POTE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-09 published
GILL,
Martha
Elizabeth (née
BARBER)
Formerly of Montreal and King City, Ontario, died peacefully
at The Maple Health Centre, on December 7, 2003. Beloved wife
of the late Frederick P. (Perc). She will be missed by her many
Friends, especially Cathy Goodier
POTE and Sally O'Neill
LEWIS.
Cremation has taken place. Interment in Mount Royal Cemetery,
Montreal, Quebec. If desired, memorial donations to the Ontario
Humane Society would be appreciated. A celebration of Martha's
life will be held at a later date.
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POTTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-10 published
POTTER,
Kent
Morey
Died suddenly from illness, at home, March 22, 2003, at age 52.
Kent leaves behind family and Friends who loved him, and who
will miss his intellect, insight, open-mindedness, and loyalty.
Kent's family is his Aunt, Mrs. Kathryn
ELLIG (Mrs. George William
POTTER,) his cousin Mrs. Darla
MILLER
(POTTER,) her husband James,
their children Erin, Bryan, and Jonathan, and his cousin Robert
ISLAND.
In his career as a travel writer and editor, Kent worked for
'The Toronto Star' and Maclean Hunter's 'Canadian Travel Courier'.
More recently, Kent worked as a freelance editor.
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held Saturday,
April 12, 1 p.m. at St. David's Anglican Church, 49 Donlands
Avenue, opposite the Donlands subway station.
Memorial donations may be made to the animal shelter/rescue organization
of your choice.
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POTTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-21 published
CARTWRIGHT,
Joan
Elizabeth
Joan Elizabeth
CARTWRIGHT, 65, died on June 12th, after a long
and courageous fight with breast cancer, at her daughter's home
in East Hardwick, Vermont. Her daughter Deborah and son-in-law
Tim were with her at her final breath. Joan was born in Toronto,
Ontario, to William Bovell and Mary Elizabeth
(POTTER)
CARTWRIGHT.
She moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she attended McGill University,
and then Concordia University, from where she graduated with
distinction. After marriage, she raised her family of four children
living in Montreal and then again in Toronto. She moved to Wolcott,
Vermont in 1992, and bought and renovated an old schoolhouse
in the country. Her household consisted of several cats, all
of which were orange tigers, and her beloved dog Joey, with whom
she spent hours every day walking the back roads, visiting her
neighbors, and playing ball. She also kept herself busy by volunteering
at local libraries, was an extremely voracious reader and had
a wide knowledge of books. She loved her crossword puzzles in
the weekend paper, and indeed loved any type of word challenge
especially Scrabble! Joan adored her grandchildren, and although
she didn't see them often, never missed an opportunity to talk
with Friends about them and show off photos. She was an accomplished
knitter, and was pleased to give away her beautiful sweaters,
dozens of which she donated to local charities. She is survived
by her sister, Eleanor
HUNT of Ontario; her ex-husband, L. Lamont
GORDON of Toronto, Ontario; her children: Katharine
GORDON and
husband Chuck
MITCHELL of Wolcott, Vermont, Deborah and husband
Tim HARTT of East Hardwick, Vermont, James
GORDON and wife
Shannon
McQUILLAN of Kamloops, British Columbia, and Pamela
GORDON of
Toronto, Ontario; her grandchildren, Keaven, Connor, Seamus,
Haley, Walker, Sam, Laura and Angus; and several nieces, nephews
and cousins. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, June
29th, in Toronto, Ontario. Memorial donations may be made in
Joan's name, to The Frontier Animal Society of Vermont, 502 Strawberry
Acres Road, Newport, Vermont 05855.
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POTTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-03 published
POTTER,
Douglas
Briant
died in Toronto on Sunday, June 29, 2003 after a prolonged struggle
with Alzheimer's. Douglas is survived by his wife Josephine
his son John and partner Mark
KENNY; granddaughter Natasha, and
her mothers Dr. Andrea
NEMETH and Dr. Samantha
KNIGHT of Oxford
England. He was born in Leeds, England in 1925 to William Clifford
POTTER and Francis
(NEWTON)
POTTER.
