Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 2, 1947)

Page scan 0008 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jul 2, 1947
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 2, 1947)
Leaf #:
0008
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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July 2, 1947 Says Trade Dozes In Video Field (Continued from Page 1) Dominion. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, under whose jurisdiction it comes, seemingly has not differentiated between home and theatre television, nor has it announced any speeding up of the building of video stations. In Great Britain, where television is one of the hottest issues ever to harass the British Broadcasting Corporation, it will be used to complement feature films in cinemas. The J. Arthur Rank Organization, through one of its spokesmen, claimed that it was aiming at the complete elimination of all “B” pictures and secondary features from its circuits and replacing them with televised programs. Although no such policy has been set for Canada, it is likely that Odeon Theatres of Canada, Rank subsidiary, will probably fall in line with this scheme. Odeon is at present committed to a $20,000,000 building program here that will enlarge its circuit by 64 theatres, all of which will be equipped for tele screening. At a recent meeting of the Radio Manufacturers Association in Chicago, Brig. Gen.* David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation. of America, stated in his address on _ television, “Time will tell whether a failure to face the facts is the best posSible protection of studio investments and the theatre boxoffice.”’ Pointing out that there are some motion picture people alive to the possibilities of television in theatres, Sarnoff said, “There are many more, however, who are strangely indifferent to the new art, or perhaps they are waiting until television delivers itself on a silver platter to the motion picture industry. “It was radio and electronics,”’ he continued, “that gave the film its voice. It will be radio that will equip the theatre with a television eye. I believe that television can be as great a boon to the theatre as sound was to the silent picture.’ Practically all the major Hollywood studios have become interested in video broadcasting. Leaders in this are Paramount and 20th Century-Fox, both companies being large stockholders in the Scophony Corporation of America and both of whom are affiliated with the Television Broadcasters Association, along with United Artists and RKO. Wallis Signs Actress Hal Wallis has signed Martitia Hunt, British character actress, for a top role in “So Evil My Love.” Canadian FILM WEEKLY —__ Dowbiggin Welcomed ata eh ceaeenee eetspeee ner enone on —_ SS EAR CL, Montreal’s Tommy Dowbiggin, popular branch manager, was inducted into the Paramount 25 Year Club by Gordon Lightstone, who presented him with a scroll, a wrist watch and a diamondstudded pin. Tommy got into picture business in 1914, joined Paramount in 1922 and became Montreal manager in 1941. Shooting Finished WB Signs Newcomer Shooting has been completed Lila Leeds, 19-year-old blonde, on Walter Colmes’ “The Burning has signed a term contract with Cross.” Warners. S. Percy Heiber, C.A. MASTER OF COMMERCE WaAverley 2669 2660 21 Dundas Sq., Toronto, Canada Page 9 NFB Th. Series In 325 Houses (Continued from Page 1) is the fact that they are accepted commercially in competition with Hollywood short subjects. The most prominent is the Canada Carries On series, which is distributed by Columbia Pictures of Canada. The Frenchlanguage version, En Avant Canada, is handled by France Film. One in each series is released monthly. Most NFB productions never reach the theatres but get national distribution on a large Scale through 16 mm. film libraries and depots, community film councils and NFB non-theatrical circuits. After playing the wellorganized rural, trade union and other circuits they go abroad in 27 languages to 60 countries. Film-making is basically the Same everywhere, whether in the lavish Hollywood fashion at miniature cities or in the long, low ramshackle former sawmill in Ottawa where the NFB turns out about 200 films per year. Hollywood, however, thinks nothing of spending six-figure sums on 10-minute short subjects—although makers of oneand two-reelers have raised rentals because they cannot operate profitably on present terms. The National Film Board thinks several times before it ventures out of the four-figure class for a subject. It's a problem! ie SS TUNGRY HOGG Q WITH MARGARET LOCKWOOD ef °°. <4 ~ ~ oper? ee FOOT! “Two adults — one child, please!”