CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
CBC CONCERT
Fri 9:00-9:30 p.m., 31 Oct-19 Dec 1952
The CBC replaced its comic program Stopwatch and Listen with this series of
musical performance from Toronto, produced by Franz Kraemer. The first program
featured folk blues singer Josh White.
Sun 11:00-12:00 p.m., 27 Jun 1954
Thu 8:30-9:30 p.m., 30 Sep 1954-30 Jun 1955
The CBC Concert Hour originated in Montreal and concentrated on serious and
classical musicl, with an emphasis on chamber music. The opneing show of the
regular season (l4 October 1954) featured Sir Ernest MacMillan, and the program
promised such future conductors as Wilfred Pelletier, Boyd Neel, and Roland
Leduc. Performers included international and Canadian stars, such as Andres
Segovia, John Newmark, Joseph Szigeti, Maureen Forrester, and Elizabeth
Schwartzkopf.
The broadcast was produced by Pierre Mercure and Noel Gauven, and the stage
director was Irving Gutman.
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 30 Sep-2 Dec 1973
Ronald Weyman was the Executive Producer for this ten week anthology series of
one hour, filmed dramas written and directed by CBC veterans. The programs
included adaptations of well-known literary works, such as Morley Callaghan's
novel, More Joy in Heaven, a two-part presentation that featured the return to
CBC drama of John Vernon, and Margaret Laurence's short story, A Bird in the
House, written by Patricia Watson and directed by Allan King.
Other productions included Vicky, directed by Rene Bonniere from Grahame
Woods's script; Our Ms. Hammond, which Woods directed from a play by Joseph
Schull; Welcome Stranger, based on a play by Kaino Thomas and directed by Rudi
Dorn; The Changeling, written by Tony Sheer and directed by Ronald Weyman; and
Lighten My Darkness, written by Charles E. Israel and directed by Graham
Parker.
Tue 9:00-11:00 p.m., 5 Jun-8 Jul 1979
Sat 9:00-11:00 p.m., 7 Jul-22 Sep 1979
Sat 9:00-11:00 p.m., 7 Jun-13 Sep 1980
In the summer of 1979, the CBC offered two series of feature films under this
title, and another in the summer of 1980. Both series included Canadian
feature films. In 1979, the network aired The Little Girl Who Lives Down The
Lane; Second Wind; The Clown Murders; Fighting Men; Inside Out; Sudden Fury;
Goldenrod; One Night Stand; J.A. Martin, Photographe; Rabu Fere; The Far Shore;
One Man; Lies My Father Told Me; Love At First Sight; Drying Up The Streets;
and Who Has Seen The Wind? The 1980 season included Kamouraska; Second Wind;
Who Has Seen The Wind?; Skip Tracer; Lions For Breakfast; Deadly Harvest; and
the non-Canadian adaptation of James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man, by Joseph Strick.
At irregular intervals, the 1979 series also included interviews with Hollywood
directors, such as Martin Scorsese, Samuel Fuller, George Cukor, John
Schlesinger, Donald Siegel, John Sturges, and John Cromwell, following the
feature.
Don Elder produced the CBC Film Festival.
Tue 9:30-10:00 p.m., 14 Oct-21 Oct 1958
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 6 Jul-14 Sep 1958
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 1 Oct 1958
A title given to a series of non-Canadian filmed programs.
See Folio.
See Sunday At 8:00.
See Playbill.
Thu 9:00-11:00 p.m., 24 Sep-10 Dec 1981
Thu 8:00-10:00 p.m., 17 Feb-31 Mar 1983
The CBC aired recent, Canadian feature films under this title. In the boom of
tax shelter productions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and with the chronic
inability to place Canadian productions in Canadian theatres, such a series
generally represented Canadians' only opportunity to see films produced in
their own country. The program was coordinated by Athan Katsos.
Interviewer and CITY-TV personality Brian Linehan introduced the first series
of films, which featured The Silent Partner, State of Shock, Murder By Decree,
Wild Horse Hank, Suzanne, Mr. Patman, Klondike Fever, Title Shot, and
Outrageous.' Gordon Pinsent served as host of the second series, and
introduced Heartaches, The Changeling, The Magic Show, Bear Island, The Hounds
of Notre Dame, Les Bons debarras, Les Plouffes, and Circle of Two.
Tue 9:00-11:00 p.m., 7 Jul-25 Aug 1981
Thu 8:00-10:00 p.m., 3 Jul-18 Aug 1982
Before CBC Premiere Presentation, the network filled a slot in the summer
schedule with recent feature films of generally high quality. They included
Allan King's adaptation of W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen The Wind?; Jean
Beaudin's J.A. Martin, Photographe; Violette Noziere, directed by Claude
Chabrol; Clay Borris's Alligator Shoes; The Coffin Affair, directed by
Jean-Claude Labrecque; Claude Jutra's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel,
Surfacing; and Micheline Lanctot's The Handyman (L'Homme a tout faire).
