Local News
One of Canadian and American television’s greatest producers of all time: Perry Rosemond – a true North End boy, who never forgot his Winnipeg roots
Introduction by BERNIE BELLAN Perry Rosemond was a well- known television producer who grew up in the North End of Winnipeg before moving to Toronto and establishing himself as one of Canadian television’s brightest talents in the 1960s, later to go on to even greater success in the US before returning to Canada in the 1980s.
Rosemond passed away in Toronto on August 20 at the age of 89.
In August 2020, Gerry Posner interviewed Rosemond for the Jewish Radio Hour. I contacted Rochelle Zucker, the longtime producer of that show, to see whether she could send me an audio file of that interview – which she was able to do. Following is a complete transcript of the often hilarious interview Gerry did with Perry Rosemond:
Gerry Posner: Welcome to the Jewish Hour radio show. This is Gerry Posner, and I’m delighted to be back on the radio once again with a guest whom I believe you will find interesting and informative. So today I feel very fortunate to have on the show a real Winnipeg legend, a man who has made his way in the world of the arts, and that is no small achievement. He has been a big name in the field of entertainment as a writer, a director, a producer for many years. I speak of Perry Rosemond. Perry, welcome to the Jewish Hour radio show.
Rosemond: Thank you, Ger.
Posner: I imagine you might have even listened to this show when you were a youngster.
Rosemond: Well, I have to tell you that my grandmother would call us every Sunday when I was about seven years of age, and she would say, “Turn on the French station at 1 o’clock and you’ll hear a very beautiful program.” And that was Noah Whitman’s show. And here I am, a mere 73 years later, on the show. Remarkable.
Posner: Well, I’m glad you made it. Tell me something, Perry. Who were your parents?
Rosemond: My parents were Max and Mona Rosemond, two of the most beautiful-looking people on the face of the earth, and where is genetics when you need it? But we lived in my grandmother’s house. You called it your grandmother’s house, even though there was a grandfather there. But she ruled the roost. And there were 14 of us in a house that wasn’t that big. But my dad was a clothing designer. My mother was a showroom model. And my mother wore a girdle, but she was never fat. And I later learned in life that the reason she wore the girdle was so that when the buyers in the showroom pinched her, it didn’t hurt as much. Those were my parents.
Posner: Well, where was the house that you grew up in?
Rosemond: The house I grew up in was at the corner of Manitoba and Andrews in North Winnipeg.
Posner: So you spent quite a few years there.
Rosemond: Oh, yes. I spent quite a few years there, but we moved. My parents were sort of upwardly mobile, and we moved from Andrews and Manitoba to Lansdowne Avenue. That was an improvement. Oh, my goodness. I had my own room.
Posner: Were there more of you than just Perry? I mean, were there siblings?
Rosemond: No, there was just me. But I was surrounded by cousins who were as close as brothers and sisters, really. And we stayed close for our entire lives. So there was a huge, huge sense of family at 193 Andrews.
Posner: Who would these cousins be?
Rosemond: My cousin Sonny and my cousin Mickey.
Posner: Both Rosemonds?
Rosemond: No, they were on my mother’s side.
Posner: What was her (maiden) name?
Rosemond: Magid.
Posner: MAGGOT. Really? Okay.
Rosemond: And Sonny and Mickey were four years older than me and exploited me at every opportunity. My uncle Dave Rosemond used to manage the Beacon Theater in Winnipeg.
Posner: In the North End.
Rosemond: Yes. And they would go to the Beacon Theater with me and get in for free because of me and still take my 10 cents that my mother gave me for the popcorn. So their mission in life was to exploit Perry Rosemond.
Posner: And you remember it, too.
Rosemond: I do indeed. I do indeed.
Posner: So you went to school where?
Rosemond: William Whyte School.
Posner: And then did you go to (St. Johns) Tech?
Rosemond: I went to Aberdeen and then to Tech. And at William Whyte School, I would go to sleep at night and pray to wake up Ukrainian so that the daily beatings would stop. But it was 50% Ukrainian and 50% Jewish.
Posner: Yeah, you knew what it was like to be a Jew.
Rosemond: Absolutely.
Posner: Did you do any studying in Hebrew or Yiddish?
Rosemond : I did. I went to Hebrew school. And in those days, I sounded like Georgie Jessel, for God’s sakes. In those days, I can’t believe I said that. If you’re going to cut anything, cut “in those days.” Please, Ger, do me a favor. But in those days, the instructors were measured by how much pain they could inflict on the students.
Posner: And you had a bit of that.
Rosemond: A bit of that. I was once thrown against a radiator by Mar Gross, and I still bear the pains to this day.
Posner: But you weren’t a product of Cantor Brownstone’s choir.
Rosemond: No, that was Alan Blye, and he was my friend and my roommate when I moved to Toronto to become an actor.
Posner: Who were some of your buddies in Winnipeg growing up? I guess Blye was one of them.
Rosemond: Blye was very close. Bugsy Lavich was very close, very close, and probably the leading bookmaker of his generation.
Posner: He’s well-known.
Rosemond: Indeed, and remains today my closest and dearest friend. And whenever I think about Bernie, I say to myself, how advantageous is it to have a friend who is the smartest human being in the world? I mean, if I need to know anything, he knows it. He knows it.
Posner: Did you go to university in Winnipeg at all?
