Celebrity Cooks

"Celebrity Cooks" was a Canadian cooking show independently produced by "Initiative Productions" and aired on the CBC from 1975 to 1979, and was syndicated throughout Canada and the United States from 1980 to 1989. It was hosted by Bruno Gerussi who introduced various celebrities who chatted with them while preparing dishes for the audience. As such, it was considered a hybrid between a cooking show and a talk show.

Despite a shoestring budget, the show was a high quality product. It was criticized for its apparent inability to get more than strictly minor celebrities for the show, although it was still a highly rated program at the time. The show was taped in Vancouver, British Columbia, concurrently with Gerrusi's starring role in "The Beachcombers" which was also filmed in the vicinity. Due to his visibility on "Celebrity Cooks", Gerrusi became the pitchman for one of the first brands of microwave ovens to be sold for home use in Canada.

Among the guests who appeared on the show was a pre-stardom David Letterman. According to the book "TV North", guests were paid between $196 CAD (for Canadian performers) and $350 CAD (for American performers). American performers were paid more to offset the cost of higher travel expenses.

Other guests included Margaret Trudeau (aired 3 February 1978) [cite news | last= | pages=15 | title=Maggie's Tempura (photo) | date=1978-01-24 | publisher=Globe and Mail] , Jean Beliveau, Elaine Boosler and Bob Crane (in his last televised appearance). Hermione Gingold was the guest for the program's first broadcast on 15 September 1975. [cite news | last=Kirby | first=Blaik | pages=31 | title=Information packs the channels in bountiful new television season | date=1975-09-06 | publisher=Globe and Mail] .

The film "Heart Like a Wheel", the story of female race car driver Shirley Muldowney, features a scene where Muldowney makes an appearance on a Canadian cooking show that appears to be a thinly disguised version of "Celebrity Cooks". In the scene, the show's host is portrayed as a chauvinistic womanizer.

Following the end of production in 1979, episodes of "Celebrity Cooks" were seen on the Global Television Network. [cite news | last=Downey | first=Donn | pages=17 | title=Global planning five new shows | date=1979-02-13 | publisher=Globe and Mail]

Guests were required to cook, sing, dance and play their way to supper.

The show also led to the creation of Celebrity Cooks cook books:

*1977: "Celebrity cooks, recipe book II" (Fforbez Enterprises/Initiative Productions) ISBN 0088976021
*1979: "The New Celebrity cooks cookbook" (Methuen) ISBN 0458942804

This show inspired "The King of the Q" Ted Reader to take up cooking.Fact|date=August 2007

Key People

*Executive Producer: Derek Smith
*Host: Bruno Gerussi
*Cooking Consultant: Sue Morton

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179562/ Internet Movie Database: Celebrity Cooks]
* [http://www.film.queensu.ca/Lasso/Lasso.acgi?%5bdatabase%5d=cbcdirectory&%5blayout%5d=layout%20%231&%5bresponse%5d=cbc%2fdetailformat.html&%5brecid%5d=33531&%5bsearch%5d Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series: "Celebrity Cooks"]