Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 23, 1955)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Nov 23, 1955
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 23, 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
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.

a — ow Vol. 20, No. 45 TORONTO, NOVEMBER 23, 1955 $3.00 Per Annum OUR FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK IS OUT HERE'S SOME GOOD ADVICE ON HOW TO USE IT BEST Our fifth annual Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry is out. Sometimes it seems like 1,000 years since we started it, at other times it seems like only yesterday. In any case, we’re about ready to tell some people how Activate TV-Film Prod n At Audio Activation of production at Toronto’s largest studio, that of Canadian Film Industries, is seen with the announcement by David Coplan, managing director, that Emile A. Harvard, formerly production chief at what is now Batten Films, has joined the (Continued on Page 9) Disneyland Via Elmer Contests Highlight to date of the Elmer theatre parties, designed to promote matinee business and now in something like 50 theatres across Canada, will be the 38theatre contest in the Toronto area. The overall prize is a trip to Disneyland with all expenses (Continued on Page 5) Press Income, Prestige Threatened By Video Theatre operators have protested the manner in which some newspapers emphasize TV attractions, even putting reviews on the amusement pages. In Canberra, Australia Roy Thomson, head of the Canadian newspaper chain that also controls the Edinburgh Scotsman, said that TV may become a real threat to newspapers. It offers the news more effectively than newspapers can. The power of TV advertising should never be underestimated, he warned, and it is diverting revenue that newspapers can ill afford to lose. Radio was not nearly the threat to press income because of expanding appropriations for advertising. This, added to the basic soundness of newspapers, protected the press. Thomson suggested that newspapers must become more interesting and that publishers ought to get into TV deeply. 9-Film, $25 Mil. Disney Lineup Via Empire-U Nine new features, to cost $25,000,000, and three reissues will be released by Walt Disney Productions through Empire-Universal Films Limited in the next 18 months, it was stated in Toronto by Leo F. Samuels, president of Buena Vista Film Distribution Company. Buena Vista is the one-year-old USA _ Disney distribution setup and Samuels, accompanied by James O’Gara, special sales representative, was making his first tour of Canada. The two Buena Vista executives had visited Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg and would continue on to Montreal after (Continued on Page 5) DOS' ‘Farewell To Arms' David O. Selznick will produce Ernest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms under his distribution affiliation with RKO. | VARIETY INSTALLATION — AT SIGN OF THE STEER _ ON WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7 Wm. Dozier New RKO Production Chief Combined theatrical and television film production at RKO studios is seen in the appointment of William Dozier as vicepresident in charge of production. It is predicted that Thomas F. O’Neil, RKO board chairman and president of its parent company, General Teleradio, will merge both enterprises. Dozier will leave the Columbia Broadcasting System, where he is director of network TV programs, at the end of the month. He worked at RKO in 1944-46. The installation of the 1955-6 Crew of Tent 28, Toronto, Variety Clubs International, will take place in the Balinese Room of the new Sign of the Steer on Wednesday, December 7. There will be a dinner, followed by a dance. to get the most use out of it. Firstly, keep it handy. On your desk or nearby at all times. There are two reasons for this. One is that it will disappear if you don’t. Year Books have a way of disappearing and suddenly, when someone is across the desk asking a question or New York or Toronto is on the phone, you haven’t got it—and the answer, you know, is in it. The other reason is that by having it where you can thumb through the Year Book now and then, you can get a good idea of (Continued on Page 3) Winckles, JARO, In Toronto Visit Production of feature films will likely be undertaken in Canada by the J. Arthur Rank Organization when the United Kingdom dollar problem eases, Kenneth Winckles, joint assistant managing director, said in Toronto on his recent visit. “One of (Continued on Page 4) Fitz, Jr. Returned J. J. Fitzgibbons, Jr., general manager of Theatre Confections Limited, Toronto, was re-elected board chairman of the International Popcorn Association recently in Chicago. Thomas J. Sullivan is again executive vicepresident and secretary. DAVID GRIESDORF LEAVES ODEON Mr. Leonard W. Brockington, president of The Odeon Theatres (Canada) Limited, announces that the company and Mr. David Griesdorf have mutually agreed to terminate forthwith Mr. Griesdorf’s agreement as general manager of theatre operations. The president and directors of the company desire to express to Mr. Griesdorf their thanks for his past services and wish him the best of luck and every success in his future activities. THEATRE CONSTRUCTION NEWS J. Purnell & Sons, Famous Players affiliate, has a new theatre, the Paramount, under way in Red Deer, Alberta, where the company now operates the present three theatres. One of them, the old Paramount, will likely be closed when the new one is completed. Also under way is the Pudar Brothers’ theatre in Sangudo, Alberta. It is the first in the community. George Watson, owner of the only theatre, the 125-seat Roxy, in High Prairie, Alberta, is planning to build a new 444-seat, $80,000 house there. J. Hylas Gagnon, owner of Chibougama, Quebec’s only theatre, is planning to build a second house and M. Bohajski is having plans drawn up to reconstruct his burnedout Hollywood Theatre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In South Battleford, Saskatchewan, W. C. Burak and A. Bakker are converting their house from 16 mm. to 35. AA Borrows French Actress Allied Artists has borrowed Jacqueline Beer, young French actress, from Paramount for the feminine lead in Screaming Eagles. Accommodation is limited to 300 people, are urged to make their arrangements now. The affair is only for barkers and their ladies. David Griesdorf will succeed Harry S. Mandell as Chief Barker of the tent. Cast Set For ‘Fragile Fox' Robert Aldrich has set Jack Palance, Buddy Ebsen, Eddie Albert and Robert Strauss for the leads in Fragile Fox, which UA will release. so. barkers a SSE Dh Sr FU aR rane SUIS | ¥ /