Rosemond: I went to the University of Manitoba, and that’s where I got the bug to go into theater because I was Troilus in “Troilus and Cressida.” I was Cassius in “Julius Caesar,” and I was hopeless in the classroom. But it just took me by storm. It really did. And I ended up going to Toronto.
Posner: Well, just hold on a second. Were you not involved in some fashion in the creation of the MTC, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, in its very early days – with John Hirsch?
Rosemond: I was a founding member of the Manitoba Theatre Centre with Gordon Pinsent and Len Cariou – who went on to win a Tony, and Donnelly Rhodes, who went on to be a terrific influence in theatre in Canada. And I was one of the founding members. And you know what was strange, Gerry, is that I thought, boy, if this guy John Hirsch is in Winnipeg, what must they be like in New York or the West End in England? And I never met his match. But boy, could he intimidate me. I was in a play, “Death of a Salesman.” I was playing Bernard, and he came up to me and he said, “Mr. Rosemond, don’t you think you ought to reconsider your interpretation of that lawyer you’re playing?” And it would have been a fair note, except it was given to me after dress rehearsal. I’ve never seen a man customize performance the way he did — everybody got exactly what they needed. He was beyond brilliant. He went to his demise as my mentor and my idol and my friend.
Posner: So he was your introduction to the world of arts.
Rosemond: Absolutely. And strangely enough, we hooked up later when — oh, many, many years later — when he was head of drama at CBC, and he brought me back from Los Angeles to create the program “King of Kensington.”
Posner: When you made that decision somewhere in the ’50s, you’re in your, I guess, 20s, and you make a decision, “I’m going to move to Toronto, and I’m going to go into the arts as a career.” Your parents must have looked at you like you were out of your head.
Rosemond: Do you know, Gerry, it was funny, because beyond the initial beating about the head and shoulders that my father laid on me, they never stopped supporting me. They stood by me, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that. 100% support. Let me chart my own course.
Posner: But the odds were stacked against you. Come on.
Rosemond: Oh, tell me about it. I mean, it was about 15 minutes before I realized I wasn’t a very good television actor. I remember sitting in the basement of 42 Bedford Road in Toronto with Gordon Pinsent, who was my other roommate, with Alan Blye, and we were watching a guy who stole a part from me. He was playing the part I was born to play. And I watched it for about 10 minutes, and I said, “You know what, Gordon? He’s better than I would have been.” And Gordon said, “Perry, get out of acting. You don’t have the ego for it.” And I’d been sneaking in and out of control rooms all this time, Gerry. So I got bitten by the behind the scenes. And that’s where I headed.
Posner: So you actually gave up the acting. You went into production.
Rosemond: Exactly, exactly.
Posner: Well, maybe you were fortunate that that happened early on in the career. In your career, as I gather, you’ve touched the lives of some pretty big names. Tell me if I’m wrong here. Dick Van Dyke?
Rosemond: Yes. Len Cariou, Cloris Leachman, Julie Andrews, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Donnie and Marie, Johnny Cash, and the list goes on.
Posner: How does this all come about?
Rosemond: Oh, Johnny Cash. That was the best time of my life. Two years in Nashville. I’ll tell you how it came about. Johnny wanted documentary elements in his variety show, and I had trained in both in Canada. So I wasn’t the best documentary filmmaker, and I wasn’t the best comedy variety producer, but the fact that I could do both got me the job directing his show. And when they introduced me to him — it was during the hippie era, so I had the long hair and the whole nine yards.
Posner You weren’t exactly a feature presenter. You didn’t present well.
Rosemond: No, I didn’t present well because Johnny said, “Where are you going to film this week?” And I said, “I’m going to Hazard, Kentucky to film coal miners.” And Johnny said, “Perry, if you go into Hazard, Kentucky on a Saturday night with that long hair and them bell-bottoms, they’re going to kill you.” So this whole Hollywood invasion of middle America was absolutely hysterical. But the show was a big hit.
Posner: Give me the career path. You came here (Toronto) in the ’50s.
Rosemond: OK, I came here in the ’50s, late ’50s, as an actor. Right. Shared a room with Gordon Pinsent and Alan Blye. Right. We were very competitive, but Alan really won because he had a role on a continuing starring role on one of the big variety shows. And if I’m not mistaken, he actually declared Gordon Pinsent and me as dependents on his 1959 tax form. So he definitely was the more successful of the group. Then I went back to Winnipeg in 1960, and I applied as a production assistant. And there were no openings, but there were producer-directors that had quit, and so they gave me a job as a producer-director.
Posner: So I get this is at CBC in Winnipeg, correct?
Rosemond So I got 4,200 bucks for the year, and I did Metro News and a talk show, and then I did a show called “Red River Jamboree,” which was fully sponsored by Kraft Foods, always in the top ten. And, Ger, I’ve been going downhill ever since.
Posner Well, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t know hardly that, based on what I’ve read about you. I’d say you’re climbing the ladder, and you’ve climbed to the top. And then, so how long were you back in Winnipeg?
Rosemond: I was back in Winnipeg until ’63. What happened was I was doing this variety show and I looked eastward and the third best variety producer at CBC in Toronto was a guy by the name of Norman Jewison. And so I thought, oh, my God, I’m never going to get to Toronto, which was Mecca, as a variety producer. So I went to my supervisor and said, “Look, I want to do children’s programming. My heart is with the children.” And so I got transferred to the children’s department in Winnipeg, took two kinescopes under my arm and headed to Toronto, and got a transfer to children’s programming in ’63. ’63 to ’68 Toronto, ’68 to ’85 Los Angeles.
Posner: But what were you doing in LA?
Rosemond: Well, I came out of the Cash show and did Bill Cosby’s show. You might not have heard of him. He hasn’t been in the news much these days. But I did Bill Cosby’s variety show, and from then, Donnie and Marie (then) a situation comedy called “Good Times.” But what happened is I had three shows going in Canada at the same time. I had “Bizarre” on CTV. I had “Tom Jones” on Global TV, and I had “King of Kensington” on CBC. So I thought, well, what am I doing in America?
Posner: So back you came to Canada?
Rosemond: Back to Canada, where I’ve been since ’85.
Posner: Now, in those years, those five years that you alluded to, that you were doing work in children’s programming, you were pretty involved, from what I gather. You did some work on “Children of the World?”
Rosemond: Yeah, that’s probably something of which I’m most proud. It was a series on children in developing nations, and it drew an audience of over 600 million people just in audio-visual distribution.
Posner: Wow. And if I had to say, what’s the number one thing you’ve accomplished? That would be it?
Rosemond: That would be it.
Posner: Really?
Rosemond: Absolutely.
Posner: I understand it won (something called the Japan Prize). I mean, I hadn’t heard of this, but I gather it’s pretty significant. The Japan Prize is (for) the best children’s program.
Rosemond: That’s correct.
Posner: So, you know, that’s saying something. That’s a long way from the North End.
Rosemond: Well, you know what we say. They say, how come there’s so many great people from the North End? And my answer is always the same. It’s a deep and abiding desire to get the heck out of the North End.
Posner: Now, I think, correct me here, in some fashion, not only did you do this program that won this prize, “Children of the World.” But you also were connected, and maybe you can tell me how, to “Mr. Dressup” and “The Friendly Giant?”
Rosemond: That’s right. I was head of children’s programming for a period of time and worked with Mr. Dressup and the Friendly Giant. Friendly Giant, I remember once being in a room with him, and I was giving him some notes, and he turned around and he walked away from me. I thought, well, that’s rude. And then I looked, and a group of schoolchildren had come into the studio. And he was deathly afraid of being seen as anything but a giant. Which he was, by the way. He was a gigantic personality.
Posner: Well, you were the executive producer of those shows, right?
Rosemond: Correct, correct, yeah.
Posner: And in some way you got connected to Sesame Street, too?
Rosemond: That’s right. I was living in Los Angeles, and they asked if I would come back and Canadianize Sesame Street.
Posner Canadianized Sesame Street? I didn’t know there was a Canadianized version.
Rosemond: Well, what we did was we took out the Native American segments and the Spanish segments, and we substituted them with Native Canadian and French. And then gradually we took over and did our own version, a Canadian version of Sesame Street. Again, very gratifying. Back to Winnipeg to do it — that was my blackmail. I said, I’ll come back and do it if I can do it in Winnipeg, because I like the graphics artists in Winnipeg, and I felt I’d get a better product.
Posner: Okay, that’d be what, sometime in the ’80s?
Rosemond: That would have been earlier. That would have been in the ’70s.
Posner: Wow. Well, you kept up your links to Winnipeg.
Rosemond: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Posner: Now, so you’ve had children’s programming. And you also got into, I gather, documentary and public affairs.
Rosemond: Right, yes. “The Way It Is.”
Posner: “The Way It Is” was the Sunday Night flagship show. That was the big show on CBC Sunday night, wasn’t it?
Rosemond: That’s right. It was the big show on CBC Sunday night, and I worked with an executive producer called Ross McLean. I didn’t last too long on that, Gerry. I remember Ross had a very constructive way of winning arguments. We had one argument. And I can’t even remember what it was about, but he won it hands down by throwing a Coke can at my head. And I took a hike, and I never came back to “The Way It Is.”
Posner: That’s the way it was.
Rosemond: That’s the way it was, right.
Posner: You also did what you call profiles for CBC’s “Telescope,” with Oscar Peterson, Arthur Haley, Gordon Pinsent, Glenn Gould, Donald Sutherland. I mean, that was another big show.
Rosemond: Yeah, and that was my entrée to the United States because I became their man in America. And thus I did Donald Sutherland in Hollywood while snooping around for work and Eddie Albert from ‘”Green Acres” and all of the expatriate Canadians who were living in Los Angeles. And that gave me a foothold because I could look for work and still pay the rent. My Canadian qualifications counted for nothing in America. You were zero. Zero. And I was starting from scratch at age 30, and I had to have some kind of income to get things going.
Posner: And then somewhere along the line you got — you oversaw the production, I’m not sure exactly, of “Hockey Night in Canada.” I’m guessing you never even played the game.
Rosemond: I was on the third line of the Chicago Blackhawks in the miniature NHL, you know, and probably the worst ever third liner in the history of Manitoba’s miniature NHL hockey. But here’s the deal with that. When I wanted to come back to Canada, I couldn’t just come back as a freelancer because when they brought me in from America, I was the big American producer that they were bringing to Canada. If I was going to be in Canada, you know the deal, the expert’s always 100 miles from home.
