CBC Archives

You must sign in to leave a comment on this clip.

The World of Don Messer's Jubilee

Broadcast Date: Nov. 1, 1960

With his small violin and merry band of musicians, Don Messer sets toes tapping and heels bopping. In the 1960s, Don Messer's Jubilee is one of Canada's most popular television programs with widespread appeal across the country. In this CBC Television interview, Messer performs his unique brand of east coast country music and is interviewed about his early career. On this day in history, May 9, 1909, Don Messer was born in Tweedside, N.B.

The World of Don Messer's Jubilee

• Messer, the youngest of 11 children, began fiddling at the age of seven. At age 16, he moved to Boston. By day, Messer worked in a department store and at night he studied the violin.
• In 1930, Messer and his band began playing barn dances and kitchen parties which were recorded and broadcast on radio.

• In 1959, Don Messer's Jubilee debuted nationally on CBC Television. The show was a huge success, at times even besting the top-rated shows Hockey Night in Canada, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Beverly Hillbillies.
• A quiet leader, Messer steered the program and composed the music and organized cross-country tours.

• Messer, who had a reputation as being notoriously thrifty, once commented "I don't have 30 or 40 suits in my wardrobe. I don't ever have what you'd call a wardrobe. I have a small house, no trips to Europe, no fancy car, no place in Greece – but I have a very good life with my family." (Toronto Star, March 27, 1973.)
• Messer's top salary was $25,000. Jubilee singer Charlie Chamberlain once remarked, "Messer's as tight as me own arse. He wouldn't pay five cents to see the pope do the shimmy." (Here's Looking at Us, Stephen Cole, p. 76.)

• In 1969, the CBC cancelled Don Messer's Jubilee on the grounds that the show had become dated and stale. Some 300 fans, step-dancers and fiddlers marched on Parliament Hill in protest, but to no avail. Messer later said that while he was ready to retire, he disliked the manner in which the CBC abruptly showed him the door.
• The Hamilton television station CHCH picked up Don Messer's Jubilee and sold the program to independent stations in Canada and the United States. The show fared well but in a much smaller market and was not accessible to Canadians across the country.

• On March 26, 1973, Messer suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 63 in Halifax. Over the course of his career Messer had been on the Canadian airwaves for some 40 years and completed 30 national tours.
• After his death, the Messer estate granted sole permission to promote and play the famous Jubilee songs to Ontario fiddler Frank Leahy. Leahy later took Grayec Management Ltd. to court after the latter attempted to stage a show about Messer. A federal court ruled in favour of Grayec in June 2005.

The World of Don Messer's Jubilee

Medium: Television

Program: Close-Up

Broadcast Date: Nov. 1, 1960

Guest(s): Don Messer

Host: Ross MacLean
Interviewer: Max Ferguson

Duration: 4:50

Last updated:
May 1, 2008