CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
LACROSSE
CBC sports broadcast lacrosse games in the popular time slot on Saturday nights
on three occasions in September 1954. Although a popular game, lacrosse has
never attracted a substantial television audience, and the CBC has rarely given
it the opportunity to do so. The network taped competitions at the Canada
Games in Halifax during the summer of 1969; the broadcasts, produced by Rick
Rice and hosted by Tom McKee, appeared on Saturday afternoons, at varying
times, during the autumn of that year.
Fri 1:00-1:30 p.m., 11 Apr-30 May 1975
Many network television attempts at topicality suffer from the safeguards and
standardization that fall into place and, when the program finally goes to air,
it appears misguided. This half-hour program from Ottawa was criticized for
lagging behind the times of the women's movement that it tried to represent.
Journalist and broadcaster Elizabeth Gray (who would later excel as Barbara
Frum's replacement on CBC radio's As It Happens) hosted, with her announcer,
and the show's "token male," Bob Carl. It tried to deal with modern women and
traditional institutions, such as marriage, the state of being single, the
home, the workplace, the law. The program also called attention to current
sexism by inscribing the names of the perpetrators on its "honour roll," a roll
of toilet paper. The show aired locally in an early evening time period,
starting 20 January 1975, before it went to the network in an afternoon time
slot. Nancy McLarty produced.
Sun 1:00-1:30 p.m., 4 Jan-22 Feb 1970
John Kettle hosted Landmark, a series of eight, half-hour programs on the
development and sale of natural resources. Produced by the CBC's agriculture
and resources department, the series had its premiere on the same afternoon
This Land Of Ours (q.v.) started the 1970 season with a program on the
potential destruction of Canada's parklands. Landmark dealt with the political
implications in the use of foreign capital to develop Canadian resources, and
employed a number of consultants: Robert Fowler, president of the Canadian
Pulp and Paper Association, Larry Dack of the Financial Post, Jim Hilborn of
Corpus Communications, and Charles Law of Research and Publishing Services.
The programs were shot in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, British Columbia, New
York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., and produced by Loyd Brydon, Doug Lower,
and Eric McLeery in Toronto, Jack Zolov in Montreal, and Mike Poole in
Vancouver. George Salverson wrote the scripts, and the series was produced by
Julian Smither, with executive producer Doug Wilkinson.
An ebullient and enthusiastic conversatonalist, Laurier LaPierre hosted a late
night talk show, formerly called Midnight From Montreal, later simply given his
name as a title. LaPierre, which was produced by Pat Cook, aired both locally
on weeknights, and through the network on Sunday nights. The program never
gained the endorsement of the CBC as a competitor in the late night talk show
sweepstakes that the network has desired (See Canada After Dark; 90 Minutes
Live).
Although trained as an historian, and although he gained celebrity status on
This Hour Has Seven Days (q.v.), LaPierre's interests ranged widely, and the
show included guests from all fields, Canadians and foreign personalities who
were passing through Montreal. The program included, as well as chat, music
directed by Leon Bernier or with guest performers.
Although often infectious, LaPierre's bubbling eagerness could sometimes seem
misplaced. When Allen Ginsberg, for instance, was demonstrating Buddhist
chanting, LaPierre chanted, too, and enhorted the studio audience to join in as
if it were a singalong (though with someone like Ginsberg, such a reaction may
not be as misguided as it first seems). Sometimes, LaPierre concentrated on a
specific topic, such as women in violent crimes, biorhythms, or acupuncture,
for the entire program.
Producer Cook also packaged a series of half-hour compendiums, called The Best
Of LaPierre, broadcast on Saturday evenings.
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 27 Sep 1957-19 Sep 1958
Normandie Productions, the Canadian subsidiary of Television Programs of
America, a U.S. company, produced Last Of The Mohicans and The Adventures of
Tugboat Annie (q.v.) in Canada, with U.S. stars and directors and Canadian
crews, equipments, and supporting actors. The CBC guaranteed air dates for the
thirty-eight episodes, which were also syndicated to l39 stations in the U.S.A.
and sold to networks in the U.K., Australia, France, and Central America.