Posner: That’s right.
Rosemond: So I had to have a foothold. So I had worked with Don Ohlmeyer Productions, and they were consulting to Hockey Night. And they wanted to take over Hockey Night. And Don suggested that I come up from America to put them in the hockey business, which I did. And I also started other shows for this company, Molestar Communications, which were more in the entertainment business and more to my liking, like the Juno Awards, I’d escape for a month or two, or a syndicated series called “Starting From Scratch,” which I shot in Montreal. So I would leave the administrative behind and jump back into the trenches whenever I could.
Posner: You know, it’s okay you didn’t play so well in the third line in miniature. You did a little better, I would say. Now, you mentioned David Steinberg. And you produced his show, CTV’s “David Steinberg Show?”
Rosemond: Yes, that’s right.
Posner: Did you even write for that show?
Rosemond: I wrote for it.
Posner: How many scripts would you have written for?
Rosemond: We did one season only, but we had an incredible guest list. David grew up a block away from me, and we knew each other forever. And I’ve done so much with David, and I admire him so much. And David attracted a huge guest list of John Voight and Ethel Merman and Milton Berle, and he also was able to bring out John Candy for his first show and Martin Short and Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty and all of those people.
Posner: No, I don’t think David Steinberg’s memories of Winnipeg are as warm as yours are. They are kind of, you know. I’m quite surprised to hear you say that because I think in the beginning maybe, you know, when you were a young kid you hate where you came from. Maybe there was some of that. But now he cherishes it.
Rosemond: He does. I also had a lot of clout in being able to, if I may say so, book enormous talent because we had Marty Short and Andrea Martin, and I was able to book Howie Mandel, because I gave him his first shot in America on Norm Crosby’s “Comedy Shop.” And I got to tell you this really boring story, but I’ll try to make it quick.
Posner: Okay.
Rosemond: My partner and I on Norm Crosby’s Comedy Shop could veto any act that appeared on the show. So Howie’s manager was Saul Holliff’s nephew, and Saul was Johnny Cash’s manager, who was very good to me on “The Johnny Cash Show.” So he said, could you put my act on? And I said, send a tape. So he sent the tape of Howie, you know, with the faucet on the forehead and the diaper and God knows what else. And before we were 15 seconds into it, my partner Joe Sigmund raised his hand and he said, “I veto.” I said, “Joe, it’s Saul Holliff’s nephew’s act. We’ve got to put him on. Let’s tape him. We won’t use it.” And six months later, to make a long story even a little longer, Phil Kives from Winnipeg of K-Tel came to order a DVD from us. And he said, “make sure that you put on the DVD the kid with the diaper.”
Posner: Okay. You know, I’m just barely starting and we’ve got to finish this. Tell me, Perry.
Rosemond: Yeah.
Interviewer: What’s the story? Are you into retirement mode or you’re still going at it?
Rosemond: My dream is that it’s “ready camera.” I want Ingmar Bergman to shoot this, by the way. My dream is “ready camera one” and aneurysm, and in slow motion my head starts to descend to the console and I’m dead before I even hit it.
Posner: You’re still working. Still working. And I guess you still connect to Winnipeg.
Rosemond: Absolutely. I was there several times to do specials in Winnipeg, and I still would go back today, especially with the tax credits.
Posner: Perry, it’s a joy to have you. I tell you, we barely scratched the surface, and I appreciate your taking the time to come and do this.
Rosemond: Can I tell you, and I say this in all honesty, you are one terrific interviewer.
Posner: Well, thanks very much. I enjoy doing it.
Post script (added by Bernie Bellan): Some of the things that Gerry omitted from his interview were that Rosemond also produced the terrific documentary, “When Jews Were Funny,” which was named best Canadian Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival.
As his obituary on the Benjamin’s Parrk Memoria Chapel website also notes: “In 2003, Perry was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, a national recognition for a career that entertained, educated, and made Canadians laugh.
“But Perry never measured his life by accolades, he measured it in smiles. He lived to spread laughter and joy. It was his way of making people feel seen and valued. He will be dearly missed and forever loved.”
Local News
Regan Katz manages not just one, but two different – and successful baseball teams in two different cities
By BERNIE BELLAN About three months ago I wrote a story about an up and coming local football star by the name of Gavin Katz – who, although only 14 years old, had already received widespread recognition for his defensive abilities on the football field. (You can read that story at “Gavin Katz: ‘The next great Jewish football player’.”)
Gavin had been both a linebacker and defensive lineman for his pee-wee Fort Garry Lions Bantam football team – and he was voted most outstanding defensive player on his team by his coach, John Makie.
One thing that stood Gavin in especially good stead as a football player was that, in his 14th year, he grew 4 inches to 5’8″ and added 35 pounds to weigh 170 pounds at the time I spoke to him in July.
With him graduating from Ecole River Heights last June and moving on to Kelvin High School this September, Gavin had hopes to make the Kelvin football team, but he was realistic about his chances, saying that he thought he would probably “end up on the practice roster” for the Clippers varsity team “where he will be fighting for a playing role,” because if he did make the team he’d be among the youngest players on the team (which is usually made up predominantly of players from Grades 11 & 12).
Well, as I noted in my introduction to my story about Gavin Katz, the idea for doing that story came from sportswriter Scott Taylor. Recently, Scott sent me another email about a story, but this time the idea he suggested was to do a story about Gavin’s father, Regan.
