Rich Little — The Early Years

26 January 1964

People have often remarked that there appears to be a disproportionate number of Canadian comedians who made it big in the United States. Think of Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, Leslie Nielson, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Norm Macdonald, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Mike Myers, Martin Short, and Jim Carey to mention just a few.

One possible reason for this phenomenon is the relative size of the “creative economy” in Canada compared to that in the United States. A 2016 British study by Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) found that in 2011 Canada’s creative economy accounted for 12.90% of Canadian employment, compared to 9.75% in the United States and 8.76% in the United Kingdom. Others have speculated that Canadian comedians owe their success in the United States by spending years honing their craft outside of Hollywood, developing their own unique comedic styles before trying their luck down south. Many earned their chops on SCTV in Toronto. Still others have suggested that Canadians know their American neighbours but at the same time have an outsider perspective that allows for observational humour, impressions, and parody that appeal to Americans.

One comedian who excelled at an early age in impersonations is Rich Little. Little was born in Ottawa on 26 November 1938, the second of three sons of the eminent physician, athlete and boy scout leader Dr. Lawrence “Bones” Little and his wife Elizabeth. The family lived at 114 The Driveway. From a very early age, young Rich was doing impressions for his mates in the St John’s 57^th Wolf Cub Pack and at school. At Lisgar Collegiate he did impressions of his teachers, often answering questions in class in their voices. (That must have gone over well!)

^{Front page of the Ottawa Citizen, 1 September 1955, 16 year old Rich Little and 17 year old Geoff Scott with Ed Sullivan at the CNE in Toronto.}

As a teenager, he joined up with Geoff Scott of Glebe High School to do comic impersonations at schools and other local events. In late August 1955, young Rich, age sixteen, and Geoff, age seventeen, travelled to Toronto to see Ed Sullivan who had flown in from New York City to host the Canadian National Exhibition and introduce Marilyn Bell who had swum across Lake Ontario in 1954 and who had just swum across the English Channel. Sullivan was also in Toronto to scout out new talent for his show. Somehow, the boys managed to speak to Sullivan and even get their photograph taken with him. The duo also did some impersonations for the variety show host. Little reported that Sullivan’s poker face broke into a smile saying “Boys, you have some great imitations there. But you lack audience experience. Come back in two years.” Little said that meeting Sullivan was the “thrill of [his] life.”

Little and Scott took Sullivan’s advice to heart and began to perform wherever they could. In November 1955, Little provided entertainment at a parish dinner of the St. George’s Anglican Church. The following year, the duo performed at such events as a picnic for the handicapped in Aylmer, an open house at Connelly Motors in Westboro, and a springtime party for the Ottawa Philharmonic. In addition, they were introduced to radio listeners to Ottawa when Gord Atkinson of radio station CFRA asked them to perform on his show.

Little and Scott got their first big break in February 1956 when they were invited to be one of the acts on the CBC television show Pick the Stars in which a panel of celebrities judged up-and-coming entertainers for cash prizes. The show was hosted by Dick MacDougal. With Little doing great Dick MacDougal and Ed Sullivan impressions, the duo came in tied for first place despite their “nervousness that made them look a shade amateurish,” according to the Ottawa Journal. However, the reporter added that Little and Scott were “a good deal funnier” than Joey Bishop who the CBC had hired at a cost of $2,500 to make a guest appearance on the Denny Vaughan Show, a musical variety series. Prophetically, the newspaper said that Little and Scott had the ability to become great comics should they choose a career in show business. Their appearance on Pick the Stars led to a call to perform from the Gatineau Country Club, the premiere night club in the Ottawa area. However, Little’s parents put their foot down with a firm “no!” After all, Rich was only 17 years old. However, the duo got more gigs on CBC television, including an appearance on the Jackie Rae Show in April 1956 where Little introduced his Charlotte Whitton (Ottawa’s mayor) impression to a national television audience.

As well as doing impersonations, Little got in as much radio and acting experience as he could. While still at school, he worked at CFRA during summer vacations doing everything, including a woman’s show called Helpful Hints for the Homemaker which apparently included one helpful hint for bald men: “Pour sour cream over the scalp twice daily; rub vigorously.” Little also performed in countless plays at the Ottawa Little Theatre and Ottawa’s Children’s Theatre. In a 1955 production of The Tinder Box by Hans Christian Anderson, Little was “third dog.” He was later the “sandwich man” in Pinocchio. In 1958, he played summer stock in North Hantley, Quebec in which he did the lighting, staging and sound, in addition to acting. Also that year, he won best actor in the Eastern Ontario Drama Festival for his role as “Bo Decker” in the play Bus Stop. By the early 1960s, he was doing two or three plays annually, with the view of eventually making the stage his career, with his sights set on Broadway.

While Rich Little and Geoff Scott performed frequently together during the late 1950s and early 1960s, they eventually went their own ways. Following his graduation from Glebe High School in 1957, Scott became a staff reporter at the Ottawa Journal. Two years later after leaving Carleton University, he joined CHCH-TV in Hamilton, where he became the face of the station. In 1978, he entered a new profession as a federal MP representing the riding of Hamilton Wentworth for the Progressive Conservative Party, a job he held until 1993. He died in 2021.

^{Advertisement, Ottawa Citizen, 21 June 1962.}

As for Little, after his graduation from Lisgar Collegiate, he took a job at the Smiths Falls radio station CJET where he had two shows daily, doing take-offs of popular television programs. One episode featured a Zorro take-off called “The Stroke of Burro,” in which “Peter Lore” played the burro. It also featured “Jimmy Cagney” and “Charlotte Whitton.” In 1961, he had his own show on CBOT, CBC’s Ottawa station, called Folderol—a half-hour program of light humour and interviews that aired at 6:00pm. The show also starred the Ottawa folk singer Tom Kines, and Jim Terrell who handled “helpful hints for the handyman.”  He also formed a partnership with Joe Potts called Little-Potts Productions, selling commercials, station breaks and impersonations to radio and television stations. As well, he continued to hone his stage impersonations at Le Hibou, Ottawa’s renowned coffee shop, and the Gatineau Country Club where he was now old enough to go. Among his impressions were President Kennedy, Prime Minister Diefenbaker, “Mike” Pearson, and Charlotte Whitton.

So good was his Whitton impersonation that in an Ottawa Journal article Little said that he frightened Lloyd Francis, one of Whitton’s “punching bags” on city council. It seems that while Little was driving down Elgin Street one Sunday, he pulled up alongside Francis who was in a car in the lane beside him looking at the construction of the Queensway overpass. Francis, who was oblivious to Little’s presence, almost jumped out of his skin when Charlotte Whitton’s voice shouted at him “Why don’t you look where you’re going, you stupid oaf!”

^{Advertisement, Ottawa Citizen, 10 January 1963.}

Through 1962 and 1963, as his popularity rose, Rich Little began appearing on many Canadian radio and television programs, including the Tommy Ambrose Show, and the Pierre Burton’s Show, television specials such as Little’s take on Charles Dickins’ Christmas Carol on CRFA, and a CBC show called Six for Christmas, as well as hosting a regular three-hour CRFA show, six days a week. He also released with Les Lye and Elsa Pickthorne his first album called My Fellow Canadians that spoofed well-known Canadian personalities. The record was a huge success. Mike Pearson, the leader of the Liberal Party, was a good sport about Little’s imitation of him, accepting an autographed copy of the album from Little. However, Prime Minister Diefenbaker and his wife Olive were not amused, advising the record company that neither were interested in receiving a copy.

Expecting to premiere excerpts from the record on the Tommy Ambrose Show in late February 1963, it ran afoul of the spring 1963 federal election. While Little’s impersonations were reportedly neither particularly political or controversial, CBC cancelled the program owing to “the troubled political scene and election campaign.” Public reaction to the news was swift; if anything, it boosted Little’s profile and popularity. A St John NB radio station declared a “Rich Little Day,” playing excerpts from the album and other Little material through the day.

A second album called Scrooge and the Stars, was released in mid-November 1963. It featured the voices of popular American entertainers, including “Jack Benny” as Scrooge and “Ed Sullivan” as the Ghost of Christmas to Come. “President Kennedy” featured as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Just a few days after the album’s release, tragedy intruded into the mirth. President Kennedy was assassinated.

^{Album cover of Rich Little’s first album, released by Capital Records in January 1963. Source: LP Cover Archive.}

Rich Little’s work on CBC and his records brought him recognition in the United States. He reportedly auditioned for The Jimmy Dean Show in 1963, thanks at least in part to two Canadian writers for the show, Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth. But it was no avail. He also auditioned for NBC’s Tonight Show. In an interview, Little recalled that the producer said, “Okay, you’re Rich Little from some place on the Arctic Circle. Make me laugh.” He didn’t get a guest spot, the producer apparently underwhelmed by Little’s sketch about Jack Benny’s birthday party attended by Fred MacMurray, George Burns, Rochester, Alfred Hitchcock and other US celebrities.

1964 was Rich Little’s breakout year in the United States. After coming off of an appearance on the Juliette Show in Toronto in early January, he went to Hollywood to audition for the Judy Garland Show. Again, the opportunity to audition came from John Aylesworth who had seen his try-out with The Jimmy Dean Show and was now a writer for Judy Garland. He had also been greatly impressed by Little’s two comedic albums. Rich Little appeared on 26 January 1964, along with Martha Raye and Peter Lawford. (Rich Little on Judy Garland Show.) Unfortunately, Little’s family and friends probably didn’t see the show when it aired on CBS, unless they had a special aerial to pick up the signal from Watertown, New York. Cable television was not yet available in Ottawa.

From that point on, there was no looking back. Rich Little was now a bone fide star. For the next twenty years or so, he was on the top of his game, appearing on sit-coms, variety shows, including the Dean Martin Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jimmy Dean Show, The Kopycats and The Julie Andrew’s Show. (Here is a 1967 CBC interview with Rich Little: CBC interview.) During the 1970s, he was a regular on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, and became famous for his impression of President Richard Nixon. As well, for a time he was a regular on The Johnny Carson Show.  

When his television career went into decline, Rich Little took on the nightclub scene in Las Vegas. In 2024, at 85 years of age, he continues to perform at the Tropicana.

Rich Little was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2022.

Sources:

CBC News, 2018. “Rich Little looks back on his time at Lisgar,” 4 May.

Globe and Mari, 1955. “At the CNE: Swimmers Flashback for Sullivan,” 25 August.

History of Canadian Broadcasting, 2024, Rich Little (1938-).

Nesta, 2016. Creative Economy Employment in the US, Canada and the UK.

Official Rich Little Website: The Man, The Voices, The Legend, 2024.

Ottawa Citizen, 1955. “Come Back Later Boys Sullivan Tells Ottawans,” 1 September.

——————, 1955. “No Place For Adult Mind At Theater For Children,” 21 November.

——————, 1955. “10 Turkeys Carved As Parish Holds It’s First Family Dinner,” 28 November.

——————, 1956. “Who Are The Servants And Who The Masters?” 15 February.

——————, 1956. “Tonight is Open House at Connolly Motors,” 27 June.

——————, 1956. “Dedicate Bus At Picnic For Handicapped,” 13 August.

——————, 1962. “Televiews,” 20 December.

——————, 1963. “PM cook to record spoof,” 24 January 1963.

——————, 1963. “Gord Atkinson’s showbiz,” 31 August.

——————, 1963. “Curtain Raisers,” 19 November.

——————, 1963. “Capitol album,” 3 December.

——————, 1964. “Show business with Gord Atkinson,” 11 January.

——————, 1964. “Show ‘biz’ notes, 1 February.

Ottawa Journal, 1956. “TV and Radio,” 7 March.

——————-, 1956. “Pinocchio Final Play For Children,” 24 March.

——————-, 1956. “TV and Radio,” 19 April.

——————-, 1956. “TV and Radio,” 3 April.

——————-, 1957. “Mailbag,” 27 April.

——————-, 1958. “”TV and Radio,” 31 October.

——————-, 1959. “TV and Radio,” 19 May.

——————-, 1961. “Highlights CBOT,” 30 September.

——————-, 1961. “Folderol,” 1 December.

——————-, 1961. “CBOT Highlights,” 2 December.

——————-, 1961. “Me, Jim Tom ‘n’ Folderol,” 23 December.

——————-, 1962. “Girl About Town,” 24 March.

——————-, 1962. “Even on Sundays,” 27 September.

——————-, 1963. “Comedian Caught By CBC’s Cancellation,” 16 February.

——————-, 1963. “TV and Radio,” 22 February.

——————-, 1963. “TV and Radio,” 27 February.

Young Paul Anka

30 July 1941

^{Paul Anka, age 15, with his first record release on the RPM label, 1956, Lost Ottawa, City of Ottawa Archives, CA4035.2.}

Paul Anka, the famous singer and song writer, was born in Ottawa on 30 July 1941 to Andrew (Andy) and Camilia Anka. Andrew was the son of a Syrian immigrant who came to Canada in 1902, while Camila (née Tannis) was Lebanese by birth. The couple owned the New Locanda restaurant and lounge at 300 Laurier Avenue West. (The old Laconda burnt down.) The family home was a modest dwelling at 87 Clearview Avenue. The civically-minded Andrew was a director of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, the Humane Society and St. Elijah’s Syrian Orthodox Church. He was also chairman of Ottawa’s School Safety Patrol in Ottawa. Son Paul was the oldest of three children. Miriam, three years his junior, and Andy Thomas, ten years younger, rounded out the family.

