CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
HANGIN'
Wed 7:30-8:00 p.m., 7 Jan-18 Mar 1981
Mon 8:30-9:00 p.m., 11 Jan-5 Apr 1982
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 6 Jun-12 Sep 1982 (R)
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 22 Jan-1 Oct 1953
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 6 Oct 1953-18 May 1954
Known for the first two weeks as Good Eating, Hans In The Kitchen was a weekly,
half-hour cooking show with Toronto chef Hans Fread.
Mon-Fri 3:25-3:30 p.m., 27 Sep 1965-10 Jun 1966
A five minute slot of film clips from Canada and around the world, Happening
filled a gap between To Tell The Truth and Take 30. The brief film features
were introduced by the latter show's hosts, Adrienne Clarkson and Paul Soles,
and the show was produced by Leo Rampen.
Sun 1:00-1:30 p.m., 11 Oct 1959-10 Jan 1960
Happyland was a half-hour of music and variety from Winnipeg, with Jake Park
and his orchestra.
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 4 Aug-2 Sep 1975
Popular oral histories of the Great Depression, such as Studs Terkel's Hard
Times and Barry Broadfoot's Ten Lost Years, provided a context for this series
of documentaries on the 1930s in Canada. The programs, produced and directed
by David Rabinovitch, were originally broadcast in eight parts on Take 30 in
the 1974-75 season. They combined interviews of people who went through the
years of the Depression with newsreel footage and archival photographs and
documents. The material was presented in prime time in four half-hours over
the summer of 1975. The series host was Ed Reid.
Tue 9:00-10:00 p.m., 24 Oct-26 Dec 1967
At the same time it was building its reputation for adventurous, contemporary
drama with Wojeck and Quentin Durgens, M.P., the CBC, under the guidance of
executive producer Ronald Weyman, tried to extend its record of successes into
period comedy with Hatch's Mill. Although this series of ten, one hour
stories, filmed in colour (the first for CBC drama), built a solid audience, it
took a critical pounding and did not return for a second season.
The stories concerned the Hatches, a family of southern Ontario settlers, in
the l830s. Robert Christie, starred as Noah Hatch, the town magistrate, owner
of the general store and the local mill, and the leader of the community, which
was called Hatch's Mill. He and his wife, Maggie, played by Cosette Lee, and
their children Saul and Silence, played by Marc Strange and Sylvia Feigel,
lived on a homestead farm. Other regulars in the series, as inhabitants of the
village, included Joyce Gordon, ruth Springford, John Paris, Cec Montgomery,
Jonathan White, Joe Austin, and Kurt Scheigl. Individual episodes featured
appearances by Douglas Campbell, Emile Genest, Peter Donat, Patricia Collins,
Tony Van Bridge, Gordon Pinsent, and Pam Hyatt.
The stories generally revolved around comic conflicts that resolved themselves
in a rough-and-tumble way. In the first show of the series, Saul tried to set
up a stagecoach line. When he is contested by Donegan, played by guest star
Chris Wiggins, they settle the dispute with a drawing match that set each man's
team of horses against the other. In another episode, two doctors who had
differing opinions on how to treat the ailing Maggie Hatch, fight a duel to
settle their argument. Instead of soberly dealing with the real conflicts and
adversities of the Upper Canadian settlers, the stories portrayed boisterous
and rowdy people coming to grips with more marginal problems.
The series was created by George Salverson, and segments were written by Munroe
Scott, Leslie MacFarlane, Donald Jack, as well as Salverson himself. Although
the scripts and performances were criticized, Robert Lawson earned praise for
authenticity and detail in set design. Hatch's Mill was shot at Studio City in
Kleinburg, north of Toronto, using some of the structures originally built for
The Forest Rangers, with some elements of set decoration from nearby Pioneer
Village. Lorely Fritz designed the characters' costumes. Cinematography was
by Norman G. Allin and Ernie Fitzpatrick. The series was produced by George
McCowan, who directed every episode but one, which was directed by executive
producer Weyman.
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 24 Jul-25 Sep 1960
A summer musical variety show, which replaced the Joan Fairfax Show for
thirteen weeks, A Hatful Of Music featured popular music ranging from showtunes
to folk music to jazz. Singer Ernie Prentice was the host of the show, which
also featured vocals by Lorraine Foreman. Other regular performers included
Tommy Vickers and a trio of dancers (Sherrill Morton, Peggy Rae Norman, and
Mitch Hrushwy), a chorus under the direction of Pat Trudell, and an orchestra
under the direction of Ricky Hyslop. The show's announcer was Bob Switzer.
