The John Allan Cameron Show was a Canadian television

Television in Canada

Television in Canada officially began with the opening of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by the American media, perhaps...

 variety series

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 produced by CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 in Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 from 1979 to 1980, with repeat episodes airing until 1982.

This was the second national television series featuring host John Allan Cameron

John Allan Cameron

John Allan Cameron, was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1968. He released 10 albums during his lifetime and was featured on national television...

 (1938–2006). His previous series, John Allan Cameron, was broadcast on private network CTV

CTV television network

CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...

 in 1975 and 1976.

Regular and guest participants

Many of the guests in the series' first season were athletes such as Trevor Berbick

Trevor Berbick

Trevor Berbick was a Jamaican-Canadian heavyweight boxer who fought as a professional from 1976 until 2000. Berbick briefly held the WBC heavyweight championship in 1986 , before losing it to 20-year old Mike Tyson, via 2nd-round TKO...

, Don Fontana, Tony Gabriel

Tony Gabriel

Tony Gabriel is a former professional Canadian football pass receiver who played in the Canadian Football League from 1971 to 1981. He played for both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders...

, Nancy Garapick

Nancy Garapick

Nancy Ellen Garapick is a former Canadian Olympic swimmer. She won two bronze medals in the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal at the age of 14, setting a new Olympic Record for the 100m backstroke during heats.Garapick's Olympic performances came on the...

, Brian Heaney, Eddie Shack

Eddie Shack

Edward Steven Phillip Shack , also known by the nicknames "The Entertainer" and "The Nose" is a retired Canadian hockey player who played for six National Hockey League teams from 1959 to 1975,Shack was born in Sudbury, Ontario...

, Errol Thompson and Debbie Van Kiekebelt

Debbie Van Kiekebelt

Deborah Van Kiekebelt is a Canadian athlete and sports broadcaster. She was a gold medallist in the pentathlon at the 1971 Pan American Games, and was named that year's Canadian Woman Athlete of the year...

.

The second season's non-musical content featured Hollywood-themed segments where Cameron would portray legendary entertainment stars and movie characters. Series regulars Hughie and Allen presented a comic newscast entitled "News From Home".

Musical performances featuring Cameron and his band were staged in Seaton Auditorium at Halifax's Mount Saint Vincent University

Mount Saint Vincent University

Mount Saint Vincent University is a university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1873 and is locally referred to as The Mount.-History:...

. Series guests included Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...

, Denny Doherty

Denny Doherty

Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty was a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was most widely known as a founding member of the 1960s musical group The Mamas & the Papas.-Early career:...

, The Good Brothers

The Good Brothers

The Good Brothers are a Canadian country, bluegrass and folk music group originating from Richmond Hill, Ontario. The band's core members are Brian Good , his twin brother Bruce Good and younger brother Larry Good ....

, Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

, Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan

Murray McLauchlan, CM is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old...

, Will Millar (The Irish Rovers

The Irish Rovers

The Irish Rovers is a Canadian Irish folk group created in 1963 and named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover". The group is best known for their international television series, and renditions of traditional Irish drinking songs, as well as early hits, Shel Silverstein's "The Unicorn",...

), Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...

, Ronnie Prophet

Ronnie Prophet

Ronald Lawrence Victor Prophet is a Canadian-born country musician and comedy performer.In his childhood, Ronnie Prophet lived in Calumet, Quebec and began performing at local venues in his youth. His successful musical career in the United States began in the mid-1960s...

, Tom Rush

Tom Rush

Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...

, Sonny Terry

Sonny Terry

Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...

 with Brownie McGhee

Brownie McGhee

Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...

, Ian Tyson

Ian Tyson

Ian Tyson CM, AOE is a Canadian singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Four Strong Winds". He was also one half of the duo Ian & Sylvia.-Career:Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria in 1933, and grew up in Duncan B.C...

, Valdy

Valdy

Paul Valdemar Horsdal, CM , commonly known as Valdy, is a Canadian folk musician whose solo career began in the early 1970s. He is known for "Rock and Roll Song", his first mainstream single released in mid-1972 on Haida/A&M.He was a member of the London Town Criers during the 1960s and...

, Roger Whittaker

Roger Whittaker

Roger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...

 and Mason Williams

Mason Williams

Mason Williams is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". He is also a comedy writer, known for his writing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live...

. Skip Beckwith was the series musical director, who also played bass for Cameron's band, "The Cape Breton Symphony".

Scheduling

The first season in 1979 was a summer series which aired on Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. 1980's second season began in October 1980, running on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. until December of that year.

CBC aired brief repeat runs of the series in 1981 and 1982 on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m.

External links

• CBC Archives: Morningside: Remembering Canada's 'godfather' of Celtic music