Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 14, 1954)

Page scan 0006 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Apr 14, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 14, 1954)
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, 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:
May 23, 2024
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April 14, 1954 UP SILVERSTONE (Continued from Page 1) work with Lichtman and W. C. Gehring, executive assistant general sales manager. On leaving Canada Silverstone was given a dinner at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, by the theatre and motion picture community. At the same time, Glenn Norris, Atlantic Division sales manager, was promoted to eastern sales manager, the _ position which Silverstone held before his elevation. Both appointments became effective Monday, April 5th. A veteran sales. executive, Silverstone held important posts with United Artists as assistant managing director and general sales manager of that Corporation’s International Division in London, and as assistant director-sales manager in the United States, before joining 20th Century-Fox in 1948. Serving initially in London as Home Office representative of the International Department for foreign subsidiaries, Silverstone, in January, 1948, was appointed division sales manager with headquarters in Toronto. In 1951 he was appointed Eastern and Canadian sales manager headquartering in New York. Norris is another executive who has moved ahead rapidly from the ranks during his 21 years service with the company. The new regional sales head entered the employ of 20th Century-Fox in 1933 as a _ poster clerk in the Washington exchange, where he was made ad sales manager the following year. In 1935, he was promoted to salesman and transferred to the Philadelphia office. Two years later he returned to Washington as a salesman and was made manager of that exchange in 1946. Appointment to supervisor of CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY CANADA CARRi Page 7 A ction-Packd Story of a Canadion Co whoy Book it NOW Vera Columblia~ Italy ‘Control Board’ The Italian National Film Association has established 4 control board for a morality check on films. Nudity and alleged cynicism had brought severe criticism from Roman Catholic quarters. the Atlantic district, comprising the Washington, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices, followed the next year. In April, 1948 Norris once more assumed responsibilities as manager of the Washington exchange and was selected for the post of Atlantic division chief in January, 1952. OK Peterborough TV; Defer Newfoundland Board of Governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recommended the approval of a licence to establish a new TV broadcasting station in Peterborough, Ontario. Applicant was the Kawartha Broadcasting Company Limited. A similar request by H. H. May was turned down on the grounds that he would not have share control of the proposed company. Deferred for further study by the Board was the request for a TV licence by the Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd. "Desert Record RKO’s Walt Disney feature, The Living Desert, set an alltime high for a single day and for six days at the Towne Cinema, Toronto, where it is in its third week. CBC Re ‘Contests’ Drawings, prize contests, etc., involving the sending in of box tops or other approaches of that kind are worrying the Board of Governors of the CBC. The Board intends to hold _ public meetings if there is no improvement in this broadcasting matrex: When in Toronto visit the ALLENBY THEATRE at 1215 Danforth Ave. now equipped with the famous RCA ‘DYNA-LITE’ WIDE SCREEN The finest All Purpose screen — moderately priced and the world renowned KALEE ‘S’ WIDE ANGLE LENSES Superior coated lenses for high definition on wide screens Supplied by Perkins Electric Co. Limited TORONTO MONTREAL VANCOUVER SAINT JOHN