| Canadian playwright Donald Jack's script-writing for stage, radio, and TV |
During the 50s-80s, Donald Jack also wrote a number of stage plays, radio plays, and television scripts, for such programmes as General Motors Presents, On Camera, The Unforeseen, CBC Folio, and Playdate. His science fiction short story "Where Did Rafe Madison Go?" was broadcast on TV in Canada and the US under the title Breakthrough, and his play The Canvas Barricade (which won a 1961 Canadian play-writing competition sponsored by the Globe & Mail) was the first Canadian play to be performed on the main stage at Stratford, and featured Zoë Ada Caldwell as Sonja Downfahl. |
Stage plays by Donald Jack |
| Humbly, for Fyodor (1953) |
| Minuet for Brass Band (1953) A 3-act play first performed at the Canadian Theatre School in Toronto, founded by Sterndale Bennett. |
| Flamacue Serenade (?) |
The Canvas Barricade (1961) A 2-act comedy about an artist defying materialism. Set on the Quebec-Ontario border, and in Toronto. Performed in 1961 at the Stratford Festival, where it was the first original Canadian play performed. Published 2007. |
| Exit Muttering (1962) A 2-act comedy first performed at the Grenville Street Playhouse, directed by Hugh Webster, with set design by Vincent Vaitiekunas. Published 1974. |
| Reckless (1969/1971) |
| Folly (1985) Alternate titles: Love in Business Hours; Pension Play. |
| Blast (1988) Comedy about espionage at an English country house. |
| Crash (?) A 2-act comedy about a timpanist who inherits a funeral home. First performed at the Ontario Playwrights' Showcase. |
Original Television Scripts by Donald Jack (incomplete list) not including adaptations |
| The Ice Men (?) |
| Secret Catch (?) |
| Undermined (BROADCAST DATE:1959-02-08 - 21:00:00) For GENERAL MOTORS PRESENTS A story of the Great War in which a group of Canadian soldiers face annihilation during a German counter-attack. |
 The Beard (Mar 17, 1958) For the programme On Camera. A play about an egotistical actor whose handsome face is hidden by a
full beard. At the request of the drama director he shaves it off, only
to see that his once-handsome face has changed completely. Features
Derek Ralston. |
| The Proof Machine (1958) For the programme On Camera |
 Breakthrough (Oct 5, 1958) For the programme General Motors Presents. Based on the short story "Where Did Rafe Madison Go?", originally published in Maclean's Magazine in 1958, and republished in the 2006 edition of Hitler Versus Me. |
| The Monument (1958) For the programme The Unforeseen BROADCAST DATE:1958-11-06 - 20:30:00 A sports-car enthusiast takes movies of a race meet and sends the film to be processed. When he gets the film back the opening shots show the sports car race but suddenly the film switches to scenes of a funeral, and the film ends with a close-up of a tombstone with his name on it. Cast: Martin Andrews, Lynne Gorman, Norman Roland, Ivor Jackson, Kathleen Roland, Jo Kirkpatrick, Charles Kehoe, Billy Potton, Wesley O'Murphy. |
| Music in the Wall (May 8, 1960) For the programme General Motors Presents, starring Kate Reid, James Doohan and Hayword Morse. |
Surprise, Surprise (1961) For the programme General Motors Presents BROADCAST DATE:1961-03-05 - 21:00:00 A television comedy by Donald Jack. A dogmatic Englishman resents his wife's sudden "emancipation", the result of her three-month visit with her daughter in Canada. Cast: Tony Van Bridge, Elizabeth Cole, Gillie Fenwick, Anne Butler, Orest Ulan, Bill Glover, Linda Ballantyne. |
The Looking Glass World (1962) For the programme Playdate
BROADCAST DATE: 1962-10-18 - 21:00:00 A one hour drama written by Donald Jack. As the aircraft carrier, Orpheus, approches an area where a naval research ship mysteriously disappeared two years before, loses contact with the outside. One of the officers, whose wife was aboard the research vessel, believes the carrier has entered another world. Cast: Ted Follows, Austin Willis, Irene Mayeska, Murray Westgate, Frank Perry, George Luscombe, D'Arcie Guthrie, Art Lorne, Victoria Mitchell and Al Pearce. |
Hatch's Blunder Buss (1966) For the programme Hatch's Mill (First series filmed in colour by the CBC - created by George Salverson, produced & directed by George
McCowan). BROADCAST DATE:1967-11-28 - 21:00:00 Oldcastle, a veteran of Wellington's army, is thrown off his farm by a corrupt land company agent and retaliates by turning highwayman and stealing the official's purse. Silence and Saul conspire to recover the agent's money before Oldcastle is apprehended for the theft. Regular Cast: Robert Christie, Cosette Lee, Marc Strange and Sylvia Feigel Guest Cast: Tony van Bridge, Norman Welsh, Donald Ewer, Leo Phillips, Jonathan White, Joe Austin and Ruth Springford. |
| Shivaree (1966) For the programme Hatch's Mill BROADCAST DATE:1967-11-21 - 21:00:00 Kathleen Killan, an Irish woman of charm, stirs up conflicting passions in the pioneer community. Regular Cast: Robert Christie, Cosette Lee, Marc Strange and Sylvia Feigel. Guest Cast: Patricia Collins, William Nunn, Alan Benson, Jonathan White, Joyce Gordon, Chris Wiggins and Peg McNamara. |
| Temperance (1966) For the programme Hatch's Mill BROADCAST DATE:1967-12-12 - 21:00:00 A cabin-raising bee for the newly arrived Peppermullers goes haywire when the neighbours discover that the newcomers are teetotalers and will not provide the usual liquid refreshment for the evening. Regular Cast: Robert Christie, Cosette Lee, Marc Strange and Sylvia Feigel. Guest Cast: Tony Kramreither, Irena Mayeska, Leslie Yeo, Leo Phillips and Anthony Parr. |
| Dream of Gold (1979) For the programme The Overlanders |
 A Case of Fraud (Jan 20, 1958) For the programme On Camera. A vindictive landlady charges her happy-go-lucky artist tenant with
passing bad cheques. When it is revealed that the artist is completely
innocent of any crime, court officials attempt to find out why the
landlady took him to court. Andrew Allan, producer. |