| HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Ken Jubenvill was born in Dauphin, Manitoba on September 28, 1937 to Douglas and Hattie Jubenvill. Ken was raised on a small farm near the town of Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. With five brothers and three sisters he did his share of the farm work but at the age of nine became very interested in music and art. Graduating from high school he married his high school sweetheart, Sheila Stewart and they headed for Winnipeg to start Ken’s commercial art career. The art house in Winnipeg, Phillips-Gutkin and Associates, was also producing animation cartoons and documentary films. Ken started working in the editing room and saw film production as the way to satisfy his strong interest in music and art.
In the winter of 1959, he took his small family - now including a little girl Deborah and an infant son Bradley to Sydney, Australia to expand his film making knowledge and experience. Ken moved from editing and started directing. After a successful three and a half years they moved to Vancouver, B.C. in June 1963. While in Vancouver, Ken produced award winning commercials and documentaries filmed in B.C., Alberta, Yukon and Washington State.
Ken studied at the University of British Columbia and earned a Business Administration diploma while winning international awards for his film work, such as at the Chicago Film Festival for an unprecedented five years in a row. In 1967, daughter Shari was born. National and International awards for a pool of commercials Ken directed for BC Tel in 1971 caught the eye of CBC producer Phil Keatley who was just starting a drama series called “The Beachcombers”. Ken directed one of the first three episodes that fall and forty-five episodes over the next nineteen years. “The Beachcombers” became the most popular and successful series ever produced for Canadian television.
Ken set up his own production company to continue producing commercials and documentary films to complement his drama directing career. His body of work now included two movies for TV/Video, episodes for more than twenty-two different drama series, theatre shorts, World’s Fair production, TV documentary specials, industrial and government documentaries and over one thousand TV commercials.
Ken then lived in Toronto, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta; and Kelowna, B.C. He spent many years producing documentaries for the Alberta government. He also produced and directed projects in Japan, Australia, England, France, Alaska, Hawaii, Yukon, N.W.T., Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and Washington State.
During his time in Toronto, on a part time basis, he became a regular director on the CBC series “Wind at my Back” then directed the TV movie “Promise the Moon”. His years in Alberta also included directing “North of 60” and “Lonesome Dove – The Series” which led to another movie, “Ebenezer”.
Some of the Stars Ken Jubenvill has directed include: Burl Ives, Leslie Nielsen, Lorne Green, Dick Vandyke, Jack Palance, Rae Dawn Chong, Richard Thomas, Rick Shroeder, Eric McCormick, Gordon Pincent, Thomas Cavanough, Shirley Douglas, Henry Cherney, and Bruno Geroussi, to name a few.
Ken Jubenvill and his wife moved to Kelowna, B.C. in 1993.
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| SCOPE AND CONTENT: | The fonds consists of films, videos, photographs, negatives and production files for Ken Jubenvill’s productions, many of which were produced for the Alberta government. The film productions include approximately 700 film cans of original film elements such as original colour reversals, internegatives, sound tracks and outtakes.
Some titles included in this fonds include Let Music be the Message (1981) - Calgary Youth Orchestra; Breaking the Sand Barrier (1979) – Syncrude Canada; Grande Prairie - A Way of Life (1981); and Snowbirds (1989).
The textual records include production files for Jubenvill’s television and documentary work, including for projects such as Mysterious Ways, The Great Road, Beachcombers, and co-productions with the Vancouver Police Department (Tears for April, Riding with Madonna, and Stolen Lives). These files include scripts, contracts, correspondence, and edit lists.
The audiovisual records include master copies of Jubenvill’s television work, including episodes of Beachcombers, Danger Bay, Airwolf, North of 60, and others. There are also master copies as well as camera tapes and audio recordings of the documentary The Great Road, a production commemorating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Alaska Highway that featured Leslie Nielson. These camera tapes include interviews with people involved in the construction of the highway as well as footage of 50th anniversary celebrations.
The photographs and negatives are production stills of Jubenvill’s television and documentary work as well as production stills from the Alberta-based shoot of the feature-length film Superman III.
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