User:Tafyug/Life And Times Of Donald "Boots" Brasseur

The Life And Times Of Donald "Boots" Brasseur is a documentary about the life of Canadian D-Day Veteran and world-class musician Donald "Boots" Brasseur. The documentary is unusual in that it takes a first hand look (by interviews of Donald Brasseur) at his landing at Normandy and injury at Falaise and then his post war career as a famous harmonica musician at the tail end of vaudeville where he worked with entertainers such as Bob Hope. The documentary was broadcast nation-wide by the CTV Television Network on July 26, 2009 and also broadcasted on many other television stations and networks.

Synopsis
Seeing that Don Brasseur was one of the last Canadian D-Day Veterans and one of the last performers from vaudeville, it was important for the Director (Maurice Ali) to film the documentary entirely through Don's eyes and in his own words. The documentary begins with hostess Ainsley Wronski introducing the show along with video footage of the D-Day landings. Then the first major segment starts with Donald Brasseur recounting his wartime experience from recruitment to discharge, all with the backdrop of photos and video from WW2. After that segments ends, Ainsley Wronski introduces the second segment concentrating on Donald Brasseur's musical career as a harmonica musician. Don recounts his experiences as a musician from his vaudeville days and even produces signed material from Bob Hope who was a fan of his act at the time: "The Three Reeds." Mr. Brasseur then plays some harmonica music and then recounts musical experiences to displayed memorabilia and still photos from television shows he performed in during the 1950s. The show ends by Don giving advice to up and coming musicians and a zoom out of Don beside a WW2 howitzer and zoom into a Canadian flag flying at half mast.

Archive material
Much of the war-time video and photos used in the documentary were provided by "Library and Archives Canada" and the "Department of Defence" (CAN). In particular were the photographic contributions of Canadian war photographer Lieut Ken Bell (Canada, Dept. of National Defence). Almost all of the WW2 footage was filmed by the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit of World War 2. Special mention was made in the broadcast about the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit of World War Two and their sacrifices made to produce all of that material. Donald Brasseur also had written material and artifacts from his war years. Donald Brasseur's musical segment featured material almost exclusively from Mr. Brasseur's collection of artifacts and newspaper clippings, photos and video.

Distribution
Distribution was done by More Vision Inc. (located in Toronto, Canada) after the production company (Fortress Of Freedom Inc. ) certified the documentary through the CRTC as a "Canadian Program" for broadcast on licenced television stations and networks. The More Vision Corporation lobbied CTV for broadcast, it was reviewed by CTV/accepted and was slotted for play on their "A" Channel Toronto network on July 26, 2009 at 10:30am. The full distribution on all television stations, networks and cable stations is as follows:

CKVR CHANNEL 3 (VHF) IN CENTRAL ONTARIO ROGERS - CHANNEL 20 (CENTRAL ONTARIO ONLY) BELL EXPRES VU - CHANNEL 219 (COAST-TO-COAST) STAR CHOICE - 346 (COAST-TO-COAST) ROGERS MARITIMES (NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BRUNSWICK) - CHANNEL 136

Broadcast population for the first broadcast was Canada nationwide and northern United States at about 45 million. CTV still holds the master copy while DVDs of the show have been used at schools in the Greater Toronto Area.

Awards
Donald Brasseur won the "IAIJ Award For Journalism (2008)" for his work in the documentary by physically collecting material and recounting the events in Normandy and his vaudeville days as a musician.