1950s
Beny Sport Review, The
In The Beny Sport Review, Al McCann introduced viewers and sports celebrities on the order of Eskimo quarterback Don Getty and Canadian curling champ Matt Baldwin.
Big Revue, The
The Big Revue was a variety television show. It was the first ever production of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's television network when both debuted in 1952. The show was directed by Norman Jewison, written by John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt and produced by Don Hudson. It first aired on September 9, 1952.
The series was hosted by actress ...
Billy O'Connor Show, The
The Billy O'Connor Show was a post-hockey variety show with Billy O'Connor and his trio, produced by Bob Jarvis and Drew Crossan. On 20 August 1955, Juliette made her first regular appearance on the show. By the end of the second season, she and O'Connor had conflicted and the CBC decided to develop a program around her instead.
Billy O'Connor retur ...
Bim Bam Boom
Bim, Bam, and Boom were three clowns in a show that featured a different fairy tale each week in this children's show from Vancouver. Bim and Bam were puppets, manipulated by Kitty Dutcher and with the voices of Rosemary Malkin and Sam Payne. Boom was a real clown, played by John Allen.
Books Alive
A discussion program with moderator Arthur Phelps, produced by Cliff Solway.
Burns Chuckwagon from the Stampede Corral
This musical variety show from Vancouver had a western theme, and provided an outlet for talent from Canada's west coast. Regulars included singers Lorraine McAllister, Pat Kirkpatrick, and Don Francks, comic Barney Potts, guitarist Arnie Nelson, and Mike Ferbey, Mark Wald, and Jack Jensen, who comprised the instrumental group, The Rhythm Pals. The show ...
Business of Books, The
The Business of Books was series of six half-hour programs, produced by Cliff Solway, that used drama, music, and satire to outline the business of literature and publishing, particularly in Canada.
Cabaret
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 cere ...
Cabbages and Kings
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.
Call For Music
Call For Music was a half-hour musical variety show from Vancouver. It ran every other week, alternating with Concert Hour.
Canadian Farmer, The
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, ...
Candid Eye
Candid Eye was a National Film Board series on the CBC network which caught unrehearsed glimpses of life, from a revealing story of faith and hope filmed at St. Joseph's Oratory, Montreal, to on-the-spot film of Toronto police arriving at the scene of a murder. The intention of the series was simply to show an unrehearsed story from life and let the ...
Cannonball Featured
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. American actors Paul Birch and William Campbell played the lead roles of Mike Malone and Jerry Austin and Canadian talent played the supporting roles. The thirty-nine episodes were also syndicated in the U ...
Carica-Tours
On this weekly half-hour children's show from Montreal, artist Jack Derr offered illustrated story-tours of different countries.
Cartoon Carnival
This early children's program was filmed at the CBHT studios on College St in Halifax. Children were invited to view cartoons in the studio setting.
Cartoon Party
Cartoon Party was a program of animated cartoons, introduced by Malcolm the Dog or Leon the Lion.
Cartoon Storybook
Each week, Ross Snetsinger and his hand puppet, Foster, introduced European films to their audience of children.
CBC Theatre
The CBC English language service featured a regular ninety-minute program of television drama (later changed to 60 minutes) on Sunday or Tuesday nights.
On occasions when Ford sponsored the play, the program was titled Ford Television Theatre. When General Motors sponsored between 1954-1956, the show was titled General Motors Theatre. When General M ...
Chez Hélène
Chez Hélène was a children's television series produced by and broadcast on CBC Television. The 15-minute weekday program was broadcast on the English television network to provide viewers with exposure to the French language.
The program was produced at CBC's Montreal studios. It began its 14-season run on 26 October 1959, with the final program air ...
Chez Nous
In autumn 1957, the CBC announced the premiere of a children's show called Chez Jacques, which was to run every other week, alternating with the Golden Age Players. Quebec singer Jacques Labrecque, who had made fourteen records of folk music for Folkways would welcome young viewers and guests into his fieldstone farmhouse for a half-hour of music an ...