''Cariboo Country'' is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

television drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

between June 1960 and September 1960, then from 1964 to 1966. Scripts for the series were written by British Columbia journalist, playwright, and politician Paul St. Pierre (1923–2014).

Plot

''Cariboo Country'' dealt with the rancher Smith, whose first name is never mentioned (Hughes), his wife Norah (Carlson), and their son Sherwood (Davies, Cherrier), as well as their neighbours in the Chilcotin region of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Smith and his family struggle to operate their small

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

near the fictional town of Namko. Other featured characters included Namko storekeeper Arch MacGregor (Stidder); cattlemen Ken Larsen (Marsh) and "Frenchie" Bernard (Golland); and Indigenous Chilcotin people such as Ol' Antoine (

Chief Dan George Chief Dan George (born Geswanouth Slahoot; July 24, 1899 – September 23, 1981) was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band whose Indian reserve is located on Burrard Inlet in the southeast area of the District of No ...

), Young Alexander (Charlie Louis), Sarah (Jean Sandy), and Phyllistine (Nancy Sandy).

Production

Two 1958 anthology dramas from CBUT Vancouver served as prototypes or pilots for the series: "The Window at Namko" (''Spectrum'' series) and "Justice on the Jawbone" (''Vancouver Playbill'' series).BC Archives (1992). "Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Television Productions from CBUT Vancouver: Inventory, Volume V." BC Archives & Records Service, March 1992. p. 71. The first complete ''Cariboo Country'' series (1960) consisted of 13 episodes produced on video in the CBUT Vancouver studio and kinescoped for national distribution. They were broadcast on CBUT from June 16 to September 8, 1960. Episodes were directed by Frank Goodship, Philip Keatley, and Len Lauk.Duffy, Dennis J. (1986).
Cariboo Country [series
/nowiki>">eries">Cariboo Country [series
/nowiki>" in ''Camera West: British Columbia on Film, 1941–1965''. Victoria: Provincial Archives of BC. pp. 80–81. The reference includes a list of the 1964–66 filmed episodes, with summaries. See also pp. 19–20. The series returned in 1964, with a larger budget, and continued until 1966. This iteration of the series was produced on film, with location shooting in Richmond and in the Chilcotin. Philip Keatley directed all 16 episodes. The series was broadcast nationally on the CBC anthology series ''The Serial''. Two related programs were broadcast nationally in the ''Festival'' series. The first was an hour-long version combining parts 1 & 2 o
"The Education of Phyllistine"
(1965), which won a Canadian Film Award for best television film of the year. Its success led to production of the standalone hour-long episode "How to Break a Quarterhorse" [sic], which was also broadcast on ''Festival'' (1966).

Book and film adaptations

Starting in 1965, Paul St. Pierre adapted some of his ''Cariboo Country'' teleplays into novels. The episode "Boss of the Namko Drive" was adapted into
book of the same title
for younger readers and high school English classes. The best-known novel adaptation is
Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse
' (1966). The latter novel was in turn adapted into a theatrical feature film by Walt Disney Productions, with its setting switched to the northwestern United States. '' Smith!'' (1969) starred

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006), known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-born American actor. He was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of th ...

(Smith),

Nancy Olson Nancy Ann Olson (born July 14, 1928) is an American retired actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Sunset Boulevard (film), Sunset Boulevard'' (1950). She co-starred with William Holden in ...

(Norah),

(Ol' Antoine), and

Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's '' Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). Early life Dean Jeffri ...

(Judge).

Michael O'Herlihy Michael O'Herlihy (1 April 1929 – 16 June 1997) was an Irish television producer and director who directed shows like ''Gunsmoke'' (1955), '' Maverick'' (1957), ''Star Trek'' (1965), '' Hawaii Five-O'' (1968), ''M*A*S*H'' (1972) and ''The A- ...

directed the feature. In 1983, St. Pierre published
Smith and Other Events: Tales of the Chilcotin
', a collection of short stories based on several of his ''Cariboo Country'' teleplays.St. Pierre, Paul (1985). ''Smith and Other Events: Tales of the Chilcotin.'' Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre.

References

External links

Cariboo Country
at the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

* *
Cariboo Country: The Education of Phyllistine
' — A 4.5-minute excerpt from the 1965 series episode, featuring Chief Dan George (as Ol' Antoine), Nancy Sandy (Phyllistine), and Walter Marsh (Ken Larsen); in the archive for the online exhibit ''Ruins in Process: Vancouver Art in the Sixties'' (Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, n.d.). See also the accompanying essay by Zoë Druick
"Vancouver Cinema in the Sixties."
1960 Canadian television series debuts 1960 Canadian television series endings 1964 Canadian television series debuts 1967 Canadian television series endings 1960s Canadian drama television series Black-and-white Canadian television shows CBC Television original programming Television shows filmed in Vancouver {{CBC-stub