Guests were chosen from local talent and from foreign performers appearing in
the Vancouver area. They included Eleanor Collins and Bud Spencer (on the
pilot episode), the Four Lads, Dolores Clamon, the Coronados, Phil Ford and
Mimi Hines, Susan Johnston, Juliette, Tom Hill, Jan Rubes, and Heather Thomson.
The half-hour program was shot in front of a studio audience, and was produced
in Vancouver by Jrn Winther.
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 22 Jul-2 Sep 1954
Producer Peter Macfarlane and orchestra leader Jack Groob decided to exploit
creatively the limitations of a production budget when he created this
half-hour musical variety show. Haunted Studio diverged from the production
values of programs such as The Big Revue by using a set that was virtually
empty, sparsely decorated with ladders, stools, and only the most perfunctory
of furniture or props to suggest settings for the performances. Macfarlane and
the talent, who included singers Art Hallman and Margo McKinnon and actor Budd
Knapp, rehearsed and prepared a pilot that was not to be broadcast, but to be
filmed for consideration as a series, dependeing on money and available air
time. However, on short notice, the network called for the show to go to air,
and attracted good critical notice for its innovative format.
Eight months later, in the summer of 1954, the series aired for six weeks. It
featured choreography by Don Gillies, music by Jack Kane, a vocal group that
consisted of the Esquires augmented by two female singers, vocals by Esther
Ghan, and Jerry Hicks on the Theremin. Other singers who appeared on the show
were Margaret Stilwell, Don Parrish, Jean Cavall, Dia Carrol, Joanne Bernardi,
and Doug McLean.
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 3 May-24 May 1965
The CBC cooperated with the Canadian Association for Adult Education and the
Canadian Institute on Public Affairs to produce a series of five radio programs
and four television programs on health services, in the wake of Justice Emmett
Hall's recommendations for a form of national health care coverage. The
broadcasts coincided with public meetings across the country to inform
Canadians about issues in health care, and the radio programs principally
concerned such meetings.
The four television programs were called The Family, The Doctor, The Society,
and The Future, and examined the current state of health care in relation to
individual families, the medical profession, the growing complexity of society
and technology, and Canada's position in relation to health care systems in
other countries.
The television series was organized by Christina McDougall, produced by Denny
Spence, written by Warner Troyer, with special research by Joan Hollobon. The
show's host was Paul Fox.
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 27 May-16 Sep 1955
Sun 12:00-12:30 p.m., 26 Feb-20 May 1956
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 3 Jun-16 Sep 1956
Sun 1:00-1:30 p.m., 6 Oct 1956-5 May 1957
Wed 10:00-10:30 p.m., 8 May-25 Sep 1957
Sat 6:00-6:30 p.m., 5 Oct 1957-22 Nov 1958
A half-hour documentary show, Here And There featured the work of various
producers and different hosts as they presented aspects of life in Canada. The
program drew from the example of the radio show Canadian Scene, on the
Trans-Canada network, and concentrated on a single subject, such as R.C.A.F.
training, shipbuilding in the Atlantic provinces, the Royal Canadian Mint, and
so forth. Although most of the features were produced on film, the program
included a number of live broadcasts in the autumn of 1958.
See The Wolfman Jack Show.
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 28 Nov 1976-9 Jan 1977
Here To Stay presented six, one hour dramas, all with themes that outlined the
immigrant's experience in Canada. They included Honour Thy Father, written by
Nika Rylski, produced by David Peddie, and directed by Tony Ferris; Philip
Keatley's production of Kaleshnikoff; The Day My Grandad Died, written by
Michael John Nimchuk, produced by David Peddie and directed by Rene Bonniere;
Turncoat, by Jonah Royston, produced by Beverly Roberts, and directed by Alan
Cooke; Yesterday Was Years Ago, written by Anna Reiser, produced by Eoin
Sprott, and directed by Rene Bonniere; and Maria, written by Rick Salutin,
produced by Stephen Patrick, directed by Allan King. The broadcast of the last
film overlapped with the start of the 1977 season of For The Record, to which
the show is also credited.
Sat 10:30-11:00 p.m., 21 Jun-20 Sep 1958
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 3 Oct 1958-31 Jan 1959
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 5 Feb-25 Jun 1959
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 10 Oct 1959-
This half-hour of music and comedy showcased Jack Duffy. Duffy had performed
as a singer since the 1940s. Because of a slight facial resemblance and his
gaunt frame, he was often compared with Frank Sinatra, and, like Sinatra, had
sung with the Tommy Dorsey band in the late 1940s. He had appeared regularly
on such CBC television productions as Club O'Connor and The Barris Beat, and
built a reputation as a versitile impressionist and comic actor on Showtime and
Folio. He earned a summer replacement series in the Saturday night,
pre-national news slot, in 1958. The network renewed the show for the 1958-59
season and put it into a Friday evening time slot.
