''Parade'' 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 ...

music variety television series 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 ...

from 1959 to 1964.

Premise

''Parade'' was created as an open-format entertainment series which covered most music styles and included comedy performances. Sometimes an episode would focus on one particular performer, while another episode could feature various entertainers under a particular theme. The series featured Canadian artists such as the

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performin ...

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

, the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toron ...

and the

Billy Van William Allan Van Evera (11 August 1934 – 8 January 2003), known by the stage name Billy Van, was a Canadian comedian, actor, and singer. Biography Van was born in Toronto, Ontario, and dropped out of Bloor Collegiate Institute in Grade ...

Four. Featured international performers included

Ernestine Anderson Ernestine Anderson (November 11, 1928 – March 10, 2016) was an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than six decades, she recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She sang at Carnegie Hall, ...

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

and

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. He started performing as a stand up comedian before transitioning his career to acting in film and te ...

Wayne and Shuster Wayne and Shuster were a Canadian comedy duo formed by Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. They were active professionally from the early 1940s until the late 1980s, first as a live act, then on radio, then as part of ''The Army Show'' that ente ...

provided their interpretation of

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...

's ''

Many Moons ''Many Moons'' is an American children's picture book written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. It was published by Harcourt, Brace & Company in 1943 and won the Caldecott Medal in 1944.American Library AssociationCaldecott ...

'' in a 1963 episode. The "Sing, Sing, Sing" episodes of ''Parade'' were recurring occasions which featured Pat Hervey and the Gino Silvi Singers leading a

sing-along Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing, sometimes with a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirit ...

, supplemented by dance performances from a troupe choreographed by Alan Lund supported by an orchestra led by

Bert Niosi Bert Niosi (February 10, 1909 – August 3, 1987) was a Canadian bandleader, known as "Canada's King of Swing". Early life Niosi was born on February 10, 1909, in London, Ontario. "As a teenager he briefly played clarinet with Guy Lombardo in Clev ...

Reception

In early 1962, ''Parade'' was ranked Canada's 17th most popular series according to national ratings by Elliott-Haynes.

Scheduling

This half-hour series was broadcast as follows (times in Eastern): The episodes from July to September 1962 were rebroadcasts from the two previous seasons. The series was cancelled after 1964 due to reported reductions in CBC's variety budget. Norman Sedawie, ''Parades producer, then left CBC for work in America. In turn referenced ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', 13 May 1964.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parade (Tv Series) CBC Television original programming 1959 Canadian television series debuts 1964 Canadian television series endings 1950s Canadian music television series 1960s Canadian music television series 1950s Canadian variety television series 1960s Canadian variety television series Black-and-white Canadian television shows