The Film Daily Explained

The Film Daily
Category:	Film
Publisher:	Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.
Firstdate:	1913 (daily in 1918)
Finaldate:	1970
Country:	United States
Language:	English

The Film Daily was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry.^[1] It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, information on court cases and union difficulties, and equipment breakthroughs.

Publication history

The publication was originated by Wid Gunning in 1913 (though not as a daily) and was known as Wid's Film and Film Folk (1915–1916) and Wid's Independent Review of Feature Films (1916–1918).^[2] Gunning was previously film editor at the New York Evening Mail.^[3] He also published Wid's Weekly,^[1] and Wid's Year Book.^[4]

In 1918, Joseph ("Danny") Dannenberg and Jack Alicoate purchased an interest in Wid's Weekly. On March 8, 1918, they released a daily publication, Wid's Daily. In 1921, Dannenberg and Alicoate took control of Wid's Films & Film Folk Inc., with Dannenberg as president and editor, and the publication changed name, in 1922, to The Film Daily.^[5]

During Dannenberg's time, the film yearbook (first published in 1918 as Wid's Year Book) expanded in size from 160 pages in 1918 to 860 pages in 1926.^[5] Dannenburg died March 11, 1926, and was succeeded as president and editor by Jack Alicoate, who also became publisher.

Chester B. Bahn became editor in 1937 but Alicoate remained as publisher until his death in 1960. Alicoate's brother Charles became executive publisher, and took over active management, a few years before Jack's death.^[6]

Jack Alicoate added another publication, Radio Daily, in February 1937.^[7] In September 1950, the publication was renamed Radio Daily-Television Daily.^[8] The publication ceased in the late 1960s.

In 1969, Charles Alicoate sold Film Daily to DFI Communications who installed Hugh Fordin as editor-in-chief and associate publisher in December 1969. After publishing the June 1, 1970 issue, production was suspended with plans to redesign and further enliven the publication.^[9]

The Film Daily Yearbook of Motion Pictures was published^[10] in 1929,^[11] 1945,^[12] ceased with 51st edition in 1969.^[13]

Primary Source Microfilm republished the entire periodical on microfilm in 1990, in a 125 reel set. The Media History Digital Library has scans of the archive of Film Daily from 1918 to 1948 and Wid's Weekly from 1923 to 1925 available online and most years of the Film Daily Year Book (including two editions as Wid's Year Book) from 1918 to 1951.

The Internet Archive has The Film Daily, volume 5 (July 1918) to volume 70 (December 1936).^[14]

Motion Picture World, Motion Picture World Magazine Company, New York City.^{[15] [16] [17] [18]}

Annual Critics' Poll

Film Daily was best known for its annual year-end critics' poll, in which hundreds of professional movie critics from around the country submitted their votes for the best films of the year, which the magazine then tallied and published as a top ten list. It was not uncommon for a film to win for a year that actually came after the year it first premiered, since the rollover date for each year's eligibility cycle was typically November 1 and the film was required to be in general release.^[19] Gone with the Wind, for example, premiered in 1939 but didn't become eligible until 1941 when it switched from a roadshow format to a general release.^[20] No winner was named in 1950 because for that year only, separate categories were polled for Drama of the Year and Musical of the Year (won by Sunset Boulevard and Annie Get Your Gun, respectively).^[21]

