Pioneering neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield was the subject of one of Canadian television’s ‘Heritage Minutes’ in a melodramatic classic that celebrates his stimulating brain research.
It really does just last one minute and looks like a cross between Hammer Horror and Gone With The Wind with the dramatic stares and hammy acting to match.
Penfield is portrayed as a brilliant neurosurgeon (and “the greatest Canadian alive”!) who operates on women in full make-up to cure them of their epilepsy.
If you ask me, any piece of television that hits a high on a cry of “I can smell burnt toast” has got to be a timeless masterpiece.
Link to Wilder Penfield ‘Heritage Minute’ on YouTube.
Mind Hacks 
“I smell burnt toast” is a pretty common meme in Canada due to this commercial.
As Ruth mentions, it’s probably the most-remembered single line from those Canadian Heritage moments.
(The whole series of them is kind of fantastic, though.)
“I smell burnt toast” is pretty much instantly recognizable to a certain generation, I think.
I dare say that the commercial is almost more a part of our heritage than Penfield’s own work 😀