The series, also called Hawkeye And The Last Of The Mohicans, starred John Hart
as Hawkeye, the hero of James Fenimore Cooper's novel, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as
Chingachgook, his Mohican blood brother. Supporting players included George
Barnes, Beryl Braithwaite, Powys Thomas, Joan Root, Lloyd Chester, Hugh Watson,
and Don Cullen. The programs were directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Don
McTaggart.
Thu 11:40-1:10 a.m., 7 Jan-27 May 1971
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 12 Aug-9 Sep 1966
Probably the greatest jazz guitarist Canada has ever produced, Lenny Breau was
the centre of this musical variety show from Winnipeg. It ran on the network
for a few weeks in summer 1966. The program also featured an orchestra
conducted by Bob McMullin.
Fri 2:30-3:00 p.m., 29 May-14 Aug 1981
A situation comedy, produced in Vancouver, Leo And Me was notable as a vehicle
for one of the country's most talented young actors, Brent Carver, and a
newcomer, Mike Fox, who later moved to the U.S.A., became Michael J. Fox, and
gained stardom in the NBC-TV series Family Ties and the 1985 feature film, Back
To The Future.
Carver played Leo, an energetic character likely to get into trouble, and Fox
played Jamie, his more sensible, twelve year old nephew. They lived together
on a yacht in Vancouver harbour. The cast also included Shirley Milliner as
Leo's sister, Mina E. Mina as her husband, and Guy Bannerman, Colin Vint, and
Simon Webb.
The comedy and adventure series ran for twelve half-hours in the afternoon. It
was created by Marv Campone, written by Marc and Susan Strange, and produced by
Don Ecclestone. Leo And Me was produced in 1979 and aired on the network two
years later.
See C.G.E Showtime.
Let's Call The Whole Thing Orff
Sat 7:00-7:30 p.m., 18 Sep 1971-20 May 1972
Comedy Cafe, Comedy Crackers, and Zut! had all spun off the CBC radio series
Funny You Should Say That, and Let's Call The Whole Thing Orff extended and
diluted the concept by one more step. However, the earlier shows had employed
the talents of most or all of the radio cast, while Orff retained only Barrie
Baldaro. Like the radio show, in the earlier series, biculturalism formed a
crucial part of the sketch humour. Let's Call The Whole Thing Orff retained
the strain of biculturalism with the participation of comic actors Yvon
Ducharme and Andree Boucher and singer France Castel. However, it was much
more quickly paced, with blackouts instead of developed sketches, the
development of characters and types gave way to one-liners, and content took a
backseat to velocity. The cast also included Peggy Mahon, Terrence G. Ross,
and Wally Martin, with appearances by singer Diane Dufresne. Francois
Cousineau conducted the band. David Harriman and Al Boliska wrote the scripts,
and Bill Weston was the executive producer.
Wed 7:30-8:00 p.m., 26 Jun-11 Sep 1974
Produced by Bob Moir for CBC sports, Let's Do It was a combination of
instructions in physical fitness and games or sports that typically received
little coverage on television. The eleven, half-hour segments featured Tom
McKee and Debbie Molina.
Sun 10:00-10:30 p.m., 20 Oct-29 Dec 1963
Byron Riggan had produced a program called Let's Face It, which concerned
issues of contemporary Quebec and was broadcast locally on Montreal station
CBMT, when he started producton on a show of the same title, with wider ranging
subjects, for the national network. The national version of Let's Face It, a
half-hour show still produced in Montreal, alternated with Horizon, and ran on
every other Sunday night. It anticipated This Hour Has Seven Days as a
sometimes satirical examination of current events and their causes and
significance, and as a program on the English language network that included
the onscreen contributions of Francophones. The show's correspondents were
located across the country, in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa,
Quebec, and Halifax. In Montreal, throaty- voiced and caustic, Austrian-born
Daisy de Bellefeuille of the National Film Board, journalist Peter Desbarats,
radio announcer Jacques Fauteux, actor and interviewer Renee Girard, film
producer and television personality Guy Mauffette, and actor Henry Ramer all
supplied items for Let's Face It. Pauline Julien and Liane Marshall also
provided songs.
In addition to national events, the program covered international news, and
sought out interviews. As the series began, one of its crews returned from
Europe where it had gathered interviews with Arthur Koestler, Jean-Paul Sartre,
Simone de Beauvoir, Anthony Sampson, the author of Anatomy Of Britain, John
Griggs, who had given up his title as Lord Altrincham, and the Bishop of
Woolwich.