I had mentioned Gavin’s parents’ names in my story about Gavin – also that Regan is former Mayor Sam Katz’s nephew (His father is Sam’s older brother, David), but other than adding Gavin’s mother’s name (Mandy), I didn’t go into any detail about Regan Katz and his own very successful career.
Then I received another email from Scott Taylor, this time about Regan (with a photo attached):
“Here’s a photo of the best baseball executive in Canada — Regan Katz.
“He runs both the Goldeyes and the Ottawa Titans. He helped get the Goldeyes to the playoffs, just won a championship with the Ottawa Titans and also set the affiliated minor league attendance record in Ottawa with more than 10,000 fans for the Frontier League opener and again for the Championship series.
“This guy has his shit together.”
And so, since my story about Gavin Katz was one of the most widely read stories on this website this past summer (It was also very widely read in the print Jewish Post newspaper.), I decided that, if Scott Taylor sends me a story idea, it’s an idea worth following up.
Which led me to contacting Regan Katz again. (The last time I contacted him it was to see whether he could wake Gavin up to talk to me. After all, like most teenagers, Gavin likes to sleep in when he can, but it was already 11 am on a Saturday morning when I was calling, so I figured: “Dad, go wake up your son. There’s a not-so-important journalist who wants to talk to him.”
Which is how I ended up having a very enjoyable interview with a very personable and unassuming young man – who did seem a little bit drowsy as I talked to him.
This time though, when I spoke with Gavin’s father, Regan was very much alert. Considering the hectic schedule he maintains though during baseball season, I could have forgiven him for sounding just a wee bit tired himself. But, at the time we did our phone interview, Regan’s baseball season had wound up. He sounded quite relaxed – still very much enjoying the accolades he had received for his work running not just one, but two different minor league baseball teams.
Before I began to ask Regan about his life in baseball, however, I wanted to touch base with him about Gavin’s football career. By now, the high school football season was in full tilt, and I was curious to know whether Gavin had made the Kelvin football team?
Regan told me that Gavin was one of only three “freshmen” to make the team and “Gavin’s the only one who started every game, and, yesterday got defensive player of the game” (which would have been played Thursday, Oct. 1, as our interview was conducted Friday, Oct. 2.)
I asked Regan whether Gavin was still playing linebacker (which, Gavin had told me, was his preferred position on defense)?
Regan responded that “they moved him to defensive tackle, so he’s right in the front line instead of at the back, but he’s breaking through the offense and helping the linebackers take down the tackles. He got two sacks yesterday and two running back tackles, which is not his job, but he’s breaking (through) kids larger than him and making his way through.”
At some point, as we follow Gavin’s football career, I hope to provide further updates as to his success on the “gridiron.” (By the way, the term “gridiron” – which refers to a football field and which used to be used quite often by sportswriters in the past “comes from the historical layout of the field, which was marked with intersecting lines every few yards that made it look like a metal cooking grate (or gridiron) used for broiling food over an open fire.”)
Enough about Gavin. Now, here’s the main point of why I wanted to do this story, which was to write about Regan.
I asked him how long he’s been involved with organized baseball?
He answered: “I’m in my 28th year.” As Regan observed, although he was born in Winnipeg, “when I was three, my dad decided he was allergic to snow and moved the family west (to Victoria). I came back in my late teens and joined up with the Winnipeg Goldeyes.”
Even before Regan moved back to Winnipeg, however, he had already embarked on a business career in his early teens, working for Westfair Foods (owners of Superstore and Wholesale Club) in British Columbia, helping to build grocery stores all over the province.
As he explained it, “So, when they would open up a new store, I would be the regional person who would go in and ensure that the setup and the staff was on plan.”
Regan was also responsible for training the staff and making “sure that everyone was ready” – traits that were to prove indispensable to what was to come during his current career in baseball. ”I was part of seven store openings in a two-year span, in that role” (with Westfair), Regan added.
He noted that when he left, he told them he was taking a “two-year sabbatical from the job.”
Regan added though, that “since I haven’t gone back, I assume they figured out I’m not returning.”
I asked: “Well, have they sent you a message saying, ‘Hey, the door’s still open?’ “
Regan answered: “No, but every year I get my superannuation for the time I served with them.”
He went on to note that he got married in 2010, “to a wonderful Manitoba woman, ” (Mandy, whose maiden name Gavin had told me, was Falk.)
Sam Katz actually revived the Winnipeg Goldeyes as a baseball franchise in 1994, when the team played out of the north end of what was then Winnipeg Stadium – in what was a very oddly shaped baseball field.
Regan, who came on board full-time with the Goldeyes in early 1999, says that he had spent some time with the team during a few previous summers spent in Winnipeg and had been able to see the Goldeyes play on that field which, he says, was affectionately known as “Deformity Field.”
(The left field fence was only 225 feet from home plate. It was a hitter’s dream – knocking easy home runs over that very short distance to the fence.)
Regan arrived in Winnipeg, however, just in time for what was to be the first season in what was to become the Goldeyes’ new home – what was then called CanwWest Park (now Blue Cross Park), in 1998.
His first title with the Goldeyes, he said, was “account executive, but I was truly a ‘gofer,” he observed.
