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Posted

Fred Penner just couldn't stay away, and his audience couldn't either

Beloved children's entertainer the subject of new documentary for CBC TV titled Take Good Care of Each Other
fred-penner-smiling.jpg

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/fred-penner-just-couldnt-stay-away-and-audiences-couldnt-either-1.5188186

Take Good Care Of Each Other

Airs Sept. 14, 2019
7 p.m. on CBC Manitoba

Watch Online Now

Fred Penner's famous rendition of the infectious children's song The Cat Came Back might have never existed if it weren't for the generosity of a random stranger.

In the late 1970s, Penner was the composer and musician for a children's dance theatre company called Sundance. One day, after a performance, a doctor and his wife approached him and asked if he had an album.

He didn't. The couple offered to pay for him to record one.

That album was The Cat Came Back, and it went on to sell over 100,000 units, earning platinum certification in Canada and launching Penner's career.

"It all just seemed to come together in the most powerful way and I've never looked back. That was clearly the turning point of my life," Penner said.

"It immediately had this quality of engaging with the audience."

Penner's celebrated career is the subject of a new documentary for CBC television titled Take Good Care of Each Other (the name of another of his well-known songs). The documentary examines the life of the beloved children's entertainer through interviews with him, his family, friends and former colleagues.

"The concept of taking good care of each other is so fundamental in our society, in our world," Penner said in an interview for the documentary.

"We get lost in our own lives and we forget about the value of really focusing on the people in your life. We're all in this together and if we don't take care of each other, it's doing a disservice to ourselves, ultimately."

The Cat Came Back was released in 1979, around the time fellow Canadian children's performers Raffi and Sharon, Lois & Bram were rising in popularity.

Together, these performers have had a lasting impact on children's entertainment and music.

"It started exploding in Canada. This was a Canadian phenomenon," said Bram Morrison of Sharon, Lois & Bram.

"I'm not saying there wasn't anybody in the States doing it, but it was the Canadians who brought it forward."

Penner said it was all about timing that can't be replicated in the age of digital streaming, YouTube and video games.

"There was such a hunger for good entertainment for kids. It was pretty amazing," said Penner, who starred in CBC's Fred Penner's Place for 13 seasons, from 1985 to 1997.
Fellow children's entertainer Al Simmons has another take on Penner's success.

"The thought that somebody gave him a whack of money to record an album. How does that happen?" said Simmons, Penner's former bandmate.

"Fred's just got some angel on his shoulder."

Odette Heyn, Penner's wife from 1981 to 2011, mother to their four children and his former partner at Sundance as director, choreographer and dancer, said Penner was a trailblazer in the industry.

"We're really talking about the pioneers. It's Raffi, Sharon, Lois & Bram, and Fred," Heyn said. "They really were the pioneers of what family entertainment looked like for almost 30 years.

'Quite a legacy'

Penner's television show ended in 1997, when he was 51. He decided to reconnect with his fan base with a tour of the universities and bars where many of them were now hanging out.

"I watched this sea of 35-year-olds transform from these cool Toronto hipsters to these children," said Penner's wife, theatre director Rae Ellen Bodie, "running around and dancing and laughing and crying, and they were so engaged and so in love with him."

Penner crossed Canada, doing performances with no new music and without adapting his songs for adult audiences.

He played his classic children's songs in signature Penner style, with a cash bar.

"He hasn't altered his show into something to attract 20-year-olds. He's Fred Penner and they're going to see him," said Lesley Oswald, former director of Fred Penner's Place. 

"I think that's quite amazing. That's quite a legacy."

Penner believes the connection he made with his fans during their formative years bonds them for life.

"It's not just Fred Penner the musician coming there. I connected with them when they were at their most vulnerable time of life," he said.

"They've gone through their teen years and all the angst and the joys of puberty. They're now adults and they want to go back."

'Never stop working'

Penner is now 72 and still performs regularly.

In 2017, he released a new album, Hear the Music, featuring popular Canadian musicians like Terra Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith and Basia Bulat. It also features vocals from all four of his children.

They agree that Penner isn't likely to slow down any time soon.

