JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

This installment of my "Retro T.O." column for The Grid was originally published on April 10, 2012. Cartoon by Patrick Corrigan, Toronto Star , December 7, 1990. It was an evening that should have been joyous for Canadian television. But as the Gemini Awards ceremony ended on December 4, 1990, the audience learned of an ominous announcement on that night’s edition of The National . The hosts of Monitor —the Gemini-nominated investigative-news series that aired on Toronto’s CBC affiliate, CBLT—stood arm-in-arm as they watched a story indicating that CBC would slash $110 million from its budget by closing 10 regional TV stations and cutting 1,200 employees. It was believed that Monitor was among the shows that would get the axe, an event for which co-host Jeffrey Kofman seemed prepared. “Toronto is already well served by the media,” he told the Star . “I’ve had five great years. I’ll survive.” The punctured mood was summed up by Peter Mansbridge, who found it difficult to...

Photo taken on Gordon Street, Toronto, December 3, 2009. 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. This is the final installment to be reprinted, one appropriate for today as it was originally posted on April 1, 2012.  That date is key, for the following is an April Fools joke, one I learned several lessons from. Prepare yourself for another lengthy preamble.

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...

It's been awhile since we looked in on the Warehouse's large supply of 1970s CBC advertisements. Today's selection highlights the network's commitment to all forms of sporting activity, from hockey to...well...we assume the model in the middle represents swimsuit competitions. The Montreal Expos don't appear to have been on the Mothership's radar at this point. As for the Montreal Canadiens, 1970/71 saw the arrival of goalie Ken Dryden near the end of the season. Dryden won all six regular games he appeared in and led the Habs, who had missed the playoffs the previous season, to a Stanley Cup victory over the Chicago Black Hawks. The goalie in the ad could have stood in for Rogie Vachon or Phil Myre , neither of whom saw any playoff action due to Dryden's Conn Smythe Trophy -winning play. Source: Macleans , January 1971 

Forty years ago today, the world shrank a little more. Our World was the first TV program to be broadcast live around the world via satellite. 19 countries were slated to contribute, but five countries (USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Germany) pulled, allegedly to protest the recent Six-Day War in Israel. The BBC spent nearly a year preparing the broadcast, which was seen by over 400 million people in 31 countries. The most-repeated clip from the show is the UK's contribution, where the Beatles debuted a new song that captured one of the main themes of the summer of '67. See if you can spot some of the other notable rock stars in the audience. (Apologies for the picture quality - this is the fullest, non-colourized clip I was able to find). CBC carried a "pre-game" show, featuring remarks from Marshall McLuhan, which you can watch over at the CBC Archives . This clip also features Canada's contributions to the full broadcast: ranching...

Colour programming debuted on CBC in September 1966 with a documentary on the Calgary Stampede on Telescope ( video clip ). Slowly, colour worked its way across the schedule, which brings us to today's ad. A description of The Paper People from a 1991 article on author Timothy Findley's dramatic work in Theatre Research in Canada : The 1967 broadcast of The Paper People , CBC's first feature-length colour film, caused an immediate controversy. Members of Parliament joined the public and critics in an outcry over the film's high cost and subject matter. The film focuses on an artist who fashions life-size figures out of papier-mâché then burns them in a kind of early performance art, filming the conflagration. The filming of a documentary about the artist's work frames the story. Findley came up with the plot idea after producer Mervyn Rosenzveig said he wanted a script to capture the essence of the sixties. Script editor Doris Gauntlett and director David ...

1970 was a time of change for the evening newscasts on both sides of the border. Stateside, NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report ended after 14 years with the retirement of Chet Huntley. John Chancellor and Frank McGee joined Brinkley for the next year on the renamed NBC Nightly News , then Chancellor went solo. ABC News started the year with Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith behind the anchor desk, until Reynolds was replaced by Harry Reasoner (in between stints on 60 Minutes ) in December. The National officially gained its name in 1969, amid an anchor change (Stanley Burke, who quit as newsreader to raise awareness surrounding the Biafran war in Nigeria, was replaced by Warren Davis) and a switch to colour. Lloyd Robertson replaced Davis in 1970. One question this ad raises: was grey jacket/tan or mustard yellow shirt the official CBC newscaster uniform in 1970? As for the hosts pictured, Robertson remained as anchor through 1976, while George Finstad became one of the orig...

