The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is Canada’s National Public Broadcaster for television and radio, established in 1936. The CBC has produced has produced a large number of memorable TV series over the years. The CBC headquarters is located in downtown Toronto. The lobby and shops are open to the public.
At the CBC headquarters, they operated a small museum which opened in 1994 and closed in 2017. This museum featured a number of props and memorabilia from the history of CBC and had a strong focus on CBC children’s shows. The museum was free and open to the public in the main lobby of the CBC building.
A number of artifacts used in the early days of CBC were on display. This included antique microphones and cameras. Additionally, there were videos showing footage from the early days of television.
Mr. Dressup
The most well known Canadian children’s program was Mr. Dressup, which aired from 1967 to 1996. The museum displayed Mr. Dressup’s famous Tickle Trunk along with his painting eisel and stool. On display in the hall just outside the museum was Casey and Finnegan’s Treehouse.
The Friendly Giant
The Friendly Giant was another famous Canadian children’s show. The puppets of Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe were on display in the museum. The museum displayed part of the wall and window of the castle set.
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
Mister Rogers’ Neigborhood was originally produced by CBC in Canada for several years under the name “Misterogers”, before moving to the US. The museum featured the original trolley from the show. Note the Canadian spelling of the word Neighbourhood on the trolley.
Sesame Park
One of the more recent productions at CBC was Sesame Park, a version of Sesame Street geared to Canadian audiences. Some of the muppet characters were exclusive to Sesame Park, and were on display at the museum.
Unfortunately, the CBC Museum closed in 2017. The Friendly Giant puppets had been retrieved by the actors family. The remaining artifacts were transferred to Ottawa, and may be included in the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology in the future.
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