“At the time construction was on full throttle at the new ballpark – downtown. And so, we were commuting from our offices on Maroons Road (where Winnipeg Stadium was located), and on McDermot – at Sam’s offices for Nite Out (Entertainment), as well as the ballpark trying to get things set up.
“So, when I wasn’t hauling or setting things up, I was making calls off a list to try and convince people to buy tickets.”
In those early years with the Goldeyes, as Regan noted, he was mostly involved in ticket sales, and in “2003, I moved to director of group sales and looked after all of our group sales, which are the outings where people are coming out (for things like) birthday parties, baseball teams, family gatherings, that kind of thing.”
In 2005, Regan moved up from director of group sales to assistant general manager, then in 2016 to vice president and chief operating officer – which are the positions he holds to this day.
In March 2020, however, Regan and his uncle Sam Katz took a trip to Ottawa – just as Covid was beginning to shut down things everywhere – including sporting venues.
There was a baseball park in Ottawa – called Ottawa Stadium, owned by the city, that was sitting empty.
As Regan explained, the city was “taking RFPs for an operator. (It had) sat empty for a year and a bit, and its previous occupant had left all kinds of turmoil and unpaid bills and whatnot.
“So they were looking for a team, trying to decide what to do with the venue. So we went out to tour – just as COVID shutdowns were starting in late March. We toured the venue, contemplated for a bit. And so, we went back and forth for a while, trying to decide if this was something we wanted to take on.
“In September of 2020, we agreed to terms with the city on a lease for the venue. We couldn’t travel across the border, so we started the team in 2022.”
The Ottawa team, known at the Titans, play in what is called the “Frontier League (which will be rebranding in 2027 to become the “National Association.” The Goldeyes, by the way, are in a league known as the “American Association.”)
There is a difference in the calibre of baseball players in the two leagues, as Regan explained to me: Players in the Frontier League would move up to Single A baseball, while players in the American Association would move up either to Double A or Triple A. (The level of baseball in the American Association is at a level wherein you can often see former major leaguers playing on teams.)
As vice-president and chief operating officer for both the Winnipeg Goldeyes and the Ottawa Titans, Regan said that he oversees general operations for both teams, but is not involved with the day to day management of players or coaches of the teams. That is the responsibility of the teams’ general managers and field managers, he clarified.
While there is no specific award for executive of the year in either the Frontier League or the American Association, when Scott Taylor wrote to me that Regan Katz is “the best baseball executive in Canada,” he didn’t say that he was referring only to minor league baseball.
As Regan noted, the Goldeyes received an award for “Game Presentation of the Year” this year, while the “Ottawa Titans received the Commissioner’s Award of Excellence.”
“When we started the (Ottawa) team five years ago,” he observed, “we were averaging about 1,200 fans. This year we were in excess of 2,600. We set attendance records, both for the ballpark in Ottawa, as well as for the league. We also sold 10,278 tickets to our opener, which is a record that will probably stand true for the rest of time.”
As far as the Winnipeg Goldeyes’ season went, not only did the team perform well on the field, making it to the first round of the playoffs, average attendance was the highest it’s been since before Covid, with games averaging over 4,000 fans.
Not only that, but the Goldeyes received a number of accolades for how they produce their games.
“Our broadcaster got Broadcaster of the Year,” Regan noted. (The games are broadcast on Nostalgia Radio Station CJNU. The play by play announcer is Trevor Curl.)
“We (also) received Game Presentation of the Year, which, you know is a big one because that’s what we work so hard on. What we’re selling – it’s all about fan experience.”
Regan continued: “Obviously, we try to put together a winning team, but to us, it’s all about having fun at the ballpark, win or lose – even if you don’t like baseball. So that one meant the most to us.
“We also won Social Media Team of the Year – for Winnipeg. All three of (those awards) are big ones to us because they’re pieces that we choose and work hard on.
“The essence of what I do (is) we’re trying to put on family entertainment that happens to have a baseball game in the background. ..and that’s what we built in Winnipeg.”
I asked Regan whether “in terms of, of how you rate in in Minor League Baseball – without trying to blow your own horn, I know the Goldeyes have always been considered a top-notch operation. Have the Goldeyes received any particular awards from organizations that look at all of minor league baseball and compare all teams?”
“ ‘Baseball Digest’ has acknowledged us a number of times over our 33 years for various pieces of what we do,” Regan answered, “whether it be attendance or game experience or most creative promotion. We’ve certainly received many, many mentions in ‘Baseball Digest,’ which is probably the most well-known for all of Minor League Baseball and independent leagues for sharing what’s out there.”
I asked Regan – and it was based on everything he had told me to that point: “Has anyone in a much more senior league tried to recruit you?”
He responded: “Are there headhunters out there who have called me? Absolutely, yes. Many, many teams call me to consult all the time, but I do keep my advice and recommendations to those within our league because I want to see the leagues that we’re in succeed.”
Regan added: “I have a young family. (In addition to Gavin, the Katz’s have a daughter, Brynlee, who is nine). I like where I’m at. I don’t think any other team is going to come to Winnipeg, so I’m well-planted here.”
My final question was about how difficult it is to run two separate teams that are so far apart?
He answered: “Anybody else who has overlap between two teams has a much shorter commute than I do – with a three-hour flight each way. It’s incredibly challenging. Fortunately, technology’s made it a lot easier with virtual meetings and things like that. I speak with my staff in Ottawa every single day. I’m in constant contact with at least some of them, if not all of them. All of our meetings are virtual so that I can be part of them.”
