CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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DANCING STORYBOOK
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 1 Apr-24 Jun 1959
Members of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet company had appeared in the series, Toes
In Tempo, and returned to the air in spring 1959 with another broadcast for
children, Dancing Storybook. Marian Waldman wrote the fairy tale-style stories
that revolved around two young people who searched for a patch from a magical
coat left to them by their father. The series featured choreography by Briand
MacDonald, who had previously designed dance for television in Montreal. The
show's musical director was Eric Wild, also the musical director of the Royal
Winnipeg Ballet. Stan Langtry designed the sets, and Neil Harris produced the
half-hour broadcast in the CBC's Winnipeg studios.
A series of programs on conservation, by producer Roman Bittmann, executive
producer James Murray, and writer/narrator/host John Livingston.
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 2 May-11 Jul 1954
A Date With Frosia, a musical program starring Frosia Gregory and produced by
Harvey Hart, replaced CGE Showtime for part of the summer of 1954. Regularly
featured performers included harpist Donna Hossack, keyboard player Dorothy
Bromley, Lois and David Adams, dancers with the National Ballet, a quartet
called the Enchanted Strings (Elsie Dunlop, Erica Zentner, Lois Thomas, and
Lillian Nickoloff), and a quintet of female vocalists.
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 7 Oct 1955-30 Mar 1956
In "Ferguson's Crime" the opening story of this series of half-hour, historical
dramas, a young British soldier, after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, is
billeted in an Ursuline convent. There, he falls in love with the novice who
tends his wounds. When he is discovered hiding in the chapel one early
morning, without a satisfactory explanation, he is courtmartialled and,
according to the regulations imposed by his commanding officer to protect the
nuns, sentenced to death.
Dateline boasted extensive research in the Public Archives and the aid of
authorities in history from the Archives, the Royal Military College, the
Canadian Army, and verification for accuracy in costume design. Nevertheless,
the program used events of the past, principally the military past, to shore up
dramas. Stories arose out of the capture of Fort Oswego in l756, the
withdrawal of British troops from Canada in l870, native attacks on St.
Lawrence River settlements in New France, the Metis rebellions of l870 and the
Riel rebellion of l885, the building of the Rideau Canal, the search for the
North Magnetic Pole, and even the contributions of Canadians to General George
Gordon's trip up the Nile to the Sudan.
Joseph Schull and Jean Desprez wrote the scripts for the series. (Desprez
wrote the episodes with a background in French Canada.) Like The Plouffe
Family, the series was presented in both English and French language versions
with the same cast. Dateline aired on English stations one week and French the
next, and alternated with another program on each network (on the English
stations, it alternated with The Wayne and Shuster Show). Guy Parent was the
show's executive producer in Montreal.
Sat 11:15-11:30 p.m., 4 Jul-26 Sep 1953
Thu 7:45-8:00 p.m., 14 Oct 1954
Sat 11:00-11:15 p.m., 10 Oct 1953-19 Jun 1954
Toronto sports broadcaster Dave Price interviewed athletes and sports stars on
this fifteen-minute, local segment of the DuMont network's broadcast, Wrestling
As You Like It, from the U.S.A. The name of Price's show was changed to
Sportfolio.
Mon 7:30-8:00 p.m., 25 Jun-9 Jul 1973
Singer and songwriter David Clayton-Thomas had recently parted with Blood,
Sweat and Tears, the U.S. band that had brought him international fame, and
returned to Canada to star in three half-hour programs for the CBC. A filmed
opening, shot by Ed Long, showed Clayton-Thomas being driven to the studio in a
Rolls Royce, and seemed to demonstrate the production's attitude toward its
star. The shows, each divided into studio concert, jam session, and production
number segments, concentrated on Clayton-Thomas as a working performer instead
of simply using him as the host to a number of guest performers.
