Maggie Morris

Maggie Morris Smolensky (born Margaret Glenesk Beal, December 10, 1925) is a Canadian radio and television personality of the 1960s best known as a panellist on the CBC Television show Flashback and as one of the first women to be hired full-time on the CBC English language announce staff.

Career

Maggie Morris began her professional career in radio drama in Winnipeg in 1954, moving to Ottawa in 1955 where her TV career included co-hosting the local programs Contact and Diplomatic Passport. In 1962 in Toronto, she won a spot on Flashback, a new national CBC TV quiz show where she was the only cast member to remain for all six seasons ^[1](1962-1968).

Morris was accepted as a summer replacement on the CBC announce staff in Ottawa in 1961 and Toronto in 1963, the only woman to be so employed on the English language network. She joined the staff full-time on contract in 1969 ^[2]. Her contract was renewed four times before she was fired in April 1970, making headlines across the country. ^{[3] [4]} The CBC hired its first fulltime female staff announcer (Jan Tennant) later that year ^[5].

Maggie Morris's subsequent careers included working in public relations for Bell Canada and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Personal Life

Morris, the only child of James Cooper Beal and Jane McCallum Glenesk, was born in London, England, and raised in Scarborough, Yorkshire. In 1940 shortly after the outbreak of World War II, she was evacuated through the Children's Overseas Reception Board to Winnipeg, Canada, where she attended Kelvin High School. In 1944, she returned to England and trained as a registered nurse and obtained her certificate of midwifery. Later she settled in Canada having returned to Winnipeg for a wedding and eventually marrying the best man. She has two children from that marriage which ended in divorce. In 1971 she married Stanley Smolensky, a NASA engineer who was the Deputy Director of Launch Vehicles for the Apollo Program. He died of a heart attack later the same year.

Maggie Morris Smolensky is retired and lives in Toronto.

References

1. ^ Blaine Allen: Queen's Film and Media [1]
2. ^ Globe and Mail May 17, 1969, Toronto, by Leslie Millin p. 30
3. ^ Globe and Mail April 3, 1970, Toronto, p. 11 "CBC drops Maggie Morris as announcer"
4. ^ Canadian Press, national, including Ottawa Citizen April 3, 1970, p. 5 "'Phoney English accent' costs Maggie her job"
5. ^ Susan Crean: Newsworthy: The Lives of Media Women, p. 109 [2]

External Links

• IMDb Movie Database "Flashback (TV Series)". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250852/.