Season 2

1. School for Charm

1954-01-01 • 30 min

2. Dresden Story

The citizens of Dresden, Ontario, Canada speak their minds about racial problems in their community.

1954-01-01 • 30 min

3. Story of a Newspaper

1954-01-01 • 14 min

4. Laurentian Skiing

1954-01-01 • 15 min

5. Test Pilot

In this short documentary, Fred Davis visits the De Havilland Aircraft factory in Toronto. He interviews two test pilots, talks to one of their wives, and goes for a ride in a new Beaver airplane.

1954-01-01 • 15 min

6. The Strong Man

1954-01-01 • 15 min

7. Threshermen’s Reunion

1954-01-01 • 30 min

8. Survival in the Bush

The producer of "On the Spot", a cameraman, and skilled woodsman Angus Baptiste are left in the bush with nothing but an axe (plus a camera and a microphone).

1954-01-01 • 30 min

9. The Traffic Cop

1954-01-01 • 15 min

10. Javanese Dancing

1954-01-01 • 15 min

11. On Leave in Tokyo

1954-01-01 • 15 min

12. Police Club for Boys

1954-01-01 • 15 min

13. Artist in Montreal

This short film introduces us to the "automatistes," followers of an abstract art form that developed in Montreal. The movement, initiated by Paul-Émile Borduas, is explained by the artists themselves when narrator Bruce Ruddick drops in at their cooperative studio. The film also captures painter Paterson Ewen at his home and joins the crowd at L'Échouerie, the artists' rendezvous spot. Dr. Robert Hubbard, chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada, comments on non-objective art in general and automatism in particular.

1954-01-01 • 30 min

14. Hidden Power

1954-01-01 • 30 min

15. Movies in the Mill

1954-01-01 • 15 min

16. Judo - Jinks

How--and how not--to get thrown for a loop is demonstrated as Fred Davis visits the gymnasium of the Kano Judo Club in Hull, Québec. The story starts with a pretty girl in a park who proves that judo is not entirely a male preserve. Fred interviews Bernard Gauthier, judo instructor, and gets the history of judo as a sport and some demonstrations of the art.

1954-01-01 • 15 min

17. Chinese Canadians

1954-01-01 • 30 min

18. Food and Drug Patrol

What is on the spot is the Food and Drug section of the Department of National Health and Welfare, a Canadian governmental agency. Ensuring the health and safety of Canadians, the Food and Drug section deals not only with those items listed in its name but also cosmetics. That work also includes efficacy in ensuring that any claims made by manufacturers is actually what a product does when used as directed. An actual case of a little girl ingesting a toxic amount of fluoride through a contaminated chocolate bar is dramatized, staff at the Food and Drug Directorate who have to go through the painstaking process of determining the cause of her illness, and locating its source so that it can be dealt with and that no one else gets sick from it. The work of the actual inspections unit of the Directorate is then presented. The consumer protection side of the coin concludes the presentation in discussing the work of the non-profit Canadian Association of Consumers.

1954-01-01 • 30 min

19. Korea, After the War

Fred Davis takes a look at Korea in 1954, and gives a sobering account of the realities of war as they affect the Korean population. He sees the primary industries of agriculture and fishing in ruins, towns and villages destroyed, thousands of homeless and orphaned children left to survive as best they may. At the docks of Inchon harbour, previously the landing base for United Nations troops, Davis interviews two officers of UNKRA (United Nations Korean Relief Administration) and learns about this organization's aid program in war-torn Korea.

1954-01-01 • 15 min

20. Aviation Medicine

1954-01-01 • 15 min

21. End of Tour

1954-01-01 • 15 min

22. Auto Production

1954-01-01 • 15 min

23. Chosen Children

1954-01-01 • 15 min

24. Workshop for Science

1954-01-01 • 30 min

25. Better Business Bureau

1954-01-01 • 15 min

26. Camera Men

In this film, On the Spot series host Fred Davis sets out to learn about the art of photography. Amateur, commercial, news and portrait photographers discuss the tricks of their trade when Davis pays them a visit: Louis Jacques does a photo story on pianist Oscar Peterson, while Ottawa's Yousuf Karsh explains how he clicks the shutter at famous people and, illustrating his point, snaps Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent’s portrait.

1954-01-01 • 15 min

27. The Magnificent

1954-01-01 • 15 min

28. How to Climb a Mountain

In this short documentary vignette, members of the Alpine Club of Canada display their skill and talk to host Fred Davis about why they climb.

1954-01-01 • 30 min

29. The Doll Factory

1954-01-01 • 30 min

30. Deep Sleep

1954-01-01 • 15 min

31. The Car Mart

1954-01-01 • 15 min

32. Cancer Clinic

1954-01-01 • 15 min

33. Bureau of Missing Persons

1954-01-01 • 30 min

34. Curtain Time in Ottawa

1954-01-01 • 15 min

35. Harness Racing

1954-01-01 • 15 min

36. French Cuisine

1954-01-01 • 15 min

37. The Magic Men

1954-01-01 • 15 min

38. Micro Movies

1954-01-01 • 15 min

39. Montreal Fire Department

1954-01-01 • 15 min

40. Vancouver's Chinatown

1954-01-01 • 15 min