Canadian Film Weekly (July 20, 1955)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
July 20, 1955
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Jul 20, 1955)
Leaf #:
0000
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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wow FF at Vol. 20, No. 29 VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE TORONTO, JULY 20, 1955 AA INDUSTRY $3.00 Per Annum NO. 1 IMPRESARIO: THE BUSINESSMAN SPONSORSHIP BY SERVICE CLUBS CREATES FILM COMPETITION The checker-vested moustachio’d man in the high hat known as The Barker, who is the symbol of Variety Clubs International, service club of the entertainment world, is no longer Mr. Show Business — if you listen to some man RKO Has 19 Pix In Preparation Eight independent producing organizations, the largest in RKO history —currently have 19 major motion pictures in production or various stages of preparation for release by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., it was announced last week by C. J. Tev (Continued on Page 6) Windsor, Ottawa Plan Celebrations A Motion Pictures Theatres Celebration Month for the City of Windsor will be inaugurated in September, with Mayor Patrick issuing a proclamation as part of ceremonies in which Windsor, Essex County and Detroit dignitaries will participate. (Continued on Page 4) UA Week's Score: 1,410 Dates In 759 Sit'ns All serviceable prints were working during July 1-7, United Artist Week in Canada, says C. S. Chaplin, Dominion general manager, with each branch turning down from 40 to 60 bookings because prints weren't available. In the Vancouver territory, where there are 170 theatres serviced throughout British Columbia, 212 feature playdates required 143 prints. Altogether 1,410 feature bookings were set up for 759 theatres throughout Canada during the UA Week. This, says UA, has led distribution circles to offer the opinion that an all-time record for feature bookings and theatres employed was created. United Artists used, for the most part, the product of the past two years and a few features pre-dating that period. The number of features in service for the week was 114. Four Drive-ins Bow In: National Total 242 Opening of four drive-in theatres last week brought the total of new ozoners in Canada since January 1 to 15 and the number now in operation across the country to 242. The breakdown by provinces shows that Ontario has more than double that of any other with 93. Alberta is next with 41, then comes Saskatchewan with 40, British Columbia with 34, Manitoba with 15, New Brunswick with 12, Nova Scotia with eight and Prince Edward Island with two. Canada’s newest province, Newfoundland, has as yet not gone in for that type of operation and Quebec has a law which does not (Continued on Page 3) John Kerr in MGM's ‘Gaby’ John Kerr has been signed by MGM to star opposite Leslie Caron in the studio’s forthcoming Gaby. Ontario Exhibs Must Submit Press Ads Theatre Inspection Branch and Board of Censors, Ontario, through O. J. Silverthorne, its director, has issued a stiff warning to exhibitors to submit their newspaper ads for approval before going to press. There have been several violations of late and the Board is determined to stop them. The Board may accept the recommendation of a ladies’ organization and ban all children under five from theatres in the interest of greater safety. agers. The managers, made peevish by poor business, say that the impresario of today is strictly the type who is more apt to be found reading The Financial Post than Variety or the Canadian Film Weekly. Mr. Show Business, they say, should be.a guy featuring a briefcase and Homburg against a Board of Trade background. This because the service clubs of the business world, among them the Kiwanis and Rotarians, promote so many Show Business (Continued on Page 3) UA's Youngstein Inspires Contest A 25-week sales drive honoring Vice-President Max E. Youngstein was launched by United Artists in the United States and Canada on July 10, the company announced last week. The billings and collections campaign, which will award (Continued on Page 4) CBC Color TV In ‘56 Experimental color television’ broadcasting will be undertaken by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the autumn of 1956. Parliament has been asked to approve a $500,000 outlay for tests in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. RESERVE FOTO-NITE DECISION — Decision on whether Foto-Nite is a lottery in Saskatoon, as charged by the Crown, represented by Hal Rees, QC, was reserved by Magistrate B. M.. Wakeling in a case in which the defendant is Vince Pasternick, manager of the Victory Theatre. A similar charge is faced by Ray Resky, manager of the Broadway. The Crown claims the case is) similar to one in Alberta, in which a theatre manager was convicted for operating what he called a gift night. The only difference in this case, contends Rees, is that a contest has been interposed, a photo-buying process created and the payoff delayed—all designed to give Foto-Nite an air of legality. The defence, represented by Harry Walsh, QC of Winnipeg, said there was no similarity between the Alberta case and this one. Associated with Walsh are E. J. McMurray, QC, a former solicitorgeneral of Canada, and Louis Davidson of Toronto. Walsh described Foto-Nite as an advertising and promotion plan being carried out in good faith by 22 per cent of Canadian theatres in eight provinces. The sole object of Foto-Nite Amateur Shows Limited, an incorporated company, is to carry out the plan without cost to patrons, he said. The federal government had authorized Foto-Nite since 1939. Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia courts had favored Foto-Nite when it was challenged. Guy Madison Cast Guy Madison’s first film for Columbia under his new sixpicture contract will be Reprisal, picturization of Arthur Gordon’s best-selling novel, which Phil Karlson will direct in CinemaScope and color by Technicolor. —c. Conedian Que. Theatre Burned A. Gilbert’s six-day, 400-seac Figaro Theatre in Amqui, Quebec was the scene of a recent fire. Early reports did not give the extent of the damage but the house is not in operation, leaving the community without a theatre.