Canada's First Female DJ Passes

Stories and info about those no longer involved in the industry

Canada's First Female DJ Passes

Postby jon » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:11 pm

Whether you knew her as Jennie Diment or Jennie Wong, she had an amazing career. She was Canada's first female DJ and the country's first Chinese-Canadian DJ, at CKMO Vancouver in 1948. In Edmonton, she spent a quarter century as a legendary makeup artist, on staff at CBXT-TV, and also for local schools and theatre groups.

Jennie died on June 2nd, at age 79. I'm working on the Edmonton Broadcasters Club page for her: http://edmontonbroadcasters.com/ebc/col ... nt-jennie/

Here is this morning's Edmonton Journal article about her life:

Putting the best face on all she met
Makeup artist was a virtuoso with paint and powder -not to mention personality
By Liz Nicholls, Edmonton Journal
June 9, 2011

With the passing last week of Jennie Diment at 79, in the cruel aftermath of a stroke, the Edmonton theatre community has lost not only a bona fide artist and mentor, but also one of its genuine light sources. You'll know the dimensions of the loss if you ever saw that beacon smile.

She was a makeup whiz. But it was more than her virtuosity with paint and powder that set Diment apart. Whole generations of Edmonton's most fragile egos -actors, hoofers, singers, opera divas, TV personalities -passed through Diment's makeup chair before they went on stage or screen. And they emerged feeling somehow more confident, more relaxed, more ready, Mr. DeMille, for their close-up.

"She applied layers of ease along with the makeup," says theatre reviewer Colin MacLean, who worked with Diment for years at CBC. "I've never in my life met anyone like her."

Diment always had a certain originality about her. At 17, for example, she became the first Chinese-Canadian disc jockey in Vancouver after she won a contest judged by a panel that included Frank Sinatra. Her prize was a half-hour radio spot called Jennie's Juke Joint, Saturday afternoons on CKMO.

When Diment arrived in Edmonton, it was the '50s, long before the age of professional theatre arrived here. Everything was "amateur" in the original and glowing sense of that word: theatre for the love of it. And Diment did makeup for every company in town, from Theatre for Children to Edmonton Light Opera, Edmonton Musical Theatre to Walterdale. She did Edmonton Opera makeup for decades, which represents a lot of Max Factor on a lot of jittery sopranos, to say the least.

At first Diment worked for theatre makeup pioneer Jerry Baril. Then in 1967 she bought his business. Longtime friend Loie Unwin, whose dad was the legendary theatre producer/director Jack Unwin, remembers being 12 years old and "head of props" for a Funny Girl when she first met Diment.

"She made her living at CBC; her real passion was theatre."

In the online guest book attached to Diment's obituary, "so many people have written about her kindness, her sense of humour," says Unwin. "She saw the best in everybody. . Hers was the last touch before you went onstage. She read people so well; she'd calm you down before you went on if that's what you needed. If you needed to laugh, she'd do that. If you needed silence, she'd know. ."

Actor/director Judy Unwin, who'd later become artistic director of Walterdale and played many a ringleted Klondike heroine, first met Diment doing roles at Theatre For Children. "She was the most positive person I ever met." Dressing rooms flooded; ingenues freaked out. Diment never lost her consoling good humour.

There are many testimonials to Diment's quick wit. One comes from MacLean, who hosted the local CBC Radio morning show when it moved from the music to the news/ talk format. Diment was the so-called "weather girl," he laughs. "I call it 'How Jennie became a star.' . I'd say something and she'd make something funny out of it, without even trying. . She sure made me look good."

Years before, when MacLean had hosted the CBC TV show Reach For the Top, Diment did his makeup.

"We invented Trivial Pursuit," MacLean says, of their banter. "Who's the fourth bad guy from the left in High Noon? She'd always know!"

Loie Unwin agrees. "She had a huge memory for trivia. . We've lost our library, our theatre archive. She'd always remember who was in what show."

The showbiz trouper had wanted a "wrap party," not a wake. It's pending, some time in July. But before that, at the Sterling Awards gala June 27, she'll be getting the Sterling for "contribution to Edmonton theatre."

The Diment spirit smiles on.
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jon
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