Movies, Television and Books
In 1952, the jail was the subject of the first ever television news report on the CBC Television English network when the Boyd Gang, a notorious group of bank robbers, broke out of the facility for the second time. The news anchor was future Bonanza star, Lorne Greene.
For the movie Cocktail (1988), starring Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown, the rotunda in the old section of the jail was redressed as an upscale New York nightclub.
The jail was also a filming location for the episode So Shall Ye Reap, from the TV series War Of The Worlds in which it served as the hideout for the aliens.
The jail is featured in pivotal scenes in the novel Old City Hall, by Robert Rotenberg.
The jail is extensively featured in the 2009 documentary Hangman's Graveyard. The film details the recent archaeological investigation at the jail and tells the story of the executed inmates found in an abandoned cemetery beneath a parking lot behind the jail.
Scenes from Chicago were filmed in the old building.
Toronto artist and musician Andre Ethier wrote the song "Don River Jail" about the building.
Read more about this topic: Don Jail
Famous quotes containing the words television and/or books:
“History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.
In Beverly Hills ... they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.
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—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)
“No common-place is ever effectually got rid of, except by essentially emptying one’s self of it into a book; for once trapped in a book, then the book can be put into the fire, and all will be well. But they are not always put into the fire; and this accounts for the vast majority of miserable books over those of positive merit.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)