A Glance in the Rearview Mirror

By Mike Gange

Here’s Looking at Us: Celebrating Fifty Years of CBC-TV

by Stephen Cole

McClelland & Stewart, $49.99, 272 pages

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a treasured Canadian national resource, but the first thing Canadians got to see at the very beginning of network programming was a blunder. A technician inadvertently turned a slide of the CBC logo upside down, and that is how Canadians met the new network on September 8^th, 1952. Fortunately, the "Corp" has had many more distinguished moments than fiascos in its 50 year history. Here’s Looking at Us: Celebrating Fifty Years of CBC-TV by Toronto writer Stephen Cole is a fond retrospective of some of the best of five decades of Canadian television programming. Humourous anecdotes, personal remembrances and touching nostalgia are blended to tell how and where the network succeeded at reaching Canadians.

In the 1950's, TV sets cost $429 and the average working man earned an annual salary of $3,500. Still, within five years of CBC beginning its programming in 1952, nearly 3million sets had been sold to Canadians who were enraptured by the new medium. Everything was live, so gaffes in programming had to be overcome at the moment. On only the third night of CBC broadcasting, a studio camera man fainted from nervousness; the live show had to go on as his unprepared understudy took over. At that time, variety shows were king and the early performers became household names, like the three Tommys -- Hunter, Common, and Ambrose along with those like Robert Goulet, Juliette, Don Harron, Gordie Tapp and Sarah Vaughn. What those featured performers all had in common, and what endeared them to their audiences, says Mr. Cole, was how they were could connect to ordinary working folks.

By the 1960's CBC TV executives and performers had gained so much experience and confidence that many top-rated American network shows were influenced by Canadians. Comedians Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, for example, appeared a record 67 times on The Ed Sullivan Show while still hosting their own live show in Canada on a regular basis. Meanwhile, investigative Canadian reporters not only told but showed the Vietnam war in CBC newscasts. Back at home, Don Messer’s Jubilee regularly recorded a 98 ratings share, meaning that as many people watched Don Messer as watched the moon landing. While the popularity of variety shows continued in the 1960's, Canadian-made drama began to garner attention too, with programs like Wojeck, starring John Vernon, and Quentin Durgens, MP, starring Gordon Pinsent.

A whole generation of Canadian children watched as the Friendly Giant’s hand offered "one little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." Accompanied by Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe, the Friendly Giant was a soft spoken father figure for 26 years, reports Mr. Cole.

In the 1970's, the CBC unveiled the "C" logo, often irreverently called the exploding pizza. But the logo became a timely symbol for the surge of nationalism and multiculturalism sweeping the country. Canadians watched home grown dramas like King of Kensington, starring Al Waxman, and Beachcombers starring Bruno Gerussi. Long running Take 30, on the air from 1963 to 1977, launched future Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, who hosted the program for a decade. Children began what became nearly 30 years of enjoyment watching Ernie Coombs as Mr. Dressup, who was joined by his puppet pals Casey and Finnegan, exploring what could be universally Canadian stories.

Perhaps among CBC’s finest hours of broadcasting in the 1970's were its sports coverage. Two of every three Canadians were glued to their sets for the hockey series of 1972 between the Russians and Canadians. Mr. Cole’s interview with Hockey Night in Canada executive producer Ralph Mellanby about that period of time is one of the highlights of the book. Another comes from sixteen years later, when Brian Williams, explains how he had to break the bad news to Canadians: Ben Johnson had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Through out this story of television excellence, Mr. Cole lets many of the television personalities, both performers and executives, tell their side of the story. He has scoured the CBC archives for hundreds of photos that enhance these well written stories. As a result, the reader gets a much better appreciation for the hard work, dedication and professionalism that goes into every CBC broadcast, whether entertainment or journalism. Here’s Looking at Us: Celebrating Fifty Years of CBC-TV is a delightful look at one of the country’s greatest resources, something we ought not to sell off or break up through privatization.

Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.