JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

From November 2011 through July 2012 I wrote the "Past Pieces of Toronto" column for OpenFile, which explored elements of the city which no longer exist. The following was originally posted on April 15, 2012. Advertisement, the Globe and Mail , January 22, 1948. The man probably struck the staff of Fran’s on St. Clair Avenue as eccentric. Most nights, he dropped into the 24-hour diner around 2 a.m., bundled up in a heavy coat regardless of weather, gloves covering his hands. Whether he spoke through his scarf or not, the order was the same every time: a plate of scrambled eggs. Given his nocturnal habits and its close proximity to his apartment, pianist Glenn Gould became a Fran’s fixture . Catering to the habits of night owls like Gould was one reason the original location of Fran’s stayed in business for 61 years. As longtime customer Shirley Olejko told the Star when the restaurant closed in 2001,”when you were partying, after a long night you came here ...

Before reading this post, check out the related installment of Historicist . Sydney Newman, 1963. BBC Archive Some weeks I scramble to come up with enough material to fill out a topic I've chosen for Historicist, others I compile enough to write a book. The Sydney Newman post falls into the latter category, as I left a lot on the cutting room floor. *** One person who wasn't a fan of Newman's powers as CBC's supervising producer of drama during the mid-1950s was Toronto Star television columnist Gordon Sinclair , who, in a January 13, 1955 column, attacked Newman for not producing enough Canadian-written dramas. "Could it be that supervising producer Sydney Newman has too much authority and too little Canadianism? Is this man, nice guy as he is, a Caesar who can accept or reject without argument?” Sinclair noted that Newman had originally been hired by CBC to produce remote broadcasts and wasn't sure how he qualified for his current position. “He i...