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Great Impostors: The View from Up Here Series

Maple Leaf This item is only available for Canadian orders.
This title is a part of the series The View from Up Here Series


Catalogue Number:  FF0006
Producer:  Franco Finn Films Inc.
Producers:  Saxberg, Kelly and Harpelle, Ron
Directors:  Harpelle, Ron
Producing Agencies:  ShebaFilms Studios
Subject:  Biography, Canadian History, Documentary, First Nations Studies, History, Indigenous Issues, Social Sciences, Social Studies, Women's Studies
Language:  English
Grade Level:  9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  2025
Running Time:  27:01


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This video surveys several famous impostors from the 19th and 20th centuries, asking whether they were escaping their pasts or seizing new opportunities. Sarah Edmonds fled an arranged marriage in New Brunswick and fought in the U.S. Civil War disguised as a man. Iron Eyes Cody and Grey Owl both built celebrated public careers by falsely claiming Indigenous identities, reflecting a broader Canadian pattern of forgiving such deceptions. Ferdinand Waldo Demara, the “Great Imposter,” adopted numerous professions, even performing surgeries during the Korean War without training. Ronald Ivan McDonald repeatedly stole academic identities to work as a psychologist and professor before finally being jailed. Together, their stories reveal how reinvention can be both survival strategy and calculated fraud.

The View From Up Here is a six‑part satirical “found‑footage” documentary series about twentieth‑century history in the Thunder Bay region, hosted by local historian Tom Peotto and built from CKPR TV news clips, regional archival footage, and artifacts from the Thunder Bay Museum.


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