CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
KALEIDOSPORT
Sat 4:00-5:00 p.m., 18 Feb-29 Apr 1967
Sat 2:00-4:00 p.m., 6 May-15 Jul 1967
Sat 2:00-4:00 p.m., 9 Dec 1967-7 Sep 1968
Sat 2:00-4:00 p.m., 4 Jan-29 Jun 1969
Sun 2:30-4:00 p.m., 29 Jun-14 Sep 1969
Sat 3:00-4:00 p.m., 10 Jan-2 May 1970
Sun 2:30-4:00 p.m., 5 Apr-13 Sep 1970
Sat 4:00-5:00 p.m., 9 Jan-11 Apr 1971
Sun 2:30-4:00 p.m., 25 Apr-12 Sep 1971
Sun 2:30-4:00 p.m., 2 Jul-3 Sep 1972
A CBC Sports presentation, produced by Don Brown, Kaleidosport provided
coverage of a wide variety of athletic events, from highlights of the Canadian
Winter Games, which opened the broadcast in February 1967, to harness racing at
Greenwood Race Track in Toronto. Most programs would include features on more
than one event. The show's host was Lloyd Robertson.
Sun 10:00-10:30 p.m., 5 Jun-12 Jun 1955
On two consecutive Sunday nights, for thirty mintes each, the CBC presented the
proceedings of the S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. (Society for the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America) from the Queen Mary
Veterans' Hospital in Montreal. The host was Johnny Rice and the musical
director Harry Fraser.
Sun 1:00-1:15 p.m., 5 Jan 1964
Sun 3:00-3:15 p.m., 5 Apr-28 Jun 1964
Sat 6:30-6:45 p.m., 4 Jul-27 Sep 1964
Keynotes, a quarter-hour musical variety program from Edmonton, featured
show tunes and standards sung by Buddy Victor or Dorothy Harpell, who appeared on
alternating weeks, backed by Tommy Banks on piano and Harry Boon on organ.
See John Kieran's Kaleidoscope.
Kingfisher Cove, a fictional place, resembled Peggy's Cove or Ketch Harbour as
a scenic Nova Scotia locale. There, bachelor Pat Napier's lodge was a
gathering place for singers and artists who dropped by to help him modernize
the building, swap a few songs, and share some conversation. The program
reunited most of the cast of the 196l series, Reflections (q.v.): soprano Jean
Marshall, baritone Clarence Fleiger, pianist Carol Hughes (replaced in 1964 by
Irene Boyar), and harpist Phyllis Ensner, backed by an orchestra conducted by
David Woods. The program was produced in Halifax by Robert Albans.
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 12 Dec 1974 (Pilot)
Thu 9:00-9:30 p.m., 25 Sep 1975-12 Feb 1976
Tue 8:30-9:00 p.m., 21 Sep 1976-
Sat 10:30-11:00 p.m., 21 May-
Sun 8:00-8:30 p.m., 18 Sep 1977-10 Sep 1978
Thu 8:30-9:00 p.m., 28 Sep 1978-29 Mar 1979
Thu 8:00-9:00 p.m., 5 Apr 1979-6 Sep 1979 (R)
Thu 8:30-9:00 p.m., 3 Oct 1979-13 Mar 1980
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 3 Jul-11 Sep 1980 (R)
Mon-Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 8 Sep 1980-11 Sep 1981 (R)
Mon-Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6 Sep-31 Dec 1982 (R)
Larry King owned and operated a variety store in Toronto's crowded,
multicultural Kensington Market. In the tradition of the television comedy
series, most of the action took place in one or two sets, principally King's
store and attached house. Larry, played by Al Waxman, was a portly, garrulous
fellow whose business was everyone else's business. He ran the shop with his
wife, Cathy, played by Fiona Reid, and his mother Gladys, played by Helene
Winston. Cultural conflicts betweens the Jewish Larry and the WASP Cathy were
built into the characters, but most of the comic situations were derived from
more general sources in the stories, with Larry's store as a meeting place for
the district and Larry as something of a meddler and a mediator. Other
regulars included Bob Vinci as Tony "the Duke of Milan" Zarro and Ardon Bess as
Nestor "the Jester" Best, who were Larry's confederates in "the Club," a poker
game that met in the basement between Manny's Strictly Kosher Butcher's and Da
Silva's Portuguese Fish Market.
The program was taped before a studio audience, which built a response into the
production process. Each episode was taped several times with different
audiences before editing, and the producers and writers built a degree of
flexibility into the scripts so they could be revised, topical references
inserted, and, they hoped, improved.
Starting in 1978, the format of the show changed when Fiona Reid left the cast.
Cathy was replaced by Tina, Larry's girlfriend, played by Rosemary Radcliffe.
Peter Boretski played Jack Soble, who became Larry's father-in-law and, with
Gladys, took over the operation of the store when Larry, who had slimmed
condiserably, became athletic director of the Kensington Community Centre. The
centre became another principal location, with its own secondary cast of
characters: Gwen Twining, the manager, played by Jayne Eastwood, Ron Bacon,
the maintenance man, played by Robert haley, and Dorothy, the dance instructor,
portrayed by Linda Rennhofer.
