By Paul Patskou
The addition of improved camera angles, replays, slo-motion, and other technical enhancements improved the quality of the Canadian Football League game coverage over the years. The pre-game and half-time shows on the telecasts also progressed by providing increased information and entertainment to the viewers.
The first televised pre-game show of a Grey Cup game occurred on November 29, 1952 as a 15-minute CBLT studio production that featured the prominent football figure Annis Stukus. The Northern Electric Company sponsored this program with Stukus explaining various football plays and jargon to the viewing public, some of which may have never seen a professional football game in Canada. At the time, much was made of the ‘magnetic demonstration’ board used by Stukus to educate the viewer about what they would be seeing in the Grey Cup game immediately following. The outspoken ‘Stuke’ would later become a fixture on the CTV’s CFL telecasts as the colour analyst.
After the show, the ‘televiewers’ (the term used at the time to describe the TV audience) were then taken to Varsity Stadium in Toronto where Larry O’Brien of Montreal and Norman Marshall of Hamilton conducted preliminary interviews setting the stage for the championship game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Toronto Argonauts.
The half-time show for that initial telecast consisted of interviews from the dressing room areas where O’Brien, Marshall, and Rosemary Boxer of Chatelaine magazine conducted the dialogue with well-known football personalities as well as Miss Grey Cup. In order to air these interviews, a ‘fork loader’, a tractor-like machine was used to move a camera from the field area to the bowels of Varsity Stadium for the interviews and then back again to capture the second half action.
Pre-game shows for the next few Grey Cup games consisted of film features including ‘Grey Cup Cavalcade’, ‘Football Fever’, and the popular ‘Grey Cup Matinee’ shows, which included playoff game highlights. Not surprisingly, Matinee cigarettes were the sponsor of these Matinee pre-game shows at a time prior to the banning of cigarette ads from TV broadcasts.
Preceding the Grey Cup game, the traditional ceremonial kickoff was covered. The honour usually was given to a dignitary, a Governor-General or the current Prime Minister. For the first Grey Cup from Vancouver in 1955, C. Ritchie a participant in the very first Grey Cup in 1909 capably performed the ceremonial kickoff.
The half-time shows during the 1950’s captured the marching bands that were popular in that era. As well, Hal Walker would provide the first half stats and Annis Stukus gave his expert analyses of what transpired in the game.
By the 1960’s, the pre-game shows had a number of player, coach and media interviews. Particularly interesting was the ‘Football Forecast’ show with various football personalities making their predictions on the upcoming Grey Cup game. Later in the 1960’s, the half time shows continued to have stats and game analyses but with the advent of videotape, highlights were now shown to the viewers.
Over the next few decades, the Grey Cup pre-game show increased from its original 15-minute format to a very comprehensive preview show that begins a few hours prior to the game itself.
The half time intermission shows have a panel of former CFL players proficiently dissecting and analyzing the game. The on field entertainment has evolved from the marching bands with majorettes to hugely popular entertainment acts such as Shania Twain, Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams, Sam Roberts, the Tragically Hip, The Black Eyed Peas and for the 2007 Grey Cup game, multi platinum recording artist Lenny Kravitz.
The game coverage, pre-game and half time shows became more informative and sophisticated over the years. But the only constant from the early years of televising Grey Cup games was the post-game interviews and of course the awarding of Lord Grey’s Cup.