The Factory 2

Updated1/7/11
We're getting the feeling these colour photos were snapped in the months before the move to 333 King St. E. in the summer of 1975.

Thanks to Sun vets and TSF readers, all of the rim staffers are identified:

Peter Brewster is in the slot.

"The guy on the left is John McCallum, who was a professor at Ryerson and did some part-time work at the Sun," says a TSF reader. "He taught copy editing in the early 70s. A classic Front Page kind of guy."

Sitting to his left, Gordon Stimmell, who was the Sun's TV guide editor for 25 years before axed in 1999 during the Quebecor downsizing. He is now at the Toronto Star.

Another TSF reader has identified the person to the left of Stimmell as Sheila Patterson.

And another TSF reader writes: "The guy way at the back in the white shirt and dark tie is former desker Bill Hay."

Thank you, TSF readers.

One of the much appreciated freedoms of the Sun was casual attire, day or night, male and female.

Note the tools of the rim trade - and the ashtrays.

More to come.

We get links

The Interview From Hell.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1016306--sun-news-interview-elicited-record-complaints-says-watchdog#article

Thankfully, we are Bell subscribers.

30: Frank Dobrovnik

Frank Dobrovnik, a 13-year Sault Star newsroom vet, has died suddenly of a suspected heart attack while vacationing in Italy with his wife. He was 41.

The Ryerson grad and father of two young children joined the Star in 1998 after a nine-month stint at the Timmins Daily Press. 

His wife, Lisa, a former Woodstock Sentinel-Review staffer, now works at the OLG in Sault St. Marie.

Frank Rupnik, editor of the Sault Star, pays tribute to the popular reporter today in the Star. You can read it here. 

Memories of Frank can be emailed to TSF.

Null? Ignore?

We were fascinated by Peter Worthington's Sunday Sun print edition column on chimps and lab experiments.

But when we went to torontosun.com for a link for TSF readers, the message for Peter's column was "Null - ignore."

Say what?

So we checked the Frum Forum, managed by Peter's son-in-law, David Frum, and here's the column.

Two questions: Why isn't Peter's chimp story online at torontosun.com and why was it online at Frum Forum 11 days before it appeared in the Sun's print edition?

Exclusive!

Quote of the week: "We all need to give it a rest."

Ripped from Rob Granatstein's Sunday Sun column about Toronto media's abuse of the use of "exclusive."

The Toronto Sun's editorial page editor no doubt speaks for readers perplexed by the recent abundance of exclusives. 

Good on you, Rob. It has been getting a little silly.

The Factory 1

In this 40th year of the Toronto Sun, by chance this pack rat found a couple of dozen colour negatives of The Word Factory, where it all started on Nov. 1, 1971.

Not sure who snapped the photos - Norm Betts, David Cooper and Jac Holland were the Day One photographers - or how they ended up here in a box of Sun clippings.

But we'll share them with TSF readers who might not appreciate the humble beginnings of the little tabloid that grew in the former Elclipse Whitewear Building at 322 King St. W.

We're not sure when the photos were taken, but the Sun called the Eclipse Building home from November of 1971 until the summer of 1975.

The above photo captures the newsroom's cavernous environment. Note the open ceilings, huge heating vents, casual attire - and typewriters.

If you recognize any of the staffers, email their names to TSF.

More to come.

Re George Rennie

George Rennie, a former Toronto and Edmonton Suns tech whiz, died in Oakville in 2008 but a former co-worker and friend in Scotland found his obit here just recently. 

Jim Biddulph (compositor/keyboard, retired), says in an email to TSF: 

Please forward this to George's family.

I hope this is the right George Rennie.  I worked with a George Rennie over 40 years ago in a company called Typesetting Services Ltd., in Hope Street,  Glasgow, Scotland. This would be the clue if I have the correct person.  

So sorry to read of his early death due to the Big C. The (TSF) obituary of Tuesday 22nd January, 2008, which I have just found on the Internet, convinces me that it is the George I knew all those years ago.  

We were young tradesmen making our way in the printing trade as Monotype keyboard operators.  George was always full of life and fun and we worked early and late shifts for a few years together.

I will always remember our last night out along with colleague Harry McCrae before George emigrated to Canada, as a sad occasion, we all got on so well together. He emigrated to Edmonton and 'The Sun' was mentioned, another clue.

On a visit back to Scotland a few years later, we met up again in Partick, Glasgow for a pint and he told me about OCR, which was being used in Canada, while we here still had barely heard of it. He was convinced this was the way forward in typesetting for quick turnaround of copy. 

After that visit, we lost contact. I was pleased to read of his being a pre-press whiz kid as he saw Canada as a land of opportunity for his talents.

A memory that stuck with me was on a late shift, he had raging toothache and we tried to alleviate his pain with a whisky  soaked cotton bud to soothe his tooth, this only worked for a short time till the whisky was finished.  After about an hour or two  of suffering he came in with a pair of pliers for someone to pull it out. However, we did manage to convince him to wait and go to a dentist the next day.

All the guys he knew back here are all retired or passed on.  We have two reunions per annum and those at our last night out who remembered George were sorry to hear of his passing.

We don't always remember everyone we have worked with, but George was a friend in the workplace and outwith the workplace.

Kind regards to family.

Masthead look

The masthead in the Toronto Sun's Comment section has added another righty.

That leaves Mike Power, publisher, and James Wallace, editor in chief, on top of four lefties and three righties, plus "J. Douglas Creighton, OC, Founding Publisher," in type that is more easily read. 

Ah, sweet symmetry.

Tweetskates

A TSF tipster says a Sun Media expert was down Niagara way to talk about social media and press coverage.

Take a look at the St. Catharines Standard and how its reporters are tweeting city council meetings while in session, the assembly was told.

Welland Tribune reps listened, but later noted Sun Media will not allow any equipment purchases. 

"So if they want to do this they (reporters) would have to buy their own equipment," says the tipster.

We're sure the general response will be "Tweet this, Sun Media."

Bob E's day

It was Bob Elliott's day at a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame gathering in St. Mary's on Saturday.

The veteran Toronto Sun baseball writer was inducted into the Hall of Fame and praised by some of the greats of the game, including former Jays pitcher Tom Henke.

A Mike Koreen story in today's Kingston Whig-Standard says it all.

Congrats, Bob.