CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
THE NAKED MIND
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 9 Sep-7 Oct 1974
This series of four, half-hour programs was derived from a single one hour
show, also called The Naked Mind, broadcast in May 1973. To examine emotional
disturbances, the show combined extracts from plays that illustrated the
problem with commentary by four guest panelists and a psychologist or
sociologist. The production employed a number of Canada's most accomplished
players from the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, the Neptune Theatre, the New
Brunswick Players, and the Charlottetown Festival to act the scenes. They
included William Hutt, Frances Hyland, Eric House, Ted Follows, Nuala
Fitzgerald, Bill Hosie, Amanda Hancox, Gracie Finley, William Needles, and
Kenneth Pogue, who performed passages from such plays as My Fair Lady, The
Devil's Disciple, Saint Joan, Harvey, The Four Poster, Johnny Belinda, and Anne
of Green Gables.
Professionals who acted as onscreen consultants included Margery King of the
Canadian Council on Children and Youth in Toronto, Wally Mealeia of Dalhousie
University, and the Reverend Andrew Hogan, a sociologist and Member of
Parliament. For each program, three panelists were chosen from among Donald
Cameron and Judy LaMarsh, both writers and broadcasters; actors Barbara
Hamilton, William Hutt, and Gale Garnett; producer Jack McAndrew; and the
artistic directors of the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, Jean Gascon and Paxton
Whitehead, respectively. They joined humorist Henry Morgan, who appeared on
all four broadcasts. Live audiences attended the tapings, two of which
occurred in Toronto and two in Halifax. Lorraine Thomson hosted The Naked
Mind, and Garth Price produced.
See News.
Sun 9;00-10:00 p.m., 3 Mar-28 Apr 1974
Sun 7:00-8:00 p.m., 4 Jan-22 Feb 1976 (R)
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 6 Jun-20 Jun 1982 (R)
Sun 8:00-9:00 p.m., 27 Jun-25 Jul 1982 (R)
The CBC allocated two million dollars and took two years to produce its eight
part adaptation of Pierre Berton's two volume history of the construction of
the Canadian Pacific Railway (The National Dream; The Last Spike. Toronto:
McClelland and Stewart, 1970; 197l). Berton had previously published
collections of journalism and interviews, stories, books of contemporary
non-fiction, and historical works, such as Klondike, but these two bestsellers
both introduced him to audiences who were more accustomed to seeing him on
Front Page Challenge or hearing him on the radio as a chronicler of the
nation's past and sealed his reputation as Canada's Popular Historian Laureate.
(The television series was announced not long after the publication of The Last
Spike; at that same time, The National Dream had been on the bestseller list
for over eighty weeks.) Moreover, through his tireless efforts to promote the
books, the author was tightly tied to his projects, and he continued his
connection to the story of the CPR as onscreen narrator of the television
films.
The television production wove drama and documentary together. It combined
reconstructions of the events of the mid-nineteenth century with footage of
Berton at the actual locations in the present day and archival still
photographs, cartoons, and drawings. Berton originally embarked on the
television series with Lister Sinclair as executive producer, and Barry Morse
announced to direct the dramatic sequences. The CBC also contracted Timothy
Findlay to write the reconstructions and William Whitehead to write commentary.
The network originally estimated that two episodes would suffice, but Berton
balked. He and Sinclair blocked out the sequence of events, and reckoned that
the epic saga would take eight, one-hour episodes to be told in adequate detail
and colour.
In its development of major projects, the CBC has devoted itself most
tenaciouly to period productions, such as The Whiteoaks Of Jalna and Empire,
Inc. Conversely, such undertakings demand considerable resources in research,
writing, and production. The National Dream compounded those demands because
of the dual nature of the production as both drama and documentary, and because
of the scope of the subject, which called for a large cast of characters and
required the crew to travel to more than twenty locations across the country.
Sponsored by Royal Trust, the initial run of the series attracted the biggest
ratings for any dramatic program in CBC history to that date, an estimated
audience of over three million, and a revised version of the series was sold to
the BBC. A Canadian history produced essentially for a Canadian audiences, The
National Dream met a cultural need and proved a success. Nevertheless, it also
demonstrated the typical CBC ambivalence over entertainment and education.
Although the story of the politics and machinations behind the construction of
the CPR in themselves comprised a drama of value, the series was also made with
subsequent classroom use in mind.
In the first episode, The Great Lone Land, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
introduced the promise of a railway to the Pacific through the l87l Speech from
the Throne, and the second episode took the story of the CPR up to l873.