Here's Duffy, which was sponsored by Salada Tea, was produced by Bill Davis,
and written by John Aylesworth, Frank Peppiatt, and Allan Manings.
Supporting Duffy on his show were Jill Foster and the Crescendoes, a singing
quartet of two men and two women, under the direction of Bill Brady (with whom
Duffy had begun his singing career at the CBC in 1945). Ed Karam provided the
show's musical arrangements.
Tue 5:15-5:30 p.m., 5 Jul-27 Sep 1960
In this fifteen minute show from Winnipeg, formerly called Pet Shop (q.v.), Dr.
Robert Kirk, Fur and Game Pathologist for the Province of Manitoba, introduced
children with their pets, and discussed the pet's species and that particular
animal.
For nearly ten years, CBC television presented Heritage, a wide-ranging program
on religious issues, prepared with the cooperation of the National Religious
Advisory Council. Generally, the series presented dramatized stories to
outline problems and devlopments in particular denominations, the scripts
having been approved by representatives of that denomination. The 1958 series,
titled The Church In Canada, devoted thirteen weeks to the influence of the
church on the lives of Canadian citizens./
Individual programs were written and produced by a variety of artists in
different CBC production centres across the country. Writers included George
Salverson, Philip Hersch, John Lucarotti, and Andrew Allan; among the many
producers were Rena Elmer, Ed Rollins, Bill Bolt, Dick Knowles, Rudy Gijzen,
John Ryan, Ain Soodor, and Patrick Gossage. The program also featured imported
productions, such as the ten part BBC-TV series, Paul Of Tarsus, which was
broadcast in 1962 and 1964.
Thu 7:30-8:00 p.m., 6 Jul-31 Aug 1972
This situation comedy for the summer of 1972 reunited the stars, producer, and
some of the writers of the satirical variety shows A Second Look and Piffle
& Co. Terry David Mulligan played a university student who won the license
to a red, white, and blue cab with a maple leaf painted on its roof in a game
of Scrabble, and Bill Reiter played a variety of parts, most regularly a
mechanic named Henri le Champignon. The show's writers were Tony Hudz, Pat
Donohue, Tom Ruffen, Edwin N. Turner, and Eric Nicol. It was directed by Ted
Brooke and produced by Al Vitols.
Fri 4:30-5:00 p.m., 7 Nov-26 Dec 1969
Sat 1:00-1:30 p.m., 18 Apr-26 Sep 1970
Thu 5:00-5:30 p.m., 1 Oct 1970-22 Apr 1971
Sat 1:00-1:30 p.m., 1 May-26 Jun 1971
Thu 5:00-5:30 p.m., 7 Oct 1971-29 Jun 1972
Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 15 Sep 1972-28 Jun 1974
Thu 4:30-5:00 p.m., 12 Sep 1974-17 Apr 1975
Mon 5:00-5:30 p.m., 22 Sep 1975-29 Mar 1976
Tue 4:30-5:00 p.m., 5 Apr-28 Jun 1977 (R)
A half-hour, puppet show for children, Hi Diddle Day aired on several local CBC
stations before it went to the network in 1970. The program, produced in
Ottawa, featured Gertrude Diddle, the craggy and brassy mayor of a town called
Crabgrass, who was widely thought to be a satire of Ottawa mayor Charlotte
Whitton. She lived in a Victorian house with a beagle named Basil, a 900 year
old dragon called Durwood, Wolfgang the Wolf, and Chico the Crow. The
selection of sophisticated, latex puppets also included several life-sized
political figures. Wyn Canty, who wrote songs for the program, also appeared
onscreen as a music teacher. The puppets were designed by Noreen Young, and
manipulated by her, Johni Keyworth, and Stephen Braithwaite. The show was
written by Bob Gardiner, and produced by Audrey Jordan until her death in 1970,
Denny Faulkner (l970-7l), and Brian Frappier (l97l-74). Hi Diddle Day was
reviled in 1972 by a Maclean's reviewer, who called it "the most offensive show
on TV." However, in 1970, it won an Ohio State Award and was cited as "a
delightful, clever, engaging and imaginative children's program."
