English-Language Radio Drama: A Comparison of Central and Regional Production Units

A comparison of the work of two radio drama producers, Andrew Allan (Toronto) and Rupert Caplan (Montreal), between 194 1 and 1%1. The two are taken to represent distinct creative formations examined in relation to the complex of production elements in the context of the tensions between region and centre in Canada. Nous comparons les ouevres de deux realisateurs de dramatiques radiophoniques, celles du torontois Andrew Allan avec celles du montrealais Rupert Caplan, entre 1941 et 1961. Nous analysons leur demarche crhtrice respective en fonction de la configuration des composantes de production dans le contexte des tensions entre le centre et la p6riphCrie au Canada. Andrew Allan and Rupert Caplan were two of the major producers of radio drama aired by the CRBC and the CBC between 1932 and 1961. Allan, who began his radio career as a writer and announcer in Toronto, joined the CBC in Vancouver as a drama producer during the early 1940's. In 1943 he returned to Toronto as National Drama Supervisor and, in this role, produced English-Canada's "National Theatre of the Air". Caplan began his radio career in 1931 as an actor in the Canadian National Railway's "Romance of Canada" series produced in Montreal. He remained with the series until its conclusion in 1932. He continued with the CRBC and later became the major producer of radio drama originating from the Montreal studios of the CBC. 2 English-Language Radio DramaIJ. Jackson/P. Millen This essay addresses the tensions between centre and region in early CBC radio drama through a comparison of the work of Allan and Caplan, each representing, respectively, national and regional voices. It should be noted that Rupert Caplan's productions are considered regional in the sense that anglophone Quebec may be viewed as a cultural region within English-Canada. In general, EnglishCanadians (including Montreal anglophones) tend to define the Quebec question as a regional issue within Canada as a whole in much the same way as they would define western alienation. In contmst, Francophone Quebecers adhering to the dual-nation theory of confederation define the Quebec question as a national issue. In support of this position, a decade ago Bernard Blishen (1978:29) noted that, while 71.4% of the "non-French" in Quebec identified with "Canada first", only 32.2% identified with either the province or Canada and the province equally. For Quebec francophones the responses were 46.2% and 52.9% respectively. (see also McLeod-Arnopoulos & Clift 1980: 35-50, Stein 1982: 109-125). More recently George Woodcock (1987:32) drew attention to anglophone Montreal as itself comprising a region. He expressed the opinion that. All the really important innovative tendencies in English-Canadian literature have originated in the regions, especially if one regards anglophone Montreal as a region in its relation to the centralist axis of Toronto-Ottawa. He went on to describe the artistic community in anglophone Montreal from 1920 to 1950. This is the period in which we are interested; a period when the centralizing tendencies of national institutions, such as the CBC, were exceptionally strong. The question is, were there differences between the complex of elements creating and producing radio theawe in Montreal and Toronto during those early years? If the answer is affiative, might these differences be explained in the light of the historical tension between region and centre in Canada? Methodologically, it is important to note that although we base our analysis on the work of Allan and Caplan, we do not intend to suggest that observed differences are mere expressions of individual personality differences. Though the biography of each is crucial to the analysis, each is, in a sense, a "label" for a creative formation (or social network) nurtured in a particular field of social and political forces -one in Toronto and one in Montreal. Furthermore, our interest is not in Toronto as such, but in Toronto as the location of the centripetal forces accompanying EnglishCanadian nation building (e.g. see Nader 1975: 214-224). CANADIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATIONNol. 15 No. 1 3 THE FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS