Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1961 to 1964
Broadcast Medium: Television
Aired Sunday nights from January 1961 to May 1963. Aired Tuesday nights from October 1963 to May 1964.
In an effort to produce an innovative and interesting program of new plays for television, Ross McLean and Andrew Allan produced Q is for Quest.
Allan was a very successful and influential producer at CBC Radio Drama for many years. Ross McLean worked in the new medium of television, often trying new methods of storytelling. This show was a free-form anthology of drama, documentary and musical productions hosted by Andrew Allan.
The second season saw changes to the name, shortened to Quest, a new executive producer, Daryl Duke and a new host, Robert Whitehead. Duke left the show in 1964 to work for Steve Allen.
Season One Highlights:
Burlap Bags by Len Peterson, produced by Harvey Hart.
A Canvas for Conversation with painters Harold Towne, William Ronald and Jack Nichols.
An Evening without James Reaney, by James Reaney and produced by Harvey Hart.
A film by Allan King called Josef Drenters.
For The Information of Husbands by Anton Chekov, adapted by Mac Shoub and produced by Leo Orenstein.
Return Journey by Dylan Thomas, produced by Paul Almond.
The Blues, a musical history, with Eve Smith, Don Francks, and the Don Thompson Quintet, produced by Daryl Duke.
Mind of Mingus, a profile of Charles Mingus.
The World of SJ Perelman
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, in performance.
Season Two Highlights:
Asylums, produced by Harvey Hart
Jackie and Roy, in performance
House of the Rising Sun, a blues showcase produced by Duke.
The Cry of Jazz by Edward Bland.
The Last Clock by James Thurber.
The Alcoholic Veteran with the Washboard Cranium by Henry Miller.
Season Three Highlights:
The Trial of Lady Chatterley.
District Storyville, a jazz ballet.
Oppenheimer, based on the diaries of Robert J Oppenheimer
One Time Around, a profile of Hugh Hefner
On The Road, a dramatization of Jack Kerouac’s novel
The Times they Are A-Changin’, a profile of Bob Dylan produced by Daryl Duke.
Written by John Corcelli – May, 2005