Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 13, 1957)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Feb 13, 1957
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 13, 1957)
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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= ———— @ po ( { Vol, 22, No. 7 2* VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY TORONTO, FEBRUARY 13, 1957 $3.00 Per Annum WARNER BROS. PREPS 35 FEATURES STORY OF LINDBERGH BIGGEST FILM IN STUD!O'S HISTORY A heartening production and releasing program of 35 Warner Bros. features for theatres, representing an expenditure of $85,000,000, was announced by Jack L. Warner, president, at the conclusion of the recent conference of district executives at CBC, Capac Aim: 5-Year Formula The changing character of entertainment in this country is keeping officials of the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada Limited thinking on their feet. Capac, of which Wm. S. Low is general manager and Charles S. Matheson licencing chief, just can’t (Continued on Page 3) Zenith Vs. RCA Canadian Echo Lawsuits initiated in the United States charging Radio Corporation of America, General Electric Company, Western Electric Company and others with violations of antitrust laws are spilling over into Canada. Right now the Philco Cor poration of America is asking (Continued on Page 2) SMPTE Canadian Section Approved By Board Acting on a petition from a sizeable group of its Canadian members, the Board of Governors of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has authorized the establishment of a Canadian Section, with headquarters in Toronto. The approval was announced by Ethan M. Stifle, SMPTE sections v-p, who will also have supervision of the new division, which will include all the 180 Canadian members. Interest in forming a permanent branch in Toronto originated at a meeting in that city of the Rochester Section, which included parts of Canada. Elections and the first technical meeting will be held as soon as they can be organized. Ronald E. Ringler of Du Pont is Canadian membership chairman, an appointed position that does not bear on the election of officers for Canada. Garfield Cass Heads New Distrib Body General manager and vice-president of Canada’s newest films-for-TV sales organization, Donnell & Mudge Limited, Toronto, is Garfield Cass, who resigned as Toronto branch manager of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures of Canada Limited, to take those posts and to become a member of the board of directors. This was learned in Toronto last week, as well as the fact that George R. Gardiner, president and a director, had resigned. Cass, 43, a member of a family long identified with motion picture distribution, joined Regal Films, then holder of the Canadian franchise for MGM films, in 1934 as an (Continued on Page 6) "Don't Go Near The Water' MGM has signed Earl Holliman and Fred Clark to star with Glenn Ford and Anna Kashfi in Don’t Go Near the Water. SCHLAIFER NOW — JE TO VELDE, Gotfried, Near East, To MGM, Toronto Special sales representative of MGM working out of the Toronto branch will be A. Gotfried, formerly in charge of the Indonesian office and now in Bangkok, Thailand. He’ll arrive in April to take up his duties under Hillis Cass, general sales manager. No successor to Garfield Cass, who just resigned as manager of the Toronto branch, will be named for some time. The company has not yet begun the sale of its films to Canadian television. the home office in New York. Among those who heard Warner stress the fact that the company had the most impressive lineup in its history ready for distribution or in various stages of production was Haskell M. Masters, Canadian general manager. He reported that included in the product for early release will be the biggest picture the company has ever made, The Spirit of St. Louis, starring James Stewart as Charles A. Lindbergh and which was directed in CinemaScope by Billy Wilder. Warner stated that ‘This large (Continued on Page 2) Five Oldsmobiles For Oscar Derby Five Oldsmobile automobiles — one each for British Columbia, the Prairie Provinces, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes — will be the grand prizes in the 1957 Academy Award Sweepstakes in Canada, it was announced by H. C. D. (Dick) Main, national co-ordinator, (Continued on Page 3) UJA Film Division M. L. Axler of Twentieth Century Theatres is heading the film division in the United Jewish Appeal for Toronto. Working with him is Murray Herman, who is chairman of the section which contains the film division. PLAN CINEMA-TELEMETER HOOKUP International Telemeter Corporation, controlled by Paramount in A veteran industry sales executive, lL. J. (Jack) Schlaifer has / yeturned to United Artists as assistant to James R. Velde, general sales manager. Schlaifer has held a number of key positions with VA since 1928, his most recent stint being in 1954-55 the USA and represented in this country by Trans Canada Telemeter, will begin selling motion picture theatre exhibitors a plan for pay-see home TV linked with their own screen fare on March 1. Some time after that the company will demonstrate publicly its pay-as-you-see closed circuit coin box, which will be attached to sets in the home. Gene Fitzgibbons, head of Trans Canada Telemeter, said in Toronto that Canada will follow right along with USA developments. Trans Canada Telemeter is a subsidiary of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, which has a 25-year franchise for the pay-see system. FPCC is a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures of the USA — and the largest exhibition organization in Canada. Famous Players has partnerships in three television stations — two in Quebec City and one in Ontario. B. V. McCRIMMON, 65, PASSES Vice-President of Marcus Loew’s Theatres Limited of Toronto, Bruce Victor McCrimmon, QC, a distinguished member of the Ontario Bar, died in Toronto last week at 65. A member of the Variety Club, he was a man of many interests, among them boating, bird watching, fishing and golfing. The late Mr. McCrimmon was a senior member of the legal firm of Tilley, Carson, McCrimmon and Wedd, legal adviser to McMaster University, past president of the Lawyer’s Club and honorary secretary of the Royal Canadian Institute. He was active in the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec and a member of several leading congregations of that faith. He was the son of the late A. L. McCrimmon, chancellor of McMaster University, and Florence Anderson. Mr. McCrimmon served on a submarine chaser as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the first World War. Surviving are his wife, the former Elsie Ashall; a daughter, Mary; a son, Donald; and a brother, Leon R. McCrimmon, Hamilton. as special sales representative. He entered the industry | 1912 with the Minneapolis Warner Features exchange, leaving the following year to join Universal Pictures. Since then he has held top positions with 20th-Fox, Monogram and Eagle-Li ,