Village Squire, 1980-06, Page 11senior grades, exercised her dramatic talents in public speaking
contests.
This spring, Miss Radcliffe is leaving the comfort of her
Cabbagetown home to tour with Spring Thaw 140, the revue of
history and politics that's as Canadian as "eh", maple syrup and
Harold Ballard.
The stars who have come up through the ranks of Spring Thaw
since its birth 32 years ago include the likes of Robert Goulet,
Don Harron, Dave Broadfoot, Dinah Christie and even
Hollywood director Norman Jewison.
CANADIAN TRADITION
The show opened in 1948, as a last minute replacement for a
play that didn't arrive on time in the basement theatre of the
Royal Ontario Museum. Before the show died about 10 years
ago, it was making coast-to-coast tours, and was seen by 100,000
people annually who laughed at the foibles of being Canadian.
While many critics labelled Spring Thaw just plain "silly",
theatregoers loved the show - and it was soon as traditional a
sign of spring as tulips peeking through the show. The "sacred
cows" which the show poked fun at included the Mounties, the
British royal family, assorted prime ministers, sex education,
religion and the Canada Council. In the last year or two of the
original show, scenes and dialogue became racier.
Mayor Moore, the show's original producer -director, bought
the name and copyright for S15,000 in1964. When the show died
in 1971, Mr. Moore bided his time. He didn't release the rights
again 'until this year and still receives $50 rent per performance
for the name.
A LITTLE FRAZZLED
That explains how the 23rd Spring Thaw revue opened in St.
John's Nfld. earlier this spring, and why Rosemary Radcliffe,
and other cast members Mary Ann McDonald, Brenda Bradley,
Marvin Karon and Patrick Young, look just a little frazzled at our
Sunday morning interview in a Guelph motel.
The six member cast and their crew have been on the road for
12 straight weeks, playing high school gyms in Kapuskasing,
Timmins and Kenora and auditoriums and theatres in Winnipeg,
Vancouver and Calgary. As Rosemary said, the tour "all sort of
blurs into one day."
Rosemary herself isn't exactly a newcomer to Spring Thaw -
she was also in the 1970 production. But this year, it's a much
different revue. Politically the show, which is good, clean fun,
suitable for aging Aunt Ethel or tenderhearted young Timmy,
reviews The Trudeau Years - and The Clark Days.
The writers and composers who provided some of the off -beat
skits and music for the show include Rosemary Radcliffe, jazz
musician Moe Kaufman, cartoonist Ben Wicks, and other
members of the cast.
Some of the show's skits, like The Good Canadian, a mock
sermon, can be adapted to bring in local place names, whether
playing in Grand Bend or a Newfoundland outport.
LONELY, LONG
Miss Radcliffe said a tour is "lonely and long", and cast
members become "almost like lovers" in the sense that they
have to bolster each others' egos and keep up spirits while
they're away from any kind of ordered, settled existence.
Local aud°ences can see Rosemary and fellow cast members in
Spring Thaw '80 at Theatre London on June 1 and 2 or at the
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend on Sunday afternoon,
June 8.
When the cast have completed 120 performances of the show
at Ottawa's National Arts Centre, in July, Rosemary plans to
rest, relax and hopefully do some travelling.
KING'S GIRLFRIEND
While it's hard to pinpoint a highlight of Rosemary's career,
certainly one of her most "visible" periods was when she was Al
Waxman's cute girlfriend on the King of Kensington - a part she
played as a redhead.
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VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1980 PG. 9