Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 19, 1955)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Oct 19, 1955
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 19, 1955)
Leaf #:
0000
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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a — eoes. VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY Vol, 20, No. 40 RSS A REY ORE eS ISS TORONTO, OCTOBER 19, 1955 $3.00 Per Annum eee ate 0 TV HURTING SMALL-GAUGE REVENUE MANY SITUATIONS WIPED OUT BY NEW CANADA STATIONS It is expected that the 16 mm. attendance statistics for itinerant operators in 1954 and this year when finished will show a continuation of the decline that began in 1953. In that year admissions, at 1,381,655, were down 105,765 Republic Racks Up 15 So Far "Republic Pictures’ greatest production program, under which 15 films have been completed so far this year, seven are shooting, two are being edited and 17 are in preparation, has just reached its peak. All technical departments are working (Continued on Page 5) Aid-To-Education Kodak Program Although the Eastman Kodak Company’s $300,000 aid-toeducation plan has no application to Canada, its domestic subsidiary, Canadian Kodak Company Limited, Toronto, provides fellowships to encourage research training of promising (Continued on Page 11) Jack Barron Gives Scores To Israel Institutions’ Fund J. B. Barron, veteran Calgary exhibitor and Odeon partner in that city, has presented his 25-year collection of 5,000 orchestral scores and parts, all compiled and catalogued, to the Montreal Branch of the American Fund for Israel Institutions. Various Israeli musical organizations and orchestras are supported by the Fund. The gift, presented October 10 at a special ceremony, was received for the Fund by Major L. M. Bloomfield, its president. The guest speaker was Yehuda Gaulan, Israel Consul General. The scores will be shipped immediately to Israel, where they will be used by the Israeli Philharmonic, the Haifa Chamber Orchestra, the conservatories in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and other schools of music. Barron even paid the cost of moving the collection from Calgary. Canadian Film Awards At Pioneers Banquet Highest honor of the Canadian Film Awards, Film of the Year, which was given to the National Film Board’s feature-length documentary, The Stratford Adventure, will be presented to a representative of the government film agency at the annual Pioneer of the Year Award dinner of the Canadian Picture Pioneers, it was announced in Toronto by N. A. Taylor, CPP president. The Pioneer of the Year is Louis Rosenfeld, president of Columbia Pictures of Canada Limited. The presentation will be made by Walter Herbert of Ottawa, executive director of the CFA’s (Continued on Page 11) Greene-Rouse Western Film Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse will produce and direct The Last Notch, a Western drama, for Edward Small. 11,108 PAY FOR VARIETY CLUB'S §$COTS GUARDS es STIG BTS PENTOSE AN CLINT USER SETAE TSHR NE Fe Qeceresms bet A neat Harry Price Passes; Was In Distribution For many years a distributor in Canada prior to his moving to the USA about a decade ago, Harry Price passed away in Los Angeles last week. Surviving is his widow, the former Marion Wainwright of Toronto, who was employed in the film business in Toronto at the time of their marriage. The late Mr. Price opened his own exchange in San Francisco and sold it after several years, then entered the drive-in business. Interment was in California. The performance of The Regimental Band, The Massed Pipers and The Highland Dancers of the Scots Guards, presented at the Maple Leaf Gardens by S. Hurok in association with the Variety Club of Toronto, dr from 1952, while receipts dropped $27,042 — a decline limited somewhat by higher prices. It is not unlikely that the 16 mm. theatre _ figures, which showed gains in situations, admissions and receipts in 1953, will show a decline. In 1953 there were 712 16 mm. situatior ; classified as theatres by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics and these played to 4,484,329 admissions. It is quite possible, however, that film rentals will continue to increase, for 16 mm. salesmen (Continued on Page 4) Return McKenzie As Sask n Prexy J. Duane McKenzie of Estevan was re-elected president of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Exhibitors Association at its annual meeting, which 50 showmen attended at the Hotel Saskatchewan, Regina last week. McKenzie and J. L. Lundholm of (Continued on Page 4) ° e Grainger Quits RKO James R. Grainger, former president of RKO, has resigned as its general sales manager, terminating a three-year association, which began when he resigned as distribution chief for Republic Pictures. General Teleradio now owns RKO. “ Toronto Delegates to the A nnual WOMPI Convention Ten members of the Toronto branch of the Women of the Motion Picture Industry, including the two official delegates, attended the recent annual meeting of the WOMPI organization in New Orleans. Shown standing, from the left, are Olga Roden of Odeon Theatres; Jean McLennan of Odeon Theatres; Anne Kaplan of Paramount, president of the Toronto branch; Verlin Osborne of Paramount in Dallas, Texas, the retiring national president; Marjorie Dann of Famous Players; and Mary Colangelo, Empire-Universal Films. Seated are CarrieWatt, Empire-Universal Films; Ruth Frankson, General Theatre Supply; Florence Long, General Theatre Supply, who was elected vice-president at the convention; Gladys Rawnsley of United Artists; and May Levandusky of Odeon Theatres. rrmepentoaa ga tum. et ¥e eat BN tr ae eat aT Unie Opp emer provide considerable money for Variety Village. The Scots Guards, part of the Household Troops of the Royal Family, will appear in both Canada and the USA. The Toronto engagement was the North American premiere and if was well received.