Writers for the show included Ken Johnstone, Sonja Sinclair,and Gerald Taafe,
and the editor was Edgar Sarton.
Mon 5:30-6:00 p.m., 28 Sep 1964-21 Jun 1965
Mon-Fri 5:30-6:00 p.m., 2 Oct 1967-26 Jun 1968
Disk jockeys Fred Latremouille and Red Robinson were the original hosts of
Let's Go, the Vancouver segment of Music Hop (q.v.), seen on Monday afternoons.
They introduced music from the hit parade, performed by guests and the house
band, a sextet called the Classics. Also featured were singers Bobby Faulds,
Mike Campbell, Tom Baird, Susan Pesklevits, and Bonnie Huber.
In 1967, the host was Howie Vickers, and the program moved to Tuesdays in
February of that year. Along with the Let's Go band, the show also presented
Patty Surbey, Bruce Bissell, Mark Midler, and go-go dancer Toni Sinclair.
The following season, Music Hop, which was stripped in a weekday afternoon time
slot, adopted the name of the Vancouver segment, and the daily show was called
Let's Go. The Halifax show, on Mondays, featured host Frank Cameron, with
Anne Murray and Doug Billard. The Tuesday Montreal edition was hosted by
Robert Demontigny. The Toronto show, on Wednesdays, bore the remnants of the
original Music Hop series, with Diane Miller, formerly of the Girlfriends,
tenor saxophone player Don "D.T." Thompson, Jay Jackson, and Norman Amadio and
the New Sounds band. In the Winnipeg show, on Thursdays, Chad Allan--whose own
band formed the nucleus of the Guess Who-- introduced new talent. The
Vancouver segment, which ended the week, had no regular host. Mike Campbell
fronted the first four weeks and Tom Northcott followed him. They introduced
such performers as Patty Surbey, Joanie Taylor, and Ed Whiting.
This low budget series operated at a cost of about two thousand dollars a show,
and was produced by Allan Angus. Among the writers was Sandy Stern.
Mon 4:30-5:00 p.m., 6 Jun-21 Jun 1955
Norman Cragg presented this half-hour program, which ran in June 1955. With
shows on such subjects as "rainy day program" and "counselor in program," this
appears to have been intended to prepare children for summer camp, not for
general outdoor holidays.
Tue 5:00-5:30 p.m., 5 Oct 1954-5 Apr 1955
Tue 5:00-5:30 p.m., 2 Oct-18 Dec 1956
Robin MacNeill, later a U.S. network news correspondent and co-host of PBS's
The MccNeill-Lehrer Report, hosted this half-hour children's broadcast from the
National Museum in Ottawa. Programs included items on a trip by the Macoun
Field Club, an examination of the work of museum artists on life-sized models
of native people, and reports on animals of Canada and on meteorites. Marion
Dunn produced.
In Let's Look, Donald K. Crowdis, director of the Nova Scotia Museum of
Science, encouraged children's curiosity about science and nature by looking at
a variety of everyday objects and phenomena as well as examples that viewers
might not normally encounter. On the first program, Crowdis discussed and
showed some animals associated with Hallowe'en, which was a few days away.
Several programs dealt with subjects that pertained to the Atlantic region,
such as lobsters, sailmaking, and the tides, or the Celtic ancestry in Nova
Scotia, like how bagpipes work. The setting for the informal broadcast was
decorated like Crowdis's basement workshop. Denny Spence produced Let's Look
in Halifax.
Tue 5:00-5:30 p.m., 27 Sep-3 Oct 1953
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 21 Oct 1953-25 May 1954
David Ouchterlony of the Royal Conservatory of Music discussed principles of
music for children in this acclaimed, half-hour program. The success of the
program, which had an informal format, hinged on Ouchterlony's own ability to
communicate and demonstrate music in a way that was meaningful and not
patronizing. Sometimes, the program taught appreciation, as he played music of
different types from different areas of the world. At other times, he
demonstrated more fundamental aspects of musical theory, as when he showed
viewers how to construct an attractive tune with only three notes. Peggy Nairn
produced the series in Toronto.