Predeceased by his brother
Jack who died tragically at age of 12. He served in the British
Army where he was stationed in Italy. Following his time in the
forces he immigrated to Canada in 1950. Douglas married Josephine
DAGNALL in 1952, and later went on to found Industrial Process
Equipment. We wish to thank the staff at the Laughlen Centre
and Fudger House for all their support through Douglas's long
illness. The family will have a private Service officiated by
the Reverend Jeannie
LOUGHREY. In his memory we will be planting
a tree in the garden of the house he loved. If desired, donations
may be made for Alzheimer Research through the Alzheimer Society
of Ontario.
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POTTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-17 published
POTTER,
Ralph
A., B.A.Sc., P.Eng
On Sunday evening, September 14th, 2003 Ralph died peacefully
at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dear son of the late Florence and Raymond
POTTER.
Beloved father of Karen
LADA (Ted) and Grant (Nadine)
of Calgary. Loving grandfather of Christopher and Kimberly
LADA.
Brother of Norma
CRAIG
(George) and Pauline
WRONG of London,
Ontario. Fondly remembered by many nieces and nephews. Upon Ralph's
wishes, cremation has taken place and a family memorial will
be held at a later date. Ralph was a '48 graduate in Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Toronto. He spent his professional
career in the paper industry. The family wishes to thank all
those at the Intensive Care Unit in Mount Sinai Hospital and
Pamela and Margaret, his caregivers for their kindnesses to Ralph.
Memorial Donations to the Mount Sinai Clinical Care Unit or the
Huntsville Humane Society would be greatly appreciated. Arrangements
entrusted to The Simple Alternative Funeral Centres, 416-441-1580.
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POTTER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-15 published
GENSER,
Bonnie
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother, Bonnie
GENSER, who died on
Sunday, November 29th, 2003. She died peacefully, without pain,
with her family by her side. She was predeceased by her husband
Harold GENSER who died in 1980, and her siblings Rebecca
JAUVOISH,
Lottie BECKMAN, Bessie
MELEMADE, David
LEVIN, Rosie
LEVIN, Esther
POLLOCK and Harry
LEVIN.
She leaves to grieve her death and celebrate
her life, three daughters, Naomi
COHEN
(Jared
SABLE,) Toronto,
Barbara BUTLER, Winnipeg, Susan
STARR (Don
STARR), Toronto, London,
six grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren. In addition to her
immediate family, she is remembered by her sisters-in-law Esther
Genser KAPLAN,
Myrna
LEVIN, Beverley
LEVIN and Marion Vaisley
GENSER, and many nieces and nephews.
Bonnie served in a leadership capacity in various areas of the
community; president of the Bride's group, National Council of
Jewish Women, president of Lillian Frieman Chapter of Hadassah,
founder of the Shaarey Zedek Girl Guides, and later as a commissioner
of the Manitoba Girl Guides. During her many visits to Israel
she served as a volunteer in areas of agriculture, education,
archaelogy, and social services.
She lived life to the fullest, and will be remembered for her
dynamic personality, wit, charm, generosity, and infectious smile
which made everyone feel special.
We wish to thank Vangie, Claire, Amy, and Ruth for their loving
care.
Pallbearers were her grand_sons Scott
COHEN,
Paul
RAYBURN, Josh
BUTLER,
Sheldon
POTTER, granddaughters Hally and Misha
STARR,
and nephews Michael and Daniel
LEVIN.
Honorary pallbearers were
Don STARR,
Jared
SABLE, Perry
RAYBURN, and Mayer
LAWEE.
Rabbi Allan
GREEN officiated and her granddaughter Leanne
POTTER
spoke on behalf of the family. Donations in Bonnie's memory may
be made to The Bonnie Genser Fund in the Women's Endowment Fund
of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, C-400-123 Doncaster Street,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3N 2B2, (204) 477-7525 or www.jewishfoundation.org
or the charity of your choice.
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POTTINGER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-23 published
GILLESPIE,
Harriet
Louise (née
MORTON)
Died peacefully on June 21, 2003. Harriet was born May 24, 1926
in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, daughter of Edith L. and
W. Douglas
MORTON.
Devoted wife of John B.
GILLESPIE, Q.C., Toronto, for
almost 55 wonderful years. Loving mother of Joan (Andrew
POTTINGER,)
Jill, Jay (Lili
HOFSTADER) and Susan (Paul
NICHOLAS). Grandmother
of Leigh and Drew
POTTINGER of W. Vancouver, Ben and Claire
SCOTT
of Sydney, Australia, Sean and Jackie
GILLESPIE of Toronto and
Hattie NICHOLAS of Ottawa. Sister of Douglas B.
