The Barris Beat is 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...

 from 1956 to 1957.

Premise

Alex Barris

Alex Barris

Alex Paul Barris, CM was an American-born Canadian television actor and writer. He was a writer and panelist for the game show Front Page Challenge. He was born in New York City. He was 81 when he died due to complications from a stroke he suffered a year earlier.Alex Barris left behind a wife and...

, an entertainment writer for Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...

, hosted this entertainment series. Initially, the series was a mid-year replacement for Cross Canada Hit Parade, then was granted a full season run in October 1956. The Barris Beat functioned as a low-budget version of The Steve Allen Show

The Steve Allen Show

The Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964....

.

The series featured Bill Isbister's house band, accompanied by the Gino Silvi Octet and vocalists Betty Jean Ferguson and Roy Roberts. Jack Duffy

Jack Duffy

Jack Duffy was a Canadian singer, comedian and actor.-Biography:Born in Montreal, Duffy grew up in Toronto, dropping out of Central Technical School to become a singer...

 later joined the series as another vocalist and in a recurring role as a newspaper copy assistant with Barris who portrayed a columnist.

For the full season, Ferguson left the series and was replaced by Gloria Lambert. Besides Duffy and Roberts, Larry D. Mann

Larry D. Mann

Larry D. Mann is a Canadian actor. Prior to his acting career, he was a disk jockey on CHUM 1050 radio in Toronto in 1949. His best-known Canadian television exposure was in a Bell Canada series of commercials called "The Boss" in which he played the title role for ten years beginning in 1981...

 joined as a series regular as did Sammy Sales who was previously a guest in the early episodes. Cynthia Barrett led a regularly seen vocal trio while musical direction was provided by Gordon Kushner and music was arranged by Phil Nimmons

Phil Nimmons

Phillip Rista Nimmons, is a Canadian jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and academic.Born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of George Rista and Hilda Louise , he attended Lord Byng Secondary School, graduating in 1940. He then received a B.A. from the University of British Columbia in...

. A recurring "billboard girl" character (Sheila Billing, then Babs Christie) was also introduced. Additional writing was provided by Allan Manings

Allan Manings

Allan Manings was an American television producer and comedy writer. He was active in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and was best known for his work in co-creating with his wife, actress Whitney Blake, One Day at a Time, as well as serving as producer of the Bud Yorkin-Norman Lear Tandem show,...

 and Frank Peppiatt.

Visiting performers during the series included Dave Broadfoot

Dave Broadfoot

Dave Broadfoot is a Canadian comedian who was born on December 5, 1925 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1943, he joined the merchant navy serving until 1947...

 and the Willy Blok Hansen dance trio.

Production

Len Casey initially produced The Barris Beat for the first several weeks. He left the series and was replaced by Norman Jewison

Norman Jewison

Norman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...

 for the remainder of the series run. Barris later indicated conflicts with Casey regarding the series concept.

Scheduling

This half-hour series was broadcast Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. (North American Eastern time) from 4 July to 12 September 1956 as a mid-year replacement.

The series began a full season on alternate Saturdays at approximately 10:30 p.m. from 20 October to 30 June 1957, following the hockey broadcast

Hockey Night in Canada

Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...

 during the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

season. Wayne and Shuster was broadcast on the other Saturdays.