Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1948)

Page scan 00040 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 22, 1948
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 22, 1948)
Leaf #:
00040
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
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Christmas Number CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 41 JACK FITZGIBBONS, JR. Head of Hollywood Confec tions, who became president and general manager of Theatre Confections when both companiss merged. president of the motion picture section of the Toronto Board of Trade. . “Gentleman’s Agreement,” Fox film, Winner for 1947. Ronald Colman and Loretta Young get best acting honors. Bill Guss elected president of the Calgary Film Board of Trade. April Saskatchewan refuses to impose provincial amusement tax. Government officials an@ industry representatives from United States and Canada meet in Ottawa to work out what later becomes Canadian Co-operation Project. This is designed to increase Canada’s USA dollar holdings by attracting tourists through American screens. Under the plan more Canadian clips will be used in American newsreels, short subjects with Canadian backgrounds will be shown and features are to be made here in part. The McLaren Advertising Agency is appointed to represent the Motion Picture Association of America in the project, to give guidance to would-be-film makers in matters of transportation, Shelter, stories, etc. Later A. H. Newman is appointed by Ottawa to act as liaison officer. From time to time optimistic reports of the plan have been issued. It does not meet with satisfaction in all quarters, however. Secretary of State George C. Marshall of the USA is given the 1947 Humanitarian Award by Variety Clubs International. Bob O'Donnell is re-elected International Chief Barker. Business dips in Nova Scotia. named Academy Award — Roundup OF THE NEWS Famous Players annual report shows that 1947 was a record year for the company. May Advertising trailers becoming more prominent on Canadian screens as exhibs seek extra income. : Perry Wright transferred from Toronto branch of Empire-Universal, where he was office manager, to managership of company’s Vancouver branch. Variety Clubrooms opened in Prince George Hotel, Toronto. Alban Janin, president of France-Film, passes in Montreal at 68. H. T. Long, well-known veteran Ontario theatre figuire, passes in Toronto at 55. Thirty new theatres were built in Ontario in 1947, chief censor’s report shows. _ Massey Hall, Toronto being reseated and renovated in $400,000 job. “The Iron Curtain’ opens in Canada with some disturbances. Picture made by 20th-Fox, concerns spy trials. Joseph Marks, formerly Pathe sales manager in Great Britain, succeeds Charles M. Weiner as Canadian general manager of SRO. Weiner returns to Minneapolis. Ottawa drops the 20 per cent amusement tax and it is immediately picked up by Ontario. Other provinces work out various amusement taxes. Independents in Canada, stirred by anti-trust decisions in USA, demand action from Ottawa against alleged evil trade practices. June Arthur Elliott transferred from Montreal sales staff of RKO to become Calgary sales manager. Gordon Malcolm Wilson of Empire Universal contract department in Toronto passes at 32. Louis Lumiere, who with his brother showed moving pictures in Paris in 1895, passes at French Riviera at 83. Revenue of the Ontario censorship and theatre inspection branch for fiscal year ending March 3ist, 1947, was $206,472-. 40. Exhibs differ over probable effect of television, some optimistic, some otherwise. Variety ball game at Maple Leaf Stadium, Toronto brings about $30,000 to Heart Fund. Cecil Black becomes Vancouver sales manager for SRO. United Kingdom raises playing time quota for British pictures from 20 to 45 per cent, hurting Hollywood sales. Clare Appel resigns as president of the Motion Picture Theatres Association of Ontario and is suicceeded by H. C. D. (Dick) Main. TOM MILLER New head of theatrical distribution for the National Film Board, following resignation of Douglas Peacock. Canadian International Screen Productions, through deal with Renaissance studios, will make 10 features in two years for Allied Artists and Monogram distribution, announcement says. Leonard Fields and Joseph Than of Hollywood head CISP. Distributors and exhibitors aid British Columbia flood relief. July Lou Michelson becomes Empire-Universal branch manager in St. John. One hundred theatres under construction in Canada. Franklin & Herschorn circuit A. H. NEWMAN Appointed liaison officer for the Canadian Co-operation Project by Ottawa. sues its former partner, Famous Players, over Orpheum Theatre, Halifax. “Mating of Millie,” Columbia sleeper, in eighth week at Biltmore, Toronto, It runs to 14 weeks. Spyros Skouras heads 20th-Fox cabinet for sales meeting in Toronto, from which it announces program for first time from country other than USA. Television big success in New York Paramount. Hollywood sad place as staffs cut thin. Dore Schary, dropped when Howard Hughes took over RKO, joins MGM as vice-president and Louis B. Mayer aide. August Peter Myers resigns as Toronto branch manager of Eagle-Lion Films to succeed Harry Bailey as Toronto branch manager of 20th Century-Fox. Joseph J. Unger resigns as general sales manager of United Artists. No successor named but Paul Lazarus, Jr. becomes aide of Gradwell Sears. David Wark Griffith, famous director and pioneer, passes at 73. Wolfe Cohen made president of Warner Brothers International. Famous Players buys Skyway Drive-in Theatres from Albert E. Silverwood, entering drive-in field for first time. September J. Arthur Rank delivers another blow to Hollywood by making British picture top on double bills shared with USA film, thus