Sun 10:00-11:00 p.m., 16 Jul-27 Aug 1978
A series of six one-hour programs, simulcast on the CBC-FM radio network, that
featured symphony orchestras from Hamilton, Montreal, Halifax, Toronto, Quebec,
and Winnipeg. For summer listening and viewing, the programs featured light
classical films and orchestral arrangements of show tunes and popular songs.
Guest soloists included sopranos Marie-Claire Seguin and Colette Bok, violinist
Phillippe Djokic, pianist Monica Gaylord, harpist Richard Turner, oboist Jon
Peterson, and the Canadian Brass.
From its first week, and for nearly a decade after, the CBC English language
service featured a regular ninety-minute program of television drama. At the
time, in fact, it was the only hour and a half drama on the air in North
America. CBC Television Theatre, also known as CBC Theatre, was the title for
the sustaining series. (When the program took on a sponsor, the series title
changed to Ford Television Theatre to reflect the change.)
Mavor Moore, the chief producer for CBC television in Toronto, served as the
series' supervisor, and produced programs, in rotation with Robert Allen, Peter
McDonald, David Greene, and Silvio Narizzano.
The series opened with an adaptation of John Galsworthy's Justice, produced by
Robert Allen. Many of the early productions were drawn from international
theatre and literature, and included Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People,
Arthur Miller's All My Sons, Patrick Hamilton's Angel Street, the Coventry
Miracle Play, P.G. Wodehouse's By Candlelight, and John Millington Synge's The
Playboy of the Western World. Moore also announced with some pride that the
CBC had scooped U.S. television and secured the rights to produce adaptations
of several George Bernard Shaw plays, of which the first, presented on 29
January 1953, was Candida. Early in 1953, the CBC also presented David
Greene's production of Shakespeare's Othello, with Lorne Greene, who had played
the part on radio the previous year, in the title role. Early productions of
Canadian writers' work included The Moneymakers, written by Ted Allan, and One
John Smith, with a script by Lister Sinclair, produced by Robert Allen, and
featuring Frank Peddie in the title role.
The original studio directory for the series was Loyd Brydon, whom Leo
Orenstein succeeded shortly into the first season. Casting director Eva
Langbord was responsible for combing the talent of Toronto and Canada for the
productions. The show's technical director was Gordon Shillabeer, and Thomas
Nutt designed the lighting. In their earliest days, CBC drama productions
gained considerable attention for their design, and the most regular set
designers for CBC Television Theatre were Nikolai Soloviov and Rudy Nicoletti.
Mon 9:00-9:30 p.m., 8 Sep 1952
Sun 8:30-9:00 p.m., 12 Oct-28 Dec 1952
Sun 6:30-7:00 p.m., 4 Jan-3 May 1953
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 4 Oct 1953
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 11 Oct 1953-26 Apr 1954
Sun 9:30-10:00 p.m., 10 Oct 1954-4 Jun 1955
Sun 9:30-10:00 p.m., 2 Oct 1955-3 Jun 1956
Sun 9:30-10:00 p.m., 7 Jul-29 Sep 1957
Sun 9:30-10:00 p.m., 20 Oct 1957-29 Jun 1958
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 21 Sep 1958-14 Jun 1959
Sponsored by Canadian General Electric, The C.G.E. Show featured the Leslie
Bell Singers, a choir of twenty-one young women, and the Howard Cable
Orchestra. The popular radio version of this quality musical variety show
preceded the television production by four years. Originally, the performances
were simulcast on the Dominion network and television. In early 1953, however,
the television broadcast changed time slots, and required separate performances
for each medium. The show's producer was Drew Crossan, the associate producer
and writer was Dorothy Robb, and the studio director Bruce Macpherson. Rudy
Nicoletti designed the sets. In its first season, the series featured as
soloists Montreal baritone Charles Jordan and Toronto mezzo soprano Joyce
Sullivan, as well as dancers Gladys Forrester and Jackie Kay (who, of course,
did not perform on the radio show).
Leslie Bell left the show after two years, and cited the pressures that
television exerted on its talent even in its early days. It offered little
security, it demanded too much of performers--asking dancers to be singers and
singers to be dancers, and Bell himself to become a character actor-- and
overextended them. Budgetary restrictions prevented extensive rehearsal time,
and slashed the size of his radio chorus from twenty-five to eight and reduced
the orchestra by half. (See Dr. Leslie Bell, "Why I'm Out of Television,"
Maclean's [30 April 1955], pp. l5, 72, 74.)
The program's title changed to C.G.E. Showtime, and it then became known simply
as Showtime. In the 1954 season, Elmer Eisler took charge of the chorus of
eight singers, and the vocal soloists were Shirley Harmer and Don Garrard.
Robert Goulet replaced Garrard in the 1956 season. A year later, Gloria
Lambert took over from Harmer as the female soloist, and in the final season,
Joyce Sullivan returned. Don Gillies was the principal dancer in the troupe
from 1954, and the choreographer from 1955 to 1956, replaced that year by Fred
Kelly. The 1956 season also featured appearances every few weeks by Alan and
Blanche Lund or by the Don Gillies Trio. The program's producers included
Harvey Hart (l954-55), Don Hudson (l955-56), and Len Casey (l957-59).
