Eric Vale, The Old Stager

[cart_machine]

[From Dick Diespecker's Column in the Province
December 12, 1949]
THE OLD STAGER
In Ontario they would be horrified. In Vancouver, nobody cares. But the fact is that a most respectable resident of Kerrisdale, a well-to-do insurance man with a fine house, leads a double life. At home he is Mr. Eric Vale, the solid citizen and prosperous businessman. But several times a week, he becomes Eric Vale, the radio actor, and once a week, he is the Old Stager on the CBC program, Leicester Square to Broadway.
He comes by it naturally, of course. He was born in Bristol, brought up in Montreal and first smelled grease paint somewhere back in 1912. By the time radio had a foothold, Eric Vale was already known for his comic songs and recitations. He has probably played in more shows in this city than anyone else . . . I say “probably” because there are far too many to count. He has appeared over the years in many Little Theatre productions, was a member of the famous old Home Gas Optimists, Kiwanis Club, Lions, Board of Trade and dozens of other shows.
Eric worked in radio back in the days when the papers announced dramatically that he was to have his voice “sent out into the ether to be picked up by hundreds of amateurs and radio fans in B.C.” A distance record for one of his broadcasts was established when a listener in Bellingham, 45 miles away, heard it clearly, a volume record was set when an Anacortes listener reported that “the broadcast can be heard 20 feet from the phones on a single tube detector.”
Those were the days when a microphone, instead of becoming the streamlined matchless piece of mechanism it is today, was a horn with a four-feet aperture. The performer stood a good healthy ten paces and let fly with all the power of his lungs.
Eric Vale saw the CBC born in Vancouver, first as CNRV, then as CRCV. This was in the middle 30s when the Studebaker Show, emceed by Eric and including among its stars, Isabelle McEwan, was required listening every day.
Since then Eric Vale has been heard by millions of listeners in Canada on scores of CBC programs, including Vancouver Theatre, The Carson Family, Magic Adventure, Immortal Music, and others. He has also appeared with great frequency on most of the series produced in the past by this writer on both CJOR locally and on the Dominion network, as well as a number of shows on CKWX.
While Eric has indeed grown up in the entertainment business, it is not true as many listeners to Leicester Square think, that he was at one time in the musical halls of England. Actually, Eric left the Old Country when he was still in knee pants. But that does not detract from his ability or his experience. He is one of the true veterans of stage, concert platform and broadcasting studio. And like all good troupers, he is always a credit to his profession.

cArtie post-script: Eric Vale died in Vancouver on March 5, 1976, age 83.

[YesterDaze]

I can still remember part of the opening theme to Leicester Square as sung by the chorus and broadcast on CBR/CBU:

"From Leicester Square to old Broadway,
We bring you the songs of yesterday....."

And I recall the names Isabelle McEwen & "Eric Vale as The Old Stager" included in the announcer's introduction. which as I remember had to "hit a post."

A friend of Jack Cullen's, Dave Dixon, had some sort of access to the CBC Sound Archives. I wonder if any airchecks have survived ....

[whonker]

You ask about the possibility of air
checks: Highly unlikely. I worked at CBU
from 1955-64 and the program went "live full
net" so no air checks were made at Vancouver,
and there'd be no need for any to be made in
Toronto. It's possible that the producer,
Jack Bingham, would requisition the
occasional one "for analysis", but....
I did record a number of episodes of
the show off-air at home, but my 3-3/4 ips
half-track tape machines have gone toes-up,
and many of the tapes have shed oxide.