With the recent passing of Dinah Christie at 83 we go back into the vault for my 2014 conversation with the beloved Canadian entertainer.
Always a welcome presence on television in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, Christie was a touchstone for many boomers. I used to rush home from school to see the CHCH charades series Party Game, where Christie, along with impish comedian Billy Van and “Captain” Jack Duffy, formed the almost unbeatable home team.
As we discuss in this interview, the weekday favourite was kind of Canada’s low budget Tonight Show. It allowed viewers to see homegrown singers, actors and other celebrities as themselves in a relaxed and casual setting.
Christie’s more serious side shone a decade earlier when she was the self-admitted “token blond” on the landmark (but short-lived) Canadian newsmagazine This Hour Has Seven Days (1964-66). At its peak the Sunday night sensation drew three million Canadian viewers each episode. Hosts Patrick Watson and Laurier LaPierre (pictured above with Christie) worked the desk. While they represented Canada’s two solitude’s they were united in their quest: serve the truth straight up and make Canadian power brokers squirm.
One episode broadcast during a Canadian federal election campaign featured a shot of an empty chair. Would any of the leaders have the guts to come on Seven Days and take the heat?
As I discuss with Christie in this 2014 telephone interview one particularly contentious episode featured two grand wizards of the KKK from Georgia who were confronted with a Black activist. “It was billed as their “first public encounter with a Nego.” By the end of the 10-minute exchange, you could barely see anybody due to all the cigarette smoke from unflappable interviewer Robert Hoyt.
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Months after this episode aired, Seven Days was pulled off the air when CBC officials (referred to as “the Kremlin”) by Christie) pounced on a show of emotion by LaPierre and used that as an excuse to cancel the series. The idea that a CBC News host would betray a hint of partisanship was unthinkable. Today LaPierre would be given the 8-11 slot on CNN or Fox News.
Others at CBC threatened to strike unless the duo were re-instated and the dismissals were debated in Parliament. Prime Minister Lester Pearson intervened, and the matter was reconsidered. The CBC brass, however, did not back down. The show never came back.
Once again, Canadians had, like the Avro Arrow, built something that flew faster and soared higher than the Americans. Once again, it was killed just as it was gaining momentum. This Hour Has Seven Days should still be on the air.
To hear her on those experiences as well as her three seasons opposite Don Adams on the less acclaimed grocery store set sitcom Check it Out!, click on the white arrow in the blue circle, above.
