Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 8, 1948)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Sep 8, 1948
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 8, 1948)
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 21, 2025
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Page 2 Fox Earnings Show Drop From 1947 A consolidated net profit of $6,894,659 after taxes and all charges was reported for the 26 weeks ended June 26th, 1948, by the 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. and subsidiaries, including the National Theatres Corp. and Roxy Theatre, Inc. _ The profit is equivalent, after preferred dividend requirements, to $2.37 a share of common stock outstanding. It compares with $8,401,778, or $2.91 in the 26 weeks ended June 28th, 1947. Film rentals and theatre receipts for the current year’s period amounted to $82,660,468 against $89,631,283 for the halfyear. of 1947. J For the second quarter ended June 26 last, the consolidated net profit was reported at $3,967,817, or $1.37 a common share, which increased from the $2,504,175, or 84 cents a common share shown in the corresponding three months of last year. 4 Theatres Equipped By Dominion Sound Something of a record was set by Dominion Sound Equipments Limited recently, when equipment was installed in four new theatres in one week. The four were the Peter Drive-ins in Osha wa and Peterborough; the Roxy,’ Owen Sound; and the Strand, Aylmer. All are in Ontario. Canadian FILM WEEKLY ALL-USA PROGRAMS OR NONE IN UK Complete American programs in British theatres or none is the proposal of Hollywood interests in answer to the intention of British exhibitors of making UK films the top feature and USA ones second. Until now Hollywood films have occupied the top of the bill, at a 30 per cent rental, and British films have played the second spot at 15 per cent. Eric Johnston is said to have told J. Arthur Rank, leading British exhibitor and producer, that Hollywood had taken as much punishment in the British market as it would stand and is now prepared to fight back. The first blow was the 75 per cent tax on earnings, later modified, and the second the raising of quota time for British films from 25 to 45 per cent. Johnston, for Hollywood, said that USA producers would book all-American programs into theatres and that. the British could do the same, American films have occupied first spot in British theatres on their merit, being mainly responsible for attracting the audience, and the British pictures will be able to prove whether they deserve to replace them through Johnston’s proposal. Scientific Assoc'tion Merges With NFS ‘A new scientific division has been added to the National Film Society through a merger with the Canadian Scientific Film Association, according to a bulletin issued recently by Harry Randell, chairman of the program and information committee of the National Film Society — Scientific Division, as. the new department will be known. The Scientific Film Association realized one of its two projects before amalgamating. It issued a 700-page catalogue of all scienti _fic films available in Canada, the ‘Millie’ Stars Cast In "Mr. Soft Touch’ Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes, who teamed with outstanding success in Columbia’s ‘The Mating of Millie,” will be reunited in the studio’s “Mr. Soft Touch,” formerly ‘Mr. Miracle,” which Gordon Douglas will direct from a Milton Holmes original. Shooting is scheduled. to start soon. second of its kind ever to be compiled anywhere in the world. Its other object, that of previewing and appraising all technical films by a committee of 40 scientists, will be continued. September 8, 1948 Canadian Buildup For ‘Letter To A Rebel’ Reflecting the great interest shown throughout the Uniteq States in RKO Radio’s “Letter to a Rebel,” the Canadian press is also getting behind this MPA sponsored two-reel subject with considerable enthusiasm. The Vancouver Daily Province devoted a glowing editorial to the picture on the front page of its second section in connection with . its showing at the Capitol Theatre. The editorial reads, in part: “It is a film every person desiring to preserve democracy should see.” : Copies of the editorial were mailed to exhibitors, newspaper and radio station managers in the Vancouver Exchange area with a letter signed by James F, Davie, RKO branch manager. Released here as part of the popular “This Is America” series and produced by RKO Pathe, the same series is known in Canada and abroad as “Today and Tomorrow.” Lucille Ball Cast Lucille Ball’s first picture under her new long-term contract with Columbia will be the comedy, ‘Miss Grant Takes Richmond,” which S. Sylvan Simon will produce from Gene Towne’s original. Everett and Devery Freeman will write the script. J. ARTHUR RANK Presents The Glory of Sport THE OLYMPIC GAMES Color by Technicolor Exclusive Complete Feature-Length Film — Special Version with BARBARA ANN SCOTT and CANADA’S ATHLETES Air Expressed Directly After the Games to Your Theatre OLYMPIC It's a problem! THIE }?? do nothing for a week © EAGLE-LION FILMS of Coneda, Limited “Sure I let my competitor play ‘The Olympic Games.’ I wanted to