Orchestra leader Howard Cable was the constant throughout the show's history,
and a summer replacement in 1957, Showtime With Howard Cable, gave him top
billing. Regluars on the summer series included Joyce Sullivan, Shane Rimmer,
Ken Steele, who had moved over from Holiday Rance, "Gi" Gordon, and a vocal
quintet called the Showtimers (Barbara Franklin, Donna Miller, Patsy Brooks,
Margaret Symonds, and Yvonne Lauder), formerd by Bill Grady, and pianist Bill
Butler. This summer show was produced by Drew Crossan and directed by Norman
Jewison.
See The C.G.E. Show.
Thu 8:00-8:30 p.m., 8 Sep-20 Oct 1955
Cabaret, with its songs and dances in a nightclub setting, was the first
variety program produced in the CBC's Winnipeg studios. The half-hour
broadcast had a brief run on the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal network. Its cast
featured singers Maxine Ware and Ann MacLeod, drummer, vocalist, and tap dancer
Del Wagner, the Mitch Parks Orchestra, and master of ceremonies Marsh
Phimister.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 6 Jul-27 Sep 1955
Arthur Phelps moderated this summer panel discussion show from Vancouver.
Participants and subjects included Northrop Frye on Canadians' reading habits;
CJOR newsman Jack Webster and lawyer Bill McConnell on television and radio;
and McConnell, writer Roderick Haig-Brown, and Hugh Christie, warden of
Oakville Prison Farm on crime and society.
Tue 10:00-10:30 p.m., 12 Nov 1957-4 Feb 1958
Call For Music was a half-hour musical variety show from Vancouver. On the
first broadcast, host Bert Nelson welcomed singers Pat Morgan, who had
previously appeared on Pick the Stars, the U.S. singer and actress Pat Suzuki,
star of The World of Suzie Wong, singer Nora Halliday, violinist Arthur Polson,
and Ricky Hyslop leading the orchestra. In subsequent weeks, Eleanor Collins,
Betty Phillips, and John Dunton appeared and Suzuki made a return appearance.
Call For Music, followed by Press Conference, another half-hour broadcast, ran
every other week, alternating with Concert Hour.
See Jazz With Jackson.
Various Times 13 Nov 1961-14 Jan 1963
Camera Canada was the title the CBC gave to a series of documentary films on
contemporary Canada, scheduled periodically throughout the broadcast year.
They appeared monthly, approximately, and were often placed into a time slot on
Monday evenings. According to Executive Producer Thom Benson, the series spun
out of four documentary specials, on the Stratford Festival, Canadian folk
music, Dominion Day, and the Calgary Stampede, which the CBC presented over
summer 1960.
The 196l broadcasts included High Arctic Hunter, a film on the Eskimo hunter
produced by Gene Lawrence and written and directed by Doug Wilkinson; The
Unknown Country Revisited, on Canadians' opinions of their country, with Bruce
Hutchinson; a comparison of the day's university graduates with those of the
l930s, by Hugh MacLennan; and a report on the Canada Council, with Dr. A.W.
Trueman, director of the Council. In summer 196l, the network presented The
Measure of Man, on techniques used to study the mind, and Campus in the Clouds,
on the Banff School of Fine Arts, both produced by Norman Caton. Camera Canada
also broadcast Upper Canada Village, produced by Gene Lawrence, and The
Changing Island, a documentary written and hosted by J. Frank Willis.
Later broadcasts included Big Country, Norman Caton's documentary on a cattle
drive in western Canada, with narration written by Len Peterson and read by Don
Francks; Pelly Bay, Ron Kelly's films on the daily life of an Eskimo; My Enemy,
by Bob Orchard, based on a short story by Andre Chamson, and produced by
Michael Rothery; The Annanacks, on an Eskimo community, produced and directed
by Rene Bonniere for Crawley Films, with commentary spoken by Lloyd Bochner;
Boys Village, directed by Ron Kelly, on a reform school; The Opening of the
West, produced by Gene Lawrence, written by Scott Young, and narrated by J.
Frank Willis; Last Summer, on the mating of birds and animals, written by Thom
Benson; The Looking Glass People, a film on ballet produced and directed by
Norman Campbell, with a script by George Salverson and commentary by Budd
Knapp; The Short Sweet Summer, Campbell's production, written by Hugh Kemp, on
the National Youth Orchestra's 1963 tour; False Faces, a Crawley Films
production, produced and directed by Rene Bonniere, on a 196l Iroquois-Huron
ceremony; Gold: The Fabulous Years, produced by Gene Lawrence, with a script
by Hugh Kemp; The World of Bobby Hull, written by Scott Young; Camera on
Canada, directed by Gene Lawrence; The Lost Decade, on the Great Depression,
written by Ben Maartman and directed by Ron Kelly; and The View From Geneva, a
documentary on the work of the Red Cross, directed by Maurice Taylor, written
by Hugh Kemp, and with commentator Princess Grace of Monaco.
