文章基本信息

标题：Fred Davis loved a "challenge." - president, Performing Arts Magazine - Obituary
作者：James McIntosh
期刊名称：Performing Arts Entertainment in Canada
出版年度：1996
卷号：Fall 1996

Fred Davis loved a "challenge." - president, Performing Arts Magazine - Obituary

James McIntosh

Fred Davis, who often said his real love was music, passed away early this summer at the age of 74. He was the moderator for the perennially popular CBC-TV show Front Page Challenge which ran for 38 years and was called a "mirror image of the CBC".

Born in Toronto, Davis graduated from Parkdale Collegiate, and although he sounded like he had a PhD in English, he received no formal education past high school.

Davis was the consummate pro making the job seem deceptively easy while maintaining his sense of humour and stylish manner. As spokesperson for the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival until this year - began his career as a trumpet player with big band leader Art Hallman. He then played with the Howard Cable Orchestra and was the conductor of CFRB's Teentime Orchestra. In 1942, Davis was posted to England and played with the Army Show Orchestra. At the end of the war, he returned to Canada and studied for a year at the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts. Davis began his radio career in Ottawa at CFR in 1953 and moved over to television in 1957. "I wasn't the world's greatest musician," Davis said in a 1969 interview, "but I've never been more satisfied in my life."

But at Performing Arts Magazine, Fred is remembered as a president who promoted the magazine and enlisted the support of many from the arts community. Jim McIntosh, the founder and first editor of PA&E, who worked with Fred in the early days of Front Page Challenge, asked him to accept this position. Says McIntosh, "Without Fred's commitment to willingly defend and support our need to create a truly national magazine, PA&E would not exist." In my view, Fred Davis went far beyond the "cardboard image" often attributed to professional commentators and willingly defended and openly supported our ideas."

Thanks again, Fred...in memory we salute you. Your courage made a substantial contribution to our dream.