Messer, Don & His Islanders - Goin' to the Barn Dance Tonight

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	The Sleeping Giant Two-Step	02:21
	2	The Bedford Waltz	02:46
	3	The Southern Fiddler	02:26
	4	The Pedestal Clog	02:30
	5	Waltz of the Roses	02:29
	6	The Silver Star Breakdown	02:17

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Bonnie Lass of Headlake	02:37
	2	The Halifax Polka	02:26
	3	The Silver Waves Waltz	02:29
	4	The Maple Sugar Two-Step	02:18
	5	Archie Menzies	02:17
	6	The MacDonald's March	02:25

Photos

Videos

No Video

Information/Write-up

THE SECOND FRONT PAGE
The Sun
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, TUESDAY, OCT. 11, 1960

Jack SCOTT

I should like to draw your attention today to a sensational television program series which, if it appears here, will be shown only on an experimental basis for some considerable time but which has now reached my notice.

In my time I have been trying to discuss and analyze many forms of public entertainment in this space. I have examined the night clubs, the symphony orchestras, the ballet, the stage, the restaurants, certain of the movies, athletics, artists, and even a few family squabbles at Stanley Park.

A few days ago I was introduced to a slice of film which was entirely outside all my previous experience. In real person this film was in colour and in full dimension and it was a rehearsal scene in a Vancouver television studio.

It was a prelude to a Don Messer show. And it was an oddity beyond all expectation.

For those who don’t know about Messer’s show, let me tell you that it is a musical television show which is nationally syndicated. It has an enormous following among people who are utterly untouched by the rock’n roll syndrome.

Messer himself, who is the leader of the ensemble and chief fiddler, is hardly the sort one classifies as a towering figure in the production.

He works industriously at his fiddle. He concentrates solely on his work. He is not involved otherwise. No one else is. No one debates much with him. He doesn’t debate much with anyone. He is the leader.

The general standard of behaviour is good for this type of thing. The girls giggle a little, but they are not silly. The men remain detached. The musicians fiddle. The tap dancers tap.

Members of the program unit of B.C. Electric and CBC who were attending the rehearsal were of the same frame of mind. They were as interested as I was. No one quite knew what to make of it all.

The thing that strikes you most about the entire operation is that Charlie Chamberlain sings.

Charlie stands at the front of the stage, big stout man that he is, and he belts out his Maritime songs.

When the beginning band makes its warmup stabs at a key you can catch that first “By the sea” or “It’s a great day for the Irish” you know exactly what to expect next.

You expect that Charlie will grin and cock his head.

Charlie never says to Marg, “Marg, maybe we startle the pipes?” Marg never says to Charlie, “That wasn’t the way we did it, Charlie.” And the result is that Charlie sings and sings and sings.

All the singing was done at this rehearsal without microphones.

The men in the soggy sweaters were in another studio at the time, but they were the singers.

The singers are not in the television picture, but their songs are heard.

The girls tap, but their taps are dubbed in at a different time. The tappers are unable to do much in time with the music and quite often go skidding into the dark.

The entire concept and every note is the thought and planning of Don Messer, himself, and his Islanders, therefore, present a study of something rare.

I shall never again permit myself to make sneering remarks about Eastern tap dancers. I liked seeing them. The film version of Messer’s show, as I saw it in the studio, was a study in studio production if you like a TV studio and no monkey business.

There are some dancers on the program. They never perform any routine or story-plot story-setting. One girl does her thing entirely by herself with the greatest enthusiasm and drive and good looks in a full array of makeup and costume. I think they look like very good dancers but it is hard to decide.

The entire evening was marked with a sort of New Brunswick quality. The tappers and singers and other people arrive at the studio a short time before the shoot and then do the shoot itself.

It anyone tells you at any time you don’t have to go to New Brunswick to see what Canadians really are about, get Messer’s show into your area and you’ll have to believe it.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE VANCOUVER SUN, OCT. 11, 1960

Comments