The most famous program in the Camera Canada series was Wilderness, a filmed
study of life in remote areas of the Yukon, Alberta, and British Columbia. The
show gave its name to the Wilderness Award, given each year to the outstanding
film made for the CBC in honour of producer Norman Caton and two cameramen who
died in a plane crash during the production of the Camera Canada documentary.
In 1965, to lead up to Canada's centennial year, a special series of
documentary programs, on Canada's natural resources, were announced for Camera
Canada. See Canada 98/Canada 99/Canada l00.
Wed 8:00-8:30 p.m., 1 Jul-16 Sep 1964
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 11 Jul-12 Sep 1965
Sun 10:00-11:00 p.m., 3 Jul-24 Jul 1966
Sun 5:30-5:59 p.m., 16 Jul-24 Sep 1967
Over four summers, the network aired half-hour documentaries produced in
Vancouver under the title Camera West. In 1964, the series included Ghost of
Walhachin, they story of a small B.C. community, written and produced by Tom
Connachie; Shawnigan, on a private boys' school near Victoria, written and
directed by George Robertson; Whatever Happened to the Horse?; a profile of
Vancouver artist and poet bill bissett prepared by Maurice Embra and called
Strange Gray Day, This; Through the Looking Glass, on clinical use of LSD,
produced by Michael Rothery and written by David Gray; The Good Citizens, a
two-part documentary on Chinese Canadians in western Canada, produced by Doug
Gillingham and written by Hilda Mortimer; Tricks or Treatment, on hypnotism, by
Gordon Babineau; The Fountain of Youth, Doug Gillingham's documentary on a
health farm; and two shows on witchcraft, called Circles of Power, produced by
Michael Rothery and written by Peter Haworth.
The 1965 season included Immigrant Impressions; Paul Kane; and Crystal Prize,
on an international ski meet at Crystal Mountain, Washington. Camera West also
presented films on Canadians who retire to the west coast, A Matter of Choice,
produced by Stanley Fox; on the Irish Fusiliers of B.C., The Last Parade; on
Portuguese immigrants who have settled in the Okanagan Valley; on artist Emily
Carr, The Heart of the Thing; a documentary on the B.C. Gulf Islands, The
Islanders, by George Robertson; and a repeat of Robertson's report on the
Shawnigan Lake School.
Camera West started its 1966 season with Carole, a profile of Carole Thompson,
a student in her third year at the Vancouver School of Art, produced by Gene
Lawrence and written by Dave Brock. Subsequent programs concentrated on the
the newly fashionable West End of Vancouver, a show produced by Ain Soodor; the
decline of creative initiative in children as they grow older; and, adapted
from a radio documentary by Len Chapple, the sinking of the Lusitania.
Canada 98/Canada 99/Canada l00
Various Times 25 Nov 1964-16 Apr 1967
Over the last three years of Canada's first century, the CBC prepared and
presented twelve documentaries, six on the country's major rivers and six on
its natural resources. The hour-long films were broadcast at varying times of
the year and at irregular days of the week and hours. The Executive Producer
for the series was Thom Benson, and the host J. Frank Willis.
Canada 98 consisted of The Fraser (Wednesday 25 November 1964, 8:30 p.m.),
produced by Ron Kelly, written by Charles Israel, and shot by Grahame Woods;
The Ironmasters (Sunday l7 January 1965, 8:00 p.m.), produced by Michael
Rothery and written by Hugh Kemp; The Mackenzie (Monday 8 March 1965, 9:00
p.m.), directed by Gerald Richardson, written by Scott Young, and shot by
Norman Allin; and Out of the Forest (Wednesday 2l April 1965, 8:30 p.m.),
produced by Michael Rothery and for which Clement Perron wrote the script on
the Quebec lumber industry and Don Erickson wrote on British Columbia
forestry.
cCanada 99's premiere presentation was The Saskatchewan (Sunday 28 November
l965, 9:00 p.m.), produced by Daryl Duke, written by Hugh Kemp, with
cinematography by Jack V. Long. It was followed by an examination of the
petroleum industry called All Hell For a Basement (Monday 27 December 1965,
9:00 p.m.), produced by Michael Rothery and written by Ben Maartman. (The
source of the title is a remark by Rudyard Kipling on seeing a flaring gas wel
in Medicine Hat, Alberta.) The third film, Rivers to the Sea (Sunday 6
February 1966, 9:00 p.m.), described the values of three rivers in the Atlantic
provinces: the St. John in New Brunswick, the Margaree on Cape Breton Island,
and the Humber in Newfoundland. It was produced by Michael Rothery, written by
Clement Perron, and shot by David Carr. The narrators were John Scott (New
Brunswick), Budd Knapp (Nova Scotia), and J. Frank Willis (Newfoundland). The
final presentation of the season, produced by Ron Bashford and shot by Ken
Gregg, was Once Upon a Marsh (Wednesday 20 April 1966, 8:30 p.m.), on waterfowl
in breeding grounds on the prairies in both the U.S.A. and Canada.
