I haven't contributed to this blog much, to my own sad chagrin. Suffice to say, in years since my last blog, Markdale appeared to be headed for extinction in the mid-to-late 2010s, with threats of shuttering key institutions Centre Grey General Hospital, Grey Gables County Home and Beavercrest Community School.
Grey Gables remains a Grey County Retirement Home and rebuilds have taken place of Beavercrest School and the hospital, now under the"Brightshores" health services banner.
These all thanks to a strong local populace and supporters of substantial capital and foresight (see Chapman's Ice Cream and others).
Markdale has lit up the mainstream video media with several programs devoted to the Grey Highlands village. CBC-TV series' "Rick Mercer Report" (2014) and Jonny Harris' "Still Standing" (2021) shot separate episodes featuring Markdale. Homegrown filmmaker Jesse McCracken's 2021 documentary, "Grey Roads," focusing largely on Markdale, garnered artistic and critical acclaim. They Shot A Movie Once by Mountain Goat Films produced a series of shorts of the 1958 film, "Wolf Dog" beginning in late 2024. Crossroads, a TVO documentary featured Markdale in a 2025 episode.
Having been a part of They Shot A Movie Once, I hope you can check out our series, featured here on this section of this website:
The music from WOLF DOG didn't begin and end with the 1958 B-movie. It was used again in the 1959 Canadian TV series "HUDSON'S BAY", then again in the 1960s Canadian TV series, "THE FOREST RANGERS". The link below will take you to a selection of 'HUDSON'S BAY" shows.
Wolf Bites: Barry Nelson played an "Americanized" James Bond and was the first to do so in the 1954 episode of "Climax", called "Casino Royale", which co-starred Peter Lorre. George Tobias later played Abner Kravitz on a popular TV series, "Bewitched."
HUDSON'S BAY starring Barry Nelson and George Tobias.