Lost & Found: Leslie Nielsen's "A Walk in New York" (1958)
Did You Know? This CBC radio drama predates Nielsen's comedy fame - recorded just two years after Forbidden Planet!

A Canadian in New York
Discovered in the CBC archives by Rewind host Michael Enright, this 1958 "documentary-drama" hybrid stars a young Leslie Nielsen as a Saskatchewan-born actor chasing Broadway dreams. Key details:
- Part of CBC's Project series (1958-1968), created to "bring excitement back to radio"
- No surviving credits - identified by Nielsen's voice and Regina birthplace reference
- Time capsule of 1950s NYC: Subway sounds, taxi rants, and neon-lit ambition
- Pre-comedy Nielsen: A rare dramatic performance pre-Airplane!
🎙️ Behind the Mic:
"The producer Harry Boyle reportedly gave his team one directive: 'Make radio dangerous again.' This raw, semi-improvised piece delivers."
- Rewind (CBC Radio, 2023)
✉️
"Nielsen's delivery of homesickness ('that awful wave... longing for fresh air and clean sheets') reveals the actor's dramatic range we rarely saw later."
- Audio historian Clara Bensen
The Audio Walk
🚶 Excerpt: Nielsen's Opening Monologue
"I'm a Canadian, and I wanted to be a great actor. I was 19 years old and green, ambitious, and scared too... I came with $40 and no friends to that melting pot of 8 million human beings. 8 million plus one—New York."
(Sound: Grand Central Station crowd noise swells)
🗽 NYC Soundscape
"The drilling of street crews, taxi drivers cursing traffic, and that blinking bar sign across from my $8/week room..."
Nielsen's Radio Odyssey
Long before "Don't call me Shirley," Nielsen's voice work included:
🎭 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Radio)
Mr. Grainger in "The Magic Shop"
🎭 The Nutcracker and the Mouseking -2004
Voice of the Mouse King
🎭 Lights Out (1950s)
Early U.S. radio drama appearances
Which Leslie Nielsen role is your favorite?
Frank Drebin? Commander Adams? The Naked Gun himself? Email your picks!
Listener Memories
James (Toronto)
"Hearing Nielsen's dramatic timing in the taxi scene—where he lets real cab drivers rant—you can already sense the deadpan genius he'd later perfect."
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