Only 47 years old, Regan Katz has been working full time since he was a young teenager. I didn’t even mention that, while he was working for the Goldeyes here after he had just moved to Winnipeg, he managed to finish university, where he studied business administration. If anyone would be interested in learning about business administration, with everything he has accomplished so far, Regan Katz could be the perfect teacher.
Local News
Federation mission to Poland mix of heartbreak and celebration
By MYRON LOVE For Sheila Rabb, her first visit to Poland was “both heartbreaking and heartwarming.”
The 90-year-old Rabb was one of 34 participants in the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s first ever organized Adult Mission to Poland. The group toured Poland from Wednesday August 26 – Monday August 31, with an entourage of Israel and Polish tour guides, a security guard ,and two bus drivers.
It was Jeff Lieberman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and whose late father, Aron Lieberman, was a Holocaust survivor who was originally from Poland) who initiated the trip. “In 2023,” he recounted, “shortly after I was appointed CEO, I learned we had never organized an adult mission to Poland. Given the passage of time since the Holocaust and the tragedy of October 7th, I thought there would be interest in offering this meaningful trip to our community.“
The six-day journey,” Lieberman continued, ”taught us about the 1,000 years of mostly good and impactful Jewish life in Poland before 1939, as well as what happened during the Holocaust. We visited several sites including the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery, the Polin Museum, synagogues, the Krakow Jewish Community Centre, the Lodz Ghetto, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, and the Chelmo death camp.
Lieberman noted that the group bonded very quickly. ”We learned so much,” he said. “We cried together and we celebrated together. Many of the people that went on this mission have said how life-changing this trip was for them.”
In particular, the Federation CEO singled out the presence of Sheila Rabb. He describes her as “incredible”. It was a difficult tour with much walking and standing at sites, he noted.
“She was a real trooper,” Lieberman said. “Sheila was able to able to experience this meaningful journey with her children. It was truly special for us to have Sheila and her children, Ian and Irene (Zimmer), join us.”
“There was a wheelchair available for me if I needed it,” said Rabb, who looks much younger than her years. “I must admit that the heavy schedule of 12-hour days and late dinners was a challenge. But everyone was so nice and helpful and protective of me.”
Sheila Rabb’s connection to Poland was through her mother, Molly (Horn) Pitch. Fortunately, she was able to emigrate in the early 1930s. (Sheila’s father, Willy, came here from Russia about the same time.) Molly was able to bring one brother over but sadly, all but one sister were subsequently murdered by the Nazis.
The group began their journey in Warsaw with a visit to the Polin Museum which – Rabb noted – was built by Ron Lauder, president of the Estee Lauder Foundation. The museum recounts over 1,000 years of Jewish life in Poland.
“We learned about Jewish life, how Jews contributed to Polish society and the rich communities that existed throughout the country,” Lieberman reported.. “You can’t talk about Poland without including the impact of what Jews did for Poland.”
Both Rabb and Lieberman have fond memories of a group of Israeli high school students that that they met at the museum, who were from Ulpanat Chorev High School in Jerusalem. “We joined them in singing Hatikvah and other songs and danced a hora with them,” Lieberman said. “We ran into them again at Mila 18 and Auschwitz, and their Head of School invited us to join them for Kabbalat Shabbat in Krakow.
“Our group had the amazing experience of celebrating Shabbat with them,” he continued. “The women were so joyous, and their enthusiasm helped us emotionally after what we had experienced during the first few days of the mission. Their presence and the sorrow they expressed at the sites we shared with them had a profound impact on all of us.”
The group’s time in Warsaw also included a visit to a Jewish cemetery with over 250,000 graves and a walking tour of the famed Warsaw Ghetto.
The next stop was Lublin and the Majdanek death camp.
“One can read the books, watch the films and visit the museums, but nothing prepares you for walking the grounds of the death camps and mass grave sites and the profound sadness and shock that accompany them,” observed Jewish Federation staffer Abby Flackman, who was also part of the mission. “Walking in Auschwitz, Majdanek and the forest graves of Chelmno, I felt, validated the lives that were taken. We take the memories of their experiences and assure that they will not be lost with time.
“But,” she added, “we also showed that we are still here. We are still laughing and feeling joy, supporting one another and proud of who we are.”
On the other side of the coin, the group witnessed the ongoing rebirth of Poland’s Jewish community. One site that Sheila Rabb recalled in particular was the reconstituted Lublin yeshiva. The yeshiva, which opened in 1930, was one of the largest in the world. The building was restored by the Jewish community in 2003 and reopened as a synagogue in 2007.
On the Friday of the tour, the group arrived in Krakow, where they toured the old Jewish quarter where, Ian Rabb noted, there are still many Jewish-owned businesses – also the Schindler factory museum. He reported that Krakow has a Jewish population of about 1,200, as well as home to the internationally known annual Krakow Jewish Festival.
Sheila Rabb spoke about a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor the group encountered, who told his story. Although he had lived in California most of his life, he felt the need to return to Poland two years ago.
While in Krakow, the group made a day trip to nearby Lancut, formerly a Hasidic stronghold, where the members of the group toured the synagogue that was built in 1761 and has been well preserved.
