Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 23, 1955)

Page scan 0002 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Mar 23, 1955
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Mar 23, 1955)
Leaf #:
0002
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, and Global Cinema
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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March 23, 1955 CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Page 3 Vol. 20, No, 12 , March 23, 1955 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Assistant Editor Ben Halter Office Manager = = Esther Siiver CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronte 5, Canada Entered as Second Class Matter Published by Film Publications of Canada, Limited 175 Bloor St, East, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada — Phone WAlnut 4-3707 Price $3.00 per year. COLUMBIA BUSY (Continued from Page 1) nine the number of directors at work or about to start preparations on pictures. Held’s Angels is based on the cartoon anthology of John Held, Jr. and is being scripted by James Ellison for production by Jonie Taps. Shooting is scheduled to start early in the summer. Shooting on location in Osaka, Japan is under way for The Gentle Wolfhound, which has a cast headed by Aldo Ray, Mitsuko Kimura, Phil Carey, Dick York and Chuck Connors. Richard Murphy wrote the screenplay and is directing the film. Also shooting on location in Mexico is The Gilded Rooster, Victor Mature starrer in CinemaScope and Technicolor. Anthony Mann is directing and the producer is William J. Fadiman. Work is continuing at Palm Springs on Columbia’s top-budget production, Joseph and His Brethren, the Rita Hayworth starrer in CinemaScope and Technicolor being handled by William Dieterle for which Jerry Wald is the producer. Ranald MacDougall, writer-director, has put before the cameras this week The Queen Bee, the picturization of Edna Lee’s best seller starring Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, John Ireland and Betsy Palmer. Jerry Wald produces. William Castle is in Houston, Texas shooting The Houston Story. Sam Katzman is the producer. George Sidney is doing preparatory work on Music by Duchin, for which Sam Taylor is preparing the screenplay. Jerry Wald will produce the film which will be in CinemaScope and have color by Technicolor. Joshua Logan is busy testing prospective cast members in New York and on the West Coast for Picnic, the picturization of William Inge’s Pulitzer prize-winning play which will star William Holden. Fred Kohlmar is producing and Daniel Taradash scripting. Shooting will start the middle of April on Georges Simenon’s The Brothers Rico, which Robert Parrish will direct and William Goetz produce. Peter Viertel wrote the screenplay. Product Shortage? No! (Continued from Page 1) a set period. When Benjamin and Krim managed to accomplish this in the space of less than six months and showed a profit for the company for the first time in five years, they gave full credit for the amazing recovery of UA to the exhibitors and promised them that at all times they would be able to depend on United Artists. That these were not idle words can be seen in UA’s current lineup of pictures, which includes 21 in release and 24 more ready for release or in work. Also the signing of eight new producers will add 33 top films to the company’s distribution schedule. These producers, who have all formed their own Independent companies, are Rita Hayworth, who will make three, Joan Crawford will add six, Robert Mitchum is slated for five, Cornel Wilde for two, Kirk Douglas for six, Pine & Thomas for three, Anatole. Litvak for three and Frank Sinatra for five. : ; This policy of more films and better quality is paying off for both the exhibitor and UA, as witness the fact that 1954 was the most successful in the 36-year history of the company and the recently-ended sales drive set alltime highs. bis In Canada, according to Charles S. Chaplin, Canadian general manager, 1954 was the greatest year ever experienced, beating the pre-— vious record 12 months, 1953, by better than ten per cent. And for the first nine weeks of 1955 the company has done 50 per cent more business than it did in the same period in 1954, It is easily discernible why UA is looking forward to the coming months with unbounded optimism and is doing everything in its power to create that feeling among its customers with its lineup of big boxoffice films, which include the following, now in release: Vera Cruz, in Technicolor and Superscope and starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster; Little Fugitive, the only American winner at the Venice Film Festival; in Technicolor and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava ‘Gardner; Modern Times,.starring Charles Chaplin; Battle Taxi, starring Sterling Hayden; Sitting Bull, in CinemaScope and Eastman Color and starring Dale Robertson and Mary Murphy. Also The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, in