Mon-Sun 7:15-7:30 p.m., 6 Sep-20 Dec 1952
Mon-Sat 6:45-7:00 p.m., 9 Mar-4 Jul 1953
It seems somehow typical of the CBC, and typically Canadian, that a modest
puppet show, whose main purpose was to tell viewers what was coming up that
evening on television and provide a weather forecast, itself became one of the
most popular shows on TV and a national institution. Better known by the name
of its main character, Uncle Chichimus, Let's See, a fifteen minute, daily
program guide, broadcast in the early evening, has become a hallmark of
Canadian television. Like its U.S. counterpart, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, Let's
See provided viewers with the adventures of a couple of puppets and a human
character, and, though it seemed to be pitched to children, it attained a
degree of sophistication and attracted an equally loyal adult audience.
A bald fellow with round features, Uncle Chichimus facially resembled Kukla,
but differed markedly in temperament. Chich was a cranky, though brilliant,
curmudgeon. His creator, John Conway described him: Right from the start he
seemed to me the acme of culture and dignity. . . . His manner was that of an
Easterner--well-rounded, a typical example of the 'old school,' and quite
antique. I found out later that he had distinguished himself as a man of
science. As Canada's only living alchemist he had tried transforming lead into
gold, but gave it up when he found it was more the fashion to follow cultured
pursuits and forget about money. At times, however, he still takes an interest
in things scientific. He was made president of the Canadian Bug-watchers'
Association when he succeeded in capturing the video-iconoscopus, the bug that
distorts pictures in TV sets" ("Uncle Chichimus and Holly Hock--CBLT's
Mascots," CBC Times [l9-25 October 1952]). As Chichimus Productions, he was
also as likely to produce the spectacular cultural event, Twenty Leaks Under
The Waterline. Evidently, the program's tone demonstrated tongue planted in
cheek.
Chich was assisted by Holly Hock, his niece and housekeeper who, in Hugh
Garner's words, had "the hatchet-shaped visage of a retired private secretary
and a horsetail hairdo made from a string mop" ("Planet X and Punch and Judy,"
Saturday Night [l3 March 1954]). he was aggravated by a younger character,
Pompey, and sometimes by the human characters, first CBC weatherman Percy
Saltzman, and then actor Larry Mann, whom Chich called Lawrence, and who often
changed hats, accents, and voices, and played multiple parts in the short
broadcast.
Let's See was produced by Norman Campbell, Franz Kraemer, Norman Jewison, and
Don Brown, with the help or script assistant Joan Hughes and, of course, Chich
himself.
THu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 25 Jul-27 Sep 1957
The second network show to have been broadcast live from Winnipeg, Let's Sing
was set in a different area of the world each week, and presented music of that
region. The ten, half-hour programs featured an orchestra conducted by Eric
Wild and the James Duncan Chorus: Norma Vadeboncoeur, Kay Brown, Peggy Ann
Truscott, Paul Fredette, and Gordon Parker.
Fri 5:30-6:00 p.m., 7 Oct 1966-7 Jul 1967
Fri 5:30-6:00 p.m., 5 Jul-20 Sep 1968 (R)
Producer Syd Banks appropriated the concept of the U.S. television show
Hootenanny by producing Let's Sing Out with college audiences at different
university campuses across the country. Canadian expatriate Oscar Brand
returned to host Let's Sing Out, and many of the guest performers came from the
U.S.: Josh White, Jr., Eric Andersen, Tom Rush, Phil Ochs. Banks had
introduced the program on CTV in 1964, and defected with it to the public
network two years later. (It was replaced on the private network with another
show called Brand: New Scene, also starring Oscar Brand.) The U.S. show
pasteurized folk music by refusing to book controversial performers. The CBC
show appeared at the tail end of the folk music revival, when the protest in
popular music was moving more noticeably toward rock.
Sat/Sun 12:00-12:30 p.m., 7 Oct 1961-11 Apr 1962
Wed 11:30-12:00 noon, 7 Oct 1961-11 Apr 1962
A series of seventy-eight half-hour lessons in English as a second language,
Let's Speak English was produced by the CBC in association with the
Metropolitan Education Television Association, Canadian Scene, an ethnic news
service, the citizenship division of the Ontario Provincial Government, and the
federal department of citizenship and immigration. The Saturday and Sunday
broadcasts provided the main lessons, with reviews on Wednesdays.