MORTON and Scott
MORTON,
Nova
Scotia.
Service will be held on Wednesday, June
25, 2003 at 3 p.m. at St. Leonard's Anglican Church, 25 Wanless
Avenue. No visitation is planned. In lieu of flowers, donations
in Harriet's memory may be made to either Sunnybrook Hospital
or The Canadian Cancer Society.
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POTTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-19 published
POTTS,
Jason
Gareth
Thomas
Born May 13, 1990, died peacefully at home May 17, 2003. Beloved
son of Christie Thomas
POTTS and Joe
POTTS. Dear brother of Trevor,
Joanna and the late Gavin. Dear grand_son of Hallie
THOMAS and
Dawn and Joe
POTTS. He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered
by his many aunts, uncles, cousins and Friends. The family wish
to thank Dr. Russell
GOLDMAN and his team at the Temmy Latner
Centre for Palliative Care and the Trinity Hospice for their
wonderful care. The family will receive Friends at the Humphrey
Funeral Home - A. W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south
of Eglinton Avenue East), from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday, May
20. Service at Rosedale United Church (159 Roxborough Drive)
on Thursday, May 22 at 2 o'clock, with a reception to follow
in the church hall. Donations in Jason's memory may be made to
Brainchild, c/o The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University
Avenue, Toronto M5G 1X8
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POTTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-15 published
Radio pioneer built network
He founded Ontario's first French-language radio station in 1951
when his local station denied francophones airtime.
By Randy RAY
Special to The Globe and Mail Monday, June 16, 2003
- Page R7
He started in business as a butcher, and later was a soldier
and a hotelier, but Conrad
LAVIGNE's first love was show business.
Whether he was operating the television stations in Northern
Ontario that became the largest privately owned television broadcast
system in the world, appearing at the staid proceedings of the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission,
or at conventions, Mr.
LAVIGNE often delighted those within earshot
with jokes, stories, witty comments -- even singing.
Like the time he sang grace during the annual meeting of the
Association for French Language Broadcasters in the 1970s.
"Members of the head table, including myself and Premier Bill
DAVIS, walked into the room and stood behind our chairs," recalls
Pierre JUNEAU, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission from 1968 to 1975.
"Mr. LAVIGNE, who was chairman of the French-language broadcasters
group, began singing grace in French, and with his very strong
voice. People felt sort of strange with this."
When he was done, Mr.
LAVIGNE looked at Premier
DAVIS and quipped:
"Well, Mr. Premier, this is to show you that when you are chairman,
you can do whatever you like."
J. Lyman POTTS, former vice-president of Standard Broadcasting,
remembers the time in the early 1960s when Mr.
LAVIGNE appeared
before the Board of Broadcast Governors -- predecessor of the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission --
in support of a radio or television station licensing application.
At the beginning of his presentation, Mr.
LAVIGNE expressed his
regrets that Board of Broadcast Governors member Bernard
GOULET
had died at few days earlier. Then, without skipping a beat,
he looked toward the ceiling and said: "If Bernie were here today,
I think he would vote for my application."
"It broke up the room," says Mr.
POTTS. "If ever a meeting got
dull he'd liven things up. It was a joy to find him at meetings.
He was a unique personality."
Mr. LAVIGNE, who was born in the small town of Chénéville, Quebec,
on November 2, 1916, and raised in Cochrane, Ontario, died in
Timmins, Ontario on April 16 following a lengthy battle with
emphysema. He was 86.
Friends, family and business associates say Mr.
LAVIGNE had show
business in his blood in his late teens. On many evenings, the
young man who moved to Timmins from Cochrane at age 18 to open
a small grocery store and butcher shop with his uncle would act
in plays in the hall of a local church. But he didn't get into
the entertainment business in a big way until after he helped
Canada's war effort, got married and started his life as an entrepreneur
in the hotel business.
In 1942, he sold his butcher shop and enlisted in the Canadian
infantry. He became a commando training officer while stationed
at Vernon, British Columbia, and in 1944 headed overseas. While
on a furlough from Vernon he returned to Timmins and married
Jeanne CANIE.
The couple raised seven children.
Mr. LAVIGNE returned to Canada in 1946 and bought the Prince
George Hotel in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, which at the time was
a booming gold-mining town. He sold the business in 1950.
