After Hours was a Canadian

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 television series which aired on 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 1953.

The series was an early career effort by John Aylesworth

John Aylesworth

John Bansley Aylesworth was a Canadian television writer, producer and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show Hee Haw, which appeared on network television for two years and then ran for decades in first-run syndication.-Early career at CBC:Aylesworth...

 and Frank Peppiatt who later produced Hee Haw

Hee Haw

Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...

.

Premise

After Hours combined humour sketches with a series of music short films. The music films were produced in the United States by Lou Snader and purchased by CBC Television prior to the network's initial broadcasts. The music films, which resembled music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s, featured songs by performers such as Charlie Barnet

Charlie Barnet

Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...

, Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....

, Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

, Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

, Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...

, George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

 and Mel Tormé

Mel Tormé

Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...

.

The series was hosted by Rick Campbell and announced by Mike Darrow

Mike Darrow

Darow Myhowich , January 8, 1933 – December 7, 1996) was a Canadian-American television game show host best known for hosting the 1968-1970 ABC run of Dream House, the 1985-1988 Canadian-produced run of the Bob Stewart game show, Jackpot Darow Myhowich (stage name: Mike Darow), January 8,...

. Jill Foster was a series regular as were producer/writers Aylesworth and Peppiatt. On the 16th episode, the series introduced a three-member band featuring Jack Kane (clarinet), Rudi Toth (piano) and Johnny Niosi (drums) who performed in front of a backdrop painting of sixteen musicians.

Scheduling

The series normally appeared on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern), with some episodes on Tuesdays on certain Friday evenings in April and May. Selected Friday episodes were also broadcast earlier during those months. Episodes were hour-long from the 2 January debut until 10 April after which a half-hour format was adopted. The final episode was broadcast on 3 July 1953.