Titled The Pacific Scandal, it centred on charges that the Conservatives had
compromised the government for political advantage in its alliance with
financier Sir Hugh Allan. The drama climaxed with Macdonald's defence in the
House of Commons, but ended with his resignation and the assumption of power by
Liberal Alexander Mackenzie. The Horrid B.C. Business, the third episode,
traced the staggering progress of the railway, with conflicts between B.C. and
the Canadian government and among the surveyors planning the route, through the
years of the Mackenzie government. Returned to power in l878, Macdonald
continued to argue the railway in the House, and in The Great Debate, episode
four, pushed the required legislation through Parliament. The Railway General,
the fifth segment, concentrated on the rapid progress of construction on the
prairies in l882 and l883 and the development of western Canada under the
influence of the CPR's general manager, William Cornelius Van Horne. In the
sixth episode, The Sea Of Mountains, however, the construction crews' progress
was slowed by the Rockies. The drama concentrated on contractor Andrew
Onderdonk, who imported thousands of workers from China to make a path through
the mountains, and the engineer Major A. B. Rogers, who located the pass
through the Selkirks that now bears his name. In the latter days of
contruction in the mountains and north of Lake Superior, outlined in episode
seven, The Desperate Days, Macdonald was also faced with bloody rebellion by
the farmers, natives and Metis in the west. Over this segment and the last,
titled The Last Spike, the CPR faced labour unrest and financial ruin until it
was saved by a government loan and the railway completed in l885.
The production assembled an admirable collection of Canada's male character
actors to play the politicians, engineers, financiers, and workers responsible
for the railway. The two principals were William Hutt as John A. Macdonald and
John Colicos as Van Horne. Others included Gillie Fenwick as Alexander
Mackenzie; Joseph Shaw, Chris Wiggins, and Gerard Parkes as, respectively,
George Stephen, Donald Smith, and Edward Blake, the members of the financial
syndicate behind the C.P.R.; Tony Van Bridge as chief surveyor Sandford
Fleming; James B. Douglas as Major A. B. Rogers; Robin Gammell as Walter
Moberly; Claude Prefontaine as Georges-Etienne Cartier; Sandy Webster as Marcus
Smith; Richard Whelan as George McMullen; Kenneth Pogue as James Hill; Paxton
Whitehead as Lord Dufferin; Jonathan Welsh as Albert Rogers; Ted Follows as
Charles Tupper; David Schurrman as J. H. E. Secretan; Michael J. Reynolds as
Andrew Onderdonk; John Horton as Lucius Seth Huntington; and Henry Stamper as
Hugh Allan. The only main female role was Agnes Macdonald, played by Pat
Galloway. Some of the supporting players included Lloyd Berry as Miller;
Vernon Chapman as Richard Cartwright; George Chow as Chen; Joe Crowfoot as the
native chief Crowfoot; Neil Dainard as Robert Rylatt; Jim Henshaw as Wilcox;
Robert Joy as Carter; Jean Marie Lemieux as Father Lacombe; Don McManus as
General Lafayette Rosser; Peter Mews as John Henry Pope; Diana Barrington as
Lady Dufferin; Susan Bird as Mary Macdonald; and Tim Crighton as William
Topley.
James Murray produced the series and directed the documentary sequences, which
were written by William Whitehead. Eric Till directed the dramatic
reconstructions, written by Timothy Findlay. A principal credit for such a
lush and complex period production went to art director Richard Lambert. The
principal photography was by Harry Makin, with addition shooting by Vic Sarin,
Rudolph Kovanic, Stan Clinton, Wallace Donaldson, Norman Allin, and Edmond
Long, and the film was edited by Arla Saare and Don Haig. Louis Applebaum
composed and conducted the musical score.
See News.
Thu 7:30-7:45 p.m.,
Wed 7:30-7:45 p.m., 21 Sep 1960-8 Jun 1966
Wed 7:45-8:00 p.m., 12 Oct 1966-21 Jun 1967
Wed 9:00-9:15 p.m., 25 Oct 1967-24 Apr 1968
Sat 6:30-6:45 p.m., 5 Oct 1968-31 May 1969
Sun 11:10-11:15 p.m., 12 Oct 1969-31 May 1970
Sun 11:15-11:20 p.m., 11 Oct 1970-To Date
The Nation's Business started in the spring of 1956 as a ten minute, free time
political television broadcast, a service already offered on CBC radio. It ran
every other week, and alternated with The Rhythm Pals. In the autumn, it
expanded to a quarter hour, and alternated with a broadcast of similar format
devoted to the politics of the provinces. The alternating pattern of The
Nation's Business and Provincial Affairs (q.v.) has continued, although the
programs were cut back to slots five to seven minutes in length. In the first
few years, the national broadcasts also alternated between English and French
language addresses.
Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, party leaders, and senior Members of
Parliament used the forum to speak on current issues. Broadcast times were
allocated in agreement with the political parties, in the same proportion as
the radio broadcasts. The programs originated in Ottawa, and were broadcast,
directly wherever possible, by CBC stations and affiliates.
The first producer of the program was Michael Hind-Smith. He was succeeded in
l960 by Lewis Miller. Subsequent producers included Jim Taylor (l964- 66),
Bernard Austric (l966-68), Gordon Cullingham (l969-7l), Del McKenzie (l976-77),
Nancy McLarty (l979-80), and Brian Frappier (l980-date).
