Agnew, president and Milton Kusell, general sales manager in the domestic field, has not made public any arrangement for the physical distribution of its films through a company with exchange facilities. Directs "Tycoon’ Richard Wallace will direct RKO’s Technicolor film ‘‘Tycoon.” a ear eee 6m BOR THEATRE REQUIRE: MENTS CONTRACT SALES OFFICE > * yy, “a” ‘ x Ve,