Terry O'Reilly (3:14)
With Terry O'Reilly if you find yourself walking west on King street street in Toronto and you're nearing Roy Thompson hall, look down. Beneath your feet is Canada's Walk of fame. On 13 designated blocks in Toronto's entertainment district, maple leaves designed to look like stars, are embedded in the sidewalk with the names and signatures of famous Canadians. The Walk of Fame was conceived in 1996, was first implemented in 1998, and now includes 210 honorees as of this writing. Loosely modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Canadian Walk of Fame inducts people who have excelled in six arts and entertainment, sports and athletics, business and entrepreneurship, philanthropy and humanities, science and technology, and Legends, which is given out posthumously. The first induction ceremony, held in 1998, was hosted by Eugene Levy, who we'll hear more about a little later. Thirteen people were inducted that day. They were author Pierre Burton, actors John Candy and Christopher Plummer, director Norman Jewison, ballerina Karen Kane, comedian Rich Little, musicians Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy St. Marie and Bryan Adams, hockey star Bobby Orr, figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, and race car driver Jacques Villeneuve. All Canadians are encouraged to submit nominations for Canada's Walk of Fame through the organization's website. Nominees must have been born in or spent their formative years in Canada, have had a minimum of 10 years experience in their field, and have impacted Canadian culture and or heritage either nationally or internationally. Then a board of directors reviews the submissions and selects which nominees will be inducted. There was one year where there were no inductees, but that was due to the 2020 pandemic. And in 2023, a record breaking 13 rock bands were inducted. Now, some stars on the Walk have taken a little damage over the years, mostly due to harsh weather and the odd snow plow. One day, William Shatner tweeted that he heard his star on the Canadian Walk of Fame was a little frazzled. Then Shatner added, but then again, so am I. Welcome to our annual Brand Envy episode. Today we'll talk about five brands that all have something in common. They are Canadian brands that have excelled. One was a pioneer in the cosmetics industry. One is a band that holds a special Place in my heart. One has survived for 86 years. Another is a family owned business that has survived for 88 years. And one is a television show that broke records. Think of them as my own little Canadian walk of fame. You're under the influence. Way back in 1884, a girl named Florence Nightingale Graham was born on a farm in Woodbridge, Ontario. When she was 5, she helped her father sell carrots and corn husks at the St Lawrence Market in Toronto. Young Florence loved the bartering and the deal making buzz at the market, and it made a big impression on her. She would eventually leave high school early to find employment. She worked as a cashier and a stenographer and as a dental assistant. While at that last job, Florence convinced the dentist to advertise and she wrote creative letters to patients warning them about missing checkups. In one year, the dental business doubled. In 1907, Florence followed her brother William to New York. She found work again as a stenographer. But it was her next job that would change her life. She landed a position working for a woman named Eleanor Adair, a beauty specialist. There, Florence learned the cosmetic industry from the ground up. Then in 1910, she started her own company with another woman named Elizabeth Hubbard. The partners agreed to name the company Elizabeth Hubbard and began to mix face creams, body lotions and oils. But the partners often clashed. So Florence decided to buy Elizabeth Hubbard out. Planning to name her solo business Florence Nightingale, she discovered she wasn't allowed to register the name as a trademark. The name Elizabeth was already painted on the shop window. So Florence scratched out Hubbard and added the word Arden instead, a word she had taken from a favorite Alfred Tennyson poem. With that, the Elizabeth Arden Company was born. Florence Nightingale Graham. Then, two momentous decisions. First, she decided to change her own name to Elizabeth Arden. And second, she hired a gifted chemist who would help her develop revolutionary new cosmetics. In 1915, Arden married an advertising man who helped her market and package her products. In the early 20th century, the use of cosmetics was considered low brow, only used by sex workers and showgirls. So Arden created advertising campaigns that changed women's perceptions of cosmetics. The use of close ups was also a new technique in motion pictures, and Arden demonstrated how the leading Hollywood stars all use makeup to look their best. Arden