B. H. Fisher

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Bernard Herbert "Red" Fisher (c. 1914 - 5 May 2006) was an American sporting goods retailer, U.S. naval and United States Coast Guard officer, newspaper columnist and poet, who became a popular radio and television personality in Canada. He is not to be confused with Montreal Gazette sports columnist Red Fisher.

Fisher was inducted into the U.S. based "Fishing Hall Of Fame" in 1948. When he moved to Canada, he launched a popular radio talk show program The Red Fisher Show in 1963, which moved to television in 1968. The TV version was set at fictitious "Scuttlebutt Lodge" and featured silent home movies of outdoors activities which involved high profile guests, mainly from the major league sports of the era. These included ice hockey stars Gordie Howe, Eddie Shack, and Johnny Bower, and baseball legend Ted Williams. The Red Fisher Show differed from other outdoor living shows of its time by promoting nature conservation, game preservation and the "catch and release" mentality. The series continued until 1989, making it among the longest-running on CTV.

At the same time, his weekly column "Outdoor Topics" was read in over 180 newspapers. In 1971 Fisher's first book of poems, Poems Of Our Great Outdoors was published and distributed. Red would famously give each guest on his show a copy of these poems. Three volumes of Poems Of Our Great Outdoors were released, each one simply adding more poems to the previous collection. Red released a record on Saga Records also called Poems of Our Great Outdoors in which he read his poems to a symphonic background.

In 2000 Red Fisher released a collection of stories and anecdotes from his life called Tight Lines and Tall Tales. A portion of the profits were donated to outdoor conservation efforts.

While many fans are still not aware of it, the popular Red Green Show, created by Canadian comedian Steve Smith, was a blatant spoof of Fisher's several TV titles, some incarnations of which were "Tall Tale Adventures" and "Our Great Outdoors." Canadian comedy show SCTV also spoofed The Red Fisher Show in a skit called The Fishin' Musician in which John Candy played the Red Fisher character.

A parody booklet of humorous rhymes called Wild Poems by B.S. 'Fred' Risher was another project his legacy inspired.

Fisher died in Chatham, Ontario aged 92.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Ellis, Brock. Outsider Poet - B.H. "Red" Fisher. Bushparty. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.
The Original. Outdoor Canada (approx. 2002). Retrieved on 2006-11-11., interview
Power, Gavin. Ahh, Scuttlebutt!. The Fishing News. Retrieved on 2006-11-11., interview
Canadian Fishing Legend Red Fisher Dies at 92. Bob Izumi's Real Fishing Show. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.