The Canadian TV Thread

[elly63]

Never cared for scifi but found this show kinda cool. The plots were interesting to me and it was neat how they were able to throw the show together after budget cuts and the failure to enact the original desired procedures for the special effects.

A short video hosted by Keir Dullea and Douglas Trumbull, selling potential TV broadcasters on a new series called "Starlost"...

[esquire]

Has anyone mentioned Wayne and Shuster yet?



I am just old enough to remember the tail end of their decades-long run in the late 80s, but I recall there were a few of us in my elementary school class that appreciated their humour

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by esquire

Has anyone mentioned Wayne and Shuster yet?



I am just old enough to remember the tail end of their decades-long run in the late 80s, but I recall there were a few of us in my elementary school class that appreciated their humour

"I told him, I told him 'Julie, don't go!'. But no, he wouldn't listen!"

[elly63]

Originally Posted by esquire

Has anyone mentioned Wayne and Shuster yet?

I am just old enough to remember the tail end of their decades-long run in the late 80s, but I recall there were a few of us in my elementary school class that appreciated their humour

By that time they were past their best before date but back in the day they were hot. They held the record for number of appearances on the Ed Sullivan show which was THE measurement of popularity. One appearance on that show and your salary doubled and you became a star, (if you weren't already). Interesting interview with Ed Sullivan regarding their signing the contract to appear on his show.

Sullivan "Stay in Canada and don't be contaminated"

[elly63]

How Wayne & Shuster took New York
Macleans July 19 1958

Less than three months earlier, as all Canada knew, Sullivan had screened a film of one of the comedians' stylish TV spoofs and had promptly signed them to twenty-six appearances on his show in the ensuing fifty-two weeks. “Mark my words,” he told them, “in six months you boys will be the hottest property on American TV.” By the time Sullivan entrusted his entire Sunday night hour to Wayne and Shuster, the prediction no longer seemed far-fetched.

[Acajack]

I don't want to contaminate this thread with politics, but...

Let's just say that the people who are working on Quebec's legendary end-of-year comedy review program, Le Bye Bye (watched in some way by two thirds to three quarters of the population) are probably popping open bottles of champagne this morning!

Not that they are ever lacking in raw material to poke fun at, but this is almost like Christmas three months early for them!

(Though I guess now the pressure is on them to do "it" justice.)

[elly63]

Originally Posted by elly63

Beachcombers TV program Molly (Rae Brown), Nick (Bruno Gerussi), Jesse (Pat John), Hughie (Bob Park), Margaret (Nancy Chapple later Juliet Randall)

It's funny how one character can change the dimension of a show. Like my earlier example from Dan for Mayor, I didn't find Molly on the Beachcombers to be a particularly likeable or sympathetic character. But as I think about it, she was kind of the anchor (pardon the expression) and the show kinda sucked after she, Hughie and Margaret left.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

"I told him, I told him 'Julie, don't go!'. But no, he wouldn't listen!"

On Wayne and Shuster guest hosting The Ed Sullivan Show:

"We’ve got a wonderful gag for the (Ed Sullivan show) audience introductions.” Wayne said after a minute. He explained: instead of introducing the usual celebrities in the audience they’d introduce a man named Julius Melnik, who'd been sitting in the audience every night for ten years hoping to get on camera. He'd never been newsworthy enough before, but now he was, precisely because he’d been waiting for ten years.

"So the camera pans down." Wayne chortled, "only he’s not there. Just an empty seat. But his wife’s there. So we ask, where is he? So his wife says he just had to go outside for a minute. So we say, ‘After ten years he’s not here when we’re finally going to introduce him'?’

So his wife says, ‘I told him. I said, Julie, don’t go!’”

He paused, and then laughed to show he understood the impossibility of the gag: “We’d have to fly Sylvia (Lennick) down just for that one line.”

Marlo Lewis (Ed Sullivan Show producer) looked up. “I like it. It’s funny. Do it.”

[elly63]

Originally Posted by elly63

The episode I am posting (Beat The Clock) is special because the guest star is the greatest Canadian talent of all time and someone many today have not heard of... Gisele MacKenzie.

No one has come close to the breadth of her talent. You've heard of a triple threat (sing, dance, act), she was a quintuple threat (sing (she had perfect pitch), dance, act, comedy and play concert level piano and violin)

A little off topic...One of the most charming and talented stars to come out of television was Miss Gisele MacKenzie.

In her homeland of Canada, Gisele was named Canada's First Lady of Song, before crossing the border to star on Club 15 and Mario Lanza's Coke Time. Once 'discovered' by comedy legend Jack Benny, Gisele became a Saturday night fixture on NBC-TV for 5 years by starring on Your Hit Parade and The Gisele MacKenzie Show.

While starring on her own program, Ralph Edwards surprised Gisele on Oct. 23, 1957, on his This Is Your Life live television show. Gisele's family and friends, along with Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen and Bob Crosby participate in presenting Gisele's story. Look closely at the 25:14 spot where Gisele bites down on one of the charms on the bracelet that Ralph presented to her...to test the quality of the item.

Introducing Man'selle Gisele

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Miyoshi Umeki knew how to spend her first Saturday night after winning an Academy Award! She joined Gisele MacKenzie as a guest on NBC-TV's Gisele MacKenzie Show.

Miyoshi was making a return appearance on Gisele's show, and the two repeated a fast paced duet of "Buttons & Bows" in English & Japanese, that left MS Umeki almost out of breath after singing all those Japanese lyrics!

After their duet, Miyoshi presented Gisele with TV Radio Mirror's Best New Artist on Television Award, which was a forerunner to The People Choice Awards, then Gisele is joined by her four boy dancers, The Curfew Kids, for Shall We Dance from The King and I. This was live television at its best, and they got no better than the gifted Gisele MacKenzie!

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TV royalty Perry Como introducing Gisele.

In 1960 Gisele MacKenzie was promoting her new concert album, Gisele MacKenzie in Person at the Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria, on Perry Como's show.

Here Perry introduces Miss MacKenzie by singing a few bars of the theme from her 1958 NBC-TV series, and what follows is a breath-taking performance of a lovely folk song!

With perfect pitch this classically trained, dark-eyed Canadian beauty could handle any type of muisc, along with comedy...and was among the most popular, talented and gifted of all the wonderful singers that filled our lives with fine music in the 1950's and 1960's.

• Video Link