was also a dedicated suffragette, and in 1912, she marched for women's rights. The women all wore bright red lipstick as a form of protest, and Arden supplied most of it. By 1920, Elizabeth Arden was selling merchandise to over 5,000 drug and department stores. Arden opened up a salon on Fifth Avenue in New York and styled it with Persian rugs and upscale furniture. Time magazine reported that the Arden salon was guarded by a doorman. That door was painted red and simply said Elizabeth Arden. Women who entered that red door felt like they were swept into an exotic world of makeovers, manicures, pedicures, and even yoga, all revolutionary at the time. In 1917, Arden introduced eyeliner and mascara to North America. Her company grew at a furious pace. Five years later, she had established a Parisian salon as well as locations in London, Madrid, Rome and Berlin. Elizabeth Arden was creating an empire, one that even flourished during the Depression. Earning more than $4 million a year, she pioneered travel sized cosmetics. She was the first cosmetician to convince women to exercise. She was the first businesswoman to have her own radio show. And she was the first to create a line of cosmetics for women serving in the army during World War II. In 1946, Arden was also the first businesswoman to appear on the COVID of Time magazine. Fortune said Arden probably made more money than any other businesswoman in history. Elizabeth Arden eventually had many competitors, but her arch rival was Helena Rubinstein. Although the two never met, they feuded for 50 years, stealing employees back and forth, each trying to outdo. At one point, Arden divorced her husband, who then went to work for Rubinstein. You can imagine how that went over, but that rivalry fueled the growth of both companies. In the 1940s, Arden took an interest in raising thoroughbreds, and one of her horses won the Kentucky Derby in 1947. Elizabeth Arden always kept her age a secret, and when she died in 1966, the world was shocked to learn the slim, stylish head of the cosmetics empire was 88 years old. Today, Elizabeth Arden's company is worth over a billion dollars. Not bad for a Canadian farm girl from Woodbridge, Ontario. A lot of great musical artists have come out of the Guess who, April Wine Rush Triumph, Ian Thomas, Ann Murray, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain and Celine Dion, to name a few. But I have a soft spot for the very first concert I ever saw back at the Sudbury arena in the fall of 1972. The band was the Stampeders, and they had just had a breakout hit called Sweet City Woman. Sweet City Woman was written by lead guitarist Rich Dodson, who, by the way, was born in my hometown of Sudbury. The band had formed in Calgary, then moved to Toronto, and the song lyrics reflected that move to the big city. They had played at Expo 67, and Dodson's love of Montreal inspired the Bon c' est bon section of the song. The Stampeders were driving back to Toronto from a gig in Kingston in their old station wagon at 4 o' clock in the morning when a New York radio station, WABC, drifted onto the car's radio. As they listened, the DJ said here's the number one record this week, and played Sweet City Woman. The band couldn't believe it. They stopped the car, jumped up and down on the hood and cheered. It was only the beginning. The song won Best Single of the year at the 1971 Juno Awards and and the Stampeders won Best Group. Sweet City Woman stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks. In a recent poll, the song was voted one of the top 10 most recognizable songs from the 70s. The band had originally formed as a six man group called the Rebounds in Calgary in 1964. They became a trio in 1968 with Dodson on guitar, Ronny King on bass and Kim Burleigh on drums. They renamed themselves the Stampeders after the famous Calgary Stampede, donned cowboy hats and had their first big hit with a song called Carry Me. The hits just kept on coming. Devil you Then came the White Man, Monday Morning, Choo Choo, Wild Eyes, oh My Lady, Minstrel Gypsy and their cover of Hit the Road Jack, with a guest appearance from Wolfman Jack himself. The band broke up in the late 70s, but reunited in the 90s. In 2011, the Stampeders were given a Lifetime Achievement award for their body of work. Rich Dodson was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters hall of Fame. We lost ronnie King in 2024, but the band still tours today as a tribute to King. I'll always remember the Stampeders as my first rock concert. One night at my office many years ago, I was working late and the phone rang. It was someone looking for our music director. I said he had left for the day. Could I take a message? The caller said sure, Tell him Rich Dodson called. I just smiled to myself and said, will do Rich. When we return, we get the scoop on an ice cream company.
