Opportunity Knocks (Canadian radio show)
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Opportunity Knocks was a talent competition show that aired on CBC Radio from 1947 until 1957. It was created and directed by John Adaskin. The show featured a variety of performers hoping to break into the entertainment industry, including singers, instrumentalists, composers, announcers, and actors.[1]
Notable performers brought to notice by the show include Lois Marshall, Jon Vickers, Maureen Forrester, and Robert Goulet.
Format[edit]
The show was broken into three series per season, each running around 10 weeks. Weekly winners were chosen initially by studio audience response and mail-in voting, and later by a panel of judges. Those winners would compete at the end of the series for three Grand Awards, which came with contracts to appear in the 13-week summer series Opportunity Winners. Runners up received cash prizes.[2]
Auditions were usually held in the CBC Toronto studios, though Adaskin would also occasionally travel the country to hold out-of-town tryouts.[2]
Winners[edit]
Grand Award[edit]
One Grand Award winner was chosen per series, hence there were typically three awarded per year. The winners were:[2]
- 1947: Bernard Johnson (baritone), Wilfred Reed (tenor)
- 1948: Billy Meek (pop singer), Gratien Landry (tenor), Doreen Hume (soprano), Les Neal (pop singer)
- 1949: Betty McCaskill (soprano), Marthe Létourneau (soprano), Kalle Ruusunen (baritone)
- 1950: Marie-Germaine Leblanc (soprano), Charles Rush (baritone), Joseph F. Rainer (tenor)
- 1951: Fernand Martel (baritone), Morris Kronick (piano), William Blaine Williams (baritone)
- 1952: Angela Antonelli (soprano), Sylvia Grant (soprano), Marguerite Lavergne (soprano)
- 1953: Roma Butler (soprano), David Brewster (piano), Paul Norrback (accordion)
- 1954: Lesia Zubrack (soprano), Janine Gingras (pop singer), Anne McCahey (piano)
- 1955: François Auffray (pop singer), Jeannette Franklin (pop singer), Gordie Fleming (accordion)
- 1956: Ruth Watson Henderson (piano)
Composers[edit]
Separate awards for composers were given starting in 1950, replacing the announcers category. The following composers won first prizes or honorable mentions:[2]
- Murray Adaskin (1953)
- Maurice Blackburn (1951)
- Alexander Brott (1954)
- Johnny Burt (1951, 1953)
- Harry Freedman (1951)
- Hector Gratton (1952)
- Calvin Jackson (1952)
- Sandy Jones (1954)
- Walter Kaufmann (1950, 1951, 1953)
- Neil McKay (1954)
- Art Morrow (1951)
- Jean Papineau-Couture (1952)
- Godfrey Ridout (1951)
- John Weinzweig (1950)
- Healey Willan (1952)
Other notable contestants[edit]
The following individuals competed on Opportunity Knocks and did not win, but went on to significant music careers:[2]
References[edit]
- ^ Kingson, Walter; Cowgill, Rome (December 1950). "Domestic Broadcasting in Canada" (PDF). Hollywood Quarterly. 5 (2): 117–126. doi:10.2307/1209441. JSTOR 1209441.
- ^ a b c d e "'Opportunity Knocks' | the Canadian Encyclopedia".