Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 24, 1969)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 24, 1969
Volume:
Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly (Dec 24, 1969)
Leaf #:
0000
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
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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Vol. 34, No. 21-22 VOICE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY Incorporating the CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST (Founded 1915) | MOE TORONTO, December 24, 1969 NFB ‘Forced’ To Charge Rental Fees For Films Austerity has hit the National Film Board of Canada. Effective, Jan. 1, rental fees will be charged on all films borrowed from its libraries across Canada. The fee schedule is based on the running time of each film. It ranges from $3 to rent a film under 10 minutes for a day to $20 for a feature-length film for the same period. The use of a film for two dayse will be subject to a charge of one-and-a-half times the daily rate, while the fee for those used for three days will be twice the daily rate. The fee for one week’s use of a film will be twoand-a-half times the daily rate. Delivery by parcel post is included in these rates. The rental for feature films will vary with each title. The decision to charge for rental of NFB films is said to be an extension of the government's austerity program. The government’s recent announcement of cutting back on civil service budgets meant that the tax-supported National Film Board would be affected, too. So much so that the government froze the NFB’s budget grant at $10 million. The Syndicat General du Cinema et la Television, which represents 419 technical and production employees in the NFB is protesting the government’s action. The SCGT contends that the film board has suffered unduly in comparison with government-induced austerity measures in other branches of the civil service. Until the situation is resolved, National Film Board branch offices are faced with the prospect of selling the same films they once loaned out at no charge. Strong reaction is expected from people who will question the ethics in having to pay rental charges for films from an organization supported by tax money. It’s Official: Warner Bros. Inc. Warner Bros. Inc. is now the name of the entertainment subsidiary of Kinney National Service, Inc. Previously, the company was called Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. The world premiere of Explosion was held simultaneously in 13 B.C. theatres, and coincided with the opening of Canada’s first tri-aud built in the Lougheed Mall in Burnaby, B.C. Shown above are Ivan Ackery, manager of Famous Players’ Capitol Theatre in Vancouver, Julian Roffman, producer of Explosion, and the stars of the fiilm, Don Stroud and Gordon Thomson. Double Premiere Launches Explosion and B.C. Tri-Aud First three-in-one cinema complex in Canada opened recently in the Lougheed Mall shopping centre of Burnaby, B.C. a suburb of Vancouver. The Lougheed Cinemas J, II and III, seating 736, 294 and 496, respectively, are owned by Famous Players Cana dian Corp. and managed by its subsidiary company, 20th Century Theatres Ltd. Aligned off a common lobby, the theatres are part of a new double-decked, enclosed shopping complex and represent the current trend in theatre design. They were conceived by the Vancouver firm of Dirassar, James & Jorgenson, architects for the entire mall, One automated projection booth serves all three auditoria, as does the single boxoffice, concessions bar and restroom facilities. At one end of the lobby, manager Sid Freedman’s office is cantilevered so as to give him a full view of the action through a wall-to-wall window. Opening of the Lougheed Cinemas actually constituted a double-premiere—a first for the theatres and a debut for the film, Explosion, a psychological action drama filmed in and around Vancouver with Julian Roffman of Toronto producing and _Jules Bricken of Hollywood and London directing. The film’s two main stars — Hollywood’s Don Stroud and Gordon Thomson of Toronto — attened the premiere and were introduced on stage by Roffman. Later, they attended a special reception in the theatre lobby and throughout a two-day stay in Vancouver met a tight schedule of press, radio and TV interviews. The official opening night welcome was tendered by N. A. Taylor of Toronto, president of 20th Century Theatres and, by coincidence, also president of Meredian Films, the Toronto-based produ (Continued on Page 7) WE WISH YOU ALL THE tue SEASON'S GREETINGS Trust Fund Appeal Launched By Pioneers One of the film industry’s most admirable contributions to humanitarium work is the Canadian Picture Pioneer Trust Fund. The committee in charge of this noble effort has launched its annual appeal for donations to help people in dire need, Without the Trust Fund’s assistance, many hapless people would be at the mercy of social or charitable agencies whose impersonal aid could do little to rehabilitate and encourage them. Any donations to the Trust Fund enables the committee to carry on charitable endeavors of giving direct help to Pioneers who, unfortunately, cannot help themselves. The Will Roger Hospital in Saranac Lake, NY has notified the Canadian Picture Pioneers that in its appreciation of grateful donations in the past, their facilities are available to all present members of the Canadian entertainment-communications industry. Any person with a cardio-pulmonary disease, such as emphysema, bronchial problems, etc., is asked to have his doctor send a medical summary and a recent chest x-ray to the Medical Director, Will! Rogers Hospital, Saranac Lake, New York 12983. At the same time, an application for admittance should be sent to Admissions Committee, Will Rogers Memorial Fund, 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. It is advised that all applicants come into the US as a visitor, and not through immigration, whether their stay at the hospital will be a short or long term. The charitable response by the Will Rogers Hospital to lend a helping hand to aid ailing Canadians deserves more than just a mention in this magazine. We can only hope that everyone associated with the Canadian film industry will open their hearts to make this annual appeal for the Canadian Picture Pioneer Trust Fund the biggest yet. Cheques should be made pay able to the Canadian Picture Pio(Continued on Page 3)