40 years later, iconic Canadian shows remembered
Mark Ribble
Leamington Post
Many Essex County baby boomers may remember a couple of iconic Canadian TV adventure shows produced in the sixties and seventies that helped influence a lot of young lives across this vast country of ours.
The Forest Rangers was a staple on CBC from 1963 to 1965 and featured characters such as Chub, Peter and Joe Two-Rivers. It made a lasting impression on many Canadian kids.
Equally impressive was a short-lived, but critically-acclaimed show produced by the same folks, known as Adventures in Rainbow Country (AiRC).
Both shows have been shown in re-runs on obscure cable networks for years.
Adventures in Rainbow County lasted only one season, however, as CBC and Manitou Productions couldn't agree on certain aspects of production. Many had pegged the show to become a huge success. Twenty-six episodes were filmed during 1969. It was never officially cancelled. They just stopped production. The episodes originally aired during the 1970-71 season.
The half-hour drama featured a widow, played by Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny in the Bond films) and her two children, Billy and Hannah, who move into a remote northern Ontario lodge after the death of her husband, who was in the area prospecting for gold.
The show follows the adventures of Billy Williams, his sister Hannah and their native friend, Pete Gawa as they get into situations in the northern bush.
The show was filmed in and around Whitefish Falls, Ontario and a beautiful area in Lake Huron's north channel called McGregor Bay. The bay is surrounded by the quartzite peaks of the La Cloche Mountains and is officially recognized as the Rainbow Country tourism area. The show gets credit for that moniker.
Stephen Cottier played Billy Williams and he got the acting bug through some theatre work. He hails originally from South Africa and a slight British accent can be detected in the episodes.
"In 1967, my school headmaster put my name forward for a play produced by the CBC called Traveler Without Luggage," said Cottier. "I got the part."
It was shortly after that, the young man with the bushy blonde locks got hired for Rainbow Country.
"I remember how nice everyone was to me. I also remember the lost potential. The show could have been the Canadian Bonanza," he says of the decision to discontinue the series after one successful year.
Working with Lois Maxwell was the highlight of his short-lived career, which ended once the show was finished.
"I loved Lois and lived with her and her family in London while I attended theater school in 1970-71. She was very important to me and I miss her dearly," he said.
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