Since the Gemini Awards show launched its way onto the Canadian airwaves in 1986, Mounties have sung, Cynthia Dale has danced and Martin Short has showed up in a dress.

‘Marty and Andrea [Martin] came on stage wearing the same dress,’ recalls George Anthony, former creative head, arts music and variety for CBC, broadcaster of that Geminis show and most of those that followed.

‘Andrea looked horrified,’ Anthony continues. ‘Marty looked at her and said, ‘I didn’t know you’d be wearing the blue one.’ A few years later, he did the same skit with Carrie Fisher on the Oscars.’

During the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Geminis hit a peak with irreverent, audience-appealing shows, with Maria Topalovich (who stepped down this April) directly involved in the creative aspect of the awards show.

‘Maria, from the very beginning, wanted our input,’ says Anthony. ‘She has a very professional skill set. Maria was always looking to make things better.’

Over the years, the show that celebrates Canadian television has been hosted by a who’s who of local celebrities, ranging from Albert Schultz to Wendy Mesley and Sean Cullen. News anchors Peter Mansbridge and the late Barbara Frum surprised the public with comedy skits. Jerry Ciccoritti won seven awards and the Royal Canadian Air Farce none in competitive categories. Through it all, there was one constant. Topalovich was behind the scenes, making sure that the program itself was a success.

That won’t be the case anymore. After 28 years, Topalovich’s unexpected departure and the inevitable arrival of the first Gemini program without her have provoked a wave of nostalgia and storytelling from the corridors of power at the CBC to the U.S. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in California.

‘Maria and I had a great working relationship,’ recalls Andra Sheffer, who was the first director of the Academy, and is now the executive director of the Independent Production Fund. ‘We set out to do something unique. We didn’t want the Geminis or the Genies to be like the other award shows internationally. There was always a search to find that fresh new angle that would make us stand out in the crowd.’

They succeeded immediately, according to John Leverence, the SVP of awards for the Emmys. ‘From the get-go, the Geminis were blessed with an integrity born on a well-thought-out, viable structure. That is the bedrock foundation from which any award show must be based. Maria had a firm grasp of the whole concept of the judging and awards practices.’

The first Geminis took place in April 1986, after years of industry consultations.

‘The television industry was growing,’ recalls Topalovich. ‘They wanted a vehicle like the Genies for unity and promotion. We worked very hard developing the rules and regulations. But the first year was a strange one.’

The CBC was in the midst of a strike that spring. An inaugural telecast had been planned, but suddenly there appeared to be no broadcaster. ‘Jay Switzer at CHUM, private stations and CBC affiliates came to the rescue,’ remembers Sheffer. ‘It was quite a miraculous ad-hoc network. We got great [audience] numbers for the show.’

Ann Medina, then vice-chair of the Academy, remembers that first show very well – and how strained the resources were at the time. ‘I was a presenter, and we had no budget for wardrobe,’ she recalls. ‘About a month before the show, I was in the U.S. and found a pants suit made out of white satin. It was a knockout. People came up to me after the broadcast and said, ‘Where did you get it?’ And I said, ‘At a consignment store in the States – for $25.”

Roger Abbott of the Royal Canadian Air Farce recalls that first Gemini show as being a big boost to the industry.

‘I was involved in handing over the ACTRA awards [which had been the industry’s prestigious prize ceremony in the ’70s] to the Academy,’ Abbott explains. ‘What Maria and the Academy did was open the awards [first with the Genies and then the Geminis] up to more than performers and writers. Now, the Geminis are a four-night extravaganza, which she will have to answer to the public for starting!’

‘I’ll forgive Roger anything,’ laughs Topalovich, whose memory turns back easily to those early years of the Geminis. ‘I was in a unique position, because I was involved in the actual production of the shows. When the Geminis became independent programs [after five years], we decided we wanted to produce our own shows. It meant that I had to work very closely with the producers, and have a hand in every word of the script…I learned a lot about live television and network TV because I had to. One of the hallmarks of our shows all the way through was that they were extremely creative, given the constraints of an awards show format.’

‘Peter Mansbridge did a top-10 countdown like David Letterman, giving you all the signs for a bad awards show,’ recalls Medina. ‘And the Mounties skit brought the house down. Paul Gross and Tina Keeper started singing, the curtain parted, and a phalanx of Mounties emerged as their chorus. It was Goosebump City!’

‘Our hosts were fantastic,’ says Topalovich. I think of the year Ralph Benmergui and Cynthia Dale did the show or when Albert [Schultz] hosted. They did some wonderful creative things in terms of how you make an awards presentation entertainment.’

The Geminis became noted in the ’90s for the nurturing of creative talent. The likes of producer Steve Sloan and comics Sean Cullen and Kenny Robinson were able to demonstrate their abilities to a nationwide audience.

‘The Geminis offered an opportunity to showcase not only the performers on the stage,’ recalls Topalovich, who is justifiably proud of her willingness to aid Canada’s emerging creative community. ‘We offered a chance for writers to develop their craft. The producers were given a lot of leeway by the Academy and the network to try crazy, funny things, to be irreverent, to do those things you probably wouldn’t see in other countries because they’re more politicized than we are here.’

Though the Geminis were broadcast mainly on the CBC, Topalovich always kept her options open. ‘Maria would always pull the rabbit out of the hat,’ recalls Medina. ‘She was the one who came up with multiple broadcasters, with Bravo! taking a section, for instance, while CBC would still take the main awards show.’

In her last two years, Topalovich took the Geminis to Global.

‘She came to us, looking to see if a private broadcaster could inject new energy in the show,’ says CanWest MediaWorks SVP of programming and production Barbara Williams. ‘Maria [also] wanted to take the Geminis on the road and see if we could reinvigorate things by bringing the show to new communities [like B.C., last year].’

Like so many of Topalovich’s ideas, ‘there were only upsides to the move to Vancouver,’ according to Williams. ‘There was real enthusiasm from the B.C. production community, the provincial government and the citizens.’

Williams concludes, and many would agree, that Topalovich has ‘made the Geminis work for the viewer, the talent and the broadcasters – all the stakeholders. Maria has given her life to the Academy.’