The Summer Olympic Games. It's good for Canada!...It's good for you! With a tag like that, all that seems to be missing is a tie-in to Participaction , which was getting off the ground at the time...but then the ad would have to be red and blue, instead of the classic 70s green spot colour used. How good was it for the Canucks? We went home with five medals (two silver, three bronze), putting us on par with the Netherlands and North Korea. The Soviet Union led the gold count with 50, followed by the US (33), East Germany (20), host West Germany (13) and Japan (13). Interesting to note which cities were among the finalists for these games: Montreal (who landed the next Summer Olympics), Madrid and Detroit. The Prelinger Collection contains a 1965 film promoting Motown as an Olympic site . Keep in mind that Detroit was only two years away from the '67 Riots when this was filmed. Viewers and listeners would receive more than tales of the thrill of victory and agony o...

The oldest CBC ad I've found in my mound of mags, touting the network's comedy/variety lineup for 65-66. The jovial man pictured is Larry Mann, a mainstay of CBC television programming of the era (including the show he's a booster for, Wayne and Shuster ). Among Mann's credits: the voice of Yukon Cornelius in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer . Speaking of Rudolph , was anyone else spooked as a kid by the Rankin Bass logo that appeared at the end? If you're confused, this clip will jostle your memory. It's a simple ad, but it's not hard to see why he's laughing at the lineup. Read the fine print and you'll encounter many fondly remember series, including the debut seasons of Get Smart! and I Dream of Jeannie and the end of the line for The Dick Van Dyke Show . As for those shows that might not be familiar: Flashback (1962-68): CBC copies itself with a variant on Front Page Challenge . The panel had to guess the person or event, followe...

A double-page spread this time out, featuring CBC's fall lineup for '71. Groovy art rules the day yet again. We'll let you decide how this schedule lives up to its tagline. Note that few shows were carried by all stations - back in those days, there were more independent stations that carried some CBC programming. In southwestern Ontario, this would have included CKLW in Windsor (bought in full by CBC in 1975, call letters changed to CBET ) and CFPL in London (later part of the Baton system, then a "New" station, now an "A-Channel"). It should be noted that due to its proximity to the border and agreements with Detroit stations, CKLW/CBET did not air the American portions of the network lineup, usually replacing them with local programming, British imports or syndicated reruns - while growing up, the latter meant The Mary Tyler Moore Show , The Dick Van Dyke Show , House Calls and Hawaii Five-O . Most of the American imports were comedies, one ...

Variety. A concept you don't hear touted much as a format anymore. Hearing the term makes me think of variety shows, the kind that died off on TV in the 1970s - renting episodes of The Brady Bunch Hour and Pink Lady and Jeff at local video emporiums easily explained why. If this ad were produced today, the headline would be "Entertainment lives...", "Culture lives...", etc. Variety seems reserved for light rock or preprogrammed radio that tout their "better music variety", even if that means playing the same 63 songs on repeat instead of 60. The artwork and colour scheme scream early 70s, down to the unidentified musicians in the bottom right corner, in vests, t-shirts, crazy facial hair and peace symbol. Several of the shows listed were mentioned in our previous trip back to '72 on CBC Radio . A few notes about the others: Based on the info in the ad, Family Favorites (note Canadian spelling not in use!) sounds as if it may have been t...

The first of several vintage CBC radio and television ads found in the Warehouse's back room... Having survived changes in the radio market from the onslaught of television, CBC Radio was in the midst of its so-called "radio revolution" in 1972, This entailed moves such as dumping short shows for longer ones and interviewing guests by phone instead of in-studio. Ratings rose. Several of the shows featured in this ad are still on the air today. Those are: Ideas (launched in 1965), The World at 6 , Symphony Hall (1962), As It Happens (1968) and Cross Country Check-Up (1965). Other notes about those pictured: Sunday NHL Hockey : The radio version of Hockey Night in Canada , moved over to Sundays once the Saturday telecast took hold. The Entertainers : a long-running variety program, originally hosted by "Our Pet" Juliette in 1972. Juliette (Sysak) was a singer who gained famed from her TV show, which aired after Hockey Night in Canada in the 50s a...

While on a stroll downtown a few months ago, I picked up a cheap bound volume of Maclean's magazine, covering the first half of 1979. You'll see plenty of material from this tome when the federal election finally drops, as these issues cover the campaign that led to Joe Clark's minority government. (Yeah, I know the 1980 election is a closer parallel to one we're about to have, but I work with what I have!) Until then, and until the sun engulfs the earth, I'll dig into these magazines to highlight the ads, as they tell us as much about the time as the articles do. Full-size versions of these ads will also appear on my Flickr site. Let's begin with a CBC Radio teaser from the January 29, 1979 issue: If only Ed Grimley was pictured with the singing rats. That would have been comedy gold. Short would have been in his second season onstage with Second City when the show aired. We're sad to report that the all-rodent musical craze this show spaw...