Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 20, 1954)

Page scan 0002 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Oct 20, 1954
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 20, 1954)
Leaf #:
0002
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
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.

October 20, 1954 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 3 Vol. 19, No. 40 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor October 20, 1954 Address all communications— The Managing Editor, CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Canada Entered as Second Class Matter Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WAlInut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. ANTI-TAX RALLY (Continued from Page 1) dent of the Manitoba Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, they will meet with the Honorable Ronald D. Turner, Provincial Treasurer, in the Legislative Buildings and ask for the elimination of the tax on all tickets priced at 50 cents and under. The journey to the Legislative Building will be preceded by a rally at the Marlborough Hotel, Winnipeg, at 9.15 a.m. Upon return all will be guests at a luncheon in the Marlborough Hotel, given by the Manitoba Motion Picture Exhibitors Association. Following the luncheon, which will begin at 12.30 p.m., a 2 p.m. demonstration preview of Paramount’s VistaVision is to take place in the Uptown Theatre. ‘All Manitoba exhibitors. are urged to attend the proceedings. Hotel accomodation will be reserved upon request for those exhibitors who, through inconvenient bus or train schedules, find it necessary to come in on Sunday, which is the day before. The MMPEA considers the protest of utmost importance. Many small Manitoba exhibitors are on the verge of bankruptcy due to local recession created by the crop situation, with TV programs from across the border being an added factor in Winnipeg and Southern Manitoba. Being allowed to keep part of what is now the weekly tax remittance is enough to make the difference between profit and loss in many cases. Fire Closes Theatre The 200-seat Bedford Theatre in Bedford, NS, operated by Mrs. W. <A. Purcell, was_ seriously damaged recently by fire of unknown origin. BOOKER Booker required by large 16 mm. distributor. The man we require should eventually be able to assume complete charge of our department, staff, follow-up, etc. BOX 20 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. E, Toronto EARL CLARK NOW NS FILM CHIEF Until his recent resignation production sales manager of Associated Screen News, Earl Clark, who produced more than 50 shorts over the past 12 years, has been made director of industrial and tourist promotion for the Province of Nova Scotia. The appointment was announced by the Honorable Wilfred T. Dauphinee, minister of Trade and Industry. A well-travelled veteran of film making, Clark frequently assisted the late Tom Courtney, one-time theatre manager who held a somewhat similar post with the Province until his passing a few years ago. Clark will help present the industrial and mineral development of Nova Scotia, today mainly an agricultural and maritime province, as it develops. CAPAC UPHELD BY SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court of Canada recently upheld a 1952 ruling by the Copyright Appeal Board allowing the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada to charge privately-owned radio stations one and three-quarters per cent of gross revenues as royalty on recorded music. The appeal grew out of an earlier ruling by the Exchequer Court against CHML, Hamilton, causing it to pay $500 damages for copyright infringement to CAPAC. CAPAC is involved in another appeal, this one before the Privy Council, London. The Associated Broadcasting Company Limited, Toronto, a wire music service, and three Toronto cocktail bars contend that CAPAC has no right to collect music royalties from them. The case started in 1949, when the present appellants were favored in the Ontario High Court but soon suffered a reversal in the Ontario Appeal Court. The appellants’ position before the Privy Council is that their performances are given through the use of a gramophone and that such transmission is exempt under the Canadian Copyrights Amendment Act of 1938. RKO's Screenliners House of Knowledge, Alpine Fortress and Just Pets are to be RKO’s first three Screenliners for 1954-55 release. Morgan Signs With Columbia Dennis Morgan will make two starring films for Columbia producer Sam Katzman during the next year. NOW ASTROLITE screens with INVISIBLE SEAMS at NEW LOW PRICES from DOMINION SOUND EQUIPMENTS LIMITED HEAD OFFICE: 4040 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal. BRANCHES AT: Halifax; Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver Our Business by MA Taylor T IS interesting and pieasing to note that the technological march of progress in our business is not slowing down but rather seems to be accelerating. The newest trend currently seems to be in the use of wide film; that is, film which is approximately twice as wide as what we are presently using. The amazing success of Cinerama, which was the forerunner of all present large screens, seems to highlight the fact that the public is intrigued and attracted to “surround screens.” The new Todd-A-O process has attempted to emulate the effect achieved by Cinerama while avoiding the excessive operating costs. From information received from reliable sources this seems to have been accomplished and the raves are terrific, This system not only employs a film of double standard width but also an additional 35 mm. film on which is carried six round tracks. Right now they are filming Oklahoma in this system and this will be followed by Eighty Days Around the World. The exhibition of this type of film would seem to be ideal for larger theatres but the value to smaller theatres would seem to be questionable at this time. However, it is claimed that reduction prints made from this process down to the regular 35 mm. have a startling quality that results in some of the impact of VistaVision, and indeed, a similar principle is involved. * ie ~ This is the first wide film process in actual production today but others are experimenting in an endeavor to get into the field. For some time now there have been rumors that Twentieth Century-Fox is experimenting with a wide film. As a matter of fact, it tried this several decades ago and abandoned it because of impracticability but other developments along technical lines may make it possible today. In addition, Paramount now announces that it is experimenting with the showing of VistaVision from a wide film and in so doing has achieved remarkable 3-D effects. These reports will be dolefully received by some in our business who are not prepared for such rapid development of new processes. The progressive ones will rejoice because the old walls are crumbling and a whole new edifice arising in their place. There is talk of fabulously high potential grosses in these new mediums, and also high expenditures for new equipment. All of which augurs for a very interesting and exciting future.