Critics' Poll Results

Year	Winning film	Runner-up	Cite(s)
1922	Orphans of the Storm	Grandma's Boy	^[22]
1923	The Covered Wagon	Merry-Go-Round
1924	The Thief of Bagdad	The Sea Hawk
1925	The Gold Rush	The Unholy Three
1926	Variety	Ben-Hur
1927	Beau Geste	The Big Parade
1928	The Patriot	Sorrell and Son
1929	Disraeli	The Broadway Melody
1930	All Quiet on the Western Front	Abraham Lincoln	^[23]
1931	Cimarron	Street Scene	^[24]
1932	Grand Hotel	The Champ	^[25]
1933	Cavalcade	42nd Street	^[26]
1934	The Barretts of Wimpole Street	The House of Rothschild	^[27]
1935	David Copperfield	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer	^[28]
1936	Mutiny on the Bounty	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	^[29]
1937	The Life of Emile Zola	The Good Earth	^[30]
1938	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	You Can't Take It with You	^[31]
1939	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	^[32]
1940	Rebecca	The Grapes of Wrath	^[33]
1941	Gone with the Wind	Sergeant York
1942	Mrs. Miniver	How Green Was My Valley	^[34]
1943	Random Harvest	For Whom the Bell Tolls	^[35]
1944	Going My Way	The Song of Bernadette	^[36]
1945	Wilson	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	^[37]
1946	The Lost Weekend	The Green Years	^[38]
1947	The Best Years of Our Lives	The Jolson Story	^[39]
1948	Gentleman's Agreement	Johnny Belinda	^[40]
1949	The Snake Pit	The Red Shoes	^[41]
1950	category not polled	-
1951	A Place in the Sun	A Streetcar Named Desire	^[42]
1952	High Noon	The Quiet Man	^[43]
1953	From Here to Eternity	Shane	^[44]
1954	The Caine Mutiny	On the Waterfront
1955	Mister Roberts	Marty
1956	The King and I	Giant
1957	Around the World in 80 Days	Sayonara	^[45]
1958	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1959	Anatomy of a Murder	The Diary of Anne Frank
1960	The Apartment	Elmer Gantry
1961	The Guns of Navarone	The Hustler
1962	The Manchurian Candidate	The Music Man
1963	Tom Jones	Hud	^[46]
1964	My Fair Lady	Becket	^[47]
1965	The Sound of Music	Ship of Fools	^[48]
1966	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	^[49]
1967	In the Heat of the Night	Bonnie and Clyde	^[50]
1968	The Lion in Winter	Rosemary's Baby	^[51] ^[52]
1969	Midnight Cowboy	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	^[53]

Further reading

• Web site: The Film Daily (Apr-Jun 1948) . Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc. . 1948 . via archive.org.
• Wid's Films and Film Folk (Jan-Dec 1916)
• Wid's Films and Film Folk (Jan-Dec 1917)
• The Film Daily (Jul-Sep 1937)
• Web site: Film Daily archives . onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu . 20 May 2022 -->.
• Web site: Bailey . Matt . Film Daily and Predecessors, 1915-1970 . Research Guides: Cinema and Media Studies . . en . Major Film Periodicals for Media Research: Series One:.
• Book: The Film Daily, Volume 124 . 1964 . Wid's Films and Film Folk Incorporated . en.
• Book: The Film Daily, Volume 129 . 1966 . Wid's Films and Film Folk Incorporated . en.

External links

• Media History Digital Library
• Daily" NOT "Year Book" NOT "Cavalcade" NOT "Presents"

