Uncle Chichimus | Queen's Coronation | Cross Canada Hit Parade
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Uncle Chichimus
Puppeteer John Conway introduced viewers to Uncle Chichimus, Holly Hock and a brash young fellow named Pompey on CBC-TV's opening night. The puppets were a hit and a children's show of their own was then created.
Download: QuickTime movie, 1.1 MB
Download: AVI movie, 595 K
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Cross Canada Hit Parade
The Cross Canada Hit Parade was CBC's first successful variety show. Writers were encouraged to think of visually interesting ways of presenting each number, which made the show such an interesting spectacle.
Download: QuickTime movie, 851 K
Download: AVI movie, 587 K
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Newsmagazine
Newsmagazine was the first news program that went to air on the CBC. First airing at 7:30 p.m. on September 8th, 1952 (CBC- TV's first day on air). That day the program offered viewers a look ahead to what they could expect from the fledgling corporation. Greetings from TV organizations around the world on film was also broadcast during its first run. Lorne Greene hosted this popular series until 1953. Newsmagazine was a weekly survey of events at home and abroad and was one of the few sources of television news until CBC began its daily national newscasts in 1954.
Download: QuickTime movie, 1.1 MB
Download: AVI movie, 638 K
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Coronation of the Queen
Rhoda (age 5)
Today the whole family watched the coronation of the Queen. It was fabulous!! We saw it before all the Americans saw it. It was so fast, we got to see it the same day as the coronation! I even heard that they used planes from the British and Canadian Air Forces to bring it here! It was a moment I will never forget for as long as I live.
Download: QuickTime movie, 1 MB
Download: AVI movie, 706 K
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The Miracle Mile
Rhoda (age 5)
My daddy was so excited when this came on, he said something about how they had the two men running one mile in under 4 minutes... That is amazing! The only bad thing about it was that the Canadian came in third. Actually, my dad said that's pretty good considering he was running against the fastest men in the world!!
Download: QuickTime movie, 1.1 MB
Download: AVI movie, 765 K
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1950s Show Summary
This movie contains the intros to CBC-TV's first programs, which aired during the 1950s, the first year of CBC-TV.
Download: QuickTime movie, 1.2 MB
Download: AVI movie, 689 K