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CBC Television Network

Barris Beat, The

Network: CBC Television Network

Broadcast Run: 1955 to 1957

Broadcast Medium: Television

Host: Alex Barris. A variety show with interviews, music, and comic sketches, designed as a summer replacement for Cross Canada Hit Parade. It was produced by Len Casey, and featured as regulars singers Betty Jean Ferguson and Roy Roberts, the vocal group the Gino Silvi Octet, and an orchestra led by Bill Isbister. Guests included Sammy Sales, Doug Romaine, Dave Broadfoot, Joey Hollingsworth, and the Willy Blok Hansen dance trio. In the middle of the summer season, Norman Jewison replaced Casey as producer and director, and Jack Duffy was added to the cast as a singer and actor, and in a repeating role as a copy boy to Barris’s newspaper writer.

Aired Wednesdays 9:00-9:30 p.m., July/September 1956;
Saturdays 10:30-11:00 p.m., October 1956 to June 1957

Written by John Corcelli – April, 2002