Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 5, 1949)

Page scan 0005 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Oct 5, 1949
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 5, 1949)
Leaf #:
0005
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.

laughter than they produced in all their years. Other speakers were Wiliam C. Gehring, assistant general sales manager of the Fox world organization; Gordon Lightstone, Paramount general manager for Canada; J. DeSeve of France Film; and Harold Vance of Quebec City. Bill Singleton of Associated Screen News read the wires that ‘came from several countries to congratulate English. An outstanding floor show, comprised of the leading theatrical talent in Montreal that week, followed the speeches. The committee responsible for the affair was made up of John Ganetakos, Confederation Theatres; William Singleton, ASN; William Trow, Montreal Poster Exchange; Tom Cleary, Consolidated Theatres; Phil Maurice, Consolidated Theatres; Ike Sourkes, Confidential Reports; Murray Devaney, RKO; Tom Dowbiggin, Paramount; William Ehran, Columbia; Len Jones, Standard Amusement Company; and Gerry Chernoff, 20th-Fox. Fox To Make Film About Dr. Freud Twentieth Century-Fox, whose film, The Snake Pit, led many places to introduce legislation remedying conditions in mental institutions, plans to approach the field of psychology from another angle with a film titled Doctor Freud. The story of the father of psychoanalysis will be scenarized by Charles Kaufman. Julian Blaustein will produce. Canadian FILM MONTREAL INDUSTRY HONORS EDDIE ENGLISH They're singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and they mean every note of it ct the dinner in Montreal in honor of Eddie English, retiring manager of the Iocsl branch of Twenticth Century-Fox. On the Icft is Ben Norrish of Associsted Screen News; George Ganetakos, United Amusements, who acted =s tocstmaster; the guest of honor, Ed English; Bill Gehring, assistant general scles manoger of the Fox world corporation; Gordon Lightstone, president of the Ccnedian Motion Picture Distributors Association; and Harold Vance, Qucbce City. KAYE, WB, TO AID VARIETY VILLAGE Danny Kaye, comedy star of screen, stage and radio, will headline the Variety Night stage show at the Imperial Theatre, Toronto, on November 17. The purpose is to raise funds for Variety Village, vocational guidance school for crippled children, which was built and is supported by the Toronto tent of Variety International Kaye’s visit is through the courtesy of Warner Brothers, which company will also provide the screen fare for the night, the film being the Danny Kaye starrer, The Inspector-General. NEWS OF THEATRE BUILDING K. Samol and S. Abramenko have opened their 275-seat, $47,000 Monarch Theatre, the first in Enderby, BC. The first drive-in for the Simcoe, Ont., area is being planned by Fred Leask. It will accomodate 350 cars and cost approximately $75,000. Work started but was stopped. Plans for four standard-type houses are being drawn up. They include Philias Theriault’s $100,000 project for Maniwaki, Que., where he operates the only house, the 300-seat Plaza; FranceFilm’s 1,300-seat Cinema de Paris in Three Rivers, Que.; the first theatre for Atikoken, Ont., a 500-seat quonset to be built by Alcana Theatre Co.; and Majestic Theatres Limited’s structure in Lethbridge, Alberta, to also contain five stores. MATHERS MOVED TO EMP-U HO Herbert Mathers, Empire-Universal sales executive, has been moved to the head office in Toronto, where he is in charge of the contract and playdate department, A. W. Perry states. Until his switch to head office he managed the company’s French department, Productions Francais Deluxe, which is headquartered in Montreal. Mathers, who entered the film business in 1930 for Cinema Service of Montreal, his home city, joined Empire-Universal 12 years ago as an assistant booker. He became a booker, then was promoted to the sales staff. In 1945 he was named branch manager to succeed Mickey Isman, who had been made assistant general sales manager. Next he was appointed Saint John branch manager, a post he left to return to Montreal as branch manager of the French department. A) October 5, 1949 GRIERSON-NFB (Continued from Page 1) Gricrson’s article, “Reporting Progress,’ was one of a number from the various countries who participated in the Edinburgh Film Festival and helped make an issue of rare excellence. Stating that “we must make up our minds what’ precise relation we have to our audience, and cspecially which audience we gerve,” Grierson wrote: “At the beginning I deplored the Canadian Film Board’s ever reaching for the theatre audience. It derives, I am sure, from a local need to show cause to the Treasury and bring in an extra couple of dollars. I am gure too, that the illusion rears again its ugly head that the odd spot among the theatre millions is worth more in public information than the persistent influence of the community groups that in every known way lead the opinion of the community. What disturbs me, however, is the limiting and rotting effect of a theatre distribution policy for documentary as a whole; and it was ever so from the beginning.” The former NFB head from 1939 to 1945 is now controller of the Films Division, Central Office of Information of the British government. He resigned from the NFB after organizing it anc bringing results which drew praise and requests for advice and help from other countries. For a while he was engaged in Independent documentary proauction. After discussing the place of the documentary in relation to UK theatre quotas and the various roads open to it in the future, he wrote: “Some will be wise to take the path of television before the West End theatre boys get hold of it and frivol it for good.” Bacon To Direct Lloyd Bacon will direct Kill the Umpire, Columbia comedy starring William Bendix. Cast Of U-I Film Signe Hasso, Richard Basehart, Marilyn Maxwell, Dorothy Hart and Charles Drake have been cast in Universal-International’s Outside the Wall. FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE IMPORTANT! Make Your Theatre Entrance Attractive With Perkins Distinctive Deep Pile Carpets. 2027 BLEURY STREET, MONTREAL, P.Q. LAncaster 2154 WRITE — WIRE — PHONE PERKINS ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED SROVALG SOUNDIMASTER SOUND EQUIPMENT The Golden Voice of the Silver Screen 277 VICTORIA STREET, TORONTO, ONT. ELgin 6209 ——