The show's band comprised both U.S. and Canadian musicians, including Ken Marco
(guitar), William Smith (keyboards), Paul Stalworth (bass), "Spider Web" Rice
(drums), Pat Riccio, Sr. (alto saxophone), Keith Jollimore and Steve Kennedy
(tenor saxophones), Dave Caldwell (baritone saxophone), Bruce Cassidy
(trumpet), Russ Little (trombone), and Bill Richards (strings). Marco, Smith,
and Kennedy had all worked in Motherlode; Jollimore, Cassidy, and Little had
all played in the horn section of Lighthouse; and Kennedy and Dianne Brooks,
the only other vocalist featured in the series, in a duet with Clayton-Thomas,
had been part of Doug Riley's ensemble, Dr. Music. The show's arranger and
conductor was Trevor Lawrence.
The David Clayton-Thomas Show was created by writers George Mendeluk and David
Slabotsky, and produced and directed in Toronto by Athan Katsos.
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 22 Feb-26 Apr 1959
Day Of Decision combined dramatic reenactment and discussion to explore moments
in history when men and women were compelled to make important decisions in the
history of the world. The dramatic segment took up about twenty minutes of the
half-hour broadcast. At the moment that the character must make up his or her
mind, the scene switches to a panel discussion of the issues and the decision.
The show's moderator was Dr. David Corbett, and Douglas Campbell narrated.
Paul Power wrote and Michael Rothery produced the series in Vancouver.
Sun 10:00-11:00 p.m., 4 Nov-16 Dec 1973
Sun 10:00-11:00 p.m., 25 Apr-6 Jun 1976 (R)
The Days Before Yesterday, a series of seven, one-hour films, produced by
Cameron Graham, traced the development of Canada from the last years of the
Victorian Age and the government of Wilfrid Laurier to the postwar prosperity
of the 1950s and the government of Louis St. Laurent.
l. The Jewel In The Crown documents the years l897 to 19l7, the Laurier and
Borden governments, the deterioration of relations between Quebec and Canada,
and the country's involvement in World War I. 2. Lord Byng, Canada Welcomes
You covers the years from the Armistice to the start of the Great Depression,
and includes the growing immigration to the west, the Winnipeg General Strike,
Prohibition, and the governments of Arthur Meighen and William Lyon Mackenzie
King. 3. Concentrating on the years of the Depression, The Best of Times. . .
The Worst of Times focuses on the government of R.B. Bennett. 4. King or
Chaos covers the end of the Depression and the path to war under Mackenzie
King. 5. For King and Country deals with the country's role in World War II
and the economic and cultural effects of the war in Canada. 6. King of Canada
pays tribute to Mackenzie King in the final years of his political career, from
l945 to 1948, and also deals with reconstruction and expansion in the years
following the war and the growth of the Cold War and the Red Scare. 7.
Chairman of the Board, the concluding film in the series, deals with the
administration of Louis St. Laurent and the end of Liberal rule in Ottawa with
the rise to power of John Diefenbaker. Brian Nolan directed parts one to four,
Munroe Scott directed parts five and six, and Edmund Reid directed part seven.
Peter C. Newman wrote the script, and the program's host and narrator was Bruce
Hutchinson.
Mon/Wed/Fri 3:00-3:30 p.m.,
A daytime version of Front Page Challenge (q.v.), produced by Cynthia Grech,
this program also featured host Fred Davis.
Thu 10:00-10:30 p.m., 17 Jan-19 May 1980
CBMT-TV in Montreal introduced Decision, a political discussion broadcast, as a
local program after the Parti Quebecois took power in the 1976 Quebec election.
The CBC picked the show up for national broadcast in anticipation of the 1980
referendum on sovereignty association. Montreal Gazette writer and program
host L. Ian MacDonald introduced the topic for discussion and turned the show
over to Montreal lawyer Stanley Hartt, who was the moderator for the debate.
The show's guests were mainly people of political action and influence, not
commentators. Subjects for discussion included the referendum process itself,
the question of economic association, and influence on voters from outside
Quebec.
Thu 9:00-9:30 p.m., 4 Oct 1973-3 Jan 1974
Delilah, who lived in the city, inherited a barber shop in a small town and,
consequently, became that town's first woman barber. This was the premise of a
weak attempt by the CBC to create a situation comedy. The show did feature
some notable characters actors, such as Terry Tweed as Delilah, Barbara
Hamilton as her Aunt Peggy, Eric House as T.J., the local newspaper editor, Kay
Hawtrey as Frances, and Peter Mews as Franny, a close friend to the family.
