Gerussi, Bruno & Tommy Ambrose

Websites:  https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bruno-gerussi, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tommy-ambrose
Origin: Medicine Hat, Alberta, 🇨🇦 (Bruno Gerussi); Toronto, Ontario, 🇨🇦 (Tommy Ambrose)
Biography:

This offbeat collaboration by two Canadian entertainers and a reclusive poet was borne out of the CBC radio show Words And Music hosted by actor Bruno Gerussi in the early 1970's. The weekly show featured interviews, music and monologues done before a live audience in a small theater. Tommy Ambrose was a regular singing guest. "We had an instinct for each other's work" Gerussi said. "I would read a monologue and Tommy would come up with a song to follow it that fit perfectly into the mood we established." The monologues were written by Gary Dunford, a former Toronto newspaperman who became a recluse by choice in the Toronto wilderness. His pieces covered a wide range of emotions but all of them offered wit, immediacy, and a sense of slightly crazy, slightly surreal truth.

When Gigi saw Noodles on the album cover she defecated all over the studio.

The album followed the same formula as the radio show: a mix of music and spoken monologues. Toronto musicians Doug Riley and Rick Wilkens wrote the arrangements and filled the studio with talented local backup players. Unfortunately most of the songs intending to showcase Tommy Ambrose's singing chops are uninspired covers of James Taylor, George Harrison and the like. Only two of the songs on the album were original compositions written for Ambrose, and they are like awful ballads from a bad broadway musical. Click here if you don't believe me.

The five monologues on the album include topics such as what a dog ponders when it's raining outside and what it's like to be a tree in the middle of a city's concrete sterility. You might find these enjoyable if you're into spoken-word stuff that uses dated 60's lingo, or if you're from Winnipeg (click here if you meet those criteria). In my opinion the monologues would be more palatable if they had been set to music, as was the case with the delightfully whimsical "Morning High", where Duford's poetry, Gerussi's delivery, and Wilken's musical arrangement all come together perfectly.

Bruno Gerussi, actor (born at Medicine Hat, Alta 1928; died at Vancouver, BC 21 Nov 1995). He is well known as the actor who played Nick Adonidas on "The Beachcombers," one of the longest-running and most successful series in CBC television history.

Bruno Gerussi, actor (born at Medicine Hat, Alta 1928; died at Vancouver, BC 21 Nov 1995). He is well known as the actor who played Nick Adonidas on "The Beachcombers," one of the longest-running and most successful series in CBC television history. Before joining "The Beachcombers" in 1972, he hosted "Gerussi!" on CBC radio for 4 years. His early childhood was spent in Exshaw, Alta, and New Westminster, BC. A scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts was important in preparing him for a career as an actor.

In 1954 he joined the Stratford Festival in its second season and appeared in The Taming of the Shrew and Oedipus Rex, both directed by Tyrone Guthrie, and Measure for Measure.

Gerussi became one of the leading actors in the Stratford company, playing Romeo to Julie Harris's Juliet in 1960, Ariel in The Tempest in 1962, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar in 1965. His Feste in the 1957 production of Twelfth Night was highly praised by Robertson Davies as "a masterly performance which broods over the whole play and sets its tone."

Gerussi made his New York debut as Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona. The next season he toured the US with the National Phoenix Theatre as Sir Edward Mortimer in Mary Stuart.

In addition to his continuing role as Nick, other television appearances included an Italian immigrant in "The Newcomers 1978" (1980) and in Bernard Slade's "Moving Day" (1987). He returned to the stage to play the role of Lou in Tom Dulack's Breaking Legs at Stage West Calgary, Stage West Edmonton, and the Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver (1994). In addition to his acting, Gerussi was considered a gifted wood carver. He died after suffering a heart attack.
-James V. Defelice

Bruno Gerussi was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1928, He received a scholarship for the Banff Centre for The Arts in 1947 which launched a career on stage, radio and especially CBC TV invited to join the Stratford Festival, and stayed until 1965, playing many of the major roles of the Shakespearean canon including Feste in Twelfth Night, Romeo to Julie Harris’ Juliet, Ariel in The Tempest and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. He also appeared in Michael Langham ‘s celebrated Henry V (1956). He acted in numerous stage productions in Canada and the United States before joining CBC Radio that led ultimately to television. One of his earliest TV appearances was as Feste in a 1962 TV production of Twelfth Night. After a two-year stint with his own nationally broadcast mid-morning CBC Radio show Gerussi, Words and Music, Gerussi won the lead role on the popular CBC family adventure series The Beachcombers and was star of the series for 19 years (from 1971-90). Gerussi also hosted the popular CBC cooking program Celebrity Cooks in the late 1970s. After Beachcombers, he occasionally returned to stage, acting with the Arts Club Theatre among other companies. Bruno Gerussi died on 21 November 1995 in Vancouver.

Tommy Ambrose, pop singer, composer (b at Toronto 19 Oct 1939). The creator of many of Canada's most successful advertising jingles - including those for Labatt's Blue, Smarties, Eggs get crackin', and Milk - Ambrose is also well known as a club performer and broadcaster.

Tommy Ambrose, pop singer, composer (b at Toronto 19 Oct 1939). The creator of many of Canada's most successful advertising jingles - including those for Labatt's Blue, Smarties, Eggs get crackin', and Milk - Ambrose is also well known as a club performer and broadcaster. He began his career at age 6 with gospel-singing appearances at Toronto Youth for Christ rallies and on local radio. Primarily a singer of popular music since 1957, he has been host of several CBC TV series: While We're Young (1960-61), The Tommy Ambrose Show (1961-63) and the gospel music show Celebration (1975-76), which first appeared on CBC Radio (1971-74). He created the theme songs for Global TV, City TV and for the opening of the SkyDome. He established the downtown Toronto bar, Jingles, which from 1977 until 1989 occasionally presented jazz groups. Ambrose has made several records and had his first hit in 1959, "The Magic of You." His next hit was "One Summer Song" in 1974. He had begun working with jazz musicians and recorded two albums with Doug Riley (Dr. Music). Their recording, the album Tommy Ambrose at Last, received a Juno nomination in 1981 in the Best Jazz Album category.
-Barclay McMillan, Elaine Keillor