Kate Aitken
For busy housewives in postwar Canada, Kate Aitken's singsong voice was a welcome diversion from their everyday duties. Three days a week, Mrs. A and a rotating cast of male sidekicks shared advice on cooking, child care and fashion and offered a perspective on the broader world of women and politics. Only eight Kate Aitken programs from 1948 to 1950 survive, but they allow a glimpse into an era when "women's programming" was its own category at CBC and the ads were just part of the conversation.
10 radio clips
No blue Mondays
Broadcast Date: Sept. 27, 1948
"Hello everyone, happy Monday to you. Blue Monday? Aw, listen: now there's no sense feeling that way. And just to take your mind off the housework and the washing and tonight's dinner…"
With co-host Johnny Scott by her side, Mrs. A launches into one of her earliest broadcasts for CBC. In this 1948 clip she describes a Toronto nursery school, a Canadian meal sent over to Britain, how to combat the common cold and her thoughts on the Soviet Union.
No blue Mondays
• Kate Aitken was born Katherine Scott in Beeton, Ont., in 1891. Her parents ran the town's general store, and young Kate and her six siblings also worked there.• At 16, Kate took a teaching course and became a teacher in one-room schools in Ontario and Saskatchewan.
• In 1914 she married Henry Aitken, an accountant. The couple lived briefly in Minnesota before moving back to Ontario and having two daughters, Mary and Anne.
Kate Aitken: No blue Mondays
Medium: Radio
Program: Kate Aitken
Broadcast Date: Sept. 27, 1948
Host: Kate Aitken, Johnny Scott
Duration: 14:27
Photo: CBC Still Photo Collection
Last updated:
April 3, 2008
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8 clips in this topic . page
This is wonderful. Brings back some great memories, my Mom and I in the kitchen and listening to Kate. I have her cook book as well.
Submitted by: Pat Gallant