Hinterland Who's Who by C.R. Gilpin
C.R. Gilpin reads "The Pump Jack," "The Tall Poppy" and "The NFB Documentary."
For more than fifty years Hinterland Who’s Who kept Canadians supplied with little-known facts of interest.
THE PUMP JACK The North American Pump Jack is a type of the nodding donkey also found in Arabia. The Pump Jack flourishes in the Great Plains of America and adjacent prairies of Canada. It can be found in packs or alone, feeding on fossil residue deep beneath its iron snout. One habit of the Pump Jack is to die standing with its head lowered, as if at the end of a lifetime of bowing prayers. Thus, a metronome of industriousness becomes a monument to exhaustion. For a more complete story of the Pump Jack, why not contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa? THE TALL POPPY The Tall Poppy is also called the Great Northern Atwood because of her ability to emit popular literature from Toronto. Poetry, every genre of fiction, economics, and lit crit all provide good homes. The conspicuous stature of the Tall Poppy drops a sundial shadow across the Canadian hinterland. Neighbouring poppies, disoriented by one so like and unlike themselves, complain of the shade. Accordingly, they discharge a variety of parasites to attack her attitude and reduce her altitude. For a more complete story of the Tall Poppy, why not quit grumbling about her persona and actually read her books? THE NFB DOCUMENTARY The NFB Documentary is the smallest member of the film family. Once a populous species riding the Canadian airwaves, it now hovers on the brink of extinction. The NFB Documentary spends much of its time gathering scraps of nationalist pride. When the celluloid is full of itself, it stores these scraps in close-ups or caches them in its archives. The call of the NFB Documentary —and it has but one call in its repertoire— has come to narrate the internal wilderness of many Canadians with its stiff, stilted, and hesitant quality. For a more complete story, why not contact the National Film Board in Montreal?