Notes and References

1. Variety. May 3, 1918. 43. Wid's Film Daily.
2. Web site: The Film Daily (January – March 1935) Description. Media History Digital Library. 5 November 2013.
3. Variety. August 27, 1915. 17. Gunning Off "The Mail".
4. Book: Gunning . Wid . Wid Gunning . Wid's Year Book 1921 . 1921 . Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. . New York . via archive.org.
5. News: Film Daily. March 11, 1926. 1. "Danny's" Career. February 14, 2021. Archive.org.
6. Variety. Obituaries. 79. June 29, 1960. February 13, 2021. Archive.org.
7. Introducing the Radio Daily. February 14, 2021. 1. February 9, 1937. Radio Daily. Alicoate. Jack.
8. Radio Daily Television Daily. February 14, 2021. 1. September 7, 1950. Radio Daily Television Daily.
9. Variety. Film TV Daily Suspends. 23. June 3, 1970.
10. Web site: Film Daily Year Book archives . . 30 November 2022.
11. Web site: The film daily year book : 1929 . archive.org . New York : The Film Daily . 30 November 2022 . 1929.
12. Web site: The Film Daily yearbook of motion pictures (1945) . . New York : The Film Daily . 30 November 2022 . 1945.
13. Web site: The Film daily year book of motion pictures . Dartmouth College Library . . 30 November 2022 . en.
14. Web site: Film Daily archives . . 30 November 2022.
15. Web site: The Economic History of the International Film Industry . eh.net . . 30 November 2022.
16. Web site: Borden . Amy E. . Before Motion Picture World: Movies in Gilded Age American Magazines . . 30 November 2022.
17. Book: The Scroll . 1921 . Phi Delta Theta Fraternity . 254 . 30 November 2022 . en.
18. Book: Geduld . Harry M. . Harry M. Geduld . The Birth of the Talkies: From Edison to Jolson . 1975 . Indiana University Press . 978-0-253-10743-5 . en.
19. January 14, 1941 . 53 Feature Find Places on Poll Honor Roll . Film Daily . 4 .
20. News: Aitchison . Marion . January 14, 1942 . Times Reviewers Again Pick Eight Out of Ten Winners . . St. Petersburg, Florida . 13 .
21. News: November 6, 1950 . Holden and Swanson Get Film Daily Nod . Spokane Daily Chronicle . Spokane, Washington . 16 .
22. Book: Gottesman . Ronald . Geduld . Harry M. . Harry M. Geduld . 1972 . Guidebook to Film: An Eleven-in-one Reference . Holt McDougal . 190, 192 . 9780030852923 .
23. January 22, 1931 . The Ten Best Pictures of 1930 . The Film Daily . 1 .
24. January 18, 1932 . "Cimarron" Heads Ten Best Films . Film Daily . 1 .
25. January 11, 1933 . "Grand Hotel" Leads Ten Best List . Film Daily . 1 .
26. January 10, 1934 . "Cavalcade" Heads Ten Best Films . Film Daily . 1 .
27. January 3, 1935 . "Barretts" Leads Ten Best Pictures . Film Daily . 1 .
28. January 9, 1936 . "Copperfield" Heads 1935 'Ten Best' . Film Daily . 1 .
29. January 7, 1937 . "Mutiny on the Bounty" Heads '36 "Ten Best" . Film Daily . 1 .
30. January 6, 1938 . Critics Vote "Emile Zola" Year's Best . Film Daily . 1 .
31. January 12, 1939 . Critics Vote 'Snow White' 1938's Best . Film Daily . 1 .
32. January 12, 1940 . Critics Vote "Mr. Chips" As '39's Best . Film Daily . 1 .
33. January 14, 1941 . "Rebecca" Wins Critics' Poll . Film Daily . 1 .
34. News: January 13, 1943 . Times Picks Six of Ten Best Films . . St. Petersburg, Florida . 13 .
35. News: January 18, 1944 . 'Random Harvest' Voted Best Film . San Jose Evening News . San Jose, California . 16 .
36. January 15, 1945 . "Way" First in 10 Best Poll . Film Daily . 1 .
37. January 14, 1946 . "Wilson" Tops "10 Best" Poll . Film Daily . 1 .
38. News: Bahn . Chester . January 8, 1947 . "Lost Weekend" Voted Best Film Feature From Hollywood in 1946 . The Florence Times . Florence, Alabama . 8 .
39. January 12, 1948 . "Best Years" Tops 1947 Poll . Film Daily . 1 .
40. News: December 20, 1948 . Film Daily Lists Ten Best Movies . Evening Independent . St. Petersburg, Florida . 24 .
41. News: January 23, 1950 . 'Snake Pit' Wins Top Place in National Movie Poll . The Pittsburgh Press . Pittsburgh . 10 .
42. News: March 6, 1952 . 'A Place in Sun' Wins Film Poll . The Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington . 2 .
43. News: March 9, 1953 . Western Voted Top 1952 Film . Spokane Daily Chronicle . Spokane Washington . 11 .
44. Book: 1963 . The 1963 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures . New York . Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. . 119–125 .
45. News: March 17, 1958 . Todd Movie Voted Best Of Year . Daytona Beach Morning Herald . Daytona Beach, Florida . 1 .
46. News: April 10, 1964 . Tom Jones Film Picked as Best . The Day . New London, Connecticut . 1 .
47. Book: Reid, John Howard . 2010 . British Movie Entertainments on Vhs and DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide . Lulu . 204 . 9780557582754 .
48. News: April 11, 1966 . 'Sound of Music' Named Best . Daytona Beach Morning Journal . Daytona Beach, Florida . 2 .
49. News: February 5, 1967 . Bits of Show Business . Milwaukee Journal . Milwaukee . Part 2, p. 6 .
50. News: Cohen . Harold V. . March 8, 1968 . Over 300 Critics Pick 'Heat of the Night,' Too . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . 15 .
51. News: March 20, 1969 . 'Lion in Winter' Selected As Best Film by Reviewers . Albuquerque Journal . Albuquerque, New Mexico . 33 .
52. Book: Reid, John Howard . 2006 . Cinemascope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge . Lulu . 273 . 9781411671881 .
53. News: March 3, 1970 . 'Cowboy,' Hoffman, Voight, Liza Win . . Salt Lake City . 10A .