Other cast members included Joyce Gordon as Mavis, Paulle Clark as Isabel, and
Miles McNamara as Delilah's little brother.
The show encountered criticism for its superficial writing and vacuity, and the
series lasted only thirteen weeks. Delilah was taped with a studio audience.
Jack Sampson and Ron Meraska were the directors, and David Peddie produced.
Wed 8:00-8:30 p.m., 16 Jun-1 Jul 1954
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 7 Jul-28 Jul 1954
Mon 9:30-10:00 p.m., 31 Oct 1955-18 Jun 1956
Mon 9:30-10:00 p.m., 24 Sep 1956-17 Jun 1957
Pianist and arranger Denny Vaughan and singer Joan Fairfax had appeared in a
popular summer series in 1954. When it attracted Lever Brothers as a
commercial sponsor, starting in the 1955 season, it had changed format. Where
the summer show had been a relaxed and unassuming musical program, the regular
season broadcasts, produced by Loyd Brydon, had more glitz. With its major
production numbers and comics imported from the U.S.A., it had become, in the
words of Hugh Garner, "a 'variety show,' with all the banalities this term
implies." By the 1956 season, the producer retreated back into a more strictly
musical format and adopted a more consciously Canadian talent policy. The
producers put Vaughan's orchestra on camera for the first time, and included,
as well as stars Vaughan and Fairfax, numbers by the Don Wright Singers, a ten
voice chorus and by dancers Glenna Jones, Don Hewitt, Mitch Nutick, and Charles
Calmers. Two groups, the Diamonds and the Add-Fours, took turns as the
featured vocal quartet. The show also featured an act from French Canada every
week. By the end of the summer of 1957, however, the show's ratings dipped and
the sponsor sought a new advertising outlet.
Thu 9:00-9:30 p.m., 1 Jun-7 Sep 1978
In the 1960s, Denny Doherty had been the lead singer on hits such as
"California Dreaming" for the Mamas and the Papas. When the band's career
ended, Doherty returned to his native Halifax, where the CBC produced this
thirteen week series of half-hour musical variety shows. The series featured a
wide variety of musical guests from the U.S. and Canada: Murray McLauchlan,
Ken Tobias, Marie-Paule Martin, Salome Bey, the Original Caste, Tom Gallant,
Moe Koffman, Gloria Kaye, Ryan's Fancy, and Doherty's father, who played tuba
while Denny sang "When I'm Sixty-Four." Among the show's highlights were
appearances by Doherty's contemporaries in North American folk-rock, John
Sebastian and Zalman Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful, and the first public
reunion of the surviving members of the Mamas and the Papas: Doherty, John
Phillips, and Michelle Phillips (Cass Elliot had died in 1972).
Wed 9:30-10:00 p.m., 10 Sep-24 Sep 1952
In this quiz program, produced by Peter Macfarlane in Toronto, investigator
Morley Callaghan challenged viewers to guess the criminal from clues onscreen.
The show lasted only three weeks in the first month of CBC television
programming.
Fri 7:30-8:00 p.m., 22 Jan-27 May 1976
Fri 7:30-8:00 p.m., 24 Sep-31 Dec 1976
Diane Stapley, a talented singer and performer on stage and other television
shows, such as Inside Canada, had the misfortune to star in, and have named for
her, a musical variety series that was poorly conceived, realized, promoted,
and received. Produced by Dave Robertson in a minuscule Winnipeg studio, The
Diane Stapley Show demonstrated the few resources that the CBC could used to
air a variety show. The program consisted mostly of music performed by
Stapley, a band led by Dave Shaw, and guests such as Gordon Pinsent, Dean
Regan, Dinah Christie, Tom Gallant, and Leon Bibb. The performances--of torch
songs, middle of the road numbers, and show tunes--unfortunately could not
disguise the show's lack of production values.
Eight shows had already been put on tape by the summer of 1975, when the CBC
made some executive changes and assigned Jack McAndrew the headship of the
Variety department. McAndrew changed the design of the show for the final five
segments. He delayed scheduling the show until the new year, and tried to put
some promotional muscle behind Stapley by sending her on a cross-country
publicity tour. However, the makeshift campaign did not work either.