The course used mimicry and memory to teach the English language through
sentences and phrases that relate to everyday occurrences, and demonstrated
what was being said through dramatization.
The onscreen teachers were John Wevers of the University of Toronto, Betty
Fullerton, a high school teacher from Scarborough, and, starting with the
seventh program, Barry Callaghan, then at the University of Toronto.
Consultants for the series were Donald Theall and Michael Kay of the University
of Toronto. The first four programs were produced by Peggy [Nairn] Liptrott,
and the remainder by Rena Elmer.
Sun 12:30-1:00 p.m., 6 May-24 Jun 1962
Tue 6:00-6:30 p.m., 20 Jul-28 Sep 1965
Fri 6:00-7:00 p.m., 8 Jul-16 Sep 1966
Wed 2:00-2:30 p.m., 5 Jul-11 Oct 1967
Pianist William Stevens and CBC announcer Norman Kihl, co-hosts of this
half-hour program from Montreal, presented serious music for viewers who knew
little about the subject. Stevens discussed different types of music, musical
forms, and instruments with guests such as harpist Dorothy Weldon, tenor Robert
Peters, and tympanist Louis Charbonneau, and demonstrated by playing selections
from the classics. The program aired on the network in 1962, and continued on
a local basis in Ontario and Quebec for several years.
Sat 6:00-6:30 p.m., 2 Apr-31 Dec 1966
Formerly titled Countrytime (q.v.), Life And The Land was both a national and
local, thirty minute broadcast on agriculture and gardening. In the first
fifteen minutes, the program presented items of general interest, produced in
Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver, or Winnipeg. They included items on opportunities
in agriculture education, and documentaries on mink ranching in Nova Scotia,
the Empire Valley Ranch in British Columbia's Cariboo Country, the Beach Co-op
Farm in Winnipeg, and dog control in the suburbs of Toronto. The second
segment of the show concerned gardening, with local broadcasts, custom made for
the different regions of the country. The experts were Earl Cox, for Ontario
and Quebec, Gordon Warren for the Atlantic provinces, Stan Westway for the
Prairie provinces, and Bernard Moore for the Pacific region. Larry Gosnell and
Rena Elmer produced the series.
Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 19 Mar-9 Apr 1954
Half-hour television documentaries supplemented the schools broadcasts for
grades five to eight on CBC radio's Trans-Canada network. Subjects included
prospecting for uranium in Saskatchewan, ranching in Alberta, the Kitimat power
project, and the maple sugar industry. The program was produced by Sydney
Newman and the commentator was Thom Benson.
Mon 9:30-10:00 p.m., 25 May-8 Jun 1953
A complement to The Big Revue, this half-hour variety program was hosted by
Monty Hall, and featured guest singers and regular dancer Alan Lund. It lasted
two weeks and was replaced by Floor Show.
Wed 8:30-9:00 p.m., 1 Jul-23 Sep 1959
Wed 8:30-9:00 p.m., 30 Sep 1959-21 Sep 1960
Thu 8:00-8:30 p.m., 29 Sep 1960-29 Jun 1961
Mon 8:30-9:00 p.m., 25 Sep 1961-25 Jun 1962
What Front Page Challenge was to news and the history of current events, Live A
Borrowed Life was to biography. Each week, three authorities appeared as
contestants and each represented a well-known person. By asking questions, the
panelists had to figure out who the contestant represented. The show's host
was writer and radio and television personality Charles Templeton. The regular
panelists, who were joined by a guest each week, were actor and announcer Bill
Walker, former teacher Elwy Yost, and Anna Cameron, one of the hosts of the
afternoon show, Open House. After the first season, Cameron moved to the U.K.,
to return and host Take Thirty in 1962. No new regular panelist replaced her
on Live A Borrowed Life. Instead, two guest panelists were invited to
participate each week. During the summer of 1960, the program went on the
road, and the CBC produced programs in Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver,
and Montreal. The show's writer was Bernard Slade, and the producers were
Claude Baikie (l959), Drew Crossan (l960-6l), and Len Casey (l96l-62).
