Posts with the Centennial tag

Barris Beat

Music of our lives

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Beatles For Sale – the music of our lives..

Most regular readers of the Barris Beat have recognized from the vintage of some of my memories that I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s. During most of those formative years, I lived either in or around Toronto. So, whatever was going on in the Big Smoke culturally, either I was in the middle of it, or I missed it by accident.

Of course, there is that famous quote attributed to one of Robin Williams, Pete Townsend (of The Who) or Timothy Leary:

“If you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t there.”

The implication, of course, is that youth culture of the 1960s meant its participants wasted themselves 24/7 on drugs, alcohol, sex, love-ins, rock ’n’ roll, revolutionary literature and/or anti-war demonstrations. Well, I admit – with one or two exceptions on that list – that I was there. And I can remember it. (more…)

Barris Beat

Why has nationalism fallen from grace?

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Rally at Place du Canada in Montreal, Oct. 27, 1995. Edmonton Journal.

We travelled up Highway 401 eastbound that fall morning – from Uxbridge to Montreal – to make a statement to friends and strangers alike on the other side of the Ottawa River. We felt threatened by voices of separation in la belle province, but heartened by the “No” forces – both francophone and anglophone – that wanted Quebecers to give Canada one more chance. And that autumn day we car-pooled, bussed, hitchhiked, and rallied – some 100,000 of us – at Place du Canada in Montreal.

I remember one of our daughters who couldn’t travel with us to the pro-Canada rally that Oct. 27 morning, left a note on the bathroom mirror.

“I’m sorry I can’t go with you,” she wrote. “Please save my country.”

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Barris Beat

Champions of a dream

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Don Harron collaborated with Norman Campbell to produce the first TV version of "Anne of Green Gables" for CBC in 1956.
Don Harron collaborated with Norman Campbell to produce the first TV version of "Anne of Green Gables" for CBC in 1956.

It was 1956. Television was in its infancy. Canadian programs such as Cross-Canada Hit Parade, Front Page Challenge, The Big Revue and, yes, the Barris Beat, were new on the tube. This country’s actors, singers, dancers, writers and directors were just getting their show-business legs in a new medium. One of its rising stars, a multi-faceted comedic actor named Don Harron, happened to meet another up-and-comer, producer Norman Campbell.

“What am I going to do?” Campbell asked Harron. “I’ve got 90 minutes of time to fill on CBC TV and no program.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Harron said. “Let’s put ‘Anne of Green Gables’ on TV.”

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