Robert Morris Seiler - Reel Time: Movie Exhibitors and Movie Audiences in Prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986

Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler

Copyright 2013 Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler

Published by AU Press, Athabasca University

1200, 10011 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8

ISBN 978-1-926836-99-7 (print) 978-1-927356-00-5 (PDF) 978-1-927356-01-2 (epub)

Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design.

Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printers.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Seiler, R. M. (Robert Morris)

Reel time : movie exhibitors and movie audiences in prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986 / by Robert M. Seiler and Tamara P. Seiler.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued also in electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-926836-99-7

1. Motion pictures Social aspects Prairie Provinces History.

2. Motion pictures Economic aspects Prairie Provinces History.

3. Motion picture theaters Social aspects Prairie Provinces History.

4. Motion picture theaters Economic aspects Prairie Provinces History.

I. Seiler, Tamara Palmer

II. Title.

PN1995.9.S6S44 2013 302.234309712 C2012-901800-7

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.

Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multimedia Development Fund.

Please contact AU Press, Athabasca University at aupress@athabascau.ca for permissions and copyright information.

2 Introducing Cinema to Prairie Canada:
Movie Exhibition, 1896 to 1904

4 Reforms and Regulations:
Movie Censorship in the Prairie West

5 Grand Entertainment:
Movie Exhibition During the Picture Palace Era, 1914 to 1932

7 The Struggle for Control:
Odeon Theatres (Canada) Limited

Many people helped us prepare this volume. First, we acknowledge our huge debt to Charles R. Acland, Deborah Carmichael, Howard Lichtman, Janet MacKinnon, George Melnyk, Paul S. Moore, Donald B. Smith, Charles Tepperman, Donald G. Wetherell, and Maurice Yacowar for sharing their expertise with us and nurturing our work. The illuminating conversations we had with these scholars helped us focus our investigation and sharpen our arguments.

We are also indebted to those individuals who provided us with information about various aspects of movie exhibition. We thank Mrs. Ethel Allen, Helen Atnikov, Cheryl Baron, Cleo Barron and the late Bob Barron, Dick Barron and Jean Barron, the late Joe Brager, Charles Brawn, Bruce S. Elliott, Barry Elmer, Iona Fraser, Lloyd Hamilton, Irene Theodore Heinstein, Alan Hustak, Karen Marks, Ruth Millar, Arthur Osborne, Marty Rothstein, Pat Ryan, Harry Sanders, Reg Skene, Syd Sniderman, Greg Stoicoiu, Jack Stothard, Linda Wakefield, and Stan Winfield.

We are also grateful to all those individuals who helped us track down and access materials that were crucial to our research. We extend our sincere thanks to the librarians at the Cinmathque Qubcoise library and at Concordia University Library, in Montral; to Justin Gauthier, Ginette Godward, Sophie Tellier, and Anne-Catherine Toulmonde, reference archivists in the Client Services Division, Library and Archives Canada; to the librarians in the Ottawa Room of the Ottawa Public Library; to Donna Bernardo-Ceriz, assistant archivist at the Ontario Jewish Archives; to Julie Holland, archives assistant, and Michael Moir, archivist and head, at Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, Scott Library, York University; to Heather Wilson, research specialist at the Toronto Reference Library; to the librarians at the Robarts Library, University of Toronto, and at Ryerson University Library, also in Toronto; to Denise Kirk, local history librarian at the Brantford Public Library; to Giles Bugailiskis, D. M. Lyon, and R. R. Rostecki, of the Planning, Property, and Development Department, City of Winnipeg; to Alta Carter, librarian at the Winnipeg Public Library; to Anne Morton, of the Research and Reference division of the Hudsons Bay Company Archives; to archivists Irma Penn and Sharon Segal, at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, in Winnipeg; to Christy M. Henry and S. J. McKee, archivists at the Archives and John E. Robbins Library, Brandon University; to Jonathan Hill, administrative assistant, Heritage Resources Department, City of Brandon; to archivists Cheryl Brown, Dorothea Funk, and Elaine Kozakavich, in the Local History Room of Saskatoon Public Library; to the Architectural Heritage Society of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon; to Kenneth G. Aitken, prairie history librarian at the Regina Public Library; to Carey Isaak, librarian at the City of Regina Archives; to archivists Tim Novak, Paula Rein, and Bill Wagner, in Reference and Outreach at the Saskatchewan Archives Board; to the librarians at the Urban Planning Division, City of Regina; to Pat Ryan, researcher with Past Relations, in Regina; to archivist Pam Albert, of the Archives Department, Moose Jaw Public Library; to Graham G. Hall, artistic and executive director, and Judy Casey, business manager, at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre; to Paula Aurini-Onderwater, Sherry Bell, Bruce Ibsen, and Kathryn Ivany, of the City of Edmonton Archives; to Shannon Vecchio, business manager, Archives Store and Client Services, Provincial Archives of Alberta; to Matthew Wangler, director of the Historic Places Designation Program, Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Edmonton; to the archivists at the Calgary Land Titles Office, in the City of Calgary Assessment Department; to Jennifer Bobrovitz, local historian, at the Calgary Public Library; to Darryl Cariou, of the Heritage Advisory Board, City of Calgary; to Doug Cass, archivist at the Glenbow Archives, Calgary; to Linda Fraser, archivist and chief curator of the Canadian Architectural Archives at the University of Calgary; to JoAnne Houston and Evelyn Ward, librarians at the W. R. Castell Central Library, in Calgary; to Laurie Leier, director of marketing and development at the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts; to Sharon Neary, data librarian at the MacKimmie Library, University of Calgary; to the late Jack Switzer, formerly of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, in Calgary; to the librarians at Simon Fraser University Library, in Burnaby, British Columbia, and at the Vancouver Public Library; and to the librarians at Cleveland Public Library, in Cleveland, Ohio; at Northwestern University Library, in Evanston, Illinois; and at the University of Nevada Library, in Reno, Nevada.

The value of this work rests in large part upon the materials supplied by these various institutions.

We are indebted to the University of Calgary for granting us Sabbatical Research Fellowships, a Killam Research Fellowship, and administrative leave, which enabled us to undertake extensive research and prepare the manuscript.