Download Short high on hometown Hamilton

Short high on hometown Hamilton
Daniel Nolan
April 3, 2012
Funnyman Martin Short salutes his hometown
of Hamilton Tuesday night in an one-hour CBCTV special entitled I, Martin Short, Goes Home.
If anyone is expecting a serious documentary
on his take on Steeltown, they will be sadly
mistaken.
The 62-year-old known for his comic spins on
SCTV and in films such as Father of the Bride
and Three Amigos, not to mention the hilarious
character Jiminy Glick, offers the viewer what
he describes as “a fictitious love letter to the
city of Hamilton.”
“It’s a comedy show,” he said Monday in an
interview with The Spectator. “It poses the
Martin Short. HMartin Short is filmed for a segment of his I, Martin Short, Goes
Home, which airs on CBC-TV Tuesday night. Special to The Hamilton Spectator
Source: Special to The Hamilton Spectator
idea: Is an artist the result of his DNA, his
influence or his hometown?”
VIDEO: Sneak peek of Martin Short's CBC special
It’s left to the viewer to answer that question.
Paying homage to the heyday of CHCH-TV, when it had local programs such as Tiny Talent Time, the show sees
Short return to Hamilton to help out his childhood hero (Fred Willard), who had a show on CHCH way back
when, called Mason Mcillivrey and his Merry Band of Marionettes. (Anyone remember Schnitzel House?) Mason
is now a hotdog vendor.
It turns out the appearance at a benefit concert show for the puppeteer is just a ruse. Short is really in town to
steal a priceless painting from the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The show, a followup to I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood, features appearances by SCTV alumni Eugene Levy
(another Hamiltonian), Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty and Robin Duke (as Princess Anne), plus CBC talk show host
George Stroumboulopoulos.
“It’s a party with Marty,” Short chimes in.
Short taped the program in Hamilton in September. He visits some of his old haunts such as his high school,
Westdale secondary, and Ivor Wynne Stadium.
A father of three, Short was the youngest of five children and grew up on Whitton Road in Westdale, not far
from McMaster University. He attended George R. Allan elementary school, Dalewood senior public school,
Westdale Secondary and Hamilton Collegiate Institute (for Grade 13). He started in pre-med at McMaster, but
switched to social work.
Did Hamilton help make you the entertainer that you are?
“I don’t know, but I do know that I loved growing up in Hamilton. I had a great childhood. I grew up in
Westdale and it was a fabulous city and certainly its size makes you very secure, makes you very happy. I think
in the 1960s, it had a population of about 230,000 … it was a very safe, loving city and I grew up in a house
where my back yard went into a ravine … we had season tickets (for) the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. We were at the
55 yard line. I loved Hamilton. My father was general sales manager with the Steel Company (of Canada), we
belonged to the Hamilton Golf & Country Club.”
What is your fondest memory of Hamilton?
“I don’t have a fondest memory. I have a myriad of fond memories. There’s not one specific memory. I spent
22 years there. There is not one memory in my childhood in which I say, ‘Ah, that was Hamilton to me.’ But
probably the most exciting was going to the Ticat games, those sudden deaths. The Ticats would be down,
they’d score 28 points, come back and wind up in the Grey Cup and (Bernie) Faloney would run the field. Those
memories; Angelo Mosca, Garney Henley, Gerry McDougall, Frank Cosentino (and) Joe Zuger.”
Do you still have a sense that Hamilton is home?
“Oh, I would say so. Again, I don’t think you spend 22 years of your life, especially if it’s the first 22 years, in a
place and it doesn’t always feel like home. You can adopt many homes … I’ve lived in the house that I am in, for
example, in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, longer than I lived in Hamilton. So, I’m not saying that isn’t home
as well, but I think your heart lies in many places.”
How often go you get back to Hamilton?
“I don’t come to Hamilton much. My brother Brian, sister-in-law Gwen … a nephew and niece … they all live in
Ancaster. But, I’ll come in for the (football) games and, you know, I’ll go to Shakespeare’s (Steak and Seafood
House) … I come every summer … I’ll always go and visit my brother, golf at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club,
maybe scoot into Shakespeare’s and go to a football game. That seems to be the pattern.”
What do you tell your friends in Hollywood about your hometown?
“I think that they kind of know by my demeanour that I had a happy childhood. I think Hamilton was a loving,
nurturing place where I had a lot of fun. I felt very safe.”
[email protected]
905-526-3351 | @dandundas
VIDEO: Sneak peek of I, Martin Short, Goes Home
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