The future recording star first came to public attention in August 1949 when the Ottawa Journal reported that he won the bunny race for seven and eight-year-olds at track meet for children of McCann Park, Fisher Park and the Vets’ Centre held at Brantwood Beach on the Rideau River. Four years later, the Ottawa Citizen reported that Paul Anka, now aged eleven, scored a goal for the Ants in their 2-0 blanking of the Wasps in a Peewee hockey game. His first brush with the bright lights of New York occurred later that year, when he was one of one hundred boys who won a five-day all expense trip to New York City courtesy of a contest conducted by IGA stores in the Ottawa area.

Paul Anka’s musical career started in St. Elijah’s choir and in school music classes. In January 1956, the fourteen-year-old singer was the lead in a trio called The Bobbysoxers who played for a capacity house at the Fisher Park High School annual concert. Raymond Carrière and Gerald Barbeau were the other members of the teenage vocal group. A few weeks later, the threesome, now called The A-B-C Trio, performed at the annual Sportsmen’s Dinner. The Ottawa Citizen reported that Paul Anka, “a youngster with plenty of voice,” led the way “with the poise of a veteran.” Young Paul also proved his chops at the Fairmount Club located on Chemin de la Montagne in Hull on its regular Tuesday Talent Night. Winning first prize, he received a week-long gig at the Club despite his tender years.

During the summer of 1956, young Paul Anka persuaded his parents to let him go to Los Angeles to stay with an uncle. There, not dissuaded by naysayers, he visited recording houses, hoping to persuade one to audition a song that he had written called Blau-Wile-Deveest Fontaine, named after a South African town in a novel he was studying in school by John Buchan (also known as Lord Tweedsmuir, Canada’s Governor General from 1935 until his death in 1940). Remarkably, the record label RPM purchased the song and signed Anka to a contract. The single, with the song I Confess on the flip side also written by Paul, was released under the Regency label in Canada in late summer 1956. Blau-Wile-Deveest Fontaine became a favourite on Gord Atkinson’s CFRA show “Campus Corner.”   I Confess made it to the number two spot on Ottawa’s “Top with the Teens,” behind Love me by Elvis Presley. That December, Paul Anka starred in a Christmas party for 1,800 members of Ottawa’s School Safety Program. According to the Ottawa Citizen, Anka might have been Elvis Presley given the enthusiastic reception he received.

1957 was Anka’s break-out year. Instead of quickly fading like many aspiring performers, he built on his success. During another trip to New York, he performed songs that he had written and arranged for Don Costa of ABC-Paramount Records. Costa was impressed. In June of that year, Paramount released Diana, with Don’t Gamble With Love on the flip side in the United States. Anka’s inspiration for Diana, which tells of his love for an older woman, was his friend Diana Ayoub who lived on Kent Street. Diana was a smash sensation. Within a month of its release, 250,000 copies of the song had been sold. The disc went gold by October 1957, taking the number one spot on the UK’s Hit Parade and number two in the United States. Sales eventually topping out at more than 10 million copies.

Diana Ayoub met up with Paul in Montreal on his triumphal return to Canada from New York City just days after the song’s release in Canada on the Sparton label. The two appeared on the Tapp House, a CBC Montreal production, hosted by Jimmy Tapp. Anka described their relationship as “good friends.” He thought he was a little young to “go steady.”

^{Ottawa Citizen headline, 25 September 1957.}

Paul Anka didn’t rest on his laurels. After just a short break in Ottawa, he hit the road on a multi-city, six-week tour of the United States, culminating with his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on 8 September 1957, recorded at Madison Square Gardens in front of 18,000 fans. His performance of Diana brought the house down and sealed his celebrity status. The Ottawa Citizen described the now sixteen-year-old Anka as a “pint sized combination of Elvis Presley and Pat Boone,” full of charm and personality. Such was the positive response to Anka’s appearance, Ed Sullivan invited him back to perform two months later. In total, he was to make fifteen appearances on the iconic, weekly, variety show.

Despite the touring, Anka remained busy writing and composing. He released another song that summer, Tell Me That You Love Me, and wrote You Are My Destiny, both of which were to become hits in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. Marking that important rite of passage for any sixteen-year-old boy, he also got his driver’s licence. One thing that Anka did not do was stay in school. Despite his father’s wish that he complete high school, this was not possible given his touring. By this time, he was making big money, pulling in at least $100,000 in 1957. These funds were placed in a trust that was managed by his parents.

In November 1957, Paul Anka took second spot behind Elvis Presley in a poll conducted by Gord’s (Atkinson) Campus Corner, ahead of Pat Boone, Jimmy Rodgers and Ricky Nelson. He also performed at Ottawa’s Auditorium in front of a packed house in the “Biggest Show of Stars for ‘57’,” put on by Super Enterprises Inc. of Washington, D.C. Among the performers that night were the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Fats Domino, The Diamonds, and Lavern Baker. Tickets ranged from $1.50 to $3.50 in price. In the front row sat a dozen girls in red sweaters, all members of Chapter 13 of Paul Anka’s fan club. They looked after Paul’s 7-year-old brother, Andy, who also attended the show. They reserved, of course, their biggest screams that night for their idol. Fans danced in the Auditorium’s aisles, after the police gave up trying to keep them in their seats.

During the show that night, Paul Anka received his gold record for his song Diana. Ottawa’s Mayor Nelms also gave him a wristwatch on behalf of the Paramount Records. Sparton of Canada, under whose label the record came out in Canada, gave him a “Hi Fi.” In turn, Anka gave Don Costa of Paramount a hand-knitted sweater.

_{Ottawa street signs}

This marked just the start of an amazing career that continues to this day. (During the first half of 2024, you can see him in concert in Ontario, Florida and Massachusetts.)  While his popularity as a singer faded with the British Invasion of the 1960s and changing tastes, he enjoyed great success as a song writer, composing Puppy Love for Annette Funicello, My Way for Frank Sinatra, the theme song for the blockbuster movie The Longest Day about the Allied invasion of Normandy, which earned him and Academy Award nomination, and the theme song for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Among many other collaborations, he co-authored songs with Michael Jackson. He also appeared in many movies and television shows during his long and successful career.

Paul Anka was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2004, and was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2008. A street is named after him in Ottawa.

Sources:                                                               

Canadian Song Writers’ Hall of Fame, 2024, Paul Anka.

Ottawa Citizen, 1953. “Heavy Action In Westboro Kiwanis League,” 16 February.

——————, “100 City, District Boys Enjoy New York Tour,” 28 December.

——————, 1956. “Capacity House Witnesses Fisher Park High Concert,” 27 January.

——————, 1956. “Along Sport Row,” 23 February.

——————, 1956. “Floor Shows,” 17 May.

——————, 1956. “Young Recording Star,” 7 September.

——————, 1956. “Disc Jockey Data,” 26 September.

——————, 1957. “‘Family’ of 1,800 Enjoys Monster Yule Party,” 18 February.

——————, 1957. “Local Boy Paul Anka Makes Good – Record,” 18 June.

——————, 1957. “Young Paul Anka’s Song Diana Climbs Steadily,” 20 July.

——————, 1957. “An Afternoon With Anka—Elvis and Pat In One!, 25 September.

——————, 1957. “Paul Gets Golden Record,” 26 October.

——————, 1957. “Gord’s Campus Corner,” 10 November.

——————, 1957. “Starts Belt Out Rock ‘N’ Roll Rhythm For Seven Thousand Ecstatic Fans,” 19 November.

Ottawa Journal, 1949. “Children of Three Playgrounds Compete at Brantwood Beach,” 5 August.

——————-, 1951. “New Laconda Makes Its Bow,” 13 June.

——————-, 1956. “Art Tommy Named Area’s Athlete of Year,” 23 February.

——————-, 1957. “Paul Anka Hits Top Spot In New York Show World,” 19 July.

——————-, 1957. “6,700 Acclaim Paul Anka In Noisy ‘Show of Stars.’” 19 November.

Paul Anka.com, 2024. Biography.

The Ed Sullivan Show, 75 Years, 2024. Artists – Paul Anka.

Le Hibou

12 May 1975

^{Café Le Hibou Coffee House, 521 Sussex Avenue, Lost Ottawa}

It would be an unkind exaggeration to describe Ottawa in the early 1960s as a sleepy little government town that rolled up its sidewalks by 8:00pm. There was in fact a fair bit of evening entertainment to be had. If one thumbed through a random Ottawa newspaper from, say, July 1960, one would find the listings for nineteen cinemas and drive-ins, with offerings including the likes of Solomon and Sheba, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Yul Brenner—the “mightiest motion picture ever created!”— and Ben Hur, winner of 11 academy awards. For theatre lovers, famed though aging American stars, Joan Bennett and Donald Cook were set to appear in a production of the hit play “The Gazebo” at a benefit held at the Laurentian High School. Daily dances and floor shows were on offer at four different locations, including at the Beacon Arms Hotel and the Château Laurier Hotel. Meanwhile across the Ottawa River, jazz greats, such as Louis Armstrong and Sarah Vaughn, made appearances at the Standish in Hull or the Gatineau Country Club. That particular July in 1960, the Standish was actually hosting Bill Haley and the Comets.

But for the most part, it was true that there was little to attract young adults. Places like the Standish were not easily accessible, being across the Ottawa River, and were relatively expensive. As well, with the drinking age then set at 21, teenagers were unwelcome at locations that served alcohol. Most importantly, would you really want to hang out at the same places your parents did?

All this changed in October 1960 with the opening of Café Le Hibou Coffee House at 544 Rideau, above a chiropractor’s office close to Ottawa University. There, high school and university students could drink quality coffee, while enjoying first-rate music, art films, avantgarde theatre, and even poetry readings. Sitting on second-hand wooden chairs at tables covered with white and red checkered tablecloths, lit by wax-encrusted, Chianti bottle candles, they could dream that they were in some left-bank Parisian café. Le Hibou was idealistic, bilingual and, above all, cool—a place where you could argue about existentialism while sipping an expresso.

^{Membership Card, Café Le Hibou Recollections}

Le Hibou (The Owl) was the baby of four University of Ottawa students, led by Denis Faulkner. Each threw in $800 in cash or kind to fund the new venture. One of the unique features of the coffee house was that it was promoted as a private club with a membership fee of $2.00 per year, though one could also get in for a 25-cent, one-night membership fee. Patrons received a membership card that depicted the coffee house’s distinctive owl logo. It offered twelve different kinds of coffee and eleven types of tea—quite a novelty for the era. The café also served food, though initially the fare was limited to a section of cheeses, smoked meat or cold ham on crusty buns.

In 1961, Le Hibou moved out of its modest Rideau Street digs to larger accommodations on the second floor of 248 Bank Street, its entrance sandwiched between a paint store and a novelty shop.  The newly-located coffee shop had a stage, and could accommodate up to 70 persons at tables and even more for theatre productions if the furniture was pushed aside and people didn’t mind getting friendly with their neighbours. That same year, Le Hibou made the news by receiving the first Canada Council grant for poetry reading. The $600 grant helped cover the expenses for seven visiting poets, including Irving Layton, then a professor of poetry at Sir George William University in Montreal who had an international reputation as one of Canada’s finest poets.

Over the next several years, Le Hibou developed its own national and then international reputation for hosting up-and-coming folk groups, supplied by Harvey Glatt, a rising star in the music industry for concert promotion and music distribution. Glatt later became a part-owner of the coffee house. Early performers at the café included the American-born singer, Ed McCurdy, the singer-activist Pete Seeger, and the Ottawa trio of Cayla Mirsky, Russell Kronick and Mark Marx, also known as The Courriers. French chansonniers Claude Gauthier, Stephane Golmann, Renée Claude and then a little-known Robert Charlebois also cast their musical spell over appreciative audiences. As well, there were open nights where anybody could try out their musical skills. In addition to music, a ciné club was started, with showings of such European art films as Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, and Ingmar Bergman’s Three Strange Loves. A weekly improvisational theatre show was also put on for children. A civic affairs satire that portrayed the irascible mayor Charlotte Whitton with a dagger hanging from her mayoral chain of office, drew most of Ottawa’s city council to Le Hibou. 

^{Ottawa-born comedian, Rick Little, performed at Le Hibou, Ottawa Citizen, 21 June 1962.}

By mid-1962, the club reached a milestone of 1,000 members, which even included some young, hip politicians. The uptight Ottawa Journal called it a “haven for the unshaven.” The Ottawa Citizen more charitably called Le Hibou, the “Bank Street house of culture” and a “hideout for highbrows.” CBC taped a show for network distribution at the café. The coffee shop had hit the big time.

Despite being a success, especially with Ottawa’s younger crowd, it was viewed with suspicion by the Ottawa police’s morality squad who laid charges against Denis Faulkner, the owner-manager, for operating a “public hall” without a licence. Reportedly, two big policemen had “hulked” in the hall for several nights in a row. The Ottawa Journal wondered whether they were investigating irregularities, acting as bouncers, or were just there for the show.  Later in court, Faulkner argued that Le Hibou was a private club and hence did not require a licence. The magistrate disagreed saying that the defence was a “sham” as anybody could enter the café. However, he dismissed the charge, ruling the relevant part of the municipal by-law ultra vires. Faulkner still undertook the required renovations for the club to conform to city regulations.

In 1965, Le Hibou moved again, this time to 521 Sussex Drive, a heritage property owned by the National Capital Commission. It was to be the coffee shop’s iconic home for the next ten years. Here, most of the popular folk and blues stars of the time, many before they were widely known, performed in front of the coffee house’s “big brick wall.”  Gordon Lightfoot made repeat performances at the club, as did Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, and the blues-singing pair of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Judith Orban, Joni Michell and Buffy Sainte-Marie also gave performances at Le Hibou. Let’s also not forget Murray McLaughlin, Jose Feliciano, Dave Broadfoot, and Oscar Brand, the author of the incomparable Canadian patriotic ballad This Land of Ours (also known as Something to Sing About). Theatre, in both English and French, continued to be a regular staple, with performances of plays by Eugene Ionesco and Henrik Ibsen, among others, thus demonstrating that one could be baffled in both official languages.

