Canadian Film Weekly (May 1, 1970)

Page scan 0000 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
May 1, 1970
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (May 1, 1970)
Leaf #:
0000
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
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
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Vol. 35, No. 16 PUBLISHED BY THE MOTION PICTURE INSTITUTE OF CANADA Toronto, May 1, 1970 ay blame the Movies? A great deal has been said and written about permissiveness and sex in modern day motion pictures. As a result, many people, both within and outside our business, may find themselves completely bewildered. No one can argue against the fact that our society has almost completely cast aside the taboos of the Victorian era. Attitudes towards sex and the relationship between the sexes, particularly among young people, have changed radically and will continue to do so. if Some theatre owners and managers may have developed a feeling of guilt about the type of films they are presently showing. However, it may be that we have not paid enough attention to what other media are doing. For example, the stage has now reached the point of complete nudity, something burlesque would have shunned even in its heyday. Magazines and newspapers print material of a more daring nature than they used to. Some magazines use lurid headlines, involving sex, in order ~to sell more copies. But many newspapers report events, as they happen, in a matter of fact way. For instance, in the April 27th issue of the staid and conservative Globe & Mail of Toronto, an article was published, along side a picture of three young children playing violins, headed — “Two U.S. Experts Devise Course in Sex Rehabilitation”. It is a report of a book just published by Dr. William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson of the Reproductive Biology and Research Foundation of St. Louis, and describes matters of intimate sex in as matter-of-fact fashion as one might talk about diets or cooking. This is not the first time we (Continued on page 2) AVCO EMBASSY POW-WOW — Joseph E. Levine, president of Ayco Embassy Pictures Corp. Ltd., hosted an exhibitors’ luncheon in Toronto recently to discuss his company’s product lineup for 1970. Shown above, front row, left to right, are Robert Weston, vice-president and assistant to Joseph Levine and Levine. Back row, left to right, are D. J. Edell, vice-president and general sales manager of Avco Embassy, and Victor Beattie, Canadian general manager of 20th CenturyFox Corp. Ltd., distributors of Avco Embassy films in Canada. Canada Week part of Cannes Festival The Canadian Film Development Corporation will undertake a special promotional effort at the Cannes Film Festival from May 2-16. The festival is the principal annual international film occasion and brings together film producers and distributors from all over the world. Canadian producers and distributors will have an excellent opportunity not only to sell the films they have already produced at the festival, but also to discuss their plans for future feature film projects with distributors from other countries. With the cooperation of the federal department of industry, trade and commerce, the exhibitions commission and the National Film Board, the CFDC is establishing a closed-circuit television system at two central points of festival activities: Le Grand Palais and l’Hotel Carlton. The system will be at the disposal of representatives of all the sectors of Cana dian film activity. MGM to move hdags. from N.Y. to Calif. The board of directors of MGM has approved the move of the company’s world corporate headquarters from New York to the Culver City Studios in California. The board approval comes after the company undertook an exten— sive internal analysis of the effect of the move on its operations and operating expenses. Relocation of corporate headquarters comes in accordance with James Aubrey’s announcement at the January annual meeting of stockholders in New York, at which time he stated the move “will consolidate our overall operation, engender an effective relationship between production and distribution and should result in substantial additional economies.” The major part of the move is scheduled for mid-July, with certain individuals and departmental operations moving as early as June 1. MGM will retain space in its present building at 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, with approximately 90 employees remaining to carry out east coast divisional operations. Meyer Chaplin, father of WB executive, dies Meyer Chaplin, father of Chas. S. Chaplin, Warner Bros. vicepresident in charge of Canadian television sales, passed away recently at the age of 96. Right up to the time of his decease, the senior Chaplin continued to be an energetic leader and spokesman for many charitable organizations in Toronto including the Home For The Aged and the Sons of Jacob Benevolent Society, of which he was the founder and many times president. The late Mr. Chaplin, a resident © of Toronto for 64 years, was a prominent member of the Canadian fur industry until his retirement 10 years ago. He was president of a number of service groups and honored on many occasions -for his work in the community. At the time of his death, he was the — oldest active member of the Shaar Shemoyim Synagogue in Toronto.