The final season appeares to have stopped short of the planned dozen programs.
The three Canada l00 films were all produced by Michael Rothery. Harvest of
the Sea (Tuesday 3 January 1967, 9:00 p.m.), written by Farley Mowat, and with
music by Ricky Hyslop, concerned fishing and the uses of the sea for food
resources. Out There the Land (Tuesday l4 February 1967, 9:00 p.m.), directed
by Rothery and David Pears, with photography by Jack V. Long, music by Ben
McPeek, and interviews by Gordie Tapp, dealt with farming and the uses of
produce in the cities. River Without End (Sunday l6 April 1967, 8:00 p.m.), on
the St. Lawrence, was written by David Fulton and featured Max Ferguson.
Mon-Fri 11:45-12:45 a.m., 18 Sep 1978-26 Jan 1979
90 Minutes Live, with Peter Gzowski as host, had failed in the CBC's mid- 1970s
bid to create a late night talk show to compete with Johnny Carson, Merv
Griffin, Dick Cavett, and other talk shows filtering across the border on U.S.
stations. Canada After Dark was an attempt to pick up the pieces, with the
same Executive Producer, Alex Frame, but with a new host. Paul Soles replaced
Gzowski's radio- and print-trained earnest and sincere interest with the stage-
and camerawise presence of a veteran comic actor. Producers Frame and Bob
Ennis also tried to orient the show more toward entertainment and less toward
the informational programming we might have come to expect from the CBC.
Canada After Dark proved to be too little too late, however, and lasted only
half a season.
Perhaps Canadians did not tune in because they were confused. Guest Father
Guido Sarducci, raconteur and gossip columnist for L'Osservatore Romano (the
character made famous by Don Novello on Danny Finkleman's CBC radio show and
later on NBC's Saturday Night Live) told host Soles that he had almost missed
the show: he thought "Canada After Dark" meant that it was a morning show. It
should have been called "Canada During Dark."
Sat 5:00-5:30 p.m., 4 Apr-27 Jun 1962
Sat 5:00-5:30 p.m., 13 Jul-26 Oct 1963 (R)
Sun 10:00-10:30 p.m., 24 May-30 Aug 1970 (R)
The National Film Board started film research for Canada At War in December
l958, and culled footage from many sources to produce a thirteen part series of
half-hour films on Canada from 1936 to 1946. The sources made available
newsreel footage, as well as film shot by Canadians at home and abroad, British
film stored in Canada, and German film confiscated at the end of World War II.
l. Dusk traces developments from 1936 and the rearming of Germany to March
l940 and Canada's entry into the war. 2. Blitzkrieg covers the period April
to November 1940, the growth of the Nazi empire, Italy's declaration of war,
the blitz of London, and Canada and conscription. 3. The third segment, Year
of Siege, from September 1940 to October 194l, includes the Battle of the
Atlantic, the German invasion of Russia, and the departure of the Winnipeg
Grenadiers and Royal Rifles for Hong Kong. 4. Days of Infamy, December 194l
to June 1942, sees the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States'
entry into the war. 5. In the months from July to September 1942, the period
covered by Ebbtide, Hitler was at the peak of his military power. This segment
includes the disastrous attack on Dieppe. 6. As the title indicates, Turn of
the Tide marks a change in the Allies' fortunes, from October 1942 to July
l943, with the U.S. assault on Guadalcanal, and the British Fifth Army's battle
at Alamein. 7. Road to Ortona, tracing the months July 1943 to January 1944,
sees the invasion of Italy by Canadian, British, and U.S. forces, and the
occupation of the town of Ortona by Canadian troops. 8. In New Directions,
December 1943 to June 1944, Prime Minister Mackenzie King asserts Canadian
independence in determinng foreign policy at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of
state, and Canadian ships provide supplies for Russia. 9. The Norman Summer,
from June to September 1944, traces the progress of Allied armies from D-Day to
the liberation of Paris, and includes the return of Canadian troops to Dieppe.
l0. Cinderella on the Left, which documents the last half of 1944, shows the
destruction of Nazi rocket launching sites and the Germans' last defence effort
at the Battle of the Bulge. ll. Crisis on the Hill, September 1944 to March
l945, outlines the protests against conscription in Canada, and the advance of
Allied soldiers through Italy and across the Siegfried Line. l2. In V Was For
Victory, the Allies conquer Germany, but discover the atrocity of the
concentration camps, and drop the atomic bomb on Japan, the events of April to
August 1945. l3. In the final segment, The Clouded Dawn, Canada and the rest
of the world emerge from the smoke of the Second World War. The trials at
Nuremberg assess war crimes. Igor Gouzenko makes headlines in Ottawa, and
Canada enters the world's cold war.