In 1968, Denis Faulkner and Harvey Glatt, by now sole co-owners, sold Le Hibou to John and Joan Russow for $5,000. Faulkner wished to pursue a career as a producer at CBC, while Glatt, who was more of an absentee investor, developed his music promotion and retail businesses through Bass Clef Productions and Treble Clef Distribution. John Russow, the new owner-manager, had been formerly the night manger of the coffee house.  

At the end of February 1969, Le Hibou welcomed a very special guest. In the audience one Friday night to hear The Modern Rock Quartet was George Harrison of The Beatles. Harrison and three producers of Apple Records were in Ottawa to hear the American folk singer Eric Anderson perform at the Capitol Theatre. Later, John Russow commented that Harrison, with his long hair and “mod gear,” was lost in the crowd of similarly attired people and went unrecognized. Bowing to Harrison’s desire for anonymity, he did not announce the Beatle’s presence to the crowd.

^{Joni Michell at Le Hibou, Ottawa Citizen, 29 June 1967.}

Despite the change in ownership, the parade of first-rate talent continued at Le Hibou. Lenny Breau, one of the most talented guitarists of the age and known for his chordal harmonics, performed on the coffee house’s stage. Other greats with gigs at Le Hibou included Chilliwack, the Canadian rock band from Vancouver, the American folk and blues singer Tom Rush, and Jerry Jeff Walker, the author and original performer of Mr. Bojangles, the song that later became Sammy Davis Jr.’s signature piece.

In 1972, Russow sold Le Hibou to Pierre-Paul Lafrenière, a one-time manager of the café and former equipment manager for Chilliwack, citing his disillusionment with the music scene. Instead of performers playing for the love of music, it was all about the money, he said. A few months later, Daphne Birks joined Lafrenière as part-owner. The duo gave the coffee house a major facelift. The stage was relocated, and a better sound system was installed. In an effort to widen the club’s audience, one week out of four was devoted to French-Canadian entertainers. As well, a lunchtime theatre program was introduced. The following year, after receiving an “Opportunities for Youth” grant from the federal government, they converted the top floor of the coffee house into a gallery and studio for struggling artists, called the Sussex Art Work, SAW Gallery, for short. While the coffee shop provided the space for free, people going to the gallery had to go through Le Hibou’s entrance to get there—a new source of potential customers.

 The renovations were costly, as was a large publicity campaign through the summer of 1972. The café, which was only ever marginally profitable, went deeply into debt. Rumours of Le Hibou’s imminent closure were rife. In January 1974, the wolf was at the door. But a last-minute reprieve came in the form of a benefit concert at Roosters Coffee House at Carleton University and donations from patrons and friends. Raising sufficient funds to keep the bailiff at bay, Le Hibou staggered on. But on 12 May 1975, Birks and Lafrenière filed for bankruptcy. The coffee house had finally succumbed to a combination of rising costs, both for performers and rent, and changing tastes. The coffee house experience no longer attracted the crowds it once had. With the cut in the drinking age to eighteen in both Quebec and Ontario, young adults were looking for a different experience and a different sound. Le Hibou fell silent.

Daphne Birks resurfaced a few years later as one of the principals behind the trendy restaurant on William Street called Daphne and Victor’s. For a time, it was the burger place in Ottawa. Remember their pecan burgers with Mornay sauce?

Nothing ever really replaced Le Hibou though I’ve been told that Rasputin’s on Bronson Avenue came close to replicating Le Hibou’s vibe. Perhaps the closest equivalent in recent years is the Black Sheep Inn (le Mouton Noir) in Wakefield, Quebec that commenced operations in 1994. Like Le Hibou, it too gained an international reputation, and attracted musicians and singers from far and wide. Sadly, the COVID pandemic forced its closure for two years. Its future is clouded. The SAW Gallery, the offshoot of Le Hibou, continues to thrive. The artist-run gallery and performance space currently operate in the basement of the old Ottawa Court House at 67 Nicholas Street.

Sources:

Denis’ Recollections, 2012? Café Le Hibou Recollections, https://lehibou.ca/recollections/recollections/.

Ottawa Citizen, 1961. “Poetry Grant To Le Hibou,” 16 December.

——————, 1962. “Montreal Poet Layton A Sellout At Le Hibou,” 11 January.

——————, 1962. “Le Hibou,” 8 August.

——————, 1962. “Le Hibou: Hideout For Highbrows,” 19 May.

——————, 1962. “Coffee House Claims Police Persecution,” 19 May.

——————, 1962. “No Sets, No Costumes But Actors Are A Hit,” 11 August.

——————, 1962. “”Le Hibou,” 27 October.

——————, 1962. “Civic Affairs Satire at Le Hibou,” 27 November.

——————, 1965. “Popular folk artis slated for Le Hibou,” 9 October.

——————, 1969. “A Beatle drops in—quietly,” 3 March.

——————, 1971. “Chilliwack returning to scene of triumph,” 19 February.

——————, 1972. “Greed spoils a music showcase,” 10 March.

——————, 1972. “Face-lifting for Le Hibou as new owner grasps reins,” 19 May.

——————, 1972. “Innovations pleasing,” 2 August.

——————, 1972. “New lunch hour theatre program at Le Hibou,” 14 October.

——————, 1973. “OFY grant opening new vistas at Le Hibou,” 19 May.

——————, 1974. “Will tonight be the last for Le Hibou?” 19 January.

Ottawa Journal,

——————, 1962. “Haven For The Unshaven,” 13 June.

——————, 1962. “Rules City By-law Section Goes Too Far,” 18 June.

——————, 1965. “Club Sandwich,” 8 May.

——————, 1965. “Lightfoot Opens At Le Hibou,” 24 June.

——————, 1974. “Le Hibou still percolating after major financial crunch,” 24 January.

——————, 1975. “Le Hibou closing end of music era,” 2 May.

——————, 1975. “Legal Notices, In the matter of the bankruptcy of Daphne Birks and Pierre-Paul Lafreniere. Trading as Le Hibou Coffee House,” 24 May.

*Many thanks to Danny Baker for suggesting this story.

The Arrival of Cable Television

21 April 1962

When it comes to television viewing, we are spoiled with choice. There are six English-language networks in Canada—CBC, CTV, Global, Citytv, CTV2, and Yes TV—and three French-language networks—Radio Canada, TVA, and Noovo. In addition to these networks, which are available in most major urban centres, we can also watch the big American networks—CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS—and a host of specialized Canadian and foreign channels that provide tailored programming from news, to sports, to erotica, all delivered to your living room, or, ahem, bedroom, courtesy of the cable television companies such as Rogers, Bell, Shaw and Cogeco. Additionally, millions of viewers are attracted to the offerings of on-line entertainment and news providers, such as YouTube, Netflix, Google TV, Hulu, Prime, BritBox and the Disney Channel. For those seeking serious fare, there’s the likes of the Curiosity Channel and Wondrium. The list goes on, with something for all ages and tastes.

Things were very different at the beginning of the 1960s. In our parents’ generation, most just received English and French CBC. Those lucky to live in a major urban centre, such as Ottawa, also received the private CTV network that opened for business in 1961. As well, some fortunate people living close to the US frontier could pick up US television signals from border stations. All of this was achieved using “bunny ears” antennae, which sat on the top of a television set, or an external TV antenna, typically attached to the chimney, the higher point of the house, to improve signal reception. Those of a certain age might remember the endless, subtle fine-tuning necessary to reduce the “snow” that obscured the television image. Of course, all shows were in black and white. Colour television was still a few years off.

Change began with the introduction of cable television, or community antenna television as it was called in the early 1960s. Community antenna television was provided by a private company that built a huge antenna close to an urban area that could pick up distant television signals. The signals were then distributed to private homes using coaxial cables for a small, monthly charge. This service was distinct from Pay TV which was also being promoted at this time. With Pay TV, which was also delivered by cable, subscribers purchased new movies and sporting events unavailable elsewhere by putting coins in a box attached to their set that unscrambled the television signal.

Community antenna television actually dated from the 1940s and 1950s when rural communities that couldn’t pick up distant television signals in the conventional way banded together to build a sufficiently high antenna that could. The television signal was then transmitted to homes via cable. But it was in the early 1960s that cable television became available in urban communities. This became increasingly necessary owning to the construction of tall buildings that obstructed over-air television signals. The first community antenna television company to operate in the Ottawa area was Interprovincial Cablevision that provided cable television services to residents of Hull, Quebec.

^{Advertisement for Cable Television, Ottawa Citizen, 21 April 1962.}

On 21 April 1962, the company advertised in the Ottawa Citizen “Cablevision is Here!” In addition to the three local television stations—CBOT (CBC), CBOFT (Radio Canada) and CJOH (CTV), subscribers could receive WCNY (a CBS affiliate at the time) from Watertown, New York, CJSS (CBC) from Cornwall, as well as Montreal stations CFTM (TVA) and CFCF (CTV). The cost of this cable service was $4.00 per month. Within three years, there were more than 5,000 cable subscribers in Hull.

Cable television came to residents of Nepean Township in late 1964 when Ottawa Cablevision began offering the service, starting with the Lynwood Village neighbourhood, followed by Manordale. In addition to the three Ottawa-based stations, Ottawa Cablevision transmitted television signals from Watertown, Kingston and Montreal for $5 per month. It also provided a number of FM radio stations. Cable television was an instant hit. By July 1965, more than 30 per cent of people owing televisions in Nepean Township had subscribed to Ottawa Cablevision.

In comparison to Hull or Nepean, cable television was relatively slow in coming to Ottawa. And when it finally did, it arrived with considerable drama, including charges of improper dealing. The Ottawa Journal said that cable television was “becoming the hottest potato” of Mayor Reid’s administration.

The delivery of cable television had actually been proposed for Ottawa as early as 1962, when local sports promoter and jeweller, Howard Darwin, approached the city with the idea. Darwin proposed that a community antenna be constructed outside of the city on high ground, and, when operational, would bring in five to six new channels to subscribers.

Darwin’s proposal went nowhere, foundering on Ottawa Hydro’s unwillingness to allow him to string the cables needed to supply the service on the hydro poles, and a lack of support from Ottawa’s city hall. Mayor Charlotte Whitton opposed to the idea, saying that the hydro poles had been erected for a public utility, not for a commercial enterprise. She was also concerned that stringing more wires on the hydro poles would delay the city’s program of burying wires. Moreover, it appeared that her concerns about creating a monopoly trumped the provision of cable television to the city.

This remained the status quo until Whitton vacated the mayor’s chair in 1964. Her successor, Donald Reid, was sympathetic to cable television. By this point, Ottawa must have looked increasingly backward, and public pressure for more television choice was rising. However, Ottawa Hydro remained opposed to any company using its poles. It took considerable pressure from Ottawa’s city council before the utility relented. Even then, there were further delays as the city wanted time for the passage of a private bill in the Ontario legislature to clarify its right to regulate cable television in its jurisdiction and tax it, draft a city by-law, and seek and study competing bids to provide the service.

Meanwhile, others were also becoming concerned about the implications of the widespread adoption of cable television. The Ottawa Rough Riders Football club was fearful that cable television would be a way for fans to circumvent the 75-mile radius black-out zone for games, leading to a loss of revenues. The Board of Broadcast Governors, the federal television regulator, was also concerned that cable television companies could circumvent Canadian content rules and wanted to regulate them. At that time, cable companies came under the Ministry of Transport, and were only required to pay a $25 licence fee to erect a community television antenna.

In October 1965, the Ottawa City Council was finally ready to act, and announced in local newspapers that it would accept bidders for a franchise to deliver cable television service to Ottawa, either to the whole city or to the eastern or western halves of the city, the dividing line being Bank Street. The deadline for submissions, initially set for early December, was extended to early January 1966. Four firms submitted bids: Ottawa Cablevision, which was already operating in Nepean; Skyline Cablevision; Capital Telecable, later known as the Great West Cable Company; and the Bytown Cable Company.

All of the competing companies offered similar cable packages. In addition to the three local channels, each promised to provide eight or nine additional channels, including the major US networks, picking up signals from Syracuse, Plattsburgh, Watertown or Burlington, as well as Canadian stations out of Montreal, Kingston and Pembroke. They also committed to provide free cable service to schools and hospitals. As well, most promised to provide a range of FM radio stations. All bidders said they would make available educational channels for schools, and provide colour television reception. Installation of cable in homes would be free. Ottawa Cablevision and Skyline Cablevision said the monthly fee would be $5 per month. Bytown Cablevision said their monthly fee would be $4.75 per month if it won the contract for the entire city, and $4.95 per month if it won the rights for half of the city. The Great Eastern Cable Company reportedly did not include the cost of its package in its submission. However, it indicated that it would be willing to pay more than 3 per cent of gross revenues to the city should it win a franchise, although payments would be based on a sliding scale depending on the number of subscribers.

Initially, the City’s Board of Control said that it would hire DCF Systems of Toronto, a subsidiary of deHaviland Aircraft, to evaluate the bids and make recommendations. However, this proposal set off a wave of complaints from certain members of city council who claimed that the consultants were connected in some way to one of the bidders. Despite vigorous denials from DCF Systems, the motion to hire the firm was withdrawn. After asking the federal government for advice on possible consultants, and receiving an unhelpfully long list of thirty-one names, city council asked the National Research Council if it would evaluate the submissions. The NRC declined, saying it wasn’t in the business of competing with private enterprise. Left with few other alternatives, the mayor decided to leave the decision up to an in-house technical committee comprised of the city’s solicitor, the finance commissioner and the works director.

