It’s the early 1960s. The Cuban missile crisis is still fresh in people’s minds. The Cold War is at its peak. A Soviet submarine has run aground on the New England coast. Locals in the closest town think it’s the start of a Soviet invasion of America. The panicking townsfolk – armed to the teeth with shotguns – are lined up on the dock facing an armed Soviet sub.
And the local sheriff stands between the two sides about to open fire. He pulls out his parking ticket pad, looks up at the sub commander and through a Russian sailor translating, says, “All right, let’s have your full name and address.”
The sub commander orders his deck gunners to prepare to fire.
It’s the climactic scene from one of my all-time favourite movie comedies, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! It was produced and directed by Norman Jewison. And thanks to my father’s friendship with Norman, dating back to the 1950s, I knew how the movie ended before people saw it on movie screens in May 1966.
I got thinking about Alex, my father, who died 20 years ago this week, and then with the passing of Norman over the weekend, it all came back to me.
Based on the popularity of the daily newspaper column Alex wrote for the one-time Toronto Telegram, called The Barris Beat, CBC consented to his idea for a weekly variety TV show with the same name in the summer of 1956. The show combined my father’s talents as an interviewer, conversationalist and entertainment reviewer.
He had a cast of regulars – singers, dancers, comedians – and visiting guests. The late-night, live show each Wednesday enjoyed moderate success. But when up-and-coming director Norman Jewison was assigned to direct the show, it took off.
“Norman was brought on to try to strengthen the show,” Dad wrote. The show was moved to Saturday nights and it went on to win audience loyalty and numerous excellence awards.
When we celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday in 2002, Jewison, the seven-time Oscar nominee as best director, and winner of the Irving Thalberg (Academy) Award for lifetime achievement, attended the party. He reflected on his time directing The Barris Beat TV show.
“Alex,” he said, “you were my star!”
He wasn’t kidding. After several seasons directing Dad’s show, Norman got the chance to direct big TV shows in the U.S. “An agent with William Morris Agency in New York had seen kinescopes (sample excerpts) of The Barris Beat,” Norm wrote in his autobiography, “and he liked what I was doing.”
Soon he was directing U.S. shows such as Your Hit Parade and Tonight with Harry Belafonte. (In fact, when my sister and I searched the CBC TV archives for visuals to show at Dad’s 80th, we discovered that all the musical numbers, comedy sketches and dance routines that Norman had directed had been edited out. Those were the clips Norm showed the New York agent.)
Even though the two men went separate ways – Dad to further newspaper journalism, books, and more TV-variety writing and hosting, and Norman to direct such iconic movies as In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck, A Soldier’s Story and The Hurricane – they remained fast friends.
In fact, most summers, because our families had cottages close to each other, we often connected socially. And I remember vividly the night I saw the plot to The Russians Are Coming from the man himself.
“Jewison regaled a group of us at a Lake Simcoe summer cottage with the details of the story,” Dad wrote later. “In his lengthy and hilarious recitation, Jewison acted out every part.”
I remember Norman explaining a scene in which the Russian sailors tie up two Americans – a New York writer and a buxom female phone operator – back to back. Left alone in a second-floor room the pair decides to escape, spinning themselves inside the ropes so they are facing each other; then they hop their way down a steep flight of stairs. (Jewison cast Canadian comedian Larry Mann and English comedienne Tessie O’Shea in the roles.)
He performed the whole scene for us. “None of us had any doubts,” Dad said, “that Norman would sell the idea. The result was the phenomenally successful The Russians Are Coming.”
And I’m not going to tell you how that climactic showdown on the New England dock turns out. In memory of my dad, and as a tribute to Norman Jewison’s genius, I suggest you download the movie. It stands up, perhaps offering even more resonance now, given the states of America and Russia today.