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 6 Nov 1960-7 May 1961
Thu 8:00-8:30 p.m., 4 Jan-26 Jul 1962
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 6 Jan-30 Jun 1963
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 5 May-4 Aug 1964
Sun 5:00-5:30 p.m., 3 Jan-28 Mar 1965
Sun 5:00-5:30 p.m., 3 Oct 1965-23 Jan 1966
Mon 7:30-8:00 p.m., 20 Jun-5 Sep 1966
Sun 12:30-1:00 p.m., 2 Oct-18 Dec 1966 (R)
Sun 5:00-5:30 p.m., 8 Jan-16 Apr 1967
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 19 Sep 1968-9 Jan 1969
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 29 May-5 Aug 1969
Wed 7:30-8;00 p.m., 24 Sep 1969-7 Jan 1970
Thu 8:30-9:00 p.m., 15 Jan-10 Sep 1970
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 14 Sep 1970-5 Jul 1971
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 27 Sep 1971-22 May 1972
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 6 Nov 1972-21 May 1973
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 26 Nov 1973-11 Feb 1974
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 1 Apr-20 May 1974
Wed 8:00-8:30 p.m., 9 Oct 1974-29 Jan 1975
Sun 10:30-11:00 a.m., 18 Dec 1974-9 Mar 1975 (R)
Wed 8:00-8:30 p.m., 29 Oct-24 Dec 1975
Sun 2:00-2:30 p.m., 5 Jan-9 Feb 1976 (R)
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 10 May-5 Jul 1976 (R)
Wed 8:00-8:30 p.m., 14 Dec 1977-8 Mar 1978
Fri 5:00-5:30 23 Sep 1977-31 Mar 1978 (R)
Sun 7:30-8:00 p.m., 24 Sep-31 Dec 1978
Tue 4:30-5:00 p.m., 19 Jun-4 Sep 1979 (R)
Wed 8:00-9:00 p.m., 24 Oct 1979-5 Mar 1980
Sun 3:00-4:00 p.m., 6 Apr-27 Jul 1980 (R)
Wed 8:00-9:00 p.m., 8 Oct 1980-1 Apr 1981
Mon 2:00-3:00 p.m., 25 May-7 Sep 1981 (R)
Wed 8:00-9:00 p.m., 14 Oct 1981-1 Apr 1982
Tue 8:00-9:00 p.m., 1 Jun-7 Sep 1982 (R)
Wed 8;00-9:00 p.m., 20 Oct 1982-30- Mar 1983
The hosts for the show included faces familiar to CBC viewers: Patterson Hume
and Donald Ivey, both of the University of Toronto, Donald Crowdis, from the
Nova Scotia Science Museum, and the CBC producer and writer Lister Sinclair.
In the first season, the program was produced by Norman Caton and organized by
David Walker. The next year, James Murray took over the job of producer, and
John Livingston joined the science programming unit in 1962. Of the three
people largely responsible for building The Nature Of Things, none of Sinclair,
Murray, or Livingston had formal training in the sciences, although Livingston
had earned status as an authority on wildlife and conservation. Instead of
academic training, they substituted their own curiosity for that of the viewer,
and tried to aim their programs toward a practical understanding of science and
nature.
One of the programs in a 1965 series, Animals And Man, written by William
Whitehead, John Napier, and John Livingston, won an award for excellence in
science television from the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation. The series, which
discussed the anatomy, physiology, and behaviour of animals in relation to
humans, was repeated in its entirety in the 1969 season. Other series
programming broadcast under the Nature Of Things title included Galapagos, on
the life and work of Charles Darwin and the ecology of the Galapagos Islands,
written by Sinclair and Livingston; Machines And Man, in the 1968 season, with
programs written by Raoul Engel, David Fulton, Roman Bittman, William
Whitehead, and Jack Hutchinson; and The Ages Of Man, from the 1969 season, on
developments in Canadian medical research, written by Michael Hastings, David
Fulton, Bruce Martin, and Lloyd Mayeda, and produced by James Murray and Milo
Chvostek.
Murray was the show's executive producer from 1969 to 1972 and again, starting
in 1979. Nancy Archibald worked in that capacity from 1972 to 1979. Producers
who followed Murray included Milo Chvostek, Roman Bittman, Vincent Tovell,
Nancy Archibald, Heather Cook, Diederik D'Ailly, John Bassett, David Tucker,
Italo Costa, Vishnu Mathur, and Richard Longley.
The most significant change in personnel came in 1980, when the geneticist and
television and radio personality Dr. David Suzuki took over as the show's host.
Suzuki's own popularity immediately gave the show a charge of popularity and
currency that it may have needed. The host's high public profile and interest
in matters of conservation and preservation of life also infused the program,
the title of which was altered to The Nature Of Things, With David Suzuki.
Photo (courtesy of CBC) shows Dr. Ewan Whitaker, Lister
Sinclair.
Return to CBC Series Index
THE NATURE OF THINGS
The Naked Mind
One of the CBC's most successful productions in terms of longevity, audience
acceptance, and international sales, The Nature Of Things has been a mainstay
of the network's science unit since 1960. Underlying the programs is the
interaction of human beings and aspects of different fields of natural and
physical science and the evolution of technology. In the first series, each
program included one main feature and a shorter item on developments in science
news. In addition to domestic productions, The Nature of Things also collected
material from film sources around the world. For the first few years, most of
the programs were restricted to the CBC studios, with interviews, discussions,
and film for illustration. By 1967, however, the unit had been able to expand
into documentary film production.