Photo (courtesy of CBC) shows Peter Boretski, Helene Winston,
Al Waxman, Jayne Eastwood.
Mon 5:00-5:15 p.m., 20 Jan-31 Mar 1958
A fifteen minute show, produced by Paddy Sampson, The King's Cupboard featured
characters called Jack, King, Cuthbert Caterpillar, and Dee Dee, who
demonstrated hobbies, presented poems and puppet shows, and other items to
entertain children.
King Whyte, columnist for the Toronto Star and commentator on CBC radio's
Ontario Sportsman show, presented films and interviews on outdoor sports,
hunting, fishing, and boating in this fifteen minute program, which followed
the hockey broadcast. The broadcasts were produced by Ty Lemburg (l956-59) and
Wilf Hayden (l959-62). Whyte died on 26 June 1962, just a couple of months
after the end of the season.
Thu 6:00-6:30 p.m., 2 Mar-31 Aug 1967
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 4 Apr-26 Sep 1970
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 24 Apr-25 Sep 1971
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 15 Apr 1972-8 Sep 1973
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 6 Apr-28 Sep 1974
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 5 Apr-27 Sep 1975 (R)
Sat 11:30-12:00 noon, 2 Apr-24 Sep 1977 (R)
Fri 4:00-4:30 p.m., 7 Apr-25 Aug 1978
"Klahanie," a Chinook word for "the great outdoors," was the title of a
half-hour program on the wilderness and outdoor activities, with an accent on
conservation. It originated in Vancouver and, although the show did travel
outside the country, most programs concentrated on areas within Canada, many in
British Columbia. Klahanie was produced by Andy Snider, and the show's hosts
were Bob Fortune and, from 1972, Don White.
Thu 8:30-9:00 p.m., 6 Oct 1960-2 Feb 1961
The CBC broadcast this dramatic series, purportedly based on Pierre Berton's
annals of the Yukon, The Klondike Fever, produced by Ziv Productions in the
U.S.A., and broadcast there on NBC-TV. It starred Ralph Taeger as the hero,
Mike Halliday, Mari Blanchard as Kathy O'Hara, a hotel owner, James Coburn as
Jeff Durain, a smooth operator, and Joi Lansing as Goldie. The drama took
place during the gold rush at the turn of the century, but not in Canada.
Instead the series was set in Skagway, Alaska, perhaps in honour of one of the
newest states. In any case, Klondike fever did not catch on among viewers, and
the producers salvaged another program out of the ruins by retaining Taeger and
Coburn, moving the action into modern-day Mexico, and calling the series
Acapulco.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 12 Jan-23 Feb 1977
Executive producer Alan Ehrlich collected half-hour pilots for six comedy
programs and aired them in this series. The first two, written by John Morgan,
Dave Broadfoot, Roger Abbott, and Don Ferguson, and directed by George
Bloomfield, essentially gathered the resources of the popular CBC radio troupe,
the Royal Canadian Air Farce. They starred performers well known to CBC
viewers--Billy Van, Bonnie Brooks, Dave Broadfoot--and to Toronto
theatregoers--Heath Lamberts, Brenda Donohue, Gary Reineke, Elizabeth
Shepherd--in a series of satirical and nonsense sketches. The next two,
written by Jeff Groberman and Don Thatchuk, and directed by Don Kowalchuk,
adapted another CBC radio show, Dr. Bundolo's Pandemonium Medicine Show, The
Vancouver production starred the radio regulars Norman Grohman, Bill Reiter,
and Bill Buck, with Nancy Dolman, Barbara Barsky, Susan Wright, and Ross Petty,
as such characters as The Infamous Vic Vaseline, Latoque, and the Lone Deranger
with his Faithful Friend, Toronto. The penultimate program, "Now Look Here,"
was produced by Bill Lynn, written by John David Morgan, and directed Eric
House and Chris Braden. The final broadcast, written by Christopher Langham,
was directed by Martin Lavut and produced by Jack Sampson. The Krazy House
theme was written by Ben McPeek.
Return to CBC Series Index
KRAZY HOUSE
Kaleidosport
One of the CBC's few successful attempts at a conventional situation comedy,
King Of Kensington ran on the network over five seasons and is revived in
reruns periodically. Apart from its popularity in Canada, after its first
season, it had sold to nine stations in the U.S.A., including outlets in the
New York and Los Angeles markets. It was created by Perry Rosemond, who
produced for the first season of thirteen episodes. Subsequent producers
included Jack Humphrey (l976-80) and Joe Partington (l978-80). The program was
for a time co-produced and written by Louis Del Grande (l976-78), who, with
David Barlow (himself the unit manager and associate producer of King Of
Kensington) later created the equally successful comedy-mystery series Seeing
Things (q.v.)
