Radio Marco - Revision history

Jon Preddle at 02:19, 15 April 2019

2019-04-15T02:19:31Z

Jon Preddle at 00:32, 20 January 2019

2019-01-20T00:32:21Z

Jon Preddle at 01:47, 10 November 2017

2017-11-10T01:47:54Z

Jon Preddle at 20:59, 18 March 2016

2016-03-18T20:59:58Z

Jon Preddle at 20:58, 18 March 2016

2016-03-18T20:58:32Z

Jon Preddle at 20:55, 3 January 2016

2016-01-03T20:55:53Z

Jon Preddle at 04:50, 1 November 2015

2015-11-01T04:50:58Z

Jon Preddle at 02:14, 1 November 2015

2015-11-01T02:14:33Z

Jon Preddle at 00:01, 23 October 2015

2015-10-23T00:01:20Z

Jon Preddle at 09:00, 18 October 2015

2015-10-18T09:00:36Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:19, 15 April 2019
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	'''''Research and Text © by Randy Howell and Jon Preddle'''''		'''''Research and Text © by Randy Howell and Jon Preddle'''''
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		+	[[Category:Canada]]
	__NOTITLE__		__NOTITLE__

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 None of the available publications identified the full cast. Only the ''CBC Times'' identified who was in the lead role: '''Derek Ralston'''. (Since we don't know the actual narrative structure for the play, Ralston's role may have been that of the narrator or story teller, and not as Marco himself.)
-Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child performer, then as an adult he featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
+Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on '''3 July 1926'''. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child performer, then as an adult he featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
 He would have been 29 when he recorded the Marco Polo play.
@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.  ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).
-Ralston was still acting in 1982. However, he died only a few years later (the exact date is not known, but it was prior to 1985) while undergoing surgery in a Vancouver hospital.
+Ralston was still acting in 1982. However, a year later, aged only 57 he died in a Toronto hospital where he was being treated for a stomach condition. His death was reported in the '''5 June 1983''' edition of the Vancouver newspaper ''The Province''.
 *[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3334600/ Derek Ralston IMDb]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 The author of the [[Marco Polo]] serial for '''Doctor Who''' was John Lucarotti. He remembers the [[Marco Polo]] serial as a defining point for the young series:
 :*"In  [[Marco Polo]]  Bill (Hartnell) found his direction and crystallised his performance with the authority and stature he brought to it for the next three years." - John Lucarotti, quoted in ''The Doctor Who File''  by Peter Haining (W.H. Allen: 1986).
@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 None of the available publications identified the full cast. Only the ''CBC Times'' identified who was in the lead role: '''Derek Ralston'''. (Since we don't know the actual narrative structure for the play, Ralston's role may have been that of the narrator or story teller, and not as Marco himself.)
-Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
+Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child performer, then as an adult he featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
 He would have been 29 when he recorded the Marco Polo play.
@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.  ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).
-Ralston was still acting on stage during the 1980s. We do not currently know if he is still alive; he would celebrate his 90th birthday in 2016.
+Ralston was still acting in 1982. However, he died only a few years later (the exact date is not known, but it was prior to 1985) while undergoing surgery in a Vancouver hospital.
 *[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3334600/ Derek Ralston IMDb]
 *[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19490618&id=HDowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fdwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2777,5537316&hl=en Derek Ralston Biography (Ottawa Citizen, 18 June 1949)]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:59, 18 March 2016
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	Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.		Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
		+
		+	He would have been 29 when he recorded the Marco Polo play.

	Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer\|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa. ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).		Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer\|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa. ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 None of the available publications identified the full cast. Only the ''CBC Times'' identified who was in the lead role: '''Derek Ralston'''. (Since we don't know the actual narrative structure for the play, Ralston's role may have been that of the narrator or story teller, and not as Marco himself.)
-Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was 21 years old in April 1948, so was born in 1926 or 1927, but we do not know whether or not he is still alive. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor.
+Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was born in Vancouver, on 3 July 1926. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor. Derek began his long career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (his IMDb entry lists a few of these TV appearances) -- and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time -- as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
 Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.  ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).
-Ralston was still acting on stage during the 1980s. If he is still with us, he would be in his early 90s.
+Ralston was still acting on stage during the 1980s. We do not currently know if he is still alive; he would celebrate his 90th birthday in 2016.
 *[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19490618&id=HDowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fdwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2777,5537316&hl=en Derek Ralston Biography (Ottawa Citizen, 18 June 1949)]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:55, 3 January 2016
Line 6:		Line 6:

	The author of the [[Marco Polo]] serial for '''Doctor Who''' was John Lucarotti. He remembers the [[Marco Polo]] serial as a defining point for the young series:		The author of the [[Marco Polo]] serial for '''Doctor Who''' was John Lucarotti. He remembers the [[Marco Polo]] serial as a defining point for the young series:
−	:*"In [[Marco Polo]] Bill (Hartnell) found his direction and crystallised his performance with the authority and stature he brought to it for the next three years." - John Lucarotti, quoted in ''The Doctor Who File'' by Peter Haining (W.H. Allen: 1986).	+	:*"In [[Marco Polo]] Bill (Hartnell) found his direction and crystallised his performance with the authority and stature he brought to it for the next three years." - John Lucarotti, quoted in ''The Doctor Who File'' by Peter Haining (W.H. Allen: 1986).

