Judging Newfoundland Talent Show

In 1965 I was teaching band on Ernest Harman Air Force Base in Newfoundland. In the spring, I got a phone call from the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) in Corner Brook. The station manager asked to me if I would be a judge for the all Newfoundland Talent Show. He said, “There will be three judges and I would like for you to be one of them.”

That sounded like a fun job, so I accepted. On the appointed night, I was to meet him at a hotel in Corner Brook.

I met him and he said, “We are going to my home for dinner; my wife is preparing a delicious meal for us.”

She served us a large piece of swordfish with all of the trimmings. I’m not much of a fish eater, but I hate swordfish. To be polite, I choked down that swordfish and pretended to really like it.

We talked about the talent show. Originally there had been a large number of contestants. That night, we would be judging the 10 finalists. He said, “Let’s move into the living room where we will be more comfortable.” We did a little chit-chat and I began to get nervous. The talent show was to begin at 8 p.m. It was now 20 minutes till. Shouldn’t we be going to the auditorium where the show was to be held? He told me the judging will be done by watching the show on television. I thought, “Man…this is the strangest contest I have ever heard of.”

We watched the show, and some of the talent was not very good. Some the talent was pretty good, and some was outstanding. The two best performers were a boy singer and a girl singer. The station manager asked who I thought should be the winner. I told him I would like to confer with the other two judges before making a decision. He said there are no more judges-YOU’RE IT. I chose the girl singer as the winner, and got the heck out of there. I drove back to the base looking into my rear view mirror. I didn’t want to be chased down by some irate parents.

Billy Davis is a U. S. Navy Veteran and retired from the U. S. Air Force. He is a former band director that worked in both Floyd and Murray County. He resides in Calhoun with his wife, where he enjoys writing “Ramblin with Uncle Billy” and traveling.