R. I. P DON HARRON

At Christmas time, I posted Don Harron as Charlie Farquharson reciting his version of "The Night Before Christmas." I found an educational film about the Canadian forest service featuring Harron as Charlie. This contains the kind of humor that made this character popular in Canada.



This is the trailer for a Man from UNCLE movie called The Spy With My Face, in which Don Harron play Agent Kitridge. A Thrush agent disguised as Napolean Solo kills Kitridge with a cyanide cigarette when he realizes that he is not the real Solo. That scene is in this trailer.

Also on YouTube is a eight part interview with Don Harron about his long career in Canada and even his rather candid remarks about his work on the TV show Hee Haw. He also tells how he borrowed Charlie's famous wool sweater from future famous movie director Norman Jewison and never returned it. Harron was very interesting guy.

CHARLIE FARQUHARSON READS YOUR NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

For better or for worse, there has in the past few years a renewed interest in the TV show, Hee Haw. The variety show was a mix of rural comedy and country music. The shows made no bones about using old jokes, but there is another interesting fact to consider. While shows such as Laugh-In (which inspired Hee Haw), Saturday Night Live and SCTV, introduced recurring characters created specifically for those shows, Hee Haw featured established characters.

Sarah Colley started performing as Minnie Pearl in the 30s. Louis Jones and Dave Akeman became Grandpa Jones and String Bean, respectfully, in the 40s. George Lindsey brought Goober from the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD and Gailard Sartain brought JerryRalphRVBobBeavis from his The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting, a Tulsa horror movie show.

Actor Donald Harron created the character of Charlie Farquharson for Canadian TV in the 50s. Here is his take on "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

ABOUT THAT TV LITTLE MERMAID PHOTO

If you were wondering about the identity of the two performers in the photo from a 60s TV adaptation of the Little Mermaid, I'm going to give the answers.

The lady is Shirley Temple Black, who passed away earlier this week. Here is the New York Times obit, which is one of the few obits I found that featured photos of Miss Temple in her later years.

The leading man is Canadian actor/comedian Donald Harron. I played several small roles on TV in the 60s, such as the sarcastic, bearded Australian agent Kit Kitridge on The Man from UNCLE.

However, he is most famous in both America and his native Canada as Charlie Farquharson (above), a farmer/historian who talked about politics, society and his neighbors, while mangling the English language. He played the character on Hee Haw for 18 years, although in this interview on You Tube, he gives the impression that he wasn't happy with his work on that show. I only recently found out Charlie had a snooty city cousin, Valerie, played by Harron in drag. There is a video of Charlie explaining global warming and why he voted for the Green Party that is funnier than the stuff he did on Hee Haw.

BTW, this was from The Shirley Temple Storybook TV show and it is on DVD. The photo above is a publicity photo from that 50s - 60s TV series.