By Jonathan Popalis
I’m sure you knew Ryerson was famous. But I bet you didn’t know that, in 1955, the National Film Board of Canada made a film about our fair academic institution.
It’s called Career College and is part of a documentary series called On the Spot.
Career College is hosted by Toronto’s own Lloyd Bochner, best-known as the star of the classic Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man.” But, sadly, there are no flesh-eating aliens in this film.
The film starts in a Radio and Television Arts studio where Lloyd is preparing for a tour of Ryerson. He is so excited that he is practically wetting himself.
But not so fast Lloyd: The Ryersonian (Ryerson’s OWN student newspaper) is on the prowl, and an astute and intelligent reporter asks him what we’ve all been dying to know from the start: “Can you please give me an exclusive interview?” But apparently there are TWO Ryersonians: A blue edition and a gold edition, and they are in direct competition with each other.
Next, Lloyd moves on to the fashion department. Here, the women get to make their own clothes AND model them for photography students!
According to Career College, the male population of fashion is one guy at a sewing machine. Lloyd’s next stop on his Ryerson tour is at the cafeteria. He seems mildly interested in the hospitality students working there when suddenly – LLOYD! LOOK OUT! ANOTHER RYERSONIAN REPORTER!
This new reporter tells Lloyd he’s with the gold edition of the paper and tries to convince him that HE should be the one to get an interview.
But the reporter from the beginning of the film, who works for the blue edition, charges in with a hard-hitting journalistic rebuttal: “But he promised ME an exclusive interview!”
As the two sides begin their battle to the death, Lloyd slips away, unnoticed and out of danger. But something is not right. That get away was a little too easy. Lloyd surveys the scene and comes to a horrifying realization:
He’s surrounded by… THE RYERSONIAN NEWSROOM NERDS! RUN LLOYD! THEY WANT AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH YOU! To close the film, Lloyd says Ryerson, with its own TV station, newspaper, photographers and cafeterias, truly is a “city within a city.”
Now, I’m not sure which “cities” Lloyd was used to, but I have a feeling they involved, at least, maybe a math class or two.
I tried to contact Lloyd to have him explain this last comment to me but, for some reason, he was not available for an exclusive interview.
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