Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 16, 1959)

Page scan 0004 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 16, 1959
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 16, 1959)
Leaf #:
0004
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, and Global Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, 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:
August 08, 2024
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= o » Ve ue ¢ , a F my bal i "4 , > ‘ ser a ” : 7 go % hie i’ ' y, re 7 kd y x aes 7 . iyysyrys 3 ay ne DELEGATES AT THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY COUNCIL'S ANNUAL MEETING IN TORONTO Back row, left to right: E. G. Forsyth, C. J. Appel, Matt Park, Vice-chairman F. Gordon Spencer, Frank H. Fisher, Chairman C. S. Chaplin, Harry Prygrocki, David Rothstein, Garnet Wright, Basil Salamis and Al Turnbull. Second row: N. A. Taylor, A. J. Mason, Owen Bird, Len Johnson, H. C. D. Main, Gordon Lightstone, Ken Beach, Harry Howard and Lloyd Pearson, Front row: Ted Hayes, Hye Bossin, Jack Heaps, Bill Winterton and Russ Simpson. INSURANCE (Continued from Page 1) standards and the wide use of safety film. Continued improvement in loss experience can lead to lower rates still, although a major factor would have to be heavy capital expenditures for sprinkler systems. What has caused theatre rates to go up are the dark houses, the insurers being ‘generally apprehensive of vacant property.” Drive-in rates are considered to be too high, some of this being because they are closed half the year and the insurers recall their experiences with closed auditorium theatres. The rate went up in 1958 and it could be that a reduction will be considered when actuarial experience is sufficiently developed by the insurer. No reductions in the theft and fidelity category can be foreseen, since theatre experience is bad. The contrary is likely. Judicious relocation of safes and vaults so that a patrolling policeman can check them visually from the outside should be undertaken where possible. Some insurers demand night deposit facilities, particularly on weekends. In 1950 a reclassification of theatres because of fire-resistant roofs and other safety characteristics brought about a 40 per cent premium rate reduction for many. Columbia, Gordon Sign Multiple-Picture Deal Michael Gordon, who directed the current boxoffice hit, Pillow Talk, has been signed to a multiple-picture deal by Samuel J. Briskin, vice-president in charge of West Coast operations for Columbia Pictures Corporation. The first Columbia project under the new deal will be Smile of a Woman. "The Boy And The Pirates’ UA will distribute Bert I. Gordon’s The Boy and the Pirates, now shooting with Mervyn Vye, Charles Herbert, Susan Gordon and Joseph Turkel starred. Para's ‘Affair In Arcady’ Henry Blanke’s first production for Paramount will be Affair in Arcady. Edward Anhalt has been assigned to write the screenplay of the novel by James Wallard. News Hipe Ad in Variety, USA trade publication, by Sovereign Film Distributors Ltd. and Sovereign Broadcasting Co. says that the latter organization has ‘Film News Bureau in Ottawa, Canada’s Capitol City” . .. A Vatican film library to gather and preserve documents related to the Roman Catholic Church and religion in general has been established by the Pope... Proprietors of premises where bingo games are being held will be prosecuted by Ottawa Police under the section of the Criminal Code which prohibits the operation of gaming houses . . . Edward Schreiber has succeeded Eddie Solomon as assistant to Rodney Bush, 20th Century-Fox exploitation director at the home office, NY. He’ll co-ordinate the regional directors . . . Odds Against Tomorrow, Pusher and Rebellion of the Hanged were classified as Adult Entertainment by the Ontario censor board. “An astounding illusion of aliveness”’ is claimed by Cinema Graf for its feature, This Is CinemaGraf, which will be released in May, 1960. Writer-producer-director is Thomas Lockyear Graeff ... Wilfred P. Gregory, v-p of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, has succeeded David M. Rae as president . . . Philip F. Harling has been reappointed chairman of the Pay-TV committee of the Theatre Owners of America. He visited Canada earlier this year for talks with TOA of Quebec officials to plan opposition . P Canadian Video Films Ltd. is operating in Montreal. Joseph R. Vogel, president of Loew’s, Inc. (MGM), has been honored with one of the highest awards that Italy can bestow on an outsider, Commander in the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy. It was presented in the offices of the Italian Consul General in NY. MGM made Ben-Hur in Italy . . . Canadian Council of Christians and Jews honored three Canadians at its recent 12th anniversary banquet in Toronto. They were Richard W. Kelley, Windsor; John R. White, Toronto; and Mayor Nathan Phillips, QC. They did much to help promote “the brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God” . . . A Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon cartoon festival with admission free was offered by the Artistic Society of Montreal last weekend. Eight were shown in the auditorium of the Notre Dame Centre, a new building. _Se OUR BUSINESS (Continued from Page 3) there is no valid reason to maintain a double standard. Theatre managers harassed by the suppressive action of the advertising departments of these newspapers should make a compendium of the news and editorial content of such periodicals. Therein may very well be the answer to what action should be taken. Lewis Contracts Tashlin For Five-Year Series In one of the most important Paramount production contracts in years, Jerry Lewis has signed director-writer Frank Tashlin to collaborate with him on a series of adult fairy tales to be made over the next five years. Lewis will produce and star in the productions which will be made by his independent company for Paramount release. CinderFella, now in production, will be the first of the series. Other planned properties are Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels and Rumpelstiltskin. ¥35 PETER ST., TORONTO 2B