Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1953 to 1954
Broadcast Medium: Television
Aired Tuesday evenings from October 1953 to June 1954; then on Sunday nights at 10 PM from October to December, 1954.
This 15 minute program marked the National Film Board’s first attempt to produce short documentaries for CBC television. The subject matter was simple: to tell stories about the various aspects of life in Canada. Radio-Canada had a parallel series in French called Sur le vif. For the first season, the programs ran fifteen minutes on Tuesday evening, but the show expanded to fill a half-hour slot on Sunday nights.
Some of the films: Survival In The Bush; It’s Raining Soldiers; The Mounties’ Crime Lab; Laurentian Skiing; Forest Wardens; Judo Jinks; Montreal Historique; Career College; Camera Men; Aviation Medicine; Javanese Dancing; Bureau Of Missing Persons; Korea; After The War; Vancouver’s Chinatown; Gold Rush Land; Harness Racing; Chinese Canadians; Dresden Story; The Zoo In Stanley Park; Winnipeg Ballet; Winnipeg City; and Workshop For Science.
Hosted by Fred Davis and Lloyd Bochner
Producer: Bernard Devlin
Written by John Corcelli – February, 2004