Wed 6:00-6:30 p.m., 15 Oct 1959-12 May 1965
Sun 1230-1:00 p.m., 15 Oct 1959-12 May 1965 (R)
Produced in cooperation with the University of Toronto, Live And Learn, a
thirty minute, weekly educational broadcast, started as a local broadcast on
CBLT. Other CBC stations picked up many of the series for local broadcast.
Each program was regularly shown twice a week. The program, which was
originally called Course Of Knowledge, started with a series on psychology with
Professor Carleton Williams, and in subsequent weeks offered concise courses in
a wide variety of fields in the humanities and the sciences. They included
Focus On Physics, aired in autumn 1958, with Patterson Hume and Donald Ivey of
the University of Toronto. In later seasons, production expanded to centres
other than Toronto. With faculty from Carleton University, Betty Zimmerman
produced series in Ottawa: Perception and Learning, with Robert Wake and
Russell Wendt, presented in June 196l, and Conditions for Life, with David
Baird, presented November 1963. The Old New World, a series on archaeology,
which aired in spring 1964, and The Plant Kingdom, presented a year later, both
originated in Winnipeg. In February 1965, the series also presented Lyrics and
Legends, a series on folk music in the U.S.A., produced in 1963 by WHYY-TV
Philadelphia. Among the notable efforts were introductory courses in language
instruction. In the 1960 season, the series offered a twenty-six week course
in Russian, which could be applied toward university credit in Toronto. Live
And Learn also won a 1960 award from the Institute for Education in Radio and
Television at Ohio State University for its course in French, which was cited
as "a stimulating and authoritative presentation of French history and culture
through the French language and through French literature."
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 3 Oct 1961-6 Mar 1962
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 2 Oct 1962-19 Mar 1963
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 20 May-24 Jun 1964
A weekly, half-hour magazine of the arts and culture, The Lively Arts provided
viewers with a selection of studio and filmed interviews and features. Most
originated with the CBC, though some were purchased from the BBC and other
producers. The producers, Vincent Tovell and Barry Harris, surveyed both
subjects in traditional art and mass culture. The opening season included
features on painter David Milne, actor and film director John Cassavetes,
television star and producer Ernie Kovacs, sculptor Henry Moore, poet Ezra
Pound, and the artistic director of the Manitoba Theatre Centre, John Hirsch.
The series also aired Lonely Boy, the National Film Board's landmark
documentary on singer Paul Anka. Daryl Duke directed The Lively Arts, and the
hosts were Henry Comor (l96l-62) and Harry Mannis (l962-63).
Mon 7:30-8:00 p.m., 3 May 1954-27 Jun 1955
Wed 7:30-8:00 p.m., 5 May 1954-23 Mar 1955
Tue/Thu/Fri 7:30-8:00 p.m., 2 Jul-30 Sep 1954
Fri 7:30-8:00 p.m., 8 Oct 1954-1 Jul 1955
Producer Ross McLean followed the success of the daily public affairs and
interview show, Tabloid, with another early evening broadcast, Living, with one
of the earlier show's stars, Elaine Grand. Living was essentially a
specialized wing of Tabloid, meant to concentrate on items intended to appeal
to a female audience. Regular contributors included John Hall on design, Iona
Monahan on fashion, Dr. S.R. Laycock on children and family guidance, Lois
Lister on gardening, Eristella Langdon on cooking, and Peter Whittall on
handicrafts. Although the program may seem to have been lightweight, it did
examine controversial problems that related to domestic and daily life. In the
summer of 1955, for example, it included special inquiries into child adoption,
problems of the elderly, flouridation of driking water, and contemporary
teenagers.
Grand was a talented interviewer and an attractively relaxed performer on the
air, but the plans for Living did not match the wide-ranging eclecticism of the
Tabloid format, in which she had proven remarkably successful. She left the
CBC in 1955 to move to the U.K., where she hosted Lucky Dip, a music and
interview show, and Sharp At Four, a program for homemakers for commercial
British television. She returned to Canada at intervals in 1957 to co-host the
Chrysler Festival (q.v.). After the demise of Living, Peter Whittall went on
to star in his own show, Mr. Fixit (q.v.).