“The synagogue was unreal,” Ian Rabb commented. “It has an art deco design that exudes spirituality and kabbalah.”
The Winnipeggers finished their tour with a visit to the Lodz ghetto. Lodz was an industrial city and the last Polish city to be made “Judenrein” because the Nazis needed the Jewish factory workers to build tanks and sew German soldiers’ uniforms.
For Sheila Rabb, one of the most difficult moments was standing on the site of the mass grave in the forest near the Chelmno death camp, not far from Lodz, where up to as many as 300,000 victims of the Chelmno gas chambers were buried.
“We recited kaddish over the site,” she said.
Sheila Rabb hac high praise for the Winnipeggers’ Polish and Israeli tour guides, Janush and Mordechai. ”They were outstanding,” she said. “They really brought history alive for us.”
Ian Rabb reports that his cousin (and Sheila’s nephew), Alan Pitch, who was also part of the group, is working on a documentary of the trip.
The last word goes to Abby Flackman. “My biggest takeaway,” she said, “is that we will control how our story ends. The Nazis tried to end our story of the Holocaust. They failed. We went elsewhere, built communities and institutions, grew again in numbers and continue to strive to become stronger, more resilient and thrive.”
Local News
Gray Academy enrolment continuing steady upward trend
By MYRON LOVE Next year, Gray Academy of Jewish Education will celebrate its 30th anniversary – and Western Canada’s only JK-Grade 12 Jewish day school has much to celebrate.
For starters, enrolment continues to grow. Lori Binder, Gray Academy’s Head of School and CEO of the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education, is pleased to report that this year’s opening enrolment stands at 521 – the highest number for September in 13 years.
For the third year in a row, Gray Academy is running three kindergarten classes, and all three are nearly full, as are the Grade 1 and 2 classes. While Early Years remains the main entry point for new families, the school also welcomed 37 new students to its elementary and high school this year – a total of 88 new students.
Lisa Boroditsky, the school’s admissions coordinator, points out that many kindergarten children are coming from the Kaufman Child Care Centre at the Rady JCC and Chabad-Lubavitch of Winnipeg’s Torah Tots early childcare program. At the high school level, she notes, Grade seven enrolment is also rising, with more students coming to Gray Academy after completing Brock Corydon Elementary School’s Hebrew Bilingual Program.
“From our parent surveys, we can report that parents are choosing Gray Academy not out of fear, but rather because they value the sense of Jewish community that is only available at Gray Academy,” Binder says. “The fact that so many current Gray Academy students are children of alumni also tells us that parents believe in the high academic standards and the positive Jewish experiences we offer.”
New for the school’s elementary School this year, Lori Binder reports, is a musical theatre program. Over the years, our community has produced a significant number of young performers who have not only graced local stages but have also made their mark in theatre and film throughout North America. (Incidentally, this school year, Gray Academy will present its high school musical production, “Mary Poppins,” in March.)
In addition to the annual musical, Binder reports, Gray Academy this school year will be hosting the annual Canadian Accredited Independent Schools national varsity boys’ basketball tournament. Students and staff alike are looking forward to welcoming participating team from independent schools across the country.
Students are also looking forward to the school’s 50th Yom Ha’atzmaut Song Festival. “We are excited for our current students to continue our long tradition of celebrating Israel through music,” Binder says. “We are also hoping for a lot of participation from past performers from the first five decades.”
Among newer programs for Gray Academy high school students are internship opportunities. One is with Drs. Lorrie Kirshenbaum and Inna Rabinovich-Nikitin at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at St. Boniface Hospital – a great opportunity for students in Grades 11 and 12 who have an interest in pursuing studies in health sciences. The other program, which was piloted last year, is run in conjunction with the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre, and gives students in Grade 9 and up opportunities to connect weekly with Simkin residents for hands-on activities.
The corollary to that is a new program that focuses on the school’s relationships with grandparents. The Gray Academy Grandpals program encourages grandparents (and other special seniors in the lives of Gray students) to connect with and volunteer at the school. Since the program launched two years ago, Grandpals have attended special events and come into the school to volunteer for challah making, hamantaschen baking, and even with building projects such as at the new Hypedome by the ice rink, which will provide student skaters with shelter to warm up and change their skates in winter.
Lori Binder points out that, in addition to new programming, the school maintains a strong focus on affordability. “It is very important to us that no child is turned away because a family can’t afford to pay,” she says.
She notes that Manitoba is one of only a few Canadian provinces that fund independent schools such as Gray Academy, with the school receiving approximately 50% of the funding public schools receive per student. She adds that the school offers a robust Bursary Assistance program, strongly supported by funding from the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Combined Jewish Appeal. “Over 60% of our families receive some level of bursary support,” she reports. “We work with every family to ensure that no child is ever turned away because of inability to cover the full parental contribution.”
The school also continues to play an integral role in helping families moving to Winnipeg from Israel, Argentina, Brazil and other countries to adapt to their new homes. Over the past few years, the school has expanded its EAL (English as an additional language) programming significantly to accommodate growing needs.
In an increasingly troubled world, Gray Academy remains a beacon of light, offering Jewish students and their families a warm, welcoming environment, along with a top notch Jewish and general education.
For more information about what Gray Academy has to offer and application dates, phone 204 477-7425 or email admissions@grayacademy.ca.