The Executive Producer of Canada At War was Peter Jones, and the Producer was
Stanley Clish. Donald Brittain, the Associate Producer, wrote the commentary,
which was ready by actor Budd Knapp. Canada At War is still available through
the National Film Board of Canada.
Sun 11:00-11:30 a.m., 9 Apr-25 Jun 1967
Sun 1:00-1:30 p.m., 16 Jul-24 Sep 1961
A series of repeat broadcasts of documentary films and talk or interview
programs produced in regional centres. Eye to Eye, from Winnipeg, presented
The Negro in Winnipeg and The Banner Folds, on a defunct weekly newspaper in
Manitoba. From the Ottawa broadcast, Live and Learn, viewers saw Professors
Michael Hornyansky and Gordon Wood of Carleton University in two shows, What is
Criticism? and Criticism in Action. Consensus, a Vancouver series, contributed
a program of drug addiction and another called Lawless Sea Limits. Let's Face
It brought features on French- Canadian writers, retarded children, and St.
James Street from Montreal.
Wed 5:30-6:00 p.m., 5 Jul-27 Sep 1967
Mon-Fri 10:00-10:30 a.m., 4 Oct-8 Oct 1971 (R)
Host Dan Gibson usually presented two films per half-hour program in this daily
series designed to attract Canadians' interest in nature and outdoor
activities. Subjects included canoeing, the preservation of the muskie, water
birds and birds of the forest, and tourist adventures in northwestern Ontario.
Produced by Dan Gibson Productions.
Fri 8:30-9:30 p.m., 16 Oct-23 Oct 1953
Details unknown. Presented two consecutive Friday evenings in October 1953.
Canada Through the Looking Glass
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 18 Jul-12 Sep 1968
See La Difference.
Mon-Fri 4:00-5:00 p.m., 5 Sep-30 Sep 1966
Produced by the National Film Board, Canada's Story was a series of twenty
films that dramatized moments in the history of the country over four hundred
years. They ranged from the explorers--John Cabot, Henry Hudson, Samuel de
Champlain, Alexander Mackenzie, David Thompson--to military and political
conflicts such as the battle of the Plains of Abraham and the l837 Rebellion in
Upper Canada, to the struggles for self-government, with films on William Lyon
Mackenzie, Joseph Howe, Louis-Joseph Papineau, and Confederation.
The NFB produced most of the films under the collective title, The History
Makers. The Struggle for Self-Government series was completed in 196l, the
Prelude to Confederation series in 1962, and the Explorers series in 1964.
Producers included Julian Biggs, T. Farley, Bernard Devlin, Richard Gilbert,
Andre Belleau, and David Bairstow. Directors included John Howe, Julian Biggs,
Gordon Burwash, Morton Parker, Pierre Patry, Richard Gilbert, Denys Arcand, and
Bernard Devlin. Among the actors, Powys Thomas played Henry Hudson, James
Douglas was David Thompson, Don Francks was Alexander Mackenzie, and Robert
Christie portrayed Sir John A. Macdonald.
Mon-Thu 2:30-3:00 p.m., 1 Nov-21 Dec 1978
Produced in different centres throughout the country and organized for the
network through regional exchange. Subjects included Harold Horwood and Joey
Smallwood from St. John's, Alden Nowlan and Harry Boyle from Halifax, Jacques
Godbout, Yves Theriault, Michel Carneau, Mordecai Richler, Hugh MacLennan, and
Margaret Atwood in Montreal, Naim Kattan, Blaise Mukherjee, David Helwig, and
Dorothy O'Connell in Ottawa, sylvia Fraser, Robertson Davies, Carol Bolt, Tom
Hendry, and Marion Engel in Toronto, Heather Robertson, Ken Mitchell, Robert
Kroetsch, and Dorothy Livesay from Winnipeg, and Jack Hodgins, James Clavell,
Barry Broadfoot, and Susan Musgrave from Vancouver.
Sun 9:00-11:00 p.m., 21 JUl-25 Aug 1974
For the CBC, an all-too-rare series of recent, Canadian feature films: The
Rowdyman, directed by Peter Carter, and starring and written by Gordon Pinsent;
Isabel and Journey, both directed by Paul Almond and starring Genevieve Bujold;
Mon oncle Antoine, directed by Claude Jutra; Between Friends, directed by Don
Shebib, with Michael Parks and Bonnie Bedelia; and The Visitor, directed by
John Wright, with Pia Shandel and Eric Peterson. See also Canadian Feature
Films; Summer Movies.
Sat 3:00-4:00 p.m., 9 Jan-3 Apr 1971
Sat 2:00-4:00 p.m., 8 Jan-16 Apr 1972
In September 1968, the CBC signed an agreement with the Canadian
Intercollegiate Athletic Union, which gave the CBC exclusive Canadian
television rights to major university athletic events for ten years, effective
l April 1969. Canadian College Sport, an eleven-week series that started in
January 197l, produced and hosted by Don Goodwin of Halifax, was planned as a
one-hour, weekly broadcast, sometimes to be expanded for complete live coverage
of major events. It included CIAU Conference Magazine, an overview of
developments in the university athletic conferences across the country, and a
history of college sport in Canada.
