Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 27, 1970)

Page scan 0001 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Feb 27, 1970
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Feb 27, 1970)
Leaf #:
0001
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Hollywood Studio System, and Global Cinema
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Media Magazines Project, 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:
April 11, 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.

Page 2 Vixen's director honoured at Yale An eight-picture, two-day-long Russ Meyer Film Festival, including panel discussions and seminars, was held recently under the auspices of the Yale Law School Film Society on the Yale campus. The program marks the first time that a film festival has been held at Yale since the university was founded in 1701. Meyer, who made his reputation as a producer-director of independtly-produced, low-budget, sexoriented motion pictures, flew to New Haven from Hollywood to address the first day festival audience on the topic, Pornography and Art, and to participate on the second day in panel discussions on Sex in American Cinema. Joining Meyer on the Sex in American Cinema panel were the motion picture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, a political science professor at Brooklyn College, and two spokeswomen for the women’s liberation movement. Also attending the two days of Festival activities were Dolly Read and two other stars from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, who accompanied Meyer from Hollywood. The Meyer films to be shown at the Yale Law School Festival were: Cherry, Harry and Raquel, Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill!, Lorna, Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers, Mondo Topless, Common Law Cabin, Mud Honey and Vixen. Columbia’s earnings up Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., of which Columbia Pictures and Screen Gems are major divisions, reports earnings for the first six months ended December 27, 1969 were $3,250,000, or .55 per share. This compares with earnings of $3,002,000 or .53 per share for the same six months of fiscal 1968. Gross income for the sixmonth period totalled $112,800,000, compared to $106,687,000 for the same period in the previous year. Symposium follows Paramount screening A capacity audience composed of over 500 students turned up at Toronto’s Ontario Science Centre on Feb. 18 to take part in a symposium which followed a preview screening of Paramount’s The Lawyer. The discussions were led by a county court judge, the head of the Criminal Appeals and Special Prosecutions branch of the Ontario Department of Justice and a barrister/solicitor, and the standingroom-only audience kept the talks running well after the allocated time. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Canadian Film Festival big success in Toronto On Feb. 26, in conjunction with the opening night of the first play ever to be presented at Toronto’s new St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 5 hours of Canadian films were screened to a near capacity audience of approximately 500 in that centre’s Town Hall. The venture was a step in opening a window on another major area of Canadian artistic achievement —movies — and by the tremendously enthusiastic audience response, it was evident that the talent on display was greatly appreciated and admired. The St. Lawrence Centre’s Film Advisory Board (consisting of such Canadian film personalities as Chalmers Adams, Ron _ Anger, John Boundy, Peter Brigg, Clive Denton, Bob Fothergill, Bruce Martin, Joe Medjuck, Don Owen, Gerald Pratley, and Marita Robinson) is seeking to prove to the public that Canadian film-makers are definitely no amateurs, and that their films can easily stand up to the best from any other country. On display were Norman McLaren’s Opening Speech; Martin Lavut’s recent Canadian Film General Sound projection equipment makes the most of your image. — and maintains it with regular servicing. 24-hour Award-winning At Home; John Straiton’s Animals In Motion; When Kappa Kappa Gamma Visited Ontario, a film devised from a collection of Canadian movies viewing Toronto and Muskoka in the early 1920’s; Claude Jutra’s Rouli Roulant; the Toronto premire of the Norman McLarenRene Jodoin film, Spheres; David Troster’s The Spell That Comes After; Don Shebib’s Good Times, Bad Times; several National Film Board anti-smoking trailers executed by Grant Munro; Don Owen’s Notes For A Film About Donna And Gail; Ryan Larkin’s Academy Award nominee, Walking, and the NFB/CBC co-production, Waiting For Caroline, directed by Ron Kelly. More Canadian film shows are being planned for the St. Lawrence Centre, but exhibitors who are interested in playing some of the best Canadian shorts and features should contact any National Film Board office, Film Canada (1 Charles St., Toronto) or The Canadian Film-Makers’ Distribution Centre (341 Bloor St. West, Toronto). emergency duty. Canada’s Theatre Supply House General Sound AND THEATRE EQUIPMENT LIMITED Branches Across Canada FEBRUARY 27, 1970 Atlanta Film Festival to be held June 19-27 The third annual Atlanta International Film Festival has been set for Friday, June 19 through Saturday, June 27. Last year, 813 films were received from 32 nations, and over 7,000 people attended the screenings. Closing date for entries is April 1. This year, the Atlanta Festival is opening all student films to competition, with no entry fee. Cash grants and awards will be made. Make any inquiries to J. Hunter Todd, executive producer, Atlanta International Film Festival, Drawer 13258 K, Atlanta, Georgia, 30329. Our Business (Continued from Page 1) not necessarily sell tickets but they will help a new film get off the ground. Thereafter, word of mouth will either help it to soar aloft or bomb it to the ground. Our business has always existed on the star system. Unfortunately, bankers and film financiers have in the past put such stress on star names that prices’ skyrocketed beyond any reasonable value. Established players, or stars if you like, will generally help a film and they should, therefore, receive more compensation than an un~ known. However, a problem is created when stars, usually through their agents, start to demand astronomical figures thereby inflating the cost of production. We vote for the star system, but on a proper and viable basis. We know of many films which have been aided in the selling of tickets because of a certain star and conversely; we know of some which have failed to sell tickets because their casting included certain names. However, as a rule of thumb, we need stars in our business and let’s keep the producers apprised of this. Vol. 35, No. 7 Feb. 27, 1970 Editor: ED HOCURA CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ont. Second class privileges applied for Published by Motion Picture Institute of Canada, 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto 5, Ontario Canada ¢* Phone 924-1757 Price $7.50 per year PRPS ITLL RITE ELIE TS ELLE ELIT EST LOL ILLITE LE EET