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Thursday 3 October 2019

Good Deed Radio Club

Have you heard of the Good Deed Radio Club? A Boulton cousin passed these buttons on to me this summer and I've spent some time online to find out what I could about them. The smaller four are about the size of a nickel and they all have a pin back.  Thank you for the challenge, Faye!  You knew I'd love it. Here's what I know today but would love to hear more from my readers at ssimms@escape.ca 

One online source says the Eaton's Good Deed Radio Club was the original idea of a man named Claude Knapman. It began as a promotional gimmick in 1933 for Hamilton, Ontario's downtown Eaton's Department Store. The Saturday morning show featured local amateur talent and spotlighted the acts of kindness and the good deeds that members of the club had performed over the past week.  It was a hit with parents and customers who were loyal to the store and it soon expanded throughout Canada.  Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver soon had similar clubs. 

October 21, 1939 was the first broadcast in Winnipeg from 10:30 to 11:00 on CKY radio. (This station was later named CBW as a part of the CBC radio network.) A 1939 Winnipeg Free Press article I found said boys and girls up to age 16 were invited to apply to be in the club.   Club members were obliged to do a Good Deed every day and write into the station with details of any outstanding deed performed.  Letters were acknowledged with a membership card as well as a red, white and blue button.  Each week a 15 jewel watch was awarded to the best good deed and the presentation of it would happen during the radio broadcast. There was no charge or fee in connection with the membership but no doubt gave some good publicity to the store. 

Music performed by amateur youth was the other big part of the radio show which expanded to a full hour in the 1940's. The Good Deed Choir in Winnipeg lasted until 1959, a twenty year run of promoting local musical talent and encouraging good deeds.  It seems many choir members went on to musical careers. 

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC013430.html
The Manitoba Historical Society website says the Winnipeg Eaton's store was built in July 1905 as a five-story building. Three additional floors were added in 1910. It closed in 1999 and was demolished in 2002 to make way for a sports arena.



The words to the theme song were found online but I couldn't find the tune. I'm sure it is still in the minds of many Good Deed Alumni though. 😃

Do a Good Deed every day,
Obey the Golden Rule;
Never say an angry word,
Or be unkind or cruel.
Scatter seeds of happiness,
At home, at play, at school, and
You'll find there's sunshine everywhere, 
Obey the Golden Rule.

7 comments:

  1. I remember being a winner of the Good Deed Club in or around 1949/50. I was awarded a gold star pin and a Bolova watch. It was a thrill to be on the radio.

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    1. I was also awarded a Good deed watch, it was for deeds done in Vancouver 1950, it was never presented to me as I was on my way back to England, it caught up with me in Ottawa.
      Is There a list of watch winner's

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  2. Sharon! I am thrilled to meet you and learn about the Good Deeds Club! My dear friend from Manitoba has been teaching me this song for years and I had just posted it on facebook! I'd love to share it with you!
    Let's bring it back!!

    Thanks so much! Please ... let's talk!

    Judi Vankevich

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  3. Sharon -I know the tune quite well since I was in the Eaton's Good Deed Radio Club Chorus in Hamilton for 4 plus years. There was also the song we sang after 'The Good Deed Song'; the 2nd songs started with "Good morning, here we greet you, and glad we are to meet you. Rub-a-dub-dub-dub, The Good Deed Club is on the air. If you'd like to know us better, drop us a little letter ........."

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  4. Glad to have read your tribute as I was also a choir member in Winnipeg and cherrised the years I spent as a choir member.

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  5. My mother, who was a singer in MB as a teenager and young adult, performed on a Good Deed Radio broadcast in 1955 (if my mom remembers correctly. I have been wanting to try and find out if there are archives of the broadcast but cannot find them in CBC ones made available to me. As you are a detective in this, I am wondering if you have ideas? Thanks, Alexis

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  6. Wow! My sister and I (Laurisa and Claudia Hust) auditioned and were accepted to sing in the Good Deed Choir. We would meet in the CJCA? building for our weekly practise of the song we would be singing. We also would sing duet and pick up sheet music for the popular song of the time and sing our hearts out in front of the audience. I think we were 11 and 12 years old. The theater was always packed. My brother at the time was 6 years old and sang "Ivy Rose". It was a fun time for us. I wish there were photos and recordings but unfortunately they didn't do that.

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