Hidden Pages started as a fifteen minute broadcast from Toronto, later expanded
into a half-hour, and, from 1956, originated in Vancouver. The program was
developed by actor and librarian Beth Gillanders and television producer Joanne
Hughes as a means of encouraging children to read and to use the public
libraries. It was in this sense a companion to the CBC's radio program Cuckoo
Clock House, broadcast on the Dominion network, which also promoted reading
among boys and girls. The program featured books for both younger and older
children. Gillanders introduced a book about a particular subject, and her
introduction was followed by a dramatization of a scene from the book.
Gillanders then explained how the book could be obtained from the public
library and made suggestions about further reading on the topic of the day.
The Toronto broadcasts were produced by Joanne Hughes and Peggy Nairn; John
Thorne produced the show in Vancouver.
Mon-Fri 3:00-3:30 p.m., 3 Apr-11 Sep 1978
Mon-Fri 2:00-2:30 p.m., 11 Sep-5 Oct 1978
A half-hour daytime drama taped in Toronto with both U.S. and Canadian
personnel, High Hopes revolved around the character of Dr. Neal Chapman, a
family counsellor in the college town of Port Hamilton. The locus of the story
was his large old house, with other action around Delaney College. Neal was
divorced from Helen, and lived with their eighteen year old daughter, Jessica,
and his mother. Neal was involved with two women: Trudy Bowen, the host of a
local television talk show, and Louise Bates, the real estate agent who sold
Neal the house. Louise was also a tenant in Neal's house, along with Dr. Jean
Bataille and Neal's close friend, lawyer Walter Telford. When Jessica learned
that she was not actually Neal's and Helen's child, but the daughter of Helen's
sister, Paula Myles, she too took a sexual interest in the man who was formerly
her father. An early report of the program noted, "In succeeding episodes, it
is planned to introduce Jessica's real father, Trudy's parents, a lottery
winner, a fire, two marriages, and a death." As if Chapman's own family
problems were not enough, his role as a counsellor provided the opportunity to
introduce parallel plots that involved his clients.
The cast included Bruce Gray (Neal), Marian McIsaac (Jessica), Doris Petrie
(Meg Chapman, usually just called Mom), Nuala Fitzgerald (Paula), Barbara Kyle
(Trudy), Jayne Eastwood (Louise), Candace O'Connor (Helen), and Colin Fox
(Walter). Other supporting characters included Mike Stewart, played by Gordon
Thomson, a young man in love with Jessica, and his parents, Michael Stewart,
Sr., played by Michael Tait, and Norma Stewart, played by Vivian Reis;
Jessica's best friend Amy Sperry, played by Gina Dick; Walter Telford's wife
Evelyn, played by Deborah Turnbull; and Dr. Dan Gerard, played by Jan
Muszinski.
Writers of the show's labyrinthine story included Marian Waldman, Mort Forer,
Patricia Watson, and Bryan Barney. The head writer was Winnifred Wolfe. High
Hopes was directed by Bruce Minnix and the senior producer was Robert Driscoll.
Wolfe, Minnix, and Driscoll were all from the U.S., and veterans of New York
soap opera production. The show was produced by Karen Hazzard, and the
executive producer was Dick Cox for DCA Productions and Young and Rubicam.
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 1 Jul-23 Sep 1970
A series of fourteen, half-hour productions by the National Film Board, History
Makers included dramatic films on exploration in Canada as well as
documentaries on more contemporary subjects. Individual titles included A Man
Of The Renaissance, on John Cabot, produced by Morton Parker; The Last Voyage
of Henry Hudson, produced by Richard Gilbert; Samuel de Champlain, produced by
Denys Arcand and directed by Andre Belleau; The Lord Of The North, on Alexander
Mackenzie, produced by Richard Gilbert and David Bairstow; The Great Mapmaker,
on David Thompson, directed by Bernard Devlin; and Selkirk Of Red River,
produced and directed by Richard Gilbert. The program also presented Wolfe And
Montcalm, produced by Julian Biggs; The Sceptre And The Mace, a documentary on
the opening of the 1957 Parliament, produced by Nicholas Balla and directed by
John Howe; and the three part series, Salute To Flight, directed by Richard
Gilbert. Other subjects included the seminary of Quebec on its three hundredth
anniversary, the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Columbia River,
and transportation in Canada.
Sun 7:00-7:30 p.m., 4 Aug-1 sep 1968
A summer series from Vancouver, Hits A Poppin presented songs from the popular
music charts, showtunes from the movies and Broadway, and hits of the past
decade. Terry David Mulligan hosted the show, which also featured the Doug
Parker Band and the Numerality Singers. Hits A Poppin was written by Bill
Hartley and produced by Ken Gibson.
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HITS A POPPIN