Mon 7:30-8:00 p.m., 5 Jul-13 Sep 1971
Dianne Heatherington, often a gutsy and compelling singer, starred in this
summer half-hour. It featured mostly rock oriented music performed by regulars
Heatherington, the Merry Go Round, the Dave Shaw Orchestra, and guests drawn
mostly from the Canadian rock scene (which should be evident from the names of
some of the bands): Chilliwack, Sweet Honey Mead, Tom Northcott, North, Brave
Belt, Wild Rice, Next. Ron Kantor produced the show in Winnipeg.
Mon 4:30-5:00 p.m., 7 Oct 1968-23 Jun 1969
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 20 Sep-28 Nov 1969 (R)
Sat 1:30-2:00 p.m., 21 Feb-28 Mar 1970 (R)
Radio-Canada collaborated with France's Office de Radiodiffusion-Television
Francaise, Belgium's Radiodiffusion-Television Belge, and Switzerland's Societe
Suisse de Radiodiffusion to produce D'Iberville, a thirty-nine week dramatic
series based on the life of Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur d'Iberville.
The series was a regrettably rare example of a French language production aired
on the English language network.
D'Iberville was shot, in colour, on location near Quebec City, at Ile
d'Orleans, where the producers ordered the construction of sets to represent
Quebec and Montreal settlements at the end of the seventeenth century, and a
full scale replica of d'Iberville's ship, The Pelican. The story of the
series, which dealt generally with the battle among the French, English, and
Dutch for control of the fur trade and the North American territories, was
divided into three main parts. The first concerned young Pierre Lemoyne, and
included the rivalry between the explorer Chevalier de La Salle and Sieur de
LaBarre, Lemoyne's father's expeditions to Lake Ontario, and his subsequent
death, and romance between Lemoyne and Genevieve Picote du Belestre, and the
new government of New France under the Marquis de Denonville. The second set
of programs featured the soldier d'Iberville, Chevalier de Troyes's expedition
to Hudson's Bay, and the capture of forts at Monsoni, Rupert, and Quichicouane,
and leads to d'Iberville's return to Quebec in l667. The final episodes traced
d'Iberville's career as a naval commander on expedition to Acadia and
Newfoundland, and included the capture of Forts Severn and Nelson.
The series had a cast of over l75 actors. Albert Millaire played Pierre
Lemoyne, the lead. Jean Besre played Paul Lemoyne, Sieur de Maricourt;
Alexandre Rigneault portrayed Jacques Le Ber, Jacques Monod was LaBarre, Other
actors included Francois Rozet as Charles Lemoyne, d'Iberville's father, Gilles
Pelletier as the Marquis de Denonville, Yves Letourneau as La Salle, and Leo
Ilial as de Troyes.
The series was written by Guy Fournier, Jacques Letourneau, and Jean Pellerin,
and produced by Pierre Gauvreau and Roland Guay.
The CBC also produced and broadcast This Is D'Iberville, a half-hour
documentary, produced by Brian O'Leary, on the making of the television series
(7 August 1967).
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 18 Jul-19 Sep 1968
Journalists Peter Desbarats and Richard Gwyn introduced La Difference, a public
affairs program that explored aspects of the divergence between English and
French cultures and societies in Canada. The show was not simply current
affairs commentary; its premise, stated Desbarats, acknowledged that "history
is often a matter of interpretation, written and taught to achieve certain
ends." The eight one-hour shows in the series covered a variety of subjects,
often with an intriguing approach.
The first program, called The Conquest, used the residual memory of Battle of
the Plains of Abraham as the base for friction, and included Gwyn's interview
with Francoise Loranger, author of Le Chemin du Roy, a political satire based
on General Charles de Gaulle's headline-making, "Vive le Quebec libre' visit to
Quebec in 1967. The second program, Confederation: The Politics of Survival,
employed a debate structure to compare present day constitutional discussions
with those of the Confederation era. Two Quebec MLAs--former Union Nationale
minister Marcel Masse and Liberal minister Pierre Laporte--and two Ontario
MPPs--Progressive conservative Bert Lawrence and Liberal Tim Reid--participated
in the mock debate. Actors' voices took the parts of the Fathers of
Confederation.
