Easter: from Rabbits to Rebellion
Spring has finally sprung in most of the country, and with it comes Easter. It's a time of renewal, rebirth and at least the prospect of warmer weather. Easter was always a significant holiday for Canadians with a mood both joyous and sombre, celebratory and sorrowful with themes of death and resurrection, mingled with chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies.
Much of CBC's Easter programming was religious, including sermons and meditations, choirs and Bible readings. But there was also room for lighthearted fun. The first clip was from 1945 on the CBC Radio program Sue's Notebook. Sue (no last name recorded) talked about Easter parades, Easter fashions and other springtime traditions. Then in 1949, CBC Radio's women's editor Kate Aitken couldn't resist covering the topic of Easter bonnets. But she also reported on a couple of young women who fascinated Canadians at the time- the two royal sisters: 23-year-old Elizabeth and 19-year-old Margaret. Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth in 1952.
In 1961, CBC Radio's Max Ferguson brought something completely different. Max was a true radio genius, offbeat, brilliant and original. He invented an entire repertory company of bizarre characters, all voiced by him and all appearing on his program Rawhide. On this occasion, Ferguson unearthed some what he called rare tape from the CBC Radio Archives. They featured the fictional reporter Marvin Mellobell, who'd landed an exclusive interview with the Easter Bunny.
The Easter Seals campaign raises money for children with physical disabilities to this day and has been associated with Easter for decades. In 1947, the Easter Seals society in Ontario decided to choose a child to represent all children with physical disabilities. They borrowed the name "Timmy" from Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which Tiny Tim Cratchit is a disabled child with a sweet and hopeful nature. Several prominent Canadian sports figures have lent their support to the campaign - among them champion wrestler "Whipper" Billy Watson. Watson spearheaded innovative fundraising activities like Snowarama for Easter Seals Kids that continue to this day. On a 1965 edition of the program Assignment, interviewer Brian McFarlane talks to Whipper Billy, along with that year's Timmy- Herbert Berezin. Easter Seals Ontario now has a Tammy as well as a Timmy to be its provincial ambassadors.
An important story in radio history broke on Easter Sunday in the year 1936. Nova Scotia's Moose River Gold Mine had collapsed, trapping three men 43 metres underground. Fellow miners flocked to help, and reporters from across Canada gathered to cover the dramatic rescue effort. For 56 hours straight, J. Frank Willis of the CRBC (precursor to the CBC) provided radio reports every half-hour to listeners around the world until two survivors were rescued on April 23. It was ground-breaking round-the-clock coverage of a live news story - the first of its kind in Canada.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Irish Easter Rebellion of 1916, when armed rebels fought the British in central Dublin. The leaders of the rebellion, including Patrick Pearse - a poet and the President of the rebel Government - were fighting for Irish sovereignty and the inherent right of the Irish to self-government after 800 years of British rule. The rebels were fiercely dedicated but few in number against the British army. The military operation was doomed; all seven members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council who planned the revolt were executed after the uprising.
"We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and the unfettered control of Ireland to be sovereign. The long usurpation of that right by foreign people has not extinguished that right." -- statement from the Provisional Government
'"Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart."
The songs in The Easter Rising were performed by Owen McBride and chosen by the folklorist Edith Fowke. 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the Irish Independence rebellion, and The Sunday Edition will have a full two hours from Ireland to mark the event. Tune into The Sunday Edition's special programming on Sunday, March 27 starting at 9:05 ET. The program will feature an interview with Declan Kiberd, the Irish writer, historian, and cultural scholar who helps look back at the story. Kiberd believed, above all, that the soldier poets who inspired, and were inspired by the Irish rebellion - poets like Patrick Pearse - "truly believed in the future and that everything would be sorted out. They believed that their sacrifice had meaning."