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 21 Sep-2 Nov 1980
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 31 May-12 Jul 1981 (R)
A seven part series of one hour documentaries based on Peter C. Newman's
best-selling 1975 account of industrial and commerical wealth in Canada. Ten
Toronto Street concerned the death of Bud McDougald and the succession of
Conrad Black to the chairman's seat at Argus Corporation. Shoemaker to the
World concerned the career and power of Thomas Bata. Store Wars was an account
of the competition among department store chains in Canada, and documented
Hudson's Bay Company's takeover of Simpson's. To Whom Much Is Given contrasts
new and old wealth in Canada. The Best Job in Canada revolves around the
chairman of CPR, Ian Sinclair. The Little Guy From Sudbury is a profile of
Paul Desmarais, head of the Power Corporation of Quebec. The final segment,
The Establishment Challenged, concerns the arriviste Calgarians.
The series, budgeted at one million dollars, was one of the CBC's most
expensive projects to date. By following the principal figures of the Canadian
corporate elite, and permitting them candid, extensive talking head interviews,
the series offered an approving view of the most influential figures in the
country's private sector. Producer/directors for individual segments included
Martin Canell, David Garrard, Michael Gerard, Peter Pearson, and Ted
Remerowski. The Executive Producer was CBC veteran Cameron Graham, and the
commentary was read by Patrick Watson.
Thu 9:00-10:00 p.m., 22 Sep 1977-28 Apr 1978
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 28 Apr-26 May 1978
Thu 9:00-10:00 p.m., 28 Sep 1978-19 Apr 1979
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 16 May-12 Sep 1980
Canadian Express was a variety show intended as a showcase for young talent
from different areas of the country. Executive Producer Paddy Sampson
organized shows with producers and personalities from the various CBC
production centres. The show featured singer Terry Jacks of the musical group
the Poppy Family in the first season. Other performers included Terry David
Mulligan from Vancouver, Gabrielle from Edmonton, Gerry and Ziz from Winnipeg,
Jim Bennett from Halifax, and Ryan's Fancy from St. John's.
Thu 10:00-10:30 p.m., 4 Jun-18 Jun 1959
A series of half-hour broadcasts, The Canadian Farmer replaced Explorations for
three weeks. The individual segments were: Farmer on a Tiger, a discussion of
the farmer's problems in relation to federal and provincial agricultural
policies; Cow on a Tightrope, which outlined how a quart of milk got from the
farm to the consumer; and Road to Rosetown, an investigation of the decline in
rural communities as costs decrease with improvements in transportation.
Sun 2:30-4:00 p.m., 6 Apr-8 Jun 1969
A Sunday afternoon series of recent feature films: The Moontrap (the abridged,
English language version of Pour la suite du monde), by Pierre Perrault; Nobody
Waved Goodbye, by Don Owen; Christopher's Movie Matinee, by Mort Ransen; The
Merry World of Leopold Z, by Gilles Carle; The Offering, by David Secter; The
Luck of Ginger Coffee, by U.S. director Irvin Kershner for Crawley Films; and
Drylanders, by Don Haldane. All but Secter's and Kershner's films were
produced by the National Film Board.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 19 Apr-14 Jun 1967
Periodically, the CBC creates a window for innovative and independent
filmmakers in this country. Canadian Film Makers reflected some of the energy
of mid-l960s filmmakers. Some contributions camer from independents, others
from the offices of the National Film Board. Pierre Hebert's Op Hop, Claude
Jutra's Rouli Roulant, Claude Fournier's Sebring, Arthur Lipsett's Free Fall,
Jacques Godbout's People Might Laugh At Us, Ron Wisman's Zero to Max, and Tom
Daly's 2 l/2 all aired in this slot.
The series producer was Rosalind Farber, its director Flemming Nielsen.
Research and script were by Bruce Martin, and the host was Lloyd Robertson.
Sun 2:30-3:00 p.m., 6 Jan-31 Mar 1974
Like its predecessor with the same title seven years before, Canadian Film
Makers presented the work of the contemporary crop of innovative filmmakers,
although it drew more on the independent community and not at all from the
National Film Board. The first season, produced by Beverly Roberts, included
documentary, narrative, and experimental films. They had to meet the CBC's
technical standards for broadcast and conform to CRTC regulations concerning
offensive or obscene material. The CBC received submissions from across
Canada, and paid $3000 to $3500 per half-hour. Films shown in the first season
included Space Child, by Dennis Millar; To A Very Old Woman and Progressive
Insanities of a Pioneer Farmer, both by Paul Quigley; Carpathian Tales, by
Jerczy Fijalkowski; Limestoned, by Rene Bonniere; Amherst Island, by Gil
Taylor; Good Friday in Little Italy, by Peter Rowe; As We Were, by Marty Gross;
The Novitiate, by Warren Zucker; Not Far From Home, by Don Owen; and Country
Music Montreal, by Frank Vitale.
