Rai Purdy (born Horatio John Purdy; November 1910 – May 1990) was a Canadian television director and producer. He is a member of the

Canadian Association of Broadcasters The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is a trade association representing the interests of commercial radio and television broadcasters in Canada. It is co-located with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in Ottawa. It was first ...

Hall of Fame.

Early life

Rai Purdy was born Horatio John Purdy in England during November 1910 and moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in 1911. After dropping out of high school in the 1920s, Purdy became a bicycle messenger, while performing at banquets and church shows to earn extra money. In 1929, Purdy was accepted into the Hart House Theatre Company at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, studying with personalities such as Maud Hope and

Dora Mavor Moore Dora Mavor Moore, (April 8, 1888–May 15, 1979) was a Canadian actress, teacher and director who was a pioneer of Canadian theatre. Life and work Born Dora Mavor in Glasgow, Scotland, she moved with her family to Toronto, Ontario, Cana ...

. During his time at Hart House, Purdy performed in various Ontario drama festivals and worked with director

Edgar Stone Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...

. Both Purdy and Stone were interested in

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

, which was in its early stages at the time, and Stone got Purdy an audition with radio broadcaster Harry Sedgewick at

CFRB Radio CFRB (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West. CFRB is a ...

. At Sedgewick's request, the name Horatio was dropped from his name.Rai Purdy Biography
Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2009.

Radio career

At CFRB Purdy was eventually promoted to the position of head of the

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

department and established the Canadian Theatre of the Air, the first national

radio playhouse Radio is the technology of signaling and telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device ...

. Purdy also directed weekly serials, notably Penny's Diary and the thriller Out of the Night. At CFRB Purdy also established contacts with a network that would serve him well in later life. This network included comedian Alan Savage, along with future television personalities

Lorne Greene Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Ad ...

Monty Hall Monty Hall (born Monte Halparin; August 25, 1921 – September 30, 2017) was a Canadian radio and television show host who moved to the United States in 1955 to pursue a career in broadcasting. After working as a radio newsreader and sport ...

and Andrew Allan. In 1939 Purdy left CFRB to produce broadcasts for radio stations independently.2007 Hall of Fame
Canadian Association of Broadcasters. Retrieved May 21, 2009. In 1941, Purdy joined the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also res ...

as a member of the army broadcast unit, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1942. He produced weekly CBC radio shows and directed the Canadian army stage shows, which in 1943 entertained troops in England. After the war, Purdy produced shows in Toronto for a time, then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1950 to pursue a career in television with CBS Television. During his time at CBS Purdy produced and directed shows such as

The Morning Show with Dick Van Dyke and Merv Griffin ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and

Celebrity Time ''Celebrity Time'' (also known as ''The Eyes Have It'') is an American game and audience participation television series that was broadcast on ABC in 1949 - 1950 and on CBS in 1950 - 1952. The original host was Douglas Edwards. Rules The show ...

Television career

In 1957 Roy Thomson invited Purdy to help establish

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

as head of the programming department. At the time, Scottish Television was an ITV contractor and followed the trend of making cutbacks to funding, and by 1959 Purdy decided to return to Canada to work on the

CFTO CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...

television license application, where he remained as director of programs until 1961, when he resigned to set up his own programming company, Rai Purdy Productions, where he directed

People in Conflict ''People in Conflict'' was an afternoon program that appeared on CTV Television Network every weekday from October 1, 1962 through September 11, 1970. It ran for half an hour and covered two different stories of real people suffering from emotiona ...

and Magistrate's Court for CTV. Purdy also hosted

Telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause. Most telethons f ...

shows for twenty years, raising over $250,000,000 (

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

) for various

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

Variety Club Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

s and hospitals until his death in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in May 1990. In November 2007 Purdy was inducted into the

' Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdy, Rai 1910 births 1990 deaths Bicycle messengers Canadian radio personalities Canadian television directors Canadian television hosts Canadian television producers British emigrants to Canada