"He's busier now than he's ever been. I don't see him stopping," said Penner's son, Damien. 

"I love him and I see the road killing him one day, but I think he wouldn't have it any other way."

Penner's daughter Hayley said performing makes her dad feel young and vibrant.

"I don't think it's true that 'Find a thing you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life,'" she said. 

"I think 'Find a thing you love to do and you'll never stop working, ever,' because you want to and because you love it and because it's a true expression of you.

The sense of community and friendship Penner creates is needed right now, said Rae Ellen Bodie, his wife.

"There's lots of things, I think, that are wrong with the world right now, but I think that Fred is one of the things that's kind of right in the world right now," she said.

"I think he just invites people into an experience of themselves and an experience of community that we don't get in a lot of places."

Penner said the kids who watched his television show to become university students who attended his club shows are now parents who bring their children to his shows. 

That momentum keeps him excited about his work.

"As humans, we remember the stuff that influenced our childhood and we hold on to that because we cherish the vulnerability of ourselves, of what it was to be a child," he said.

"To be able to pull back for a moment, to that gentler, simpler time of life, is really important for humanity, for people, for all of us."

Fred Penner performs at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg on Oct. 31. Take Good Care of Each Other premieres on CBC television as part of the Absolutely Manitoba series on Sept. 14, 2019.

 

Posted

https://tvline.com/2019/09/17/nbc-streaming-service-peacock-premiere-launch-date/

I have to admit Peacock is a clever name for the service considering the logo is a Peacock, I wonder if the opening Ident will have those usual chimes

Posted

How can CBS renew Madam Secretary for a 10 episode season then it's sayonara yet renew Bull for 22 episodes & counting? Bull has to be the most boring episodic tv series on tv. I can't stand it so I stopped watching mid way thru Season #1.

Posted
28 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

How can CBS renew Madam Secretary for a 10 episode season then it's sayonara yet renew Bull for 22 episodes & counting? Bull has to be the most boring episodic tv series on tv. I can't stand it so I stopped watching mid way thru Season #1.

MS is past 100eps so i think that had a lot to do with it as well as falling ratings(42nd).

Speaking of falling ratings. It's interesting that Bull was top 10 first 2 years(5th,8th) but fell big time to 45th last year after a time change.

Posted
14 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

MS is past 100eps so i think that had a lot to do with it as well as falling ratings(42nd).

Speaking of falling ratings. It's interesting that Bull was top 10 first 2 years(5th,8th) but fell big time to 45th last year after a time change.

McCord is no longer Secretary Of State & she's running for President. The 10 episodes will cover the election campaign. Some fans were hoping the show can be rebooted to Madam President & a new series. Not to be.

Posted

I think they could have benefited from TV shows people actually watch.....I've never seen 95% of the shows that won, and am only aware of about half of them. Thankful for an SNL win, anyhow...

...as for the show itself, I thought Thomas Lennon was really funny with the random voice-overs throughout the show. 

Posted (edited)

The season premiere of Walking Dead was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on September 29 therefore now downloadable.

Meanwhile on FTWD...
 

Spoiler

 

As it was coming down to the end i was thinking they were either going to kill everyone off.

But instead they killed Morgan.

 

 

Edited by FrostyWinnipeg
Posted (edited)

because of course it's going to be renewed Netflix would know better than to cancel something that got 40 mil views on the first day

https://tvline.com/2019/09/30/stranger-things-renewed-season-4/

 

So......

Spoiler

I wonder how they'll pull this off because the season ended with the Byers's moving to who knows where and taking Eleven with them because Hopper may be dead but there are strong hints that suggest that he's a prisoner of Russians(I'm guessing alive but has amnesia just to shake things up), I'm guessing all the kids will be joining them for thanksgiving or something if it's not going to take place in Hawkins. I Imagine that they'll still be singing Neverending Story or something or other

 

Edited by iHeart
Posted

Any DC nerds watching "Pennyworth" on Showcase? I really enjoy the guy playing Young Alfred, and the storyline directly involving him is good, but the rest of it I can take or leave....the guy playing Thomas Wayne seems like a shitty actor and the character comes across as a whiny ***** version of Howard Stark. 

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