Pathecolor and starring Ginger Rogers and Jacques Bergerac; Down Three Dark Streets, starring Broderick Crawford and Ruth Roman; Shield for Murder, starring Edmund O’Brien, John Agar and Marla English; Golden Mistress, in color by Technicolor and with John Agar and Rosmarie Bowe in the lead roles. Also The White Orchid, in Pathecolor, with William Lundigan and Peggie Castle in the leads; Operation Manhunt; The Diamond Wizard, with Dennis O'Keefe, Margaret Sheridan and Philip Friend; Jesse James’ Women, in Technicolor, with Peggie Castle, Donald Barry and Jack Beutel; The Steel Cage, starring Paul Kelly, Maureen O’Sullivan and John Ireland; Challenge of the Wild, in color; Victory at Sea; and Suddenly, starring Frank Sinatra. Forthcoming releases include the following: Marty, a Hecht-Lancaster production starring Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair; Big House U.S.A., with Broderick Crawford and Ralph Meeker; The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish, a Paul Gregory production directed by Charles Laughton; Stranger on Horseback, in Anscocolor, with Joel McCrea and Miroslava; A Bullet for Joey, starring Edward G. Robinson and George Raft; Not as a Stranger, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Robert Mitchum, Olivia de Havilland, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford and Charles Bickford; Sabaka, in Technicolor and starring Boris Karloff; Lilacs in the Spring, in Eastman Color and starring Errol Flynn. Also The Kentuckian, in CinemaScope and Technicolor, starring Burt Lancaster, Diana Lynn and Dianne Foster; The Good Die Young, with Richart Basehart, Gloria Grahame and John Ireland; Kiss Me Deadly, a Mickey Spillane thriller; Summertime, in Technicolor, starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain; Alexander the Great, in CinemaScope and Technicolor, written and directed by Robert. Rossen and starring Richard Burton, Fredric March, Claire Bloom and Danielle Darieux. -Also Star of India, in Techni color and starring Cornel Wilde; Black Tuesday, starring Edward... G. Robinson; Barefoot Contessa, — Robbers’ Roost, in Eastman Color and starring George Montgomery; Pistolero, with Jack Palance; The Tiger and the Flame in Technicolor and filmed entirely in India; Desert Sands, in CinemaScope and Deluxe Color, starring Ralph Meeker and Marla English; The Beast of Hollow Mountain, in CinemaScope and Eastman Color and with Guy Madison and Patricia Medina; The Brass Ring, with Anthony Quinn, Farley Granger, Anne Bancroft and Peter Graves; and The Deadly Pacemaker, a Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. production starring Robert Mitchum and Jan Sterling. Qur Business lor ANY theatres in Canada are experiencing a serious drop in attendance and grosses because of economic conditions and the introduction of TV. In some cases the drop is of such extent as to force closings—in others a complete loss of profit is felt. Help is needed and in large doses. Many theatre owners will help themselves by reducing operating expenses to the greatest possible extent and will receive help from distributors in the form of film rental reductions. This, however, is not the entire answer. The best aid will come from stimulating and increasing general motion picture attendance. Since moviegoing is to some extent a habit and since a drop in attendance can be attributed to the public acquiring other interests, it follows that a plan to restimulate general excitement in moviegoing should bring fruitful results. Such a plan was suggested more than two years ago to the Motion Picture Industry Council of Canada in the form of a Motion Picture Institute. This body would concentrate on analyzing the moviegoing habits of the Canadian public and would endeavor to arouse more interest in motion pictures in Canadian magazines and newspapers and, through them, the public in general. At its annual meeting last November the MPICC approved a Public Relations Committee to carry out the plan. Forms have now been made available to all exhibitor associations to forward to their members. If a sufficient number of exhibitors approve and sign pledges for the necessary payments required, the machinery will be set in motion to put the plan into effect. There are some who will hestitate through sheer skepticism and some because of the cost—in many cases as low as the price of one admission ticket per week. It is difficult, however, to contradict the fact that potential audience penetration is the keynote of success in our business. We must make it our business to keep the public informed of how good screen entertainment is—and that it’s getting better all the time. We must keep people excited about the attractions we show and anticipating the ones to come. We must keep selling all the time and to»this end must explore every facet. Now is the time for exhibitors to be counted—criers or crusaders—aggressive or depressive. ee | Nina Foch In WB's ‘Illegal’ Nina Foch has been added to the cast of Warner Bros.’ Illegal.