@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. He was 21 years old in April 1948, so was born in 1926 or 1927, but we do not know whether or not he is still alive. His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother Ivy was also an actor.
-Born in Vancouver, Ralston began his career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
+Born in Vancouver, Ralston began his career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s (and as such there is a very good chance that he and Sydney Newman had crossed paths during this time), as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre. .
 Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.  ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).

@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 Biographical information on Ralston is very thin. We have been unable to find even his year of birth, or when he died or whether he is still alive.  His father was Canadian actor John Ralston, and his mother was also an actor.
-Born in Vancouver (assuming he was in his 30s by the time he played Marco, this would have been circa 1923), Ralston began his career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
+Born in Vancouver (assuming he was in his late 20s by the time he played Marco, this would have been circa 1926), Ralston began his career as a child actor, and then as an adult featured in a vast number of CBC radio and television plays in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as becoming a regular fixture of Canadian theatre.
 Well-known actor [[Wikipedia:Christopher Plummer|Christopher Plummer]] remembers him as a great light comedian with a Cary Grant command of stage props, plus he was one of his best drinking pals from 1949-50 while they were both at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa.  ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=lYC9TYz3fUQC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&source=bl&ots=SBZHBBFhfP&sig=MHg74ihPxJb3znnSbKlFxNo5Wr4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIm_KXodqYyAIVVheSCh3rHQdS In Spite of Myself]). Amelia Hall also remembers Ralston in her own memoirs ([https://books.google.ca/books?id=YHQbrhIjHmUC&pg=PA108&dq=Christopher+Plummer+memoir+derek+ralston&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMItIbh0pilyAIV4iWmCh0k8gbZ#v=onepage&q=Christopher%20Plummer%20memoir%20derek%20ralston&f=false Life Before Stratford]).

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<span style="font-size:200%;">'''Before Doctor Who''': The Three Journeys of Marco Polo</span>
+<span style="font-size:200%;">'''Before Doctor Who''':</span>
 {{TOC right}}
 Among the early episodes of '''Doctor Who''', perhaps one of the most missed is the fourth serial, the seven part [[Marco Polo]] that was first aired in the spring of 1964. Unfortunately, the entire serial is missing but complete off-air audio recordings exist.
@@ Line 769: / Line 771: @@
 CBC Radio programming in the 1950s was mostly non-commercial. '''"The Three Journeys of Marco Polo"''' appeared only on the Trans-Canada  network which included all the radio stations owned by the CBC. As '''"Three Journeys…"''' was not distributed on the Dominion network (made up of privately owned stations affiliated with the CBC) then in all likelihood the serial was classified as a "sustaining programme" (i.e. it was non-commercial) and transmitted with no advertising breaks. CBC Radio did carry commercial programming but it usually went out to both the Trans Canada and Dominion networks.
-To serve different regions of Canada, the programme was likely distributed on [[Wikipedia:Electrical transcription|Electrical Transcription Discs]] (magnetic tape was not in common use yet). An electrical Transcription Disc is similar to a LP vinyl record, both have a recording speed of  33 1/3 RPM but a TD is much larger with a diameter of 16 inches compared to 12 inches for a LP. A Transcription Disc is considered to be a much higher quality audio recording than a LP with a play-time of 15 minutes per side. (These are sometimes also known as [[Wikipedia:Acetate disc|Acetate discs]], although Transcription discs are specific to radio broadcasting.)
+To serve different regions of Canada, the programme was likely distributed on [[Wikipedia:Electrical transcription|Electrical Transcription Discs]]. An electrical Transcription Disc is similar to a LP vinyl record, both have a recording speed of  33 1/3 RPM but a TD is much larger with a diameter of 16 inches compared to 12 inches for a LP. A Transcription Disc is considered to be a much higher quality audio recording than a LP with a play-time of 15 minutes per side. (These are sometimes also known as [[Wikipedia:Acetate disc|Acetate discs]], although Transcription discs are specific to radio broadcasting.)
 Within a region, radio programming was distributed by either wire line or microwave radio link facilities so that programming could go out live to several cities at once. For example, for stations with a Monday air date the local times were 4:30pm for station CBU Vancouver and 5:30pm for both CBX Edmonton and CBK Regina. This was in fact a simultaneous transmission for these three stations with local times varying due to different time zones. Similarly, for stations in Ontario and Quebec the start time was typically 5:30pm on Tuesdays but for three stations in Atlantic Canada the local time was an hour later at 6:30pm due to different time zones. (See airdates tables above.)