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
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”
The issue of Canada’s all-time favourite TV shows has risen again thanks to Canadian History EHx, a podcast from Craig Baird. Mr. Baird, a Canadian history enthusiast living on Treaty 6 land, has over 53,000 followers on Twitter. He set up a playoff format where shows went head-to-head over a number of weeks. There were
This past week, while promoting the TV on Film screenings I am hosting in Hamilton (next one is Wednesday), I made my first visit to the impressive new CHCH TV studios. ‘CH has been a true community hub for nearly 70 years. It first began broadcasting in 1954 and grew to become one of Canada’s
I think I was about 35 before I figured out that Billy Van played all those crazy characters on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. The series, consisting of 130 episodes cranked out over nine months, premiered more than 50 years ago in 1971. It is one of the most eccentric and enduring, locally-produced, TV shows
Do you remember Party Game? The saucy little charades-fest aired out of Hamilton, Ont.’s CHCH from 1970 through 1981. “Captain” Jack Duffy, Dinah Christie and Billy Van were the Home Team, an almost unbeatable trio when it came to charades. Al Boliska was the original host, replaced a year later by Bill Walker. The series
Fifty years ago, one man on one TV show created eight vividly memorable TV characters in every episode: The Librarian; Grizelda, the Ghastly Gourmet; Bwana Clyde Batty, The Oracle, The Count, The Marharishi, the record-spinning Wolfman and Dr. Pet Vet. Then he’d pull on a gorilla suit and fall on his face. The show was
Hey lady and hey fella: have you seen Jayne Eastwood’s hilarious digital short series Hey Lady! yet on CBC Gem? I love the series, which consists of eight five- or six-minute episodes. You can stream all eight in the time it takes to watch one hour-long TV drama — minus the commercials and plus all