A third program, How the West Was Lost, confronted La Difference in the western
provinces, through an examination of the Riel Rebellion and the entry of
Manitoba into Confederation. Subsequent programs were St. George and the Lily,
on the relations of French Canada and the Canadian military; You're A Good Man,
Charles de Gaulle, again on the French President's 1967 visit; How Do You Say
"Hot Dog" In Quebec?, on the threat to Quebec language and culture from U.S.
influence; Patriots or Traitors, on sir Wilfri Laurier as an example of a
politician with divided loyalties; and La Difference, on the underlying premise
of the series, the stakes and results of the writing and teaching of Canadian
and French Canadian history.
La Difference was produced in Montreal by Milo Chvostek. The executive
producer of the series was Paul Wright.
Mon 4:00-4:30 p.m., 16 Oct 1961-30 Apr 1962
Diplomatic Passport was not a drama of international intrigue in the foreign
service. Produced at CBC Ottawa by Ed Reid, it was a half-hour program that
took Canadian viewers into the embassies of other nations for a look and for an
interview with the ambassador and, usually, his wife. The diplomats provided a
tour of the embassy grounds, talked about their homeland and about the function
of the ambassador in Canada. David Scrivens was the commentator for the
series, and Lloyd Robertson and Margaret Morris conducted the interviews. The
series was also known simply as Foreign Embassies.
Sun 4:30-5:00 p.m., 23 Apr-21 May 1961
Directions In Music, a half-hour, Sunday afternoon broadcast, was produced in
Vancouver, and aimed to show viewers different musical forms and productions.
The five parts presented Apollo and Hyacinth, a selection written by the German
Hans Werner Henze in 1949, based on Greek mythology, performed for the program
by mezzosoprano Winona Denyes, accompanied by a harpsichord and eight solo
instruments, and discussed by conductor John Avison; a recital and talk by
Lloyd Powell on piano music since Bach; the performance of intimate opera, by
composers such as Purcell, Offenbach, and Thomas Arne, selections from whose
Thomas and Sally are performed by the London Intiimate Opera Company; the music
of James Joyce; and the Vancouver Cantata Singers, conducted by Hugh McLean,
who perform a program of madrigals.
Fri 5:00-5:15 p.m., 8 Feb-28 Jun 1957
Fri 5:00-5:15 p.m., 3 Jul-25 Sep 1959
A fifteen minute, science show for children in the twelve to fourteen year old
age group, Discoveries was produced in Winnipeg. Dick Sutton, the curator of
the Manitoba Museum, introduced shows on topics in nature studies and natural
history, such as native games and toys, pet turtles, and bird feeders. In
March 1957, Dr. R.P. Coats, an executive with the Manitoba telephone system,
presented a series of programs on communications, and demonstrated simple,
easy-to-build objects that illustrated the processes he discussed. Starting in
May 1957, for six weeks, "Uncle Stan" Westaway, a greenhouse technician at the
University of Manitoba, discussed plants, vegetables, and trees. The
concluding three programs of the 1957 series comprised a discussion of
properties of electricity by Winnipeg high school teacher Rod McKenzie.
In 1959, another science series called Discoveries, with Mary Lela Grimes,
appeared on the CBC, but it was a production of the Educational Radio and TV
Centre in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Sun 4:30-5:00 p.m., 7 Jan-25 Mar 1962
Sat 10:30-11:00 p.m., 4 Aug-29 Sep 1962
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 30 Jun-29 Sep 1963
A program of half-hour documentaries, produced in Vancouver, and usually on
subjects pertaining to western Canada, Discovery appeared on the national
network as a Sunday afternoon broadcast in the winter of 1962, and as a prime
time summer replacement that summer and the next.
Many of the shows were divided into instalments broadcast over two or three
weeks. They included, in the first series, a three part examination of the
Spanish Civil War, written by George Woodcock and produced by Alex Pratt
(January-February 1962); Here There Be Giants, a three part series of the
northern explorers Bering and Mackenzie, produced by Michael Rothery (March
l962). In the first summer series, some of the programs were Victoria l00, a
two part documentary on Victoria in its centennial year, produced and written
by George Robertson; and a two part examination of Rhodes Scholarships, written
by William McCarthy and produced by Alex Pratt.
