Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 13, 1949)

Page scan 0007 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Jul 13, 1949
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 13, 1949)
Leaf #:
0007
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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Page 8 Plan All-Industry Public Relations Officials of two important USA exhibitor organizations met recently with the Exhibitor-Community Relations Committee of the Motion Picture Association of America in another of a series of exploratory conferences with prominent industry groups. Ned E. Depinet, president of RKO and chairman: of the MPAA committee, presided at the luncheon held at the Astor Hotel. Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners of America, pledged the complete co-operation of his organization. He said: “This public. relations program is too big for anyone in the industry to stay out of.” Max A. Cohen, chairman of the ITOA committee, said: “Good public relations can only come about.as the result of good industry relations..We are wholeheartedly in accord with the plan to sit down collectively and develop good industry relations.” Leo Brecher, president of the Metropolitan Motion Picture The atres Association, declared that his group had not met since the invitation from MPAA was extended and he and his associates were at a meeting as individual exhibitors. He said: “Nevertheless, we are concerned regarding this public relations activity. If. & proper program can be developed, I am sure the good sense of our members will lead us to participate.” Depinet reported © that exploratory talks with various segments of the industry are in progress to seek ways and means of combatting enemies of the industry both inside and out. He continued: “When a war starts, we all get together. We creep before we walk, and walk before we run.” He said this was another’in a series of meetings to see if all groups could arrange to sit down together soon and plan a program. He asked each organization to appoint a small committee to represent it at future general industry discussions. Others attending were Norman Elson, of ITOA; D. John Phillips and Oscar Doob of MMPTA; William F. Rogers, Austin Keough and Maurice Bergman of the MPAA Committee; and Francis S. Harmon, vice-president of MPAA, Actor Signs Pact Robert Douglas has been signed to a multiple-picture deal by Universal-International. The actor’s first assignment will be the role of wealthy ship owner in the Technicolor picture Buccaneer’s Girl. ’ vention: were Canadian FILM WEEKLY WB ‘Gilt-Edge’ List (Continued from Page 1) odd years of Warner Bros. that has been so equipped—so geared to go — so fully prepared for: the future, as this one. What has been happening in this company in the past few months that you have been hearing about took much courage. Adding new stars — buying. new properties — at such a time was electrifying and the trade hasn’t stopped ee: since.” He then offered the list for the ‘balance of this year and for next year, which he described as ‘‘not history in the making.but history already made.” The Canadian delegates were enormously impressed by varied aspects of the company’s product and policy as discussed by the department heads and other executives. They learned that Warners has a whopping shorts: program of 82 items, outside the regular issues of its Canadian news. They were informed by Ben Kalmenson that another innovation was a 52-week sales drive split into three individual drives. In the course of their stay in New. York the Canadians held their own sales meeting in ‘another part of the Waldorf-Astoria, Over which Haskell Masters, Dominion general manager pre sided. Opinions were exchanged: as to the best way to get the maximum results out of -what they were convinced is the best: aid to sales they have been ‘ offered in years. The branch managers who participated in the -New York conEarl Dalgleish, Vancouver; M. Safer, Calgary; Frank Davis, Winnipeg; Mickey Komar, Saint John; Grattan Kiely, Montreal, and Irvin Coval, Toronto, — The following are the productions which Warner outlined to the convention delegates: Colorado Territory, starring Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo and Henry Hull. The Fountainhead, starring Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey and Robert Douglas. The Girl from Jones Beach, starring Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo and Eddie Bracken. Look for the Silver Lining, Technicolor, starring June Haver, Ray Bolger and Gordon MacRae. The Lady Takes a Sailor, starring Jane Wyman, Dennis Morga and Eve Arden. Montana, Technicolor, starring Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Cuddies Sakall and Douglas Kennedy. Under Capricorn, Technicolor, starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding. Task Force, starring Garry Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Walter Brennan, Wayne Morris, Jack Holt, Stanley Ridges and Bruce Bennett. White Heat, starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O’Brien. It’s a Great Feeling, Technicolor, starring Dennis Morgan, Doris Day and Jack Carson, and guest stars Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Sidney Greenstreet, Patricia Neal, HEleanor Parker, Ronald Reagan, Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman. The Story of Seabiscuit, Technicolor, starring Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald and Lon McCallister. : The Return of the Frontiersman,Technicolor, starring Gordon McRae, Rory Calhoun, Julie London and Jack Holt. Happy Times, Technicolor, starring Danny Kaye, Walter Slezak, Barbara Bates, Elsa Lanchester, Gene Lockhart and Walter Catlett. : -The Hasty Heart, starring Ronald. Reagan, Patricia Neal ‘and Richard Todd. ' Beyond the Forest, starring Bette Davis, Joseph.Cotten and David Brian. Backfire, starring Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Dane Clark, Viveca Lindfors O’Brien. . The Glass Menagerie, starring Jane Wyman and Kirk Douglas. Chain Lightning, starring Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker and Raymond Massey. Barricade, Technicolor, starring Dane Clark, Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman and Robert Douglas. Young Man With a Horn, starring Kirk Douglas, ‘Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. Perfect Strangers, starring Dennis Morgan and Ginger Rog “ers. The Victim, starring Joan Crawford and David Brian. — ' Stage Fright, Wyman, Marlene Dietrich ore Michael Wilding. Colt .45, Technicolor, starring Randolph Scott. The West Point Story, Technicolor, starring James Cagney, June Haver and Gordon MacRae. Hollywood Raffles, a Bryan Foy special. Bright Leaf, starring Gary Cooper and Lauren Bacall. Dallas, Technicolor, -starring Errol Flynn. Smuggled Gold, a Bryan Foy special. Only the Valiant, starring Gregory Peck. A Lion Is in the Streets, starring James Cagney. The Hawk and the Arrow, and Edmond . _ association, is starring Jane — July 18, 1949 A VISA has been granted to a representative of the Motion Picture Export Association to bring to Russia the 24 out of a list of 100 USA films-chosen by the Soviet Ministry of Cinematography for screening. THEATRES in New Delhi closed down for one day in protest against special taxes on film showings. MGM has compiled memorable scenes from its movies and made a 40-minute feature of ‘them called Some of the Best. To cele| brate its 25th anniversary, the company may distribute it free ~~ to exhibitors, some of whom are expected to use it for a second feature. RKO is making a short called The New Canada for its Today and Tomorrow series. It’s being shot in Ottawa. : TWO NEB films, Ski Skill and Hot Ice, won.awards in a competition for sports films held in Italy. AN USHER, Ronald Leigh of the Cartier, Timmins, plunged to his death from the theatre poof, where he had been sent to do some tidying-up. et: NORTH Central Allied, exhibs’ experimenting with sponsored shorts and Minneapolis Allied told its members in a bulletin that “it offers a chance for you to get a good short subject free and give your organization some badly-needed ‘revenue without any cost to you . It is a painless way.of helping you pay for the legislative and other work of the organization.” Roy Del Ruth ‘signs Roy Del Ruth has signed to direct Warners’ Always. Leave Them Laughing. Technicolor, starring Burt Lancaster. . Always Leave Them Laughing, starring Milton Berle. The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, Technicolor, starring June Haver, Ray Bolger and Gordon MacRae. The Breaking Point, starring ‘John Garfield. The Candy Kid Levels, Technicolor, starring John Wayne and Ruth Roman. Stop, You’re Killing Me, Technicolor, starring Danny Kaye. Victoria Grandolet, starring Jennifer Jones and Louis Jour dan.