He entered the world of media and entertainment by founding
CFCL,
the first French-language radio station in Ontario in 1951, in
what, essentially, was his way of ensuring the area's large French-speaking
population had a voice in the North.
Michelle DE
COURVILLE
NICOL of Ottawa said her father launched
the station after a group of francophones that he was part of
in Kirkland Lake was told by the manager of an English-language
radio station that they would no longer be given regular air
time to discuss issues of interest to French people.
"He was very proud of being a francophone," says Ms. DE
COURVILLE
NICOL. "
When he was told that his compatriots would no longer
be welcome on the local station he said, 'Oh, ya!' and got the
idea of starting a French-language radio station. He moved to
Timmins, applied for a licence and got it."
CFCL soon attracted a faithful audience, especially in Northwestern
Quebec, where it could be heard more clearly than French stations
in Montreal.
In a 1988 interview with Northern Ontario Business, Mr.
LAVIGNE
remembered the time he hired a relative unknown named Stompin'
Tom CONNORS to perform live on
CFCL.
The radio station was located
above a jewellery store and the pounding from Mr.
CONNORS's size-11
boots caused china to fall off the shelves in the store below.
Radio was his first love until the mid-1950s when, on a business
trip to southern Ontario, he saw his first television broadcast,
on WHAM from Rochester, New York He fell for the concept of television
and he and an engineer friend drove to Rochester and learned
everything they could about the magic medium of television.
Back in Timmins, Mr.
LAVIGNE bought a hill in the north end of
the town, named it Mont Sacré-Coeur, built a road to the foot
of his hill, and began blasting rock and working in earnest to
put a television station on the air. By 1956,
CFCL-television
was a reality.
"There was always the fear of failure because of the sparse population,"
Mr. LAVIGNE said at the time. "But we had an engineer with us
named Roch
DEMERS, who later became president of Telemedia, and
together we started putting up rebroadcasting stations between
1957 and 1962."
Kapuskasing's rebroadcasting station was the first such facility
in Canada, and it added another portion of the sparsely populated
northeastern Ontario market to the growing station's network.
Eventually, Mr.
LAVIGNE built rebroadcasting stations in Chapleau
and Moosonee, Ontario and Malartic, Quebec, and by the time expansion
was completed,
CFCL-television served 1.5 million people. Eventually,
he built the station into the world's largest privately owned
system.
For many years he appeared on a very popular
CFCL program known
as the President's Corner, during which he would sit on camera
in a comfortable chair and read and respond to letters from viewers.
Between 1962 and 1970, Mr.
LAVIGNE's television network entered
the world of high technology with its own microwave network.
Mr. LAVIGNE had the northeastern Ontario television market virtually
all to himself for about 20 years until the Canadian Television
Network (CTV) arrived on the scene. He reacted by building new
stations in North Bay and Sudbury with a rebroadcasting station
in Elliot Lake to serve Manitoulin Island. Expansion continued
in 1976 with the purchase of a bankrupt television station in
Pembroke, in the Ottawa Valley. Eventually, Mr.
LAVIGNE's private
network stretched from Moosonee to Ottawa, and from Hearst to
Mattagami, Quebec
"When we first started we had the market all to ourselves," he
told Northern Ontario Business. "We had 20 hours a week of local
programming, and it was beautiful. We gave the North a unified
voice. One time, during a forest fire near Chapleau, our messages
arranged for accommodations for 1,000 people in Timmins."
Mr. LAVIGNE divested himself of his broadcasting holdings in
1980, primarily because he was refused permission to operate
a cable television service in the North. He remained a director
of Mid-Canada Television, the network that grew from his little
Timmins station in 1956, and was chairman of the board of Northern
Telephone Ltd. For a number of years, he served on the board
of the National Bank of Canada, and for 10 years served on the
board of ICG
Utilities (formerly Inter City Gas.)
His life after broadcasting also included 20 years as a property
developer in the Timmins area.
"He was always a physically active person," says Ms. DE
COURVILLE
NICOL. "In the years he was setting up his television stations
he would often go out with the engineers. He was not as happy
sitting behind his desk."
Mr. LAVIGNE was elected to the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of
Fame in 1990. His wife died in 1995. He leaves Ms. DE
COURVILLE
NICOL and six other children, Marc, Andrée, Nicole, Jean-Luc,
Pierre and Marie-France.
