Lew M. Parry
Llewelyn Maddock Parry (1905-1993), known professionally as "Lew Parry" and "L. M. Parry," was a producer, director, writer, and art director of British Columbia motion pictures. Based in the Vancouver area, Parry specialized in the field of industrial and sponsored films, but also worked in film production for television. Under a variety of company names, he produced as many as 200 films in his 35-year career. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Parry and his associates made major contributions to the development of the British Columbia film industry.
Early life[edit]
Born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Parry moved with his parents to Nelson, BC, where his father operated a movie theatre. This began a lifelong fascination with the movies. In the early 1920s, while apprenticing in the sheet metal trade in Vancouver, he volunteered in local theatres as a scenic artist and designed the scenery and lighting for amateur stage productions of the Vancouver Little Theatre.
Neon Products Ltd.[edit]
Around 1931, Parry's sheet metal experience turned into a drafting job with Neon Products Ltd., an electric sign fabrication company in Vancouver. He worked there as a sign and sheet metal designer through the thirties and much of the Second World War, eventually rising to the position of art director. Two of his best-known creations were the futuristic sheet metal rocket he designed for a parade float in the 1936 Vancouver Golden Jubilee parade [see below], and an Art Deco figure of Diana the Huntress that topped the sign fin of the Vogue Theatre on Granville Street (1941).
Motion Skreenadz / Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd.[edit]
In the later 1930s, Parry spent his spare time learning about film production at Motion Skreedadz Ltd. and Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd., two film companies owned by businessman Leon C. Shelly. To gain experience in the medium, Parry wrote, designed, and directed some of the theatrical advertising trailers or "screen ads" produced at Motion Skeenadz.[1]
In 1944, after finishing four years of war-related work at Neon Products, he joined Vancouver Motion Pictures as a production manager and art director. Within a year, he was directing some of the sponsored films the firm produced for the National Film Board of Canada. [See list under "Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd." in the filmography below.]
1n 1945, Shelly moved Vancouver Motion Pictures to Toronto and changed the company name to Shelly Films. Parry decided to stay in Vancouver and start his own company.[2]
Trans-Canada Films[edit]
Lew Parry Film Productions[edit]
Parry Films Ltd.[edit]
Lew Parry Film Productions[edit]
Select Filmography[edit]
Vancouver Motion Pictures Ltd./Shelly Films (Leon Shelly, producer)[edit]
- Limbs to Order (for the National Film Board/Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, 1945) - director/writer
- Road to Recovery (for the National Film Board/Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, 1945) - director/writer
- Jasper (for the National Film Board/Canadian Government Travel Bureau, 1946) - director/writer
Trans-Canada Films Ltd.[edit]
- The Third Freedom (for the National Film Board/Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, 1946)
- Vancouver Diamond Jubilee (for the Jubilee Publicity Committee/ BC Electric, 1946)
- Dinner for Miss Creeden (for BC Electric, 1947)
- Rehabilitation, Inc. (for BC Workmen's Compensation Board, 1947)
- Operation Overflow (for BC Electric, 1948)
Lew Parry Film Productions[edit]
- Bridge River Project [10 or more films on this project] (for BC Electric, ca. 1948-1960)
- Going to Town (for BC Electric, 1948)
- On the Spot (for BC Electric, 1949)
- Who, Me? (for the Vancouver Traffic and Safety Council, 1950)
- Nechako Survey (for Aluminum Company of Canada, 1951)
- Royal Visit (for BC Electric, 1952)
- Breakthrough (for Canadian Ingersoll-Rand, 1953)
- Coronation Day (for BC Electric, 1951)
- No Barriers (for Trans-Canada Airlines, 1953)
- Tree for Tomorrow (for MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River Ltd., 1953/1956/1963)
- Columbia Adventure (for the National Film Board/Canadian Government Travel Bureau, 1954)
- The Plywood Story (for the Plywood Manufacturers Association of BC, 1954)
- Assignment Safety (for the BC Lumber Manufacturer's Association, 1955)
- Dorothy's Dream House (for BC Electric, 1955)
- The Powell River Story (for the Powell River Company, 1955)
- Wood Meets the Challenge! (for MacMillan and Bloedel Ltd., 1955)
Parry Films Ltd.[edit]
- 120,000 Kilowatts Under the Sea (for BC Electric, 1956)
- Nature's Miracle (for BC Electric, 1957)
- Riverland Irrigated Farms (for BC Electric, 1957)
- Behind the Switch (for BC Electric, 1958)
- The Most Lovely Country (for Imperial Oil Ltd., 1958)
- Out of the Shadows (for the Harbour Light, Salvation Army of Canada, 1958)
- Ripple Rock [aka Conquering Ripple Rock/Devil Beneath the Sea] (for Dupont, 1958)
- Tuum Est - It is Yours (for University of BC Alumni Association, 1958)
- Waves of Magic (for BC Telephone Company, 1958)
- Pacific Harvest (for the Fisheries Association of BC, 1959)
- North of 'Fifty-Three (television pilot, 1959)
- Saga of the Sudburys (for Island Tug & Barge ltd., 1960)
- Deadline for Pressure (for Marwell Construction, 1961)
- Vancouver Honeymoon (for City of Vancouver/Greater Vancouver Tourism Association, 1962)
- City of Many Faces (short version of the above, distributed by the NFB, 1962)
Canamac Pictures Ltd./Storer Programs Inc. (as associate producer)[edit]
- The Littlest Hobo (television series, 1963-66)
Lew Parry Film Productions[edit]
- Action on the Columbia (for BC Hydro, 1964)
- Peace River Progress (for BC Hydro, 1964)
- Challenge in the Rock (for the Mining Association of BC, 1966)
- British Columbia's Natural Heritage (for BC Dept. of Health Services, 1968)
- The Good Life (for BC Dept. of Industrial Development, Trade and Commerce, 1968)
- The New Columbia (for BC Hydro, 1969)
- Giant Mascot (for Giant Mascot Mines Ltd., 1971)
- Miners with Green Thumbs (for the Mining Association of BC, 1971)
- Twenty Great Years in British Columbia ([for the Social Credit Party of BC, 1972)
- West Kootenay Adventure (for BC Dept. of Travel Industry, 1973)
References[edit]
- ↑ "Screen Ads by Skreenadz," a contribution on the film history blog Seriously Moving Images (Dec. 2018). The blog entry features video files showing three extant examples of Skreenadz advertising trailers, ca. 1928-37—including "Why?," directed by Lew Parry.
- ↑ Duffy, Dennis J. (1986). Camera West: British Columbia on Film, 1941-1965. Victoria: Provincial Archives of British Columbia. pp. 11–15. Search this book on
This article "Lew M. Parry" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lew M. Parry. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
