Today was a holiday so CBC radio played some old reruns.
The one that caught my ear was Stuart Mclean reading one of his stories.
Stuart Mclean was a well loved Canadian author and story teller. He had a long running radio show on CBC . One of the features of the show was Stuart reading one of his stories.
The stories were based on a family Dave, Morley, Sam (son) and Stephany (daughter). Each of the family had some huge inadequate parts of character and ability. Each one of them also had some tremendous strong abilities and character. Stuart's stories wound around the abilities and weaknesses of this family. There were also people in the neighborhood that the family interacted with. There was Mary Turlington, who was a know it all. Carl Lowbeer, who was a retired engineer and was a little lonely. Kenny Wong, who made and sold meat pies and was a friend of Daves. Their was Arthur the dog. There was a whole neighborhood for this family to interact with.
Today's story was suitable for the season. Morley, an inept gardener all her life, was cleaning up her garden. When Sam was 8 or 9 Morley had tried to interest him in gardening. She bought him a special little Tonka back hoe trying to interest him in gardening. It didn't work. Today she was cleaning up under the peony and hit something with her trowel. She pulled and it was The little digger she had given to Sam for his gardening.
Mclean wrote hundreds of these stories and they are on You Tube.
So today when I heard Stuart reading this story there was a nostalgic moment or two.
Very sadly Stuart died a few years ago . I miss his readings and stories. I do have two of his books.
Check on You Tube and listen to some of his stories.
Maybe he thought it might grow into a full-size back-hoe!
ReplyDeleteThat was a line used in the story!
DeleteStuart was much loved in this house. We attended two of his live shows, one in Sarnia when we lived there, and one in Ottawa, shortly after we moved here in '05.
ReplyDeleteI went to one of his shows. We rarely missed him.
DeleteI haven’t considered those stories in eons. I will check them out.
ReplyDeleteHe's been gone long enough so that we forget.
DeleteHe was a gifted storyteller and educator. I used his story CDs with my students. They loved the turkey story. My Muslim students laughed over his Christmas antics, too, especially the one with the immigrant family trying to fit in.
ReplyDeleteGood thinking to use these stories.
DeleteHe sounds like he was a very inspiring writer. I'll see if I can find some of his stories for my Kindle. Thanks, Red.
ReplyDeleteStuart was funny.
DeleteYour Stuart McLean sounds like our Garrison Keillor and his fictional town of Lake Woebegone. I loved to listen to that each Sunday afternoon. I'll listen to some of McLean's recordings tonight when I have more time.
ReplyDeleteYes, very much like Keillor. I've listened to Keillor and read some of his books.
DeleteI had a landlady, passed away some years back, who liked his stories.
ReplyDeleteWe never missed his Sunday morning show.
DeleteI haven't ever heard of Stuart McLean before. Reading the comment from Debby and her words about Garrison Keillor made me want to hear Stuart. Some people really do tell such wonderful stories.
ReplyDeleteI liked Keillor and read some of his books.
DeleteSounds like a good story teller.
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing us to Stuart Mclean. I will definitely check out his stories on YouTube. The one you described sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThe best story is the Christmas turkey.
DeleteI'm planning to dive into youtube later today so I'll check him out
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy his stories. His many characters keep his stories going.
DeleteWe enjoyed Stuart Mclean too!
ReplyDeleteHe was a master at telling a good story. His Sunday morning show had more than just the story.
DeleteI was not familiar with McLean. My "guy" was Jean Shepherd and then later Garrison Keillor.
ReplyDeleteI liked Keillor. I read a few of his books. I liked the one about him on the student radio and no one was listening.
DeleteThanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteAmericans should like him.
DeleteI sure enjoyed many of the old radio shows but didn’t know about The Vinyl Café. Thanks for the introduction to Stuart McLean.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids , there was only radio. We had to use our imaginations.
Deleteradio i loved this thing so much for earlier part of my life was full of what was presented on radio so it is always nice to read or hear about it.
ReplyDeleteStuart sounds great story teller indeed . our national radio used to present story telling once in a week and they were from master piece written by our literary personalities .i miss those days
I read a few of Stuart McLean's books while on my daily transit commute to work. On numerous occasions, I could not contain my laughter and ended up with a bus load of people looking at me and smiling!
ReplyDeleteThere were many times that you had to chuckle about Stuart's stories.
DeleteThanks for sharing Stuart Mclean, I was not familiar with his radio show. Take care, have a great day!
ReplyDeleteI hope you give Stuart a listen. My favorite is the Christmas turkey.
DeleteI'am glad to read the whole content of this blog and am very excited,Thank you for sharing good topic.
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