Sun 4:30-5:00 p.m., 7 Jul-15 Sep 1957
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 22 Sep-13 Oct 1957
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 5 Jan-30 Mar 1958
Wed 5:30-6:00 p.m., 4 Jul-19 Sep 1962 (R)
Ian McTaggart-Cowan, professor of zoology at teh University of British
Columbia, hosted this summer documentary series on animal and plant life in the
sea. Programs dealt with such subjects as theories of origins of the earth and
the oceans and of the origins of living creatures; early concepts of the sea;
the development of navigation; the causes and effects of tides; ocean diving;
and oceanic life below the levels that light can penetrate. Ken Bray produced
the series in Vancouver, and Tom Connachie supervised the repeat broadcasts in
l962.
Sat 6:30-6:45 p.m., 7 Jul-15 Sep 1956
A live broadcast from Toronto, produced by George Retzlaff, Locker Room was a
review of the week in sports, with film and interviews featuring host Steve
Douglas.
Originally scheduled for just three broadcasts, this half-hour of folk songs
proved successful enough to last condiserably longer. The Vancouver production
starred Betty Phillips, who had a classically trained voice, and Ernie
Prentice, whose singing voice was untrained, and their guests included Richard
Dyer-Bennett.
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 28 Jun-27 Sep 1959
After leaving Tabloid, Ross McLean produced another humour and interview show
for the CBC. Long Shot, which replaced Fighting Words over the summer of 1959,
had more of a satiric edge than Tabloid, but was generally judged an
unsuccessful attempt at commentary or entertainment. The show's hosts were
announcer Ward Cornell and Olga Kwasniak, who was a cellist with the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra. Many of the guest comics came from the U.S.A., including
Jonathan Winters, Bob and Ray, and writers Jack Douglas and Harry Golden.
Other guests included the author of Parkinson's Law, C. Northcote Parkinson,
Canadian writer Gregory Clark, wrestlers Lord Athol Layton, Yukon Eric,
Hardboiled Haggarty, Ricky Starr, and Gene Kiniski, and a hobo named Boxcar
Betty.
A Long View Of Canadian History
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 16/30 Jun 1959
For this two part series on Canadian history, producer Cliff Solway filmed a
five and a half hour discussion between two University of Toronto professors:
Donald Creighton, of the history department, well known for his biography of
Sir John A. Macdonald, and Paul Fox, of the department of political science,
who appeared regularly on CBC television. The resulting two hours of film were
then edited down into two thirty minute programs on the subject of Canadian
history. In the discussion, Creighton expressed the positive values that he
found in the struggle to create and build Canada. He disputed a number of
theories about the development and character of the nation, including a
frontier model more appropriate to the U.S.A., views of the divisive quality of
the nation's treatment of Francophone and Anglophone cultures, and argued
against the overshadowing of important figures in Canadian history.
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 27 Aug-24 Sep 1954
Looking At Art, a thirty minute program from Vancouver, included interviews
with artist Jack Shadbolt on the British collection at the Vancouver Art
Gallery, and with Cliff Robinson on stage design.
Tue 10:00-10:30 p.m., 3 Jun-19 Aug 1975
Tue 9:30-10:00 p.m., 1 Jun-14 Sep 1976
Sun 12:30-1:00 p.m., 10 Apr-26 Jun 1977 (R)
A summer series produced by Don Brown, Look Who's Here featured interviews,
most with Canadian personalities, or with people who had slipped from the
public eye. Each program also featured a different interviewer. Shows
including ballet star Dame Margot Fonteyn, interviewed by Lorraine Thomson;
wrestler Whipper Billy Watson, interviewed by Gordon Sinclair; singer Gisele
MacKenzie talking with Bill Lawrence; announcer and newsreader Larry Henderson
in conversation with current newsreader Lloyd Robertson; singer Joyce Sullivan
interviewed by bandleader Howard Cable; Norman Jewison questioned by Toby
Robins; bandleader Mart Kenney and singer Norma Locke talking with Elwood
Glover; and musician Robert Farnon interviewed by Anna Cameron.
From 1963 to 1970, Luncheon Date, the noontime interview show starring CBC
staff announcer Elwood Glover was shot with one camera and broadcast live
locally, over CBLT, from the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel. The Four
Seasons, located on Jarvis Street at Carlton was an appropriate and convenient
location, because it was just across the street from the CBC's main production
centre in Toronto, and, in fact, more network business was probably done in
various locations around the Four Seasons than in the CBC building itself.
