Celebrating 60 years: THE ACTRA STORY This special issue of ...

A CTRA OTTAWA
45 years and counting
by Bill Luxton
What do Alex Trebek, Lloyd Robertson, Rich Little,
Margaret Trudeau, Peter Jennings and the
Galloping Gourmet have in common? All were members
of ACTRA Ottawa early in their careers.
While ACTRA National celebrates its 60th
Anniversary, the Ottawa branch can look back to its
creation in 1958. Long-time members Les Lye, Maggie
Morris, Eddie Nunn and Bruce Rogers recall meeting
at the Beacon Arms Hotel to organize the Ottawa
chapter.
Employers at that time included CBC, the National
Film Board and Crawley Films, which had won international
recognition with The Loon’s Necklace and the
Oscar winner The Man Who Skied Down Everest.
Bruce Rogers hosted a CBC radio series called Carte
Blanche with a young announcer just down from
Winnipeg, named Lloyd Robertson. On CBOT,
Maggie Morris, Les Lye and Emmet O’Grady hosted a
magazine show Contact from 1958 to 1960.
Private television arrived in 1961, with CJOH TV.
Managed by former CBC executives Ernie Bushnell
and Stuart Griffiths, the original announce staff
included Peter Jennings, Dave Patrick, Jerry
O’Flanagan and me.
While ACTRA was unrecognized by CJOH early
on, CBC radio and TV provided work for members
with radio drama and outdoor concerts at Camp
Fortune. Then, on CBOT, award-winning puppeteer
Noreen Young produced Pencil Box, Hi Diddle Day, and
for the Disney Channel, Under the Umbrella Tree. More
work came our way with national productions such as
Quentin Durgens, MP, starring Gordon Pinsent, Pierre
1 Willy & Floyd in 1987
(Les Lye and Bill
Luxton).
2 Bill Luxton and
Margaret Trudeau,
Morning Magazine
(1982).
3 Holly Larocque and
puppets in Under the
Umbrella Tree.
4 Maggie Morris
1943-2003 • actra • celebrating 60 years 29
Berton’s The National Dream, and Crawley Films’ The
Luck of Ginger Coffey and the RCMP series.
In 1966, CJOH became an ACTRA signatory to
produce a Harry Elton late-night soap opera called Milk
and Honey. Set in a small town diner, it featured Elsa
Pickthorne, Bernie McManus, Flo Fancott, Aline van
Dine, Bobby Dermer and Cayla Belin. Other CJOH
productions followed, including The Galloping
Gourmet, Celebrity Cooks with Bruno Gerussi, The
Amazing Kreskin, Anything You Can Do, starring Don
Harron, and Willy & Floyd. You Can’t Do That On
Television featured a teenaged Alanis Morissette.
With the guidance of a series of hard-working
Branch Representatives, Ottawa’s membership grew
substantially in the ‘70s and ‘80s with more work from
government agencies, production houses and animation
studios.
In 1978, ACTRA Ottawa launched its own
ACTRA Awards, and for 15 years, members gathered
for a glittering evening of presentations in a wide variety
of categories covering radio, TV and film.
Although far smaller than Toronto, Montreal or
Vancouver, we have been able to attract movie production
to the nation’s capital and hope there is much
more to come. Local companies such as Distinct
Features and Sound Venture have employed many
members in leading roles.
We celebrate 45 years, and we build for the future.
With so many talented young actors entering the profession,
an Apprentice programme and a series of professional
development workshops have been established
to ensure a vital presence of Ottawa in that future.
1 2
3
Photos courtesy CJOH Television (CTV), Ottawa
Life Member Bill
Luxton is writing a
history of ACTRA
Ottawa on its 45th
Anniversary.
4
the
ACTRA
story