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POTTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-25 published
DINGLE,
Lloyd
Egerton
It is with great sorrow and sadness that the family announce
the passing of Lloyd Egerton
DINGLE on Tuesday, June 24, 2003,
in his 92nd year. Lloyd died peacefully at York Central Hospital
Continuing Care. Predeceased by his mother Marjorie and sisters
Marjorie and Ruth. Lloyd had a long distinguished career at Colgate
Palmolive and served his country proudly during World War 2 as
part of the Royal Canadian Air Force Radar Division. He was an
avid outdoorsman and an expert gardener specializing in prize
peonies. ''Unc's'' love and devotion to family and generous heart
will be lovingly remembered and sadly missed by his niece Nancy
M. POTTS, nephew Peter A.
BICK and wife Diana Liberty
BICK: great
nieces and great nephews Marisa, Jennifer, Jesse, Andrew, Kelsey,
Paisley and Blayne. Visitation on Thursday, June 26, at the R.
S. Kane Funeral Home (6150 Yonge Street at Goulding, south of
Steeles) from 1: 30 p.m. with the funeral service to follow at
2: 30 p.m. Interment York Cemetery.
''Forever remembered, Forever missed''
If desired donations in Lloyd's memory may be made to York Central
Hospital Continuing Care.
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POTTS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-12 published
Moms always liked him best
The Happy Gang's popular lead singer had a good reason for saying
hello to his mom whenever the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
radio classic was on air
By James McCREADY
Special to The Globe and Mail Saturday, July
12, 2003 - Page F10
The double knock on the door occurred every afternoon at 1.
"Who's there?"
"It's the Happy Gang."
"Well, come on in!"
Then Eddie
ALLEN,
Bert
PEARL, Bobby
GIMBY and the rest of the
cast of Canada's most popular radio program would break into
"Keep happy with the Happy Gang."
Mr. ALLAN, the show's main singer, accordion player and sometimes
emcee, died last week, leaving Robert
FARNON as the gang's sole
surviving member.
Every day as many as two million Canadians tuned in The Happy
Gang, which led the national ratings for most of its run on Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation from 1937 to 1959. Until television
came along in 1952, Mr.
ALLEN and his cast mates were among the
most famous people in the country.
The show was the creation of Mr.
PEARL, who'd come to Toronto
from Winnipeg (his real name was Bert
SHAPIRA) to study medicine.
To pay for his education, he started playing piano on radio with
a band that included violinist Blain
MATHE, organist Kay
STOKES
and Mr. FARNON, a trumpet player who would go on to be the most
successful of them all.
The band morphed into the Happy Gang and Mr.
PEARL was the driving
force behind it. Eddie
ALLEN was hired as the fifth member of
the troupe and stayed with the program until it went off the
air.
He was born Edward George
ALLEN on December 24, 1920, in Toronto,
and came from a family of musicians. His father, Bill
ALLEN,
played the trombone and was in a military band in France during
the First World War. When Eddie was 10, his father asked him
what instrument he wanted to play. The boy thought about it for
a while and made up his mind after seeing a huge piano accordion
in a music-store window.
"It was bigger than I was," Mr.
ALLEN remembered, "but dad bought
it anyway."
In a couple of years, he was entertaining at small events with
his accordion, making $5 or $10 a week. Better than a paper route.
He also won some local singing contests. When he was 17, he started
singing and playing three nights a week on a radio program called
The
Serenader.
Bert
PEARL heard it and called him in.
"I auditioned him with Bert
PEARL, and we liked him right away,"
Mr. FARNON says from his home on Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
"He looked about 12 years old and could barely see over the top
of his accordion. He was terribly shy, no self-confidence like
the rest of us. He was very popular with the ladies, a very good-looking
little chap."
What impressed most was his voice. "There really wasn't a singer
in the Happy Gang until he came along. I really liked his voice."
Mr. FARNON remembers an incident from a Happy Gang rehearsal.
"Eddie was about to sing a song called, I'll Take You Home Again,
Kathleen, and I came up behind him and said, 'If you bring the
gasoline.' He laughed so much he couldn't sing it when we went
on the air."
The Happy Gang was old Canada, when the country was more rural
and white skinned. It is impossible to imagine the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation mounting something so corny and wholesome. How corny
was it? The host, Mr.
