One of the shining stars of Canadian television in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s was Dinah Christie. The This Hour Has Seven Days and Party Game performer died Friday, April 10 at 85.
The London-born actress-singer came to Toronto with her actor parents at the age of two. In the “born out of a trunk” tradition, she had odd jobs as a child at what was then the brand new Stratford Festival; was a folk singer in her teens; and started performing in stage reviews with Tom Kneebone, a cherished collaborator for decades, in the mid-’60s.
Her national television break came in 1964 with the ground-breaking news magazine This Hour Has Seven Days (1964-66). Think 60 Minutes mashed together with The Daily Show, pre-dating both. Inspired by a similar series airing in The U.K., Seven Days was bracing, uncompromising television. Politicians and movie stars were ambushed. Hosts Patrick Watson and Laurier LaPierre worked the desk and while they represented Canada’s two solitudes they were united in their quest to serve truth straight up and make those in power across Canada squirm.
Christie was, in her own words, the “token blond” on the show. She sang songs and set up segments. At 22 she was hired from among 346 applicants when she strummed her own tune at the audition on Watson’s guitar. Today she would have been showcased as a comedy correspondent.
“It was so special, because it bit at the heels,” Christie told me years later at a salute to the series I moderated at the Canadian International Television Festival in Toronto in 2014. There was much secrecy in preparing each episode, she said. She was told by Watson and others that “the Kremlin” (CBC executives? Standards and practices?) watched every rehearsal. She would be given fake lyrics to sing at rehearsal about “ice cream and balloons” and then hard-hitting lyrics (penned by CBC News legend Mavor Moore) would be swapped in at show time.
On one memorable episode, the series introduced two grand wizards of the KKK from Georgia. Then they threw them together opposite a Black activist. Christie recalls the segment was taped earlier because nobody knew how it would go down. By the end of the 10-minute exchange, you could barely see anybody due to all the cigarette smoke from the interviewer.
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I was too young to remember Seven Days, which was shut down by nervous CBC suits after the series became a cause celeb in the Canadian House of Commons. An excuse was found to silence LaPierre; how dare a newsman betray a show of emotion. Today that would earn him the 9 pm slot on CNN.
I was, however, old enough to watch her next series, which could not have been more unlike Seven Days -– a local afternoon romp out of Hamilton’s CHCH called Party Game. In Grade 8 when it premiered, I used to race home after school to watch what seemed like the best adult party ever. Each week, a different away team would assemble; most of them had little chance against the Home Team, charades masters “Captain” Jack Duffy, Billy Van and Christie.
The series was produced by Riff Markowitz, who also doubled off-screen as announcer “Gardiner Westbound.” Markowitz, who died last September at 87, was the man behind another fabled ‘CH gem, The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.
The series had a low-cost Canadian charm. The cheesy rec room set was a sea of orange shag carpeting, two couches and some wall art literally borrowed from people’s homes according to reports in Greg Oliver’s book, Who’s the Man? Billy Van! Viewers could win cheap-ass prizes (including watering cans!) for sending in charade suggestions.
What it was, however, was our Tonight Show on a Canadian dime. Canadian actors, singers, and other personalities had a place on TV where they could let down their hair and be themselves. For ten years, we had an affordable star system. Christie kept things colourful in her free spirited hippie/gypsy attire.
One week in 1973 the guest team were three members of “The Jest Society” who would soon after morph into The Royal Canadian Air Farce — Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson and Luba Goy. Occasionally, American TV stars such as Laugh-In’s Arte Johnson would work a series appearance into a visit to Toronto. William Shatner spent time on the Party Game couch in lean times between American gigs. Many other Canadian actors and comedians took part, with Quebec actress Nicole Morin a standout in hot pants and Macrame. It was the swinging ‘70s.
At that same television festival, as charming and elegant as ever, Christie spoke with warmth and humour about her deceased friends and colleagues Duffy and Van, as well as unflappable host Bill Walker.
Shooting five episodes a day, the series would break for lunch after three shows. A cocktail or two may have been consumed, Christie admitted, but she also said nobody got too over-served. There still was that drive back to Toronto along the Gardner Eastbound.
With the timing of the show coming down to how quickly charades were solved, sometimes there would be two or three minutes left over. That’s when Christie would grab a guitar and vamp with a song from her spot on the couch.
After a decade of Party Game, Christie was cast as one of the stars on a sitcom set in a grocery store called Check It Out! Airing on CTV in Canada and the USA Network in the States, the series starred Don Adams from Get Smart. Originally shot before a studio audience, it soon became apparent that the American headliner could hardly remember any lines. Christie told me she eventually gave up on trying to remind him of her name. The series switched to a one camera approach for a second and third season. Other Canadians who got some face time were Tonya Williams, Kathy Laskey and Gordon Clapp. Ben Gordon and Frank Peppiatt were the producers.
While her memory faded in her final years due to dementia, Christie was sharp as a tack when I last spoke with her a few months after the 2014 TV Festival. She had lived for years on a farm up near Mount Forest, Ont. When I called, she was just waving goodbye to some folks who were picking up a 45-foot cutter her husband, photographer Bob Warren, never finished restoring. Sadly, he had passed away ten months earlier after dealing with Parkinson’s.
Christie took his death with her usual strength and optimism. “I’m psychic, and he’s here all the time,” she said. “So I’m delighted.”
She was very quick, sweet and smart in conversation, peppering her comments with “Honey.” I asked her if This Hour Has Seven Days should be on TV today. While she answered in 2014, her comments make even more sense than ever in this “elbows up” era.
“It should come back,” she immediately agreed. “This country deserves it now man. Now we are in touch with each other in this day and age. Now is the time to be as creative and clever and funny and serious as those boys [Watson and LaPierre] were.”
And as that girl Dinah Christie always was. Condolences to her family and friends.