Glover hosted a Toronto afternoon drive time show, called "At Ease With Elwood
Glover," on CJBC, and, from 1956, also presided over a noontime half-hour
broadcast called "Luncheon Date." The radio broadcast consisted mostly of
popular recorded music and public service announcements. In 1962 the broadcast
moved from the CJBC studios to the newly built Four Seasons dining room. A
year later, the CBC decided to try the show on television, and made test films
of the radio broadcast, which had moved to the hotel lobby. The program was
simulcast on television and radio for the 1963 season. An amiable and
avuncular interviewer, Glover conducted four or five innocuous and polite
conversations with Toronto personalities or visiting performers or celebrities,
usually plugging a book, movie, record, or personal appearance. In summers,
the Glover show moved from the lobby into the hotel's courtyard. The program
did have an unusual format in so far as it surrounded a U.S. soap opera. The
sixty minute Luncheon Date was broadcast in two segments: thirty minutes from
noon to l2:30, and thirty minutes from l:00 to l:30.
In 1970 the show underwent a facelift, expanded its coverage to the national
network, and expanded to ninety minutes. Actually, only CBC-owned stations
received the full hour and a half; affiliates received the first and last half
hour. With an increased budget, the production values increased, although the
show always retained an exceptional modesty, partly because of Glover's own
quiet and understated personality and partly because, after all, it was just a
simple interview show. The production moved to larger quarters in to
accommodate an audience of about a hundred. The show now included a musical
trio fronted by pianist and crooner Sonny Caulfield, who had appeared on such
CBLT shows as Sunday Morning and Islands And Princesses. They punctuated the
succession of conversations with musical numbers. Al Boliska also joined the
show on a regular basis for a weekly satirical look at the news. Although the
show's format remained essentially the same, the producers tended to book fewer
guests and give them more time over the new ninety minute program. They found
problems in trying to book a sufficient number of guests to fill a daily slate
of Glover-style interviews, which were not at all "in-depth," and starting
November 197l, the show was cut back to sixty minutes. Glover's regular
replacement as the show's host was Bruce Marsh, another CBC announcer with an
equally mellifluous voice.
For most of its history, Luncheon Date broadcast from the Four Seasons, but it
periodically moved to different locations. The production unit annually set up
for three weeks and the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, and the show
was broadcast from Expo '67 for one week during centennial year. From 197l to
l973, Glover and a production crew taped interviews in the U.K. for later use.
In July 1973, Luncheon Date travelled to Edmonton to broadcast from the
Klondike Days Festival, the first time the program moved outside Toronto.
Glover estimated that he had interviewed some ll,500 guests on the radio and
television versions of Luncheon Date, so it would be impossible to provide any
satisfactory accounting. However, he has recorded the events that elicited the
greatest viewer reaction, two of which involved poetry readings. On the first
of November 1972, Terry Rowe made his first appearance on the show, and read
some of the fluffy love poetry he had recently published in a volume called To
You With Love. In July 1974, a prop man and set decorator named Keath Barrie,
who also wrote songs, read a long ode, "On Being Canadian." The most
spectacular event to take place on this exceptionally modest show, however, was
the marriage of Lena Walsh and country singer Stompin' Tom Connors, on 2
November 1973.
After suffering a hearing impairment in 1973, and later doubts about the show's
appeal and his desire to continue, Glover asked to leave the program. On the
27th of June 1975, he signed off. Several months later, Glover resigned from
the CBC and returned to radio, at the Toronto station CKEY. The format for a
noon hour interview program broadcast from a public place continued after
Glover departed, with host Bob McLean (See The Bob McLean Show).
Luncheon Date was produced by Ed Mercel (l963-64), Bill Sheehan (l964-65),
Siegbert Gerber (l965-66), Stewart Cuppage (l966-69), Nigel Napier-Andrews
(l969-70), Drew Crossan (l970-74), and Jack Budgell (l974-75).
Elwood Glover's Luncheon Dates (Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 1975), is a chatty
memoir of the announcer's life and broadcasting career..
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LUNCHEON DATE
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