PEARL, was known as "that slap-happy chappy,
the Happy Gang's own pappy."
He also knew that sentiment sold. Mr.
ALLEN would sing The Lord's
Prayer on the program, two or three times a year, such as Good
Friday, and during the war he sang it as an inspiration for mothers
and their boys overseas.
By that time, the show's "appeal was enormous," wrote Ross
MacLEAN,
the late Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer and media
critic who began listening as a child. "During the war years...
its influence on the nation was profound. Its almost daily performance
of There'll Always Be An England helped maintain home-front resolve
and stirred at least this school kid into a frenzy of tinfoil
collection, war certificate sales and the knitting of various
items for the navy."
Among the cast, Mr.
ALLEN was the kid. He was slight, about 5-foot-6,
and looked as though he were too young to shave. A newspaper
reported that while he was on his honeymoon in 1942, a hotel
clerk in Hamilton didn't believe he was old enough to be married
and refused to rent him a room. Even some of his fans were quoted
by writer Trent
FRAYNE as saying, "Oh my goodness, don't tell
me that little boy's married."
On air, he always sang old-fashioned ballads. "Every mother would
love the stuff he sang," said Lyman
POTTS, a retired broadcaster
who crossed paths with some of the gang. He recalled that one
of the songs Mr.
ALLEN performed on a Happy Gang recording was
I'm a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch. It was popular
on the program, maybe because it was the perfect example of the
Happy Gang's sort of cornball humour.
Another example is the line Mr.
ALLEN used almost every day in
the early years of the program. Mr.
PEARL had told him not to
let fame go to his head -- "Don't ever get the idea that you're
too big to say hello to your mother." So, for his first six years,
Mr. ALLEN's opening words were "Hello mom."
During the war, they dropped the shtick for fear of hurting the
feelings of mothers with sons in uniform. It sparked a letter-writing
campaign. "Don't let Eddie stop saying 'Hello mom,' " Liberty
Magazine reported in May, 1945. "He reminds me of my own boy
overseas. I wonder if he could think of all of us mothers when
he says hello."
Over the years, the show appeared 195 times, always live (tape
had yet to come into use when it began), in the course of an
annual 39-week season, most of the time with the same cast. Its
time slot was moved when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
began running a 1 p.m. newscast, but the shift to 1: 15
EST didn't
hurt the ratings. At first, it was produced in a studio on Davenport
Road in Toronto and later in front of an audience of 700 to 800
on McGill Street near College and Yonge.
The program's mainstay was not talk or jokes but music, and the
signature double knock on the door was an old-fashioned radio
sound effect provided by Blain
MATHE, who would move up to the
mike and rap twice on the back of his violin.
Working together so closely did create some personality conflicts.
There were practical jokes, usually aimed at the most uptight
cast member: Mr.
PEARL, a control freak who loved to plan the
program in detail and had his own small office at the McGill
Street studio.
One day, Mr.
ALLEN and the other Happy Gang members set all the
clocks forward by a few minutes. "We're late," they announced
to Mr. PEARL, who raced into studio. After the opening, a couple
of performers started to whine: "I don't want to do this."
Thinking they were actually on air, Mr.
PEARL was shocked --
and didn't feel much better when he learned it was all a joke.
It might have been one of the reasons he suffered a nervous breakdown
(called "nervous exhaustion" for public consumption) and left
the show in 1950 after 18 years and moved to the United States.
Eddie ALLEN took his place as emcee, but the incident rated an
article in Maclean's by June
CALLWOOD, the country's top magazine
writer at the time, entitled: The Not So Happy Gang.
By then Mr.
FARNON was long gone. During the war, he had joined
the Canadian Army Show's band, and later led the Canadian band
with the Allied Expeditionary Force, just as Glen
MILLER led
its U.S. ensemble. After the war he became a top arranger, working
on Frank Sinatra albums and scores for such movies as Horatio
Hornblower starring Gregory Peck.
Sinatra, however, was a little too flash for Eddie
ALLEN, who
preferred Bing Crosby. He was a sharp dresser, but his style
was understated, almost always a conservative suit and muted
shirt in a business where the shirt easily could have been orange.
His love of clothes gave him something to do when he left show
business. Eddie
ALLEN owned a men's clothing store in the west
end of Toronto after he left the program. He later retired and
moved to London, Ontario
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