The third series featured a two part look at research in space medicine
underway at the Boeing laboratories in Seattle, with host Bob Quintrell; two
programs on domestic buildings, written by Arthur Erickson and produced by Alex
Pratt; The Victoria Nile, on Sir Samuel Baker's expedition to discover the
source of the Nile, written and produced by Tom Connachie; a two part view of
physical fitness, written by Dave Brock and produced by Gordon Babineau; Early
Aeronautics, on the attempts by the Wright Brothers, written by Dave Brock and
produced by Alex Pratt; and a three part account of the early days of bush
pilots in Canada.
The series producer was Philip Keatley.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 20 Apr-11 May 1960
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 20 Feb-20 Mar 1963
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 11 Sep-2 Oct 1966
In 1960, The Disordered Mind was a four part subseries, broadcast on the
Wednesday night Explorations program. A second series of four programs also
appeared on Explorations in 1963. A third series was aired under its own
title, on Sunday nights, in 1966.
Robert Anderson Associates produced The Disordered Mind, half-hour films that
broke through some of the mysteries of mental illness for the television
viewer. The series used authentic case histories and filmed consultations with
patients and clinicians, instead of reconstructions.
The first series covered a range of disorders. The first program,
Psychosomatic Disorders: A Coronary, presented the case of a thirty-four year
old insurance salesman whose heart attack was traced to stress. Psychoneurotic
Conditions: A Pathological Anxiety concerned an office worker whose
suppression of hostilities cause anxiety that prevent him from leading a normal
life. Psychotic Conditions: A Depression, the third program examines the case
of a young man whose depression led him to try to kill his wife, child, and
himself. The final program, Anti-Social Personality Disorders: A Psychopath,
concerns a convicted burglar with "a complete absence of moral
reponsibility."
The second series dealt with different cases, although similar types of
disorders. One program dealt with the psychosomatic condition of obesity in a
thirteen year old girl, and showed the treatment that she and her family were
receiving. The second program concerned an obsessive compulsive who for five
years had not been able to hold a job. In the third program, viewers saw the
case of a paranoid schizophrenic who had once withdrawn and become overly
suspicious, but who had recovered adequately to take a responsible job in the
work force. The final program concerned a twenty-one year old who had been
stealing vehicles since he was ten and who, at the time the film was made, was
doing time. The programs generally traces the progress of the patient by
returning to show show the results of psychotherapy.
The third series concentrated on younger subjects. The first show, titled The
Aggressive Child, dealt with the treatment of a six year old boy who was always
fighting. Girl in Danger was about a "pre-delinquent" thirteen year old with
an emotional age of about six. Bright Boy, Bad Scholar, the third program,
concerned the early treatment of learning problems, and the final show, Afraid
of School, focused on a six year old boy for whom a trauma in infancy resulted
in a fear and refusal to attend school.
Sun 2:00-2:30 p.m., 30 Apr-4 Jun 1972
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 12 Jun-21 Aug 1972
John David Hamilton interviewed prominent Canadians in science, the arts and
humanities, eductation, politics and religion in this half-hour program
produced by Ain Soodor. Subjects included geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilso,
playwright Gratien Gelinas, Claude Bissell, former president of the University
of Toronto, historian Ramsay Cook, Marshall Crowe, the head of the Canada
Development Corporation, Senator donald Cameron, entomologist Allison DeForrest
Pickett, the Most Rev. George Henri Levesque, meurosurgeon Wilder Penfield,
Pierre Juneasu, the chairman of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission,
and Charlotte Whitton, the former mayor of Ottawa.
Wed 7:30-8:00 p.m., 21 Apr-28 Apr 1954
Thu 10:00-10:30 p.m., 27 May 1954
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 6 Sep 1954
This half-hour broadcast was a musical program that starred cornetist Trump
Davidson. The same year, Davidson headlined a radio broadcast, on the
Trans-Canada network, from Toronto's Palace Pier dance hall
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