Take One

Take One (published Montreal, 1966–1979) was a Canadian magazine devoted to coverage of both Canadian and international film. Founded by three "graduates" of the McGill Film Society—Peter Lebensold, Adam Symansky and John Roston -- Take One was the first serious English-Canadian film magazine. This—first of the two Canadian film magazines entitled Take One—gave due attention to the newly emerging Canadian film scene, but was international in scope. Description It was inexpensive (initially 25 cents a copy), and aimed to publish bi-monthly—a goal which it rarely achieved. The magazine attracted some of the best film journalists of the time (including Time magazine reviewer Jay Cocks, James Monaco [author of the standard textbook, How to Read a Film], Alanna Nash, and the Montreal cartoonists Terry Mosher and Vittorio Fiorucci) -- and often filmmakers themselves (including Brian DePalma and Richard Dreyfuss, who met Lebensold while he was filming The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in and around Montreal). Symansky and Roston having left after an issue or two, Lebensold carried on alone as Editor and Publisher. Joe Medjuck (later to become a producer in Hollywood working with Ivan Reitman) was another McGill Film Society alumnus who became involved with the magazine—initially as a Toronto "correspondent", and then as co-Editor/Publisher. For most of its life under Lebensold's editorship, the magazine was designed by Montreal graphic artist Gerry l'Orange. A number of covers were illustrated by Harry Agensky, who also designed most of the Film Society's brochures and literature in the late 60's. This, first, Take One continued briefly to publish after the departure (about 1977) of founder Peter Lebensold, under the editorship of Phyllis Platt (later a Vice President of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and television-program producer) but folded shortly afterwards, in 1979, after 81 issues.