''After Hours'' was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

variety television series which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 1953. The series was an early career effort by

John Aylesworth John Bansley Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian television writer, producer, comedian, and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show ''Hee Haw'', which appeared on network tel ...

and

Frank Peppiatt Frank Peppiatt (March 19, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was a Canadian (naturalized American) television producer and screenwriter, considered a pioneer of the variety show genre. His credits included ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour''. Most notably, ...

who later produced ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 199 ...

''.

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 A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s, featured songs by performers such as

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) 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 ...

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...

and

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

. The series was hosted by Rick Campbell and announced by Mike Darrow. 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 airing on Tuesdays and 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.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:After Hours (Canadian Tv Series) CBC Television original programming 1950s Canadian variety television series 1950s Canadian sketch comedy television series 1953 Canadian television series debuts 1953 Canadian television series endings Black-and-white Canadian television shows