RALPH BROWN
1927 – 1979
Ralph (baptized John Albert) Brown was born on July 17, 1927, and died suddenly at work on January 8, 1979. He was the founder of the National Catholic Communications Centre Film Society (later known as the Centre Film Society) at the N.C.C.C. Information Centre on Bathurst Street, where he met his future wife, Ruth, who was also working in classes for non-Catholics.
Ralph began showing movies at the Centre on Sundays, and Jesuit Fathers, including film buff Marc Gervais, would come and discuss the movies, especially those with a religious content by directors such as Ingmar Bergman.
The venture developed into a regular film society* in 1962 and began to attract more members. In 1965 the Society moved to larger premises at the Holy Rosary Hall on St. Clair Avenue West, and put in a new screen and first-class sound equipment. (The sound equipment was also much appreciated by the teenagers who held band concerts at the Hall.) The name “Centre Film Society” was adopted for the 1965-66 season and was used thereafter, partly because the membership included people of several religious faiths.
The screen and sound equipment remained at the Holy Rosary Hall when the Society moved again in 1968, this time at the invitation of the Learning Resources Centre, Forest Hill Library, on Eglinton Avenue West, which had a very attractive screening-room.
Seven years later the membership had declined somewhat, because of the increasing number of alternative film-viewing opportunities in Toronto, and the Learning Resources Centre and film library had been transferred in December 1975 to the new Northern District Library on Orchardview Boulevard. Consequently it was decided to dissolve the Centre Film Society following its 1975-76 season, after 14 years of film presentations.
TFS members who also attended the Centre Film Society screenings will remember with pleasure the high quality of film programming undertaken by Ralph Brown; the excellence and appropriateness of the short films accompanying features; the programme notes with thought-provoking extracts from books and articles attached, pertinent to the theme of the programme or of general film interest; the original cover designs by Gordon Melamed; the friendliness of the other members of the Society’s executive who welcomed us; the discussions (with coffee and cookies) that took place after the films; the cheerful and informative Newsletter put out by Ralph Brown; his generosity in giving frequent credit to his co-workers and publicizing other film societies and film programmes in Toronto; and Ralph himself at the screenings.
I don’t know of any other film society in Toronto that has combined the same qualities of intimacy and relaxed atmosphere with thoughtful and stimulating programming of xcellent films, organized by one man with a dedicated band of helpers.
Ralph’s sister, Mrs. Hall, says that he had the average amount of interest in movies as a boy, but in his twenties became concerned with human condition and with philosophical and moral issues which he found could be explored through the study of certain films. He used films as a means of communicating and sharing these questions with other people, rather than studying film art and technique for their own sake. His selection of programmes, however, also included such joyous entertainment as musicals and comedies.
Ralph leave his wife and two daughters. Ruth, after years of teaching, won a B.A. degree while bringing up a family and helping to run the film society. She continues to teach at the Richard W. Scott Separate School. The elder daughter will soon reach the age when she can see any film that she chooses, and is looking forward to that time.
Ruth Brown has generously donated to Toronto Film Society a number of film books, reviews and pamphlets and some equipment that Ralph used for the Centre Film Society. She has approved the policy adopted by TFS, that any material donated to it and not needed for its own operations will be offered free to other film societies or film organizations in Canada.
We are very grateful to Ruth, and sad that Ralph Brown has gone from the Toronto film community of which he was such an enterprising and individual part.
*Ralph joined Toronto Film Society early in its history, and in one of his Newsletters credit Dorothy Burritt with encouraging him in the formation of the Centre Film Society.
Sources: Mrs. Ralph J. (Ruth) Brown, Mrs. J.J. (Helen McGrath, Mrs. W.E. (Mary Anne) Hall, and TFS’s Centre Film Society File.
by Helen Arthurs
FEATURE FILMS SHOWN BY THE CENTRE FILM SOCIETY
Season 1: 1962-63 REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, THE BLUE ANGEL, GREN PASTURES, AMICI PER LA PELLE, A SUMMER TO REMEMBER, THE SEVENTH SEAL, THE WAGES OF FEAR
Season 2: 1963-64 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, THE INFORMER, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, MONSIEUR VINCENT, WILD STRAWBERRIES, THE VIRGIN SPRING
Season 3: 1964-65 CITIZEN KANE, MODERN TIMES, THE SUNDOWNERS, A HATFUL OF RAIN, AMERICA AS SEEN BY A FRENCHMAN, SUNDAYS AND CYBELE, IKIRU, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT
Season 4: 1965-66 THE INNOCENTS, ECSTASY, CROSSFIRE, THE LAST LAUGH, THE HUNTERS, LONELY ARE THE BRAVE, CLOCHMERLE, THE SHORT POINT, HAND IN HAND
Season 5: 1966-67 SUMMER INTERLUDE, SNOW WHAT AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, THE KNIFE, OLYMPIA, FESTIVAL OF BEAUTY, LE BEONHEUR, THE MARRIED WOMAN, THE FIANCES, THE 400 BLOWS, THE GOLD RUSH
Season 6: 1967-68 THE FORTY-NINE DAYS, SALT OF THE EARTH, SHE DONE HIM WRONG, PETER AND PAVLA, ALPHAVILLE, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, An Evening of Czech Cinema, THE BEST MAN, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
Season 7: 1968-69 THE LOVERS, ANIMAL FARM, KWAIDAN, SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, CULLODEN, PRIVILEGE, FAHRENHEIT 451
Season 8 : 1969-70 THE DEVIL’S EYE, STAGAECOACH, THE MAGICIAN, BLACK ORPHEUS, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, TORMENT, THE FLUTE AND THE ARROW, ELVIRA MADIGAN, THE AFRICAN QUEEN
Season 9: 1970-71 CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, THE GREAT DICTATOR, OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR, THE WHISPERERS, RECIPE FOR CRIME, CRAZY QUILT, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, THE KID, DUTCHMAN
Season 10: 1971-72 OUR MOTHER’S HOUSE, LOLA MONTES, MY NIGHT AT MAUD’S, UP IN ARMS, NO CATS ALLOWED, STOLEN KISSES, PHANTOM OF THE OEPRA, HERE’S YOUR LIFE, YOURS, MINE & OURS
Season 11: 1972-73 LES MISERABLES, LOST HORIZON, THE LADY VANISHES, THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE, THE ROAD TO ZANZIBAR, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, CITIZEN KANE, THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, DEAD OF NIGHT, LAST HOLIDAY
Season 12: 1973-74 THE WRONG MAN, SAN FRANCISCO, THE GREAT MCGINTY, HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, HOLIDAY INN, GIVE A GIRL A BREAK, DEAD END, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE GOOD EARTH, LEASE OF LIFE
Season 13: 1974-75 THE SOUTHERNER, A PLACE IN THE SUN, THE LADY EVE, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, LILI, WHITE CHRISTMAS, THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, DUCK SOUP, THE LADY VANISHES, SUSPICION, THE MAN NWHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS, THE MALTESE FALCON, CASABLANCA, HENRY V
Season 14: 1975-76 THE STAR MAKER, TIGER BAY, KID MILLIONS, THE LITTLE PRINCESS, THE GHOST BREAKERS, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, ANCHORS AWEIGH, IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, A HOLE IN THE HEAD, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE TIME MACHINE, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, NORTH BY NORTHWEST