In late June 1966, the Board of Control decided to split the city into two franchises and selected Ottawa Cablevision to supply cable services to the western half of the city and Skyline Cablevision for the eastern portion. The reason to divide the city into two franchises was based on the dubious rationale that this would provide a measure of competition. How this competition was to occur was not apparent as the two firms were given exclusive franchises over their respective territories, and were required to provide an identical service. The Board of Control chose Ottawa Cablevision and Skyline Cablevision over competing bids from Bytown Cablevision and the Great West Cable Company on the grounds that the winning companies would provide the best service. There was no further public explanation.

The fact that Ottawa Cablevision was selected came as no surprise as it was already providing such services to Nepean. Consequently, it was in a position to quickly expand in western Ottawa, its franchise territory. Far more controversial was the selection of Skyline Cablevision as the supplier of cable services to the eastern half of the city. A dissenter alderman said that Skyline had not been truthful when it claimed that it was a 100 per cent Canadian company as the US Paramount Pictures and Britain’s Grenada TV were part owners of the company. (Bytown Cablevision was itself partially owned by the Columbia Broadcasting System.) If it was not truthful here, what else was it hiding? argued the alderman. He also noted that two thirds of the aldermen from the eastern half of Ottawa opposed the Skyline bid. Consequently, the western half of the city was forcing the eastern half to accept a company it didn’t want.

Another councillor said the selection process had been “highly irregular” since senior civic department heads had not been consulted, and that the city had not followed its usual policy of accepting the lowest bid (i.e., that of Bytown Cablevision). As an aside, Bytown Cablevision had won the right to provide cable television to neighbouring Gloucester. Following a statement by Mayor Reid regarding the necessity of having two firms that had adequate financial resources, Bytown Cablevision, which reportedly had $3 million in capital, announced it was willing to post a $1 million performance bond should it receive a franchise.

This was not enough. In early July 1966, Ottawa city council voted 11-9 against revisiting the bids for the franchise for the eastern half of the city, thus confirming Skyline as the winning company.

Bytown Cablevision immediately filed an injunction that threatened to derail the launch of cable television in Ottawa. However, a month later, Bytown Cablevision dropped its legal challenge. There was no public explanation for the company’s change of heart. The firm also transferred its Gloucester franchise to Skyline Cablevision.

With the departure of Bytown Cablevision from the scene, the way was finally cleared for the introduction of cable television into Ottawa. Owing to the need to string wires to deliver the service, it was slow going in some neighbourhoods. As expected, Ottawa Cablevision moved quickly to extend services to Copeland Park by the end of October 1966 and to Bel Air Park by end-November. Service was later extended the following year through the rest of the western part of the city. With neighbourhoods, one after the other, being hooked up to cable television, the Ottawa Citizen’s “TV Weekly” began to report on shows broadcast by the new cable stations at the end of 1966.

It took somewhat longer for Skyline to provide service for the eastern part of Ottawa. It started first with the Sandy Hill neighbourhood in February 1967, and subsequently other neighbourhoods, including in Vanier, then called Eastview. While Skyline’s tower and antenna were being manufactured in Montreal, the Ottawa Journal reported that a cable had been run from Hull across the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge to bring service to Ottawa, using the facilities of Laurentian Cablevision, the successor cable company to the original Interprovincial Cablevision that had inaugurated cable service in the Ottawa region.

Since these early days, the cable television industry has changed dramatically both in Ottawa and Canada, and indeed the world, owing in large part to technological change, such as the introduction of fibre optic cables, satellite transmission and digital signals. Ottawa Cablevision and Skyline Cablevision are long gone, swallowed by telecommunication giants Rogers and BCE (Bell).  The entire Canadian entertainment and telecommunications industry is now regulated by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, the successor institution to the Board of Broadcast Governors.

Looking narrowly at the cable television segment of the market, the industry has been on a slow but steady decline in recent years as subscribers “cut the cord” in favour of internet-based entertainment options which can be viewed on televisions, computers, and held-held devices. According to a recent study (2020), almost three million Canadian households dropped their cable television subscription or never purchased the service between 2012 and 2020. The trend is also rising with 520,000 Canadian households turning up their noses at cable television in 2020 alone. The same is true in the United States where major cable providers collectively lost roughly 6 million customers annually from 2012 to 2021.

Sources:

Cook, Sam, 2022. “Cord Cutting Statistics and Trends in 2022,” comparitech, 5 April.

Lavers, Daphne, 2011. “History of Cable Television,” History of Canadian Broadcasting, September.

Ottawa Citizen, 1962. “City Hydro Blocking ‘Cable TV,’” 19 January.

——————, 1962. “Nation’s TV Settles Down To New Era of Expansion,” 25 July.

——————, 1962. “Televiews,” by Bob Gardiner, 15 November.

——————, 1963. “City won’t rush into cable TV,” 24 May.

——————, 1964. “Controls for cable television,” 7 April.

——————, 1965. “City gets tough with Hydro,” 18 May.

——————, 1965. “City to get cable TV maybe by year-end,” 8 July.

—————–, 1965. “Cable TV for Ottawa: history and prospects,” 17 July.

——————, 1965. “Notice,” 6 October.

——————, 1966. “Consultants deny TV interest; controllers face censure motion,” 2 February.

——————, 1966. “Board of Control weights next step on cable TV,” 10 February.

——————, 1966. “NRC refuses to help city on cable TV,” 10 March.

——————, 1966. “2 firms win cable TV,” 16 June.

——————, 1966. “The Cable TV decision,” 21 June.

——————, 1966. “Skyline awarded contract to supply east cable TV,” 5 July.

——————, 1966. “Cable TV firm drops injunction,” 16 August.

——————, 1966. “Franchise for cable TV transferred to Skyline,” 18 December.

——————, 1966. “Something new is being added,” 31 Decembe.

Ottawa Journal, 1962. “Pay TV Proposal Sent to Hydro for Study,” 9 January.

——————-, 1964. “Gloucester Okays Cable Television,” 15 December.

——————-, 1965. “Forecast Cable TV In a Year,” 12 May.

——————-, 1965. “Television by Cable,” 19 July.

——————-, 1966. City Gets Four Cable TV Bids,” 4 January.

——————-, 1966. “Cable TV Decision In Month?” 27 January.

——————-, 1966. “Cable TV Bids Back in Shelf,” 24 February.

——————-, 1966. “Clear Way For Cabe TV,” 8 March.

——————-, 1966. “City opens four bids on cable TV,” 19 April.

——————-, 1966. “Which of These Four Will Get Ottawa Cable TV Franchise?” 20 April.

——————-, 1966. “Cable TV Storm Erupts in Board,” 20 June.

——————-, 1966. “Cable TV Picture Fuzzy After Council Session,” 21 June.

——————-, 1966. “Cable TV Expected by January,” 13 September.

——————-, 1967. “Cable Television 18 Months Away,” 18 January.

Stoll, Julia, 2021. “Number of TV cord cutter/cord never households in Canada, 2012-2020,” statista, 7 September.

Trick Or Treat!

31 October 1860

If it’s October 31^st, you can count on hordes of ghouls, witches, fairy princesses and Jedi knights to come knocking this evening on the doors of homes across North America, shouting Trick or Treat, and expecting their pillow cases to be filled with bite-size candy bars and mini bags of potato chips or cookies. Ottawa is no exception to this seasonal shakedown with the number of children who come knocking each year varying according to the weather, the demographics of a particular neighbourhood, and parental concerns about what their kiddies might get in their sacks. For 2020, we have to add COVID-19 to the list of considerations. While some have predicted the demise of the tradition, it is likely to be with us for a long time to come, especially if candy manufacturers have anything to say about the matter.

The event is, of course, Halloween, a festival mainly celebrated across North America, and to a lesser extent in parts of the British Isles, on the last day of October. Unlike Christmas or Easter, it is not an officially recognized holiday. It is, however, catching on in other countries owing to marketing and television.

While it’s a secular celebration these days, the origin of the name is Christian—All Hallows’ Even, with “Even” being the Scottish form of “Eve.” This is the day in the Christian calendar that precedes All Saints’ Day on November 1^st and All Souls’ Day on November 2^nd. Halloween, sometimes spelt Hallowe’en, is a time when supposedly the veil between this world and the hereafter thins. Some believed that the recently dead came back to revisit their homes and loved ones.

While Christian in name, the festival appears to have long roots. Some folklorists say it originated in celebrations of Pamona, the Roman goddess of fruits and orchards. Others place Halloween’s roots squarely in pre-Roman Celtic times, and are related to the celebration of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of the harvest. With the days getting shorter, this was a time associated with death and the supernatural. Evil spirits that might haunt the living could only be warded off by bonfires and other propitiatory rituals.

Advertisement for Halloween nuts, Ottawa Citizen, 30 October 1880.

In subsequent Christian times, Samhain morphed into the celebration of “Hallowtide,” which coincided with the commencement of the autumn slaughter of livestock. According to Nicholas Rogers, who wrote the definitive book on Halloween, this was also an occasion for merriment when young men played football with animal bladders. It also marked a time of misrule, when ordinary behaviour was upended, with masked and costumed people parading through the streets demanding “tribute” from passersby.

These Halloween traditions were brought to North America by the wave of Irish and Scottish immigrants who flooded into the United States and Canada during the second half of the nineteenth century. According to Nicholas Rogers, there was little or no reference to Halloween in American almanacs prior to that time.

The first reference that I could find to Halloween being celebrated in Ottawa occurred in 1860. An article in the Ottawa Citizen in November 1860 reported that on 31 October of that year a celebration of “the anniversary of this ancient festival” was held by a number of citizens who “partook of an excellent dinner provided by ‘mine host’ of the Grand River Hotel, Mr. James Salmon.” Songs and speeches followed the meal, “and formed an entertainment [that] seemed to be enjoyed most heartily by all present.” (The Grand River Hotel was a hostelry located at the corner of Sussex and Clarence Streets, frequented in particular by farmers coming into the city to sell their products at the Byward Market.) A few years later, the Caledonian Society held a Halloween Festival at which forty-three people competed in a poetry competition. “Maggie,” presumably the name of the poem, won first prize. A “gold medal certificate of honorary membership and a complementary address” were given to vocalist Mr. Kennedy and a locket and chain to Miss Kennedy.

By the 1870s and 1880s, Halloween was widely celebrated in the nation’s capital. The celebrations seemed to divide into three distinct activities. For adults, there were galas and balls held in the major hotels. Scottish groups such as the Caledonian Society and the Sons of Scotland were prominent hosts, as were fraternal organizations, such as the Ancient Order of United Workmen. (The A.O.U.W. was an American-based group that provided social and financial support for its members in the event of sickness or death.) In 1883, the Governor General’s Foot Guards hosted a gala ball at the Drill Hall. More than 600 people attended, with a program of dance music provided by the Guards’ Band and that of the 43^rd Regiment. This was a dress event with the Guards resplendent in their crimson uniforms and medals.

Cartoon depicting traditional Halloween hijinks. Notice the toppling of an outhouse in the upper left, author unknown, Ottawa Journal, 30 October 1921.

For youngsters, Halloween became second only to Christmas in terms of fun and excitement. Halloween parties, complete with jack-o-lanterns, corn stalks, witch decorations, and orange and black streamers, were held in homes across the city. Nuts and apples, not candy, featured prominently at the parties. A favourite activity was bobbing for apples, or trying to bite apples suspended from strings without touching them. Girls tried their hand at divination to predict who they were to marry. There were many techniques. One was to enter a dark room backwards holding a lit candle and to look over your shoulder into a mirror. It was said that the shadow cast by the candle in the mirror provided an outline of your future spouse. Another favoured divining technique was to throw apple peelings over your left shoulder and to try to read the initials of your future spouse in the shapes the peelings made on the floor.

Roasting chestnuts over a grate and popping corn were other methods of fortune telling. Two chestnuts burning slowly side by side on the fireplace grate augured a happy marriage, while two that popped suggested strife. While waiting for corn to pop, youngsters chanted a spell that went something like:

“Fire, fire burn your best,

As my fortune there, I test,

Every kernel popping white

Makes my fortune fine and bright,

Every kernel scorched and black

Sets a goblin on my track.”

For male teenagers, Halloween became a time of juvenile hijinks.  At a time when behaviour was strictly controlled and entertainment limited, Halloween was the one day in the year when society’s strictures were eased and boys could cut loose. With masks ensuring anonymity, youth took to the streets and caused mayhem. Shooting peas at windows and at passersby was de rigueur. If it provoked somebody to give chase, all the better. Upsetting outhouses and raiding gardens became clichés of the festival. In 1875, boys took of the gates to the home of Alderman Rocque on Rideau Street and threw them into the middle of the road. Fences in the neighbourhood were torn down while gate handles were daubed with red paint. The following year, vandals blocked Bank Street with pulled down fences, stumps, boards and commercial signs. Out in the country, things could get worse. In 1875 in Masham, Quebec, cellars were plundered, stables were ransacked, and potatoes set aside for the winter were stolen.

Cartoon that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, 30 October 1909, author Grue.

In 1881, rowdy boys upset a pile of bricks outside of the Opera House just when the audience was exiting. The Citizen complained that it was lucky nobody had tripped and hurt themselves. The newspaper demanded that the boys be prosecuted if they could be found.

But nothing beats the experience of poor Mr. Alphonse Frappier, a retired real estate agent, of Eastview (now Vanier) in 1921. While he was sleeping, boisterous youths broke into his home and dumped him out of bed. His bed was then taken outside and placed on top of a nearby telephone pole. The following year, Frappier demanded and received police protection.

Halloween 1919, the first after the end of the Great War, was particularly boisterous with the streets filled with partyers. Like today, elves, witches, princesses and tramps abounded. However, in keeping with the times, children also dressed as Red Cross nurses and soldiers complete with wound stripes and long service ribbons. Most of the mayhem that year was petty stuff—windows shelled with peas, door bells rung, and a few gates removed. There were however numerous hold-ups by boys dressed as baggy-trousered bashi-bazouks—irregular Ottoman soldiers noted for their indiscipline and for raiding civilian populations. The Citizen reported that the bashi-bazouks let their victims go after extorting “small ransoms.”

To keep order, police force in the region were put on full alert for the night. During the mid-1930s, police leave was cancelled and all of Ottawa’s twenty-five patrol cars were out keeping watch on the crowds of revellers on city streets, ready to respond in the event of complaints of rowdiness. Private cars owned by police were also pressed into service. On the Quebec side, a 9 pm curfew was strictly enforced for children under 16 years of age. In Hull, the start of the curfew was announced by the hooter going off at the city’s waterworks. Despite such precautions, widespread property damage was reported in 1935, including the breaking of 40 street lights in the Glebe and Ottawa South where youths untethered the pully wires that suspended the globes. There were also three false fire alarms.

It’s hard to say when door-to-door “trick-or-treating” started in Ottawa. Certainly by 1912 it seems to have become an accepted part of the Halloween tradition. A Citizen article that year reported that many home owners in the city placed jack-o-lanterns in their front windows to invite costumed children to come and share the apples. Note that children came to collect apples rather than candy. While candy featured in Halloween parties, handing out candies at the door seems to have started in earnest only after World War II, encouraged by the confectionary industry. However, even then apples continued to be the traditional treat, no doubt much to the chagrin of many pint-sized ghosts and ghouls.

Apples largely disappeared from the Halloween tradition in the late 1960s and early 1970s owing to fears of sabotage. In 1967, it was reported that an Eastview girl had been given an apple with needles pushed into it. In 1972, there were reports of apples injected with crushed glass or booby-trapped with razor blades. Candies too were not spared. An eight-year old Ottawa boy was reportedly hospitalized in 1968 after he had eaten candy-coated pills that looked like Smarties. Similar stories in the press across the continent led to another Halloween ritual—the parental checking of kiddies’ loot. Of course, this required the occasion taste test just to make sure.

Ottawa children began to collect money for the United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in 1955, five years after the programme started in the United States. That first year, instead of being furnished with the characteristic orange UNICEF collection boxes, children used milk cartons donated by Ottawa dairies to collect change door to door. In July 2000, the Canadian government proclaimed 31 October National UNICEF Day. In 2006, UNICEF collection boxes were retired in favour of in-school fundraising. Three years later, collections raised by Canadian children had surpassed $100 million.

Today, Halloween remains a popular festival. While it continues to be a much-anticipated event for young children, it has also become a popular celebration among adults just as it was more than a century ago. According to Nicholas Rogers, 65 per cent of American adults participated in Halloween in the early 2000s, not counting handing out candies at the door. Fortunately, the traditional mayhem wrought by young males had largely subsided.

Sources:

Ottawa Citizen, 1860. “Halloween,” 2 November.

——————, 1875. “Juvenile Depredations,” 1 November.

——————, 1875. “Masham,” 10 November.

——————, 1876. “Blocked Up,” 1 November.

——————, 1881. “Rowdy Boys,” 1 November.

——————, 1882. “Halloween,” 30 October.

——————, 1883. “Governor-General’s Foot Guards’ Ball,” 1 November.

——————, 1886. “Complaint,” 1 November.

——————, 1887. “Annual Anniversary, A.O.U.W.” 31 October.

——————, 1892. “2’nd Annual Halloween Concert, Sons of Scotland,” 31 October.

——————, 1893. “Halloween Pranks,” 1 November.

——————, 1912. “Hallowe’en Celebrated,” 1 November.

Ottawa Journal, 1900. “Dunking For Apples,” 31 October.

——————, 1900. “Halloween At The Normal,” I November.

——————, 1900. “Hallowe’en Favors,” 29 October.

——————, 1902. Hallowe’en; Its Customs,” 31 October.

——————-, 1909.  “Halloween Hints and Some Ideas for Entertainment,” 30 October.

——————-, 1912. “Hallowe’en Night, 2 November.

——————-, 1919. “King Revelry Reigned For Halloween,” 1 November.

——————-, 1922. “Broad Sense Of Humor Is Shown In Eastview,” 19 October.

——————-, 1935. “Every Policeman In Ottawa on Duty For Hallowe’en,” 31 October.

——————-, 1935. “Wide Celebration Brings Complaints Of Much Mischief,” 1 November.

——————-, 1946. “More Candy and Apples in Ottawa Stores for Hallowe’en Ghosts and Goblins,” 30 October.

——————-, 1953. “Lively Hallowe’en Moderate Fuel Bill,” 31 October.

——————-, 1955. “Shell-out For UNICEF At Hallowe’en,” 22 October.

——————-, 1967. “Eastview Girl Given Apple With Needle,” 3 November.

——————-, 1972. “… And for human ghouls,” 28 October.

Rogers, Nicholas, 2002. From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, Oxford University Press.

UNICEF, 2019. Halloween Fundraising, https://www.unicef.org/support/14884.html.

The Ottawa Nationals

11 October 1972

Back before the Ottawa Senators were reborn in the early 1990s, Ottawa was briefly home to another major league professional hockey team—the Ottawa Nationals.  And when I say briefly, I mean briefly. The team was in existence in the nation’s capital for less than one season before the franchise moved. But for a few short moments, Ottawa was at the centre of a hockey revolution that witnessed the birth of the World Hockey Association (WHA), the upstart professional hockey league that for a time challenged the National Hockey League’s (NHL) domination of major-league professional hockey in North America.

In the 1972-73 season, the WHA launched a new 12-team league located mostly in smaller cities in the United States and Canada. While the NHL had doubled in size from six teams to twelve in 1967, and had added two more teams in 1970, WHA backers thought there was still unmet demand for high-calibre professional hockey. Not surprisingly, the new league faced many obstacles before the first puck was dropped. The absence of appropriate rink facilities was a major handicap that doomed the chances of many cities to acquire a franchise.  The wonderfully named Miami Screaming Eagles plunged to earth when plans for a new arena fell through. The franchise folded, later becoming the Philadelphia Blazers. The Calgary Broncos also vanished before playing a game, only to be resurrected as the Cleveland Crusaders.

Ottawa wasn’t a first-choice city for a WHA franchise. Doug Michel, who had purchased the “Ontario franchise” for a WHA team, had wanted to locate in Hamilton. However, the story goes that Hamilton Mayor Vic Copps couldn’t come to terms with Michel over the construction of a new arena. Reportedly, Copps wanted the team to sign a 10-year contract for $500,000 per year before he would build a $5 million arena. Michel countered with $200,000 per year, but it was not enough.

Instead of Hamilton, Michel brought his franchise to Ottawa, and in mid-February 1972 the Ontario franchise became known as the Ottawa Nationals. The following month, the team came to terms with the Central Canada Exhibition Association (CCEA) to play at the Civic Centre, the home of the Ottawa 67s, the city’s Major Junior A team. It was agreed that the Nationals would guarantee the Central Canada Exhibition Association $100,000 or 15 per cent of the gate, whichever was greater, for each year of a 3-year contract. The amount of the performance bond would decline through the season as money was paid to the CCEA. The CCEA would also receive 15 per cent of television money for games broadcast from the Civic Centre. The Nats wanted a 3-year contract even though potentially the CCEA couldn’t honour it as its lease for the city-owned Civic Centre expired in April 1973.

Despite being playerless and coachless, the Nationals launched a season ticket campaign with prices ranging from $3.50 per seat, or $136.50 for the 39-home game season, for C level seats to $6.50 per seat, or $253.50, for ice-level, AA seats. The team hoped to sell roughly a third of the season tickets to corporations. By the end of March 1972, they had sold 275 seats. They didn’t sell many more.

Logo of the Ottawa Nationals, 1972-73.

The logo of the Ottawa Nationals was described as a combination of both traditional and contemporary features, a product of eight artists who came up with 400 different designs. The winning logo was a red “O” and “N” with a superimposed white maple leaf, with a blue border in the shape of a hockey arena, slightly slanted in an “on the go” fashion.

Having got a city, an arena, and a logo, the next step was to find players and a coach by the start of the 1972-73 season. The Nats, indeed the entire WHA, hoped to sign roughly one-third of its players from the NHL, a third from graduating Juniors, and a third from universities and Europe.

To gain credibility, WHA teams began signing star NHL players whose contracts had expired, offering huge multi-year salaries. Bernie Parent, the star goal tender from the Toronto Maple Leafs, signed a contract with the Miami Screaming Eagles (later the Philadelphia Blazers) for reportedly $750,000. The entire league chipped in to acquire the legendary Bobby Hull for a $2.5 million contract over ten years, of which $1 million was paid up front. Derrick Sanderson, the flamboyant centreman from Boston, signed with Philadelphia for an eye-popping US$2.6 million. The Nationals too had their eye on a number of star players, including New York Ranger Brad Park. Team owner Doug Michel thought Park was worth at least $250,000.  Michel also began talking to Toronto star Dave Keon.

Needless to say, NHL owners were furious with what they saw as talent poaching. It definitely hurt them in the pocket book. The average NHL salary in 1972 was only $32,500, equivalent to roughly $200,000 in today’s money. (The minimum NHL salary in 2019 was US$650,000.) The advent of the WHA meant that the balance of negotiating power had shifted dramatically in favour of players. To stop the hemorrhaging of talent, the NHL tried to tie players in legal knots, arguing that under the reserve clause of their contracts they could not sign with a WHA team even if their NHL contracts had expired. This attempt ultimately failed in court.

Despite the Nationals’ best efforts at finding talent, it wasn’t until June that the club signed its first two players—Bob Leduc (28 years old), a centreman who had played with the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League, and Ron Climie (22 years old), a right-winger from the Kansas City Blues of the Central Pro Hockey League. Neither were household names. A few days later, the team signed Garry Hull, the less-known middle brother of Bobby and Dennis Hull, to a conditional contract—conditional that he could make the team. Gerry Hull had played in Dallas in the Central Pro League in 1970 before leaving hockey to manage a farm near Milbrook, Ontario. Ottawa sportscasters were not impressed. Jack Kaufman of the Ottawa Citizen said the team was “scraping the bottom of the barrel in an effort to fill rosters.”

Advertisement for the Ottawa Nationals, just weeks before training camp was to start. It was hard to sell season tickets without knowing who was playing. Ottawa Citizen, 2 August 1972.

Stretched for money, Nats’ owner, Doug Michel, sold 80 per cent of the club to Nick Trbovitch of Buffalo, NY in July.  With an apparent cash infusion into the team, the Nats began signing players, negotiating contracts first with two former Oshawa Generals Juniors, Mike Amodeo and Tom Simpson, and then with Bob Charelbois a four-year veteran with the Phoenix Roadrunners in the Western Hockey League. They were followed by NHLers, Wayne Carleton, who had played with Toronto, Boston and California, Mike Boland of the L.A. Kings, and Guy Trottier from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Among the last to sign were veteran goal tender, Les Binkley, formerly with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and coach Billy Harris, a friend of the team’s general manager, Buck Houle. Harris was the former coach of the Swedish national hockey team.

The Nats also thought they had corralled Dave Keon for a cool $1 million, multi-year contract. However, after accepting $50,000 from the team, which Keon said was a negotiating fee and the Nats said was a down payment on his salary, Keon re-signed with the Leafs. This set in motion law suits that were to last for years to come.

Training camp started mid-September in the Hull arena. Forty-seven rookies were in camp trying out for the team. The former NHLers didn’t arrive until October 1, the day following the expiry of their NHL contracts. That night, without any practice as a team, the Ottawa Nationals took to the ice at the Civic Centre for their first exhibition game against the Philadelphia Blazers. In front of a crowd of just over 7,000, said to have been generously reported, the Nats were downed 3-1. Ottawa went on to lose all five of their pre-season games.

The WHA launched its first official league game at the Civic Centre on 11 October 1972 with a game between the Ottawa Nationals and the Alberta Oilers amidst all the whoopla one would expect. The game was carried live over CBC television. Congratulatory telegrams were received, including one from Prime Minister Trudeau, bagpipes swirled, and special souvenir programs handed out. In a pre-game show, peewee hockey players circled the rink, throwing WHA orange pucks into the stands.  The WHA had originally tried using orange pucks to distinguish the league from the NHL. This was a bad idea since the orange dye reportedly affected the pucks’ solidity. When the frozen pucks were hit during play, they became distorted, sometimes turning potato shaped. Goalies also had a hard time seeing them. The colour was changed to a dark blue. But the orange pucks made for nifty souvenirs.

Lobbing pucks into the stands turned out to be another bad idea. The crowd of only 5,006 fans, half of whom were minor hockey players who had received free tickets, began throwing the orange pucks back onto the ice. Naturally, the peewee players returned fire. Matters deteriorated when balloons, which were fastened to poles, didn’t release properly; the knots suspending them were too tight. Two poles fell over when attendants tugged, bringing down their bagged balloons onto the ice which led to a free-for-all as the peewee players began popping them. Finally, an announcer had to tell the kids to get off the ice.

The opening face-off was timed with the drop of the puck in Cleveland where the Crusaders were taking on the Quebec Nordiques. After a countdown from fifteen to the launch of the first WHA season, Ottawa lost the draw. The night didn’t improve for the Nationals. Four minutes into the first period Ottawa’s defenceman Chris Meloff got a two-minute penalty for using an over-sized stick. Les Binkey, the Nationals’ net minder, had lost his in the corner. Meloff gave him his stick and skated over to retrieve Binkley’s. After he picked it up, he tried to take a pass and was called using an illegal stick. It was that kind of night. The Alberta Oilers took the game 7-4.

For much of the season, the Nationals struggled. Attendance, which was never strong, dwindled. At best, the team drew three to four thousand fans, well short of the 8,000 needed for the team to break even. By the end of February, 1973, after losing twenty of twenty-four games, the team was solidly in the basement. Surprisingly, however, the Nats rallied through March, and somehow snagged themselves a playoff berth. 

Off ice, however, matters went from bad to worse. Mid-March, the team failed to provide another $100,000 bond to the CCEA for the upcoming 1973-74 season, while still owing $50,000 on the 1972-73 season’s guarantee. The club said that it didn’t have to post a bond for the new season since its contract was with the CCEA had been voided when the City took back control of the Civic Centre. The City of Ottawa saw this as a technicality and demanded the bond before being willing to negotiate new terms for the club’s use of the Civic Centre. There was talk of locking the Nationals out of the arena.

Before the playoffs started, the Nationals packed their hockey sticks and headed for Toronto, a move facilitated by the club’s purchase by John Bassett Jr., part owner of Maple Leaf Gardens, for a reputed $1.3 million. The Nationals played the first two games of their best of seven Eastern Division semi-finals in Boston against the New England Whalers. After losing both games, the series resumed at Maple Leaf Gardens, the Nationals’ new “home” ice. Only 4,879 fans watched the Nationals win game three. The Whalers took the series four games to one. And that was the end of the Ottawa Nationals.

The following season, the Nationals were rebaptized the Toronto Toros, and played the year out of Varsity Arena. Owing to poor attendance, the Toros decamped to Birmingham, Alabama in 1976, playing as the Birmingham Bulls. The team folded for good in 1979.

After several years of on-and-off again talks of a merger between the NHL and the WHA, the two leagues finally came to an agreement in time for the 1979-80 seasons. The WHA ceased operations with four WHA teams—the Edmonton Oilers (renamed in 1973), the New England Whalers, the Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets—joining the NHL.

Sources:

Internet Hockey Data Base, 2019. Ottawa Nationals [WHA] all-time player list, http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/display_players.php?tmi=7327

Klein, Cutler, 2016. “From six teams to 31: History of NHL Expansion,” NHL, https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-history/c-281005106.

Statista, 2019. Average annual player salary in the National Hockey League in 2018/2019, by team (in millions U.S. dollars), https://www.statista.com/statistics/675382/average-nhl-salary-by-team/.

Ottawa Citizen, 1972. “Hockey Rumors aboud,” 12 February.

——————, 1972. “Ottawa WHA entry ‘land’ Keon and Park,” 14 February.

——————, 1972. “Pro hockey makes Ottawa comeback,” 18 February.

——————, 1972. “Hangup for Nationals just ‘legal falderah,” 16 March.

——————, 1972. “Bright future?” 15 May.

——————, 1972. “Eight-year minor leaguer one of first two Nats,” 2 June.

—————–, 1972. “Nats sign Hull, not Bobby,” 14 June.

—————–, 1972. “Marcelin more important,” 22 July.

—————–, 1972. “Mike Amodeo, Tom Simpson and Bob Charlebois joining Nats,” 26 July.

—————–, 1972. “Carleton and Nats agree,” 3 August.

—————–, 1972. “Nats sign Guy Trottier for cosy WHA ‘house league,” 28 August.

—————–, 1972. “Binkley joins Nats,” 7 September.

—————–, 1972. “Nats offer ‘million’ but Keon not coming,” 8 September.

—————–, 1972.  “Nats seeking legal advice on $50,000 paid to Keon,” 15 September.

—————–, 1972. “’Hungry’ Nats begin training,” 19 September.

—————–, 1972. “A court case,” 20 September.

—————–, 1972. “CBC WHA negotiate TV deal,” 20 September.

—————–, 1972. “Blazers spoil Nats’ start,” 2 October.

—————–, 1972. “Nationals beaten – fans missing,” 12 October.

—————–, 1972. “An odd first,” 12 October.

—————–, 1973. “Kirk’s three put Nats in playoffs,” 30 March.

—————–, 1973. “Face-off near for city, Nats,” 30 March.

—————–, 1973. “Nationals shifting to Toronto,” 3 April.

Ottawa Journal, 1972. “Expect word soon on WHA,” 1 February.

——————-, 1972. “CCEA and WHA team agree on three-year contract,” 18 February.

——————-, 1972. “Maybe not fair, but still some skeptics,” 19 February.

——————-, 1972. “Ottawa, Nationals, CCEA close deal,” 21 March.

——————-, 1972. “Ottawa Nationals make plans official,” 25 March.

——————-, 1972. “Oilers, Nationals unveil WHA tonight,” 11 October.

——————-, 1972. “Opening night no success story for Nats,” 12 October.

General Tom Thumb and Countess Magri

4 October 1861

The first, global, celebrity entertainer was the dwarf General Tom Thumb, a.k.a. Charles Stratton. Born in 1838 in Bridgeport Connecticut, Stratton was discovered at age four by Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum, the future circus impresario and then owner of Barnum’s American Museum. At only twenty-five inches tall, the child, who reportedly had weighed a hefty 9 ½ pounds at birth, had not grown since he was six months old. Barnum, always on the look-out for the odd and the unusual for display in his museum, which was a mixture of a menagerie, theatre, lecture hall, and sideshow, had stumbled upon a winner. The child was quickly signed to a contract and taught to dance and sing. Little Charles put on his first performance at the American Museum at the age of five though billed as an eleven-year old.  His stage name was General Tom Thumb after the fairy tale character of the same name. Precocious and talented, Stratton was an instant hit. Barnum made a fortune as New Yorkers flooded into his museum to see General Tom Thumb.

“General Tom Thumb” dressed as a Scottish clan chieftain, c. 1861, author unknown, Wikipedia.

After wowing New York audiences, Barnum took him and his parents to London, the centre of the world in the nineteenth century. His London debut occurred in February 1844 at the Princess Theatre in London. Following a performance of the comic opera Don Pasquale, Stratton came on the stage singing Yankee Doodle Dandy. He later entertained the audience dressed as Napoleon and performed in a number of “tableaux” as Hercules, Ajax and Sampson. But the act loved best by the crowd was his performance as Cupid, complete with little wings.

His reception was not quite up to the adulation received earlier in New York. But that was soon rectified following multiple audiences with Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their family, including the three-year old Prince of Wales. It seems Stratton became a hit after he pretended to fend off one of the Queen’s barking spaniels with his miniature sword. Performances throughout Britain were followed by a tour of continental Europe.

General Tom Thumb first ventured northward to Canada in 1861. It was a good time to perform outside of the United States; the U.S. Civil War had begun in April of that year. At the beginning of October, the troupe came to Ottawa, staying at Campbell’s Hotel, which would be purchased by M. Gouin two years later and renamed the Russell House Hotel.

General Tom Thumb was in town for a two-day gig at Her Majesty’s Theatre located on Wellington Street just west of Bank Street. There were two performances on each of the 4^th and 5^th of October 1861. Ticket prices ranged from 10 cents for children under ten to 25 cents. Reserved seats were 25 cents each. School groups were admitted “on liberal terms.” Along side General Tom Thumb were the English comic actor and baritone, Mr. W. Tomlin, the American tenor, Mr. W. DeVere, and the pianist Mr. P.S. Caswell. On display at the theatre were the gifts Stratton had received from royalty during his European tours. Interestingly, the advertisement in the Ottawa Daily Citizen warned people to beware of a General Tom Thumb impersonator who worked for Robinson & Company’s circus.

Advertisement that appeared in the Ottawa Daily Citizen, 1 October 1861.

The spectacle began before the actual theatre performance, with General Tom Thumb driven from Campbell’s Hotel to HM Theatre in a miniature carriage drawn by “Lilliputian” horses. He was also “attended by Elfin coachmen and footmen.” The reporter who covered the event for the Ottawa Daily Citizen described Thumb as multo in parvo—a great deal in a small space. He opined that Stratton had “fully carried out the universal reputation he has acquired.” He praised the performers acting, singing and dancing abilities, and specifically singled out Stratton’s self-possession as an actor and a readiness of wit. He also had “perfect manners and form.”

There still appeared, however, to be some doubt in the reporter’s mind of whether he had watched a performance of the genuine General Tom Thumb. He added that “there was every reason to believe that this one is the ‘original’ Tom Thumb, but whether or not, both he and his ‘aides’ perform a perfect array of rational and attractive entertainment.”

General Tom Thumb returned to Ottawa three more times, in 1864, 1876 and lastly in 1883. On all three occasions he was accompanied by his wife Lavinia who he had married in 1863. The 1864 performance included members of their wedding party—Commodore Nutt, also referred to as the $30,000 Nutt in reference to the value of his three-year contract with P.T. Barnum, and Lavinia’s sister, Minnie Warren. The notice for their show advertised that the “four smallest human beings of mature age” weighed a collective 100 pounds. For part of their 1864 performance, General and Mrs. Thumb wore their wedding costumes. The couple danced and sang. General Thumb also dressed up as Napoleon and a Scottish clan chieftain.  Commodore Nutt appeared as a drummer and a sailor with a hornpipe. As with Thumb’s 1861 shows, on exhibit at the HM Theatre were the jewels and other gifts that he had received on his European tours.

The Fairy Wedding, Souvenir Photograph, 1863, Commodore Nutt, General Tom Thumb, Mrs. Tom Thumb, and Minnie Warren (left to right). By this point, the General has already grown a bit. Author Mathew Brady, Wikipedia

In 1876, General and Mrs. Tom Thumb performed over two days at Gowan’s Opera House. Their act was much the same as that of their previous trip to Ottawa, but this time they were supported by Major Edward Newell, another dwarf under contract with Barnum. Newell was the husband of Minnie Warren, Mrs. Tom Thumb’s sister. Minnie was sadly to die in childbirth two years later.

General and Mrs. Tom Thumb’s 1883 Ottawa performances took place in May of that year, with shows at the Grand Opera House. By this point, the General had actually grown to a still tiny 2 feet 11 inches. He had also grown stouter. The Ottawa Daily Citizen commented that both he and Lavinia were “getting on in years.” Still, the General’s act was described as very amusing. Mrs. Stratton was described as “as charming as ever.” Along with the General and his wife, other members of their troupe included dancers, a ventriloquist and a lady whose odd act consisted of “highly educated, trained canaries.” What these canaries did was unfortunately not reported.

This was to be the general’s last trip to Canada’s capital, and indeed virtually anywhere. He died two months later of apoplexy (most likely, a stroke) at his country home in Middleborough, Massachusetts. He died a prosperous man, leaving his wife a substantial home and a motor yacht. His estate after expenses was valued at $16,000.

His widow, Lavinia, continued in show business. In 1885, she married “Count” Primo Magri, another dwarf who was actually shorter than General Tom Thumb. The newly-weds went on tour together, along with Magri’s supposed brother, “Baron” Magri. Like all things in show business, especially anything connected to P.T. Barnum, truth and fiction were blurred. The titles of nobility were likely fake.

Count Magri, Countess Magri, and Baron Magri, c. 1885, Swords Brothers, Wikipedia

The Count and Countess Magri made two trips to Ottawa, the first in 1887 and the second in 1896. Both were successes. In the first production, the Count and Countess arrived at the theatre in a tiny carriage pulled by two ponies. The pair sang duets, while the Count and his brother Baron Magri duelled and entertained the audiences with comic sketches. They were accompanied by a magician who put on conjuring and ventriloquist act. Much the same act was repeated in 1896. This time, however, Lavinia, Countess Magri, also gave a lecture on her forty years of travelling. The Citizen journalist reported that the lecture was very interesting and pleasing, and that the Countess had “a wonderful talent as a speaker.”

Countess Magri, a.k.a Mrs. Tom Thumb, a.k.a. Lavinia Stratton, died in 1919.

The life of Charles Stratton clearly has an ugly side. Put on public display at a very tender age, he was exploited by P.T. Barnum. His career was also based on his dwarfism. There was also an element that was almost perverse. In 1879, it was estimated that one million women had kissed him.

However, his life also had many positives. At a time when “freak shows” were popular, General Tom Thumb was always portrayed sympathetically, as was subsequently his wife. He might have been small, but he was a genuine showman and entertainer. Stratton also became a wealthy man, and had a standard of living that relatively few could aspire to during the nineteenth century. When Barnum experienced financial difficulty, Stratton came to his rescue, and became his partner. In the end, it’s not clear who was exploiting whom.

General Tom Thumb was buried in Mount Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His wife, Lavinia, chose to be buried at his side. P.T. Barnum, who died in 1891, is buried just a few yards away.

For a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of General Tom Thumb, see the two-episode BBC documentary “The Real Tom Thumb, History’s Smallest Superstar” to be found on Curiosity Stream.

Sources:

BBC, 2014. “The Real Tom Thumb, History’s Smallest Superstar.”

Ottawa Daily Citizen, 1861. “General Tom Thumb,” 1 October.

————————-, 1861. “General Tom Thumb,” 8 October.

————————-, 1864. “Her Majesty’s Theatre,” 17 May.

————————-, 1879. “Kissing,” 13 May.

————————-, 1883. “Opera House,” 9 May.

————————-, 1883. “Grand Opera House, 15 May.

————————-, 1883. “Death of General Tom Thumb,” 16 July.

————————-, 1884. “U.S. Doings,” 11 November.

————————-, 1885. “American Dashes,” 7 April.

————————-, 1887. “Roller Rink Opera House,” 30 September.

————————-, 1887. “Amusements,” 4 October.

————————-, 1896. “Mrs. General Tom Thumb,” 20 October.

————————-, 1896. “Music Hall,” 24 October.

The Drive-In

15 July 1948

The drive-in theatre was the trifecta of modern American inventions, combining America’s passion for the automobile, its love of movies, and raging teenage hormones. How could it miss? Investors quickly knew they were onto a winner. In the years immediately following World War II, the number of drive-in theatres exploded. By the late 1950s, there were more than 4,000 in the United States. Canada, too, embraced the new invention, with more than 240 erected in fields on the outskirts of cities across the country.

Illustration of a Drive-In Theatre, submitted to U.S. Patent office by Richard Hollingshead, Jr., 1933.

The idea of showing movies outdoors was not new. In Ottawa, Andrew and George Holland in 1896 used an early film projector called the vitascope to show short, silent films on an outdoor, canvas screen at the West End amusement park owned by the Ottawa Electric Railway Company. The site of the showing is now roughly the location of the Fisher Park Public School and the Elmdale Tennis Club.

Bringing cars into the mix was just twenty years younger. Reportedly, space was set aside for automobiles at the Theatre of Guadalupe in Las Cruces, New Mexico as early as 1915 for drivers to see first stage performances and, subsequently, films.

But the drive-in theatre that the post-war generation came to know and love during the 1950s and 1960s was the creation of one Richard Hollingshead Jr. of Camden, New Jersey, who in 1933 received U.S. patent 1,909,537 for the idea. In his patent application, Hollingsworth wrote:

It is contemplated from my invention to provide means whereby an audience, particularly in rural sections, may view a motion picture without the necessity of alighting from the automobile, and as a matter of fact, the automobile serves as an element of the seating arrangements.

The patent envisaged most of the features that became standard with drive-in theatres, including small ramps on which cars would park to allow for better screen viewing. The patent even thought of a device for deterring insects from passing through the projected beam of light.

If anything, the invention was a bit ahead of its time. Economic conditions were harsh during the 1930s, and disposable income was low—not the most auspicious time to launch a new consumer product. Early drive-ins also had problems with sound quality, a shortcoming that was rectified by in-car speakers introduced by RCA in 1941. Many years later, sound was provided through car radios.

It was after World War II that things really took off. Young couples with money in their pockets were buying cars and moving to the suburbs. They were also having children, later to be known as Baby Boomers. This was exactly the demographic that owners of drive-in theatres hoped to attract. Customers could drive to the movies in their shiny, new sedans, with the kiddies, often dressed in their pyjamas, tucked away in the back seat, thereby foregoing the cost of a babysitter. To encourage this, the little ones often got in free.

The first drive-in theatre in Canada opened in July 1946 in Stoney Creek, Ontario, now part of Hamilton. Called the Skyway Drive-In, it had an immense screen that measured 100 feet by 50 feet. Sound was provided by loudspeakers rather by individual, in-car speakers.

Full-page advertisement for the gala opening of the Drive-In Theatre, Ottawa Citizen 14 July 1948.

Ottawa had to wait two more years before the first drive-in theatre opened on its outskirts. At dusk on Thursday, 15 July, 1948, the simply named Drive-In Theatre metaphorically raised its curtain for the first time. The new movie facility, which had a screen that was 48 feet by 36 feet, was located in a fenced-in, fifteen-acre site on Highway 17 (Carling Avenue), close to the Britannia crossroads. The managing director of the company that owned the theatre was H. J. Ochs who also ran five of the only ten drive-in theatres then in operation in Canada. The local Ottawa manager was G.F. White.

That first night was a great success. It was estimated that 1,000 cars filled the parking spaces set in semi-circles in front of the large screen. Courteous attendants showed drivers to their parking spots as they entered the field. Seven policemen were needed to control traffic that backed up down Highway 17. Many would-be patrons were turned away, disappointed.  The fortunate parked their cars on slight rises that tipped them upwards to provide a better view of the movie. Each vehicle had its own loud speaker with volume control. There were also several hundred “walk-in” customers who occupied seats in front of the cars. Naturally, a complete snack bar offered food and drinks to patrons, along with a free bottle-warmer for new parents.

Three films were shown that night, including a lead-off cartoon for the children, followed by a news reel that would put the children to sleep, and then the principal attraction, A Night in Casablanca starring the Marx Brothers. The black and white, 1946 comedy was a parody of the famous Warner Brothers’ war-time film Casablanca featuring Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. In the Marx Brothers version, Groucho is hired to run a hotel in post-war Casablanca where a bunch of ex-Nazis are trying to recover stolen treasure.

Two weeks later, Ottawa’s second drive-in theatre, the Auto-Sky, held its own gala opening. This theatre was located at an eighteen-acre site at the corner of Fisher Avenue and Baseline Road. Six hundred cars packed with 1,000 people attended the inaugural performance to watch Gypsy Wildcat, starring Maria Montez. Upping the ante on the Drive-In Theatre, the adventure movie was filmed in Technicolor. Consistent with the vision expressed by inventor Richard Hollingshead, the owner of the Auto-Sky said to the Ottawa Journal that the drive-in was “intended primarily for the farmers of the Ottawa district, who could drive in after finishing their chores and watch a show with the family. For this reason, we let the kids in free of charge.”

What is particularly interesting about this statement from today’s perspective is that the corner of Fisher and Baseline was considered rural. With the exception of the Experimental Farm on the northern side of Baseline, urban sprawl extends today many kilometres from this intersection. The site of the drive-in is now the location of the Fisher Heights neighbourhood.

The drive-in culture reached its peak during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along with drive-in theatres there were, of course, drive-in restaurants, where you could eat in your car with a tray suspended from the car’s window. Both became closely associated with teenagers. Moralists began calling drive-in theatres “passion pits,” owing to their popularity with teenagers and young adults eager for some date-night privacy.

The Old Britannia Drive-In Theatre, Carling Avenue, source, Pinterest, Jacqueline Tremblay.

By the 1970s and 1980s, both types of drive-ins were in steep decline, losing ground to fast food chain restaurants, such as McDonalds in the case of drive-in restaurants, and the proliferation of televisions and video cassette players in the case of drive-in theatres. Some drive-in theatres became tawdry, showing kung fu movies, slasher films, and soft pornography. The appeal for families dwindled. With land prices rising as cities grew up around them, it became more profitable to tear down drive-ins and “develop” the sites, rather than to keep them in operation, especially as many operated only during the summer months.

Here in Ottawa, the drive-in at Britannia lasted for 49 years, outliving virtually all of its competitors, though it changed hands several times through the years.[1]  In the 1970s, it was modified to become a two-screen, drive-in theatre. Indoor cinemas, called Britannia Six, were also built on the site.

The last advertisement for the Britannia Drive-In, Ottawa Citizen, 16 August 1997.

In mid-August 1997, the old Britannia Drive-In showed it last film. On that final night, the parking lot was half full to watch Men in Black and Spawn. Management handed out balloons and cake to thank the audience for their patronage over the years. It was the end of an era, and the loss of a neighbourhood landmark. In its place, Famous Players built the Ottawa Coliseum which opened in July the following year, with the old Britannia Six torn down for additional parking. Today, the Coliseum has twelve cinemas, and is operated by the Cineplex chain of cinemas.

The closure of the Britannia Drive-in left Gloucester’s three-screen Airport Drive-In located on Uplands Drive as the last remaining drive-in theatre in Ottawa. Also owned by Famous Players, the Airport Drive-in quickly followed the Britannia into history. It was converted into an offsite, airport parking lot.

After that, if you wanted to go to a drive-in theatre in the Ottawa area, you had to drive to Gatineau to the Cine-Parc Templeton Drive-In on Boulevard Maloney Est. However, the Cine-Parc too finally succumbed in 2019 with the retirement of its owners. Its equipment was sold off to a ski resort.

According to DriveInMovie.com, drive-in theatres have experienced something of a renaissance in recent years, as “a romantic and nostalgic alternative” to the traditional inside cinema experience. At last count, there were thirty-seven drive-in theatres left in Canada, of which sixteen are in Ontario. At time of writing, the closest one to Ottawa is the Port Elmsley Drive-In located between Perth and Smiths Falls, Ontario.

Sources:

Barnett, Stephen, 2017. “The Passion Pit,” The Weekly View, 23 March, http://weeklyview.net/2017/03/23/the-passion-pit/.

Britannia: A History, The Britannia Drive-In Theatre, https://britanniaottawa.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/britannia-drive-in-theatre/.

DriveInMovie.com, The Internet’s Oldest Drive-In Movie Resource, https://www.driveinmovie.com/.

Hamilton Spectator, 2016. “July 10, 1946: First drive-in theatre in Canada opens in Stoney Creek,” 23 September.

New York Film Academy, 2017. The History of Drive-In Movie Theaters (and Where They Are Now), https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-history-of-drive-in-movie-theaters-and-where-they-are-now/.

Ottawa Citizen, 1948. “New Drive-In Theater Opens,” 16 July.

———————-, 1948. “Hundreds Attend Premier Showing At New Theater,” 29 July.

———————-, 1980. “Saturday night at the drive-in,” 16 August.

———————-, 1998. “Movie Madness,” 9 January.

———————-, 1998. “Come early and stay longer,” 3 July.

———————-, 1997. “A Drive-in to history,” 18 August.

———————, 1998, “New Park’n Fly lot offers lower rates than airport,” 14 May.

Ottawa Journal, 1948. “Drive-In Theatre Packs in 1,000 Cars On Opening Night,” 16 July.

Port Emsley Drive-in, 2020, http://www.portelmsleydrivein.com/.

United States Patent Office, 1933. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. of Riverton, New Jersey, Drive-In Theater, No. 1,909,537, 16 May

[1] For an excellent account of the history of the Britannia Drive-In Theatre, see The Britannia Drive-In Theatre on the blog, Britannia: A History at https://britanniaottawa.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/britannia-drive-in-theatre/.

 

Buffalo Bill Comes To Town

1 November 1880

Among the iconic figures of the U.S. Wild West, the most famous must be William Frederick Cody (1846-1917), alias “Buffalo Bill.” Cody was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory, the son of Canadian Isaac Cody. As a young boy, he lived in Canada for several years just outside of Toronto before the family returned to the United States, this time settling in Kansas Territory. (In the 1880s, a story circulated that Buffalo Bill actually hailed from Hope River, Prince Edward Island, where he supposedly still had relatives.)

William Cody, a.k.a. “Buffalo Bill” in 1880 by Sarony, Wikipedia.

Cody was only 11 when his father died and he had to go out and make a living, first riding as a messenger on a wagon train and subsequently as sort of informal scout for the U.S. army in Utah. In his autobiography, Cody claimed to have joined the Pony Express at the tender age of fourteen. However, this may have been self-promotional hype. Some researchers suggest that he was a mounted messenger boy for the company rather than a long-haul rider delivering mail across the far west. Too young to join the Union Army during the American Civil War, Cody was again a scout sometimes with Lieutenant-Colonel George Custer and was involved in the Indian Wars in the western United States where he burnished his reputation as an “Indian fighter.” After the Civil War, he shot bison (buffalo) to feed railway construction workers. He won the moniker “Buffalo Bill” for shooting 68 bison in an eight-hour competition. During his hunting career, he reportedly shot almost 5,000, doing his part to virtually exterminate the species and end the way of life of the Plains First Nations.

Buffalo Bill came into the collective consciousness when he was only in his early 20s, owing to author and publisher Ned Buntline who wrote often semi-fictious stories about Cody’s colourful life. Buntline had met Cody on a train ride in California and the two became friends. In 1872, Buntline wrote a play called Scouts of the Prairie and asked Cody to star in it, thus launching Buffalo Bill on a show business career that was to last forty years. In 1874, Cody formed the Buffalo Bill Combination where he combined stage performances with scouting in the off season. In 1883, he established Buffalo Bill’s Wild West which toured throughout North America. The show also went on four European tours during the 1880s, and performed in Britain for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Queen was particularly impressed when both Cody and his horse bowed to her at a command performance. Cody and his troupe, which included cowboys and native-American warriors, were a sensation everywhere they went, re-creating (in a fashion) an exotic and by now fast vanishing way of frontier life.

Buffalo Bill, who always admired native-Americans notwithstanding his reputation as an “Indian fighter,” gave a temporary home to a number of important First Nations’ chiefs, including the great Sioux leader Sitting Bull who had defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1877.  Gabriel Dumont, the Métis leader who featured prominently in the North-West Rebellion with Louis Riel, similarly joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West after he had fled south into the United States after the 1885 Battle of Batoche. At an 1886 show in Staten Island NY, he was introduced as Riel’s lieutenant and “a man of ability and courage, who enlisted in what he and many others believe was a righteous cause.” Oddly given the circumstances, when interviewed by Canadian journalists, Dumont called Sir John A. Macdonald, “the greatest man of modern times.”

Métis leader Gabriel Dumont, c. 1886, by Orlando Scott, Library and Archives Canada

On Dumont’s return to Canada after being granted amnesty, the Quebec newspaper Le Canadien called him a farceur (buffoon) for his involvement with Buffalo Bill. Dumont replied in the newspaper La Justice that he had lost everything when he escaped to the United States and that he never took direct part in the show. He invited the editor of Le Canadien to come to his hotel and call him a farceur to his face.