The second season, produced by independent Toronto filmmaker Julius Kohanyi,
placed more emphasis on experimental films.
Sat 4:00-5:00 p.m., 13 Jul-14 Sep 1968
A series of eight hour-long programs on game fishing in Alberta, Ontario,
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Quebec, Newfoundland, British Columbia, and the
Atlantic provinces.
Sat 2:00-2:30 p.m., 10 Jun-16 Sep 1978
Sun 2:30-3:00 p.m., 6 Apr-31 Aug 1980
Thu 2:30-3:00 p.m., 28 May-10 Sep 1981
Mon-Fri 1:30-2:00 p.m., 24 May-11 Jun 1982
Mon 2:00-2:30 p.m., 5 Jul-27 Aug 1982
Mon/Thu/Fri 4:30-5:00 6 Sep-4 Oct 1982
During the summer months in an afternoon time slot, the CBC gives air time to
indepdendent film productions that it has purchased and should have broadcast
throughout the year at more advantageous times of day. Packaged by Athan
Katsos.
See Theatre Canada.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 10 Apr 1974
Produced by Jim Thompson. No other details available.
Mon 7:30-8:00 p.m., 4 Nov-29 Dec 1978
Fri 2:30-3:00 p.m., 4 Nov-29 Dec 1978
A program of interviews with Susan Clark, Monty Hall, Sharon Acker, Norman
Jewison, Bill Glenn, John Kemeny, and Ted Kotcheff, all of whom have achieved
success outside Canada.
Sun 2:00-3:00 p.m., 15 Jan-26 Feb 1978
Sun 4:00-5:00 p.m., 28 Jan-25 Mar 1979
Sat 3:00-6:00 p.m., 5 Jan-22 Mar 1980
Sat 3:00-6:00 p.m., 10 Jan-28 Mar 1981
Television networks developed the idea of packaging competitions among athletes
to fill time during intermissions of hockey or football games. The Superstars
contest purported to determine the greatest all-round athlete. It required
participants to choose seven sports in which to compete, excluding their own
sport. The choices were swimming, tennis, rowing, bowling, batting (a
baseball), gymnastics, weightlifting, soccer, a one hundred metre sprint, a
half-mile run, cycling, and an obstacle course. The total prize money was
$46,000, and the winner went on to represent Canada in a world Superstars
competition.
Canadian Superstars was broadcast between halves during CFL games carried on
the CBC, and, after the end of the football season, during the Saturday
afternoon show, Sportsweekend. The Executive Producers were John Spalding
(l976-l979) and Jim Thompson (l980-8l); producers were Cec Browne (l976- 1977),
Ron Harrison (l978), and Larry Brown (l979-8l). CBC sportscasters Ernie
Afaganis and Tom McKee were co-hosts.
See Army Show.
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 26 Oct-7 Dec 1958
Candid Eye, the graoundbreaking series of direct cinema documentaries produced
by the National Film Board, succeeded Perspective on the CBC schedule. Recent
developments in portable filmmaking equipment permitted the camera and sound
operators greater flexibility. The filmmakers attempted to observe and to
minimize intervention in the events they recorded. They kept onscreen
interviews to a very few, although voiceover commentary by Stanley Jackson
introduced and helped explain the significance of what the viewer saw.
The series aired some of the NFB's best-known productions, including Blood and
Fire, on the work of the Salvation Army; Police; The Back-Breaking Leaf, on the
tobacco harvest in southern Ontario; and The Days Before Christmas. All were
directed and, in part, shot by Terence Macartney- Filgate.
The producers for the series were Roman Kroitor and Wolr Koenig, and the
Executive Producer was Tom Daly.
Mon 9:30-10:00 p.m., 6 Oct 1958-13 Jul 1959
Thu 6:15-6:45 p.m., 20 Jul-28 Sep 1959 (R)
Cannonball was a series of half-hour family dramas about the adventures of two
truckers who hauled freight on the highways of Canada and the U.S.A. U.S.
actors Paul Birch and William Campbell played Mike Malone and Jerry Austin in
this Route 66 on eighteen wheels. Canadian talent played supporting roles.
Beth Lockerbie was Mary Malone, Mike's wife, and Beth Morris and Steve
Barringer were Ginny and Butch Malone. Howard Milsom portrayed dispatcher
Harry Butler. Other Canadian character actors who appeared in the show
included Ruth Springford, Alfie Scopp, Sylvia Lennick, Eric House, and Cy Mack.
Executive Producer Robert Maxwell created the series, which was produced for
Normandie Production by Rudy E. Abel, assisted by Sterling Campbell. The shows
were directed by Les Selander and Les Goodwins. The thirty-nine episodes were
syndicated in the United States, and the series was also sold to Australian and
British television.
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CANNONBALL