In 1893, Cody’s show expanded into Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. As the name suggests, performances showcased both the American West and riders from around the world. The troupe performed throughout North America, including in Chicago on the periphery of that city’s 1893 World’s Fair. The company also went on four European tours in the early 1900s with performances before crowned heads and the Pope.

Owing to changing tastes in entertainment and rising costs, the company slowly faded, and went bankrupt in 1913. “Buffalo Bill” died four years later.

Buffalo Bill and his company made two trips to Ottawa during his show business career. The first brought him and his Wild West Combination to the Grand Opera House on Albert Street for three days, starting on Monday, 1 November 1880. Reserved seats were available for 75 cents. The price was only 25 cents for the matinee on the holiday Wednesday (Thanksgiving Day). While in Ottawa, the troupe were guests of the Russell House Hotel. On the morning of their first performance, Cody led a mounted parade of Cheyenne warriors, cowboys and his Serenade Band through the streets of the capital to promote the show.  According to the Ottawa Daily Citizen, “The red men were rigged out in their war paint and feathers, and created quite a stir.”  That evening, Buffalo Bill and his troupe put on a play called The Prairie Waif, described as a drama about frontier life. Besides Cody, the play starred Jule Kean as a very funny Dutchman who sang, danced and said witty things, and Miss Lizzine Fletcher as the heroine. The band of Cheyenne warriors performed a war dance while Cody did some trick rifle shooting. How he did this indoors is unclear.

Advertisement for Buffalo Bill’s First Appearance in Ottawa, 1 November 1880, The Ottawa Daily Citizen

It was standing room only at the Grand Opera House for the first performance. So packed was the theatre that many people who had bought tickets for the balcony went away to use the tickets at the following night’s performance. In attendance for the second night’s showing was the Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne, and members of the Harvard College Football team who occupied complementary boxes. The Harvard team had just played the Ottawa Football Club that afternoon on the Rideau Hall cricket grounds. Harvard won by one goal.

Buffalo Bill returned to Ottawa seventeen years later in late June 1897 for the city’s celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. This time it was Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World consisting of 600 men and more than 500 horses. Along with three bands, it created a mile-long procession through Ottawa streets. In the parade were 100 warriors from the Ogallala, Brule, Uncapappa, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe First Nations, 50 cowboys, 30 Mexican Vaqueros and Rurales, 50 Western marksmen, 25 Bedouin Arabs, 30 Russian Cossacks, 30 South American Gauchos, and furloughed English Lancers, German Cuirassiers, and U.S. cavalry and artillery men. As well, Miss Annie Oakley, “The Peerless Lady Wing Shot,” was given prominent billing, as was Johnny Baker, “The Skilled Shooting Expert.” Also in Ottawa for the show was “the only herd of buffalo on exhibition.” How Cody obtained his buffalo was not reported. By this time, the America bison was nearly extinct. Ten years earlier, it was estimated that in the United States there were only 200 bison left in Yellowstone Park, another 150 in Texas and a few others in private herds. In Canada, there were only 68 pure-bred bison and 18 hybrids owned oddly by the warden of the Manitoba Penitentiary. Cody had tried to purchase part of this herd but had been refused.

Advertisement for Buffalo Bill’s Second Appearance in Ottawa, 28 June 1897, The Ottawa Evening Journal

Needless to say, the exhibition was held outdoors. The massive company and its equipage arrived in Ottawa from Quebec on two heavily laden trains, and set up on the Metropolitan Grounds on the western side of Elgin Street across from the Canadian Atlantic Railway Station. Stands capable of holding 20,000 spectators protected from the sun and rain by a massive, white canvas shelter were quickly erected. There were additional tents for dressing rooms, and a huge meal tent. Apparently, the hundreds of participants consumed 1,500 pounds of meat each day, as well as mountains of potatoes, vegetables and bread. The Native Americans, described as “grim-faced,” were housed in “a little encampment of teepees” on the field. For the evening performance, the grounds were lit by 2,500 electric arc lights powered by a portable power plant. Ticket prices were 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children under 9 years of age.

Thousands of Ottawa residents came to gawk as the tents were raised at what the Ottawa Evening Journal described as “an exhibition of human nature which is only seen once in a lifetime.” The newspaper’s reporter was awed by the exhibition that had clearly lived up to its advance billing. He called it more attractive than a circus, novel, and unique. He also saw the show as educational opining that “In the hurly-burly of American life, people are too apt to forget the history of their own country. They are apt to forget the toils and sacrifices of those who laboured to redeem the great West from barbarism.”

This quote gives a big hint of the show’s character. The performance began with a covered prairie wagon drawn by mules bearing a mother and babies with older children riding outside. Suddenly, the unsuspecting pioneers are attacked by Indians. Just when things look their darkest, along come the cowboys led by Buffalo Bill who quickly disperse the marauders and save the day. (Doing this everyday, no wonder the native Americans, whose homelands had been despoiled by white immigrants, were described as “grim-faced.”)

“Cowboys and Indians,” Buffalo Bill’s show, date and place unknown, Library and Archives Canada, C-000249.

After this cliché of the Wild West, which would jar modern sensibilities, the programme shifted to the Exotic East, with Arab riders doing feats of horsemanship. Next on the ticket was Johnnie Baker shooting glass balls as they were thrown in the air, while he on his head, running, and looking backwards. Following Baker came the Cossacks standing on their saddles or hanging from one foot, and cowboys lassoing horses and breaking wild broncos. (The Toronto Star later alleged that the broncos weren’t actually wild but bucked because sharp spurs were driven into their bodies.) Finally, came the armies of Europe and the United States performing cavalry drills.

Buffalo Bill may have overestimated the likely crowds in little Ottawa, which had a population of less than 100,000 in 1897. The first day’s two performances brought in a respectable 15,000-20,000 spectators, though this meant that the bleachers were only about half full at best. On the second day, attendance slipped sharply to only 3,000-4,000 guests owing to inclement weather despite spectators being protected from the weather. After its two-day appearance in Ottawa, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World rode off into the sunset, heading for Belleville.

Sources:

Cody Studies, 2019, https://www.codystudies.org/.

Ottawa Daily Citizen, 1880. “At The Russell,” 30 October.

————————–, 1880. “Musical and Dramatic,” 1 November.

————————-, 1880. “Musical and Drama,” 2 November.

————————-, 1880. “Parade,” 2 November.

Ottawa Evening Journal, 1886. “Gabriel Dumont,” 3 July.

——————————, 1887. “Last of the Buffalo,” 8 June.

——————————, 1887. “People and Personalities,” 22 July.

——————————, 1888. “Gabriel Dumont,” 25 April.

——————————, 1897. “True Heroism,” 18 May.

——————————, 1897. “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West And Congress of Rough Riders of the World,” 23 June.

——————————, 1897. “Extensive Exhibitions,” 24 June.

——————————, 1897. “Buffalo Bill Is Here,” 28 June.

—————————–, 1897. “Buffalo Bill,” 29 June.

—————————–, 1897. “Attendance Small,” 30 June.

—————————–, 1897. “Buffalo Bill’s Broncos, 9 July.

Stillman, Deanne, 2018. “The Unlikely Alliance Between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill,” History, https://www.history.com/news/the-unlikely-alliance-between-buffalo-bill-and-sitting-bull.

Ottawa’s Centenary

16 August 1926

In 2026, Ottawa will celebrate its bicentenary, marking two hundred years from when General George Ramsey, 9^th Earl of Dalhousie and Governor General of British North America, wrote to Lieutenant-Colonel John By advising By of his purchase of land for the Crown that contained the site of the head locks for the proposed Rideau Canal on the Ottawa river, and the suitability of the locality for the establishment of a village or town to house canal workers. Lord Dalhousie asked Colonel By to survey the land, divide it into 2-4 acre lots and rent them to settlers, with preference to be given to half-pay officers and respectable people. The rough-hewn community, which was subsequently hacked out of a hemlock and cedar forest, was quickly dubbed Bytown. Its name was changed to Ottawa in 1855, and two years later the town was selected as the capital of the Province of Canada by Queen Victoria.

To celebrate the centenary of its founding by Col. By, the City of Ottawa had a week-long, blow-out extravaganza in the summer of 1926. Although the official opening of the celebrations was on Monday, 16 August 1926, the fun actually began two days earlier on the Saturday with a range of sporting events wide enough to please the most die-hard sports fanatic.  The Capital Swimming Club staged a centennial regatta in the Rideau Canal opposite the Exhibition Grounds—a daring event given the poor quality of Canal water. Swimmers from across Canada participated with five Dominion championships at stake. At Cartier Square on Elgin Street, four soccer teams competed for the McGiverin Cup with the Ottawa Scottish emerging the victor, beating the Sons of England with a 5-2 score in the finals. Also featured that day were track and field events, cycling, golf, baseball, tennis and a cricket match at the Rideau Hall cricket pitch.

^{Bagpipers, Ottawa Centenary Parade, August 1926, Samuel J. Jarvis/Library and Archives Canada, PA-025132.}

The following day, there was a huge Garrison Church parade involving 3,000 soldiers including local regiments as well as the Queen’s Own Rifles from Toronto and the Royal 22^nd Regiment from Quebec City who had been quartered in tents on the grounds of the Normal School on Elgin Street (now the Heritage Building of the Ottawa City Hall). The troops marched from downtown to Lansdowne Park where 15,000 people crowded into the stands for divine services. More than 50,000 people watched the soldiers march through the streets of Ottawa.  That evening the band of the “Van Doos” gave a concert that was broadcast from the Château Laurier hotel.

^{Devlin Furs’ Float, Trades & Industry Pageant, August 1926, Samuel J. Jarvis/Library and Archives Canada, PA-025130.}

The official opening ceremonies took place on the Monday morning on Parliament Hill in front of cheering thousands and “in the shadow of the nearly completed “‘Victory Tower.’” (The name for the Centre Block didn’t officially become the “Peace Tower” until the following year—the 60^th anniversary of Confederation.) After much military pomp and pageantry, Sir Henry Drayton, delivered the opening speech in the absence of the Prime Minister, Arthur Meighan. He welcomed visitors to the Capital in the name of the Dominion of Canada. Mayor John Balharrie also greeted visitors and former Ottawa residents who had come home for the celebrations. To symbolized the granting to them of the “freedom” of the city, he released a coloured balloon that carried aloft a four-foot golden key. Messages of congratulations flooded into Ottawa from near and far. Three Governors General—Aberdeen, Connaught and Byng—sent telegrams, as did the Lord Mayor of London, and Jimmy Walker, the controversial and flamboyant Mayor of New York. Civic, provincial and federal politicians from across Canada did likewise.

After the official opening, sporting events occupied the rest of the day. That night, there was a military display and tattoo involving troops from all services in from of 12,000 spectators at Lansdowne Park. The chief feature of the night was the staging of a mock battle scene. As searchlights played over the field, the soldiers re-enacted the crossing of the “Hindenburg” line by Canadian troops in 1918. The mock machine gun action and field bombardment was apparently very realistic. So much so that many veterans experienced flash-backs of their time in the trenches. Also featured that night was a performance of the 1,000 voice Centenary Choir, platoon drills by the Royal 22^nd Regiment, and gymnastics displays by cadets.

A highlight of Tuesday, the second day of the Centenary celebrations, was the unveiling of a stone memorial dedicated to Colonel By in a small a park located on the western side of the Rideau Canal just south of Connaught Square opposite Union Station. To the strains of Handel’s Largo, played by the band of the Governor General’s Foot Guard, the memorial, which was covered by a Union Jack, was unveiled at noon. Mayor Balharrie presided. More than 2,000 people witnessed the solemn event. The bronze plaque on the side of the stone, which was intended to be the cornerstone of a much larger memorial, bore the inscription 1826-1926 In Honour of John By, Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Engineers. In 1826 he founded Bytown, Destined to Become the City of Ottawa, Capital of the Dominion of Canada. This memorial was unveiled in Centenary Year. (A larger memorial was never built. A statue of Colonel By sculpted by Joseph-Émile Brunet was eventually commissioned by the Historical Society of Ottawa and was erected in Major’s Hill Park in 1971.)

At Lansdowne Park, a multi-day western rodeo and stampede commenced with over 200 horses, 100 cattle, and dozens of cowboys from western Canada and the United States. Log rolling competitions took place on the Canal. That evening, an historical pageant was held involving 2,000 actors from service groups, theatre groups, and drama schools. The pageant began with a prologue depicting Confederation with Miss Canada seated on a throne exchanging greetings with Misses Provinces. After pledges of mutual support and loyalty, the provinces curtsied to Canada. This was followed by tableaux representing scenes from Ottawa’s history, including “The Spirit of the Chaudière,” depicting the region before the arrival of Europeans, “The Coming of the White Man,” “Pioneer Settlers,” “The Lumber Industry,” “Bytown and its Early Inhabitants,” “The First Election,” “Naming of the Capital,” “The Fathers of Confederation,” and, a finale where all joined together with the Centenary Choir to sing a closing anthem. The massed 1,000-member Choir accompanied by the G.G.F.G. band also performed a number of popular songs including, O Canada, Land of Hope and Glory, Alouette, Indian Love Song, and, of course, God Save the King.

The pageant got a mixed review. The Ottawa Citizen opined that it provided a “felicitous treatment of the historical episodes chosen for presentation,” but there was “room for improvement.” However, on balance, the pageant was “stimulating and educative.” The dancing was described as “effective.”

After the performance, street dancing was held from 11pm to 2am on O’Connor Street between Albert Street and Laurier to the tunes of two jazz orchestras. With the crush of people, there was little actual dancing though things got a bit better on subsequent nights. With massive crowds downtown, there was some minor trouble. The police arrested a number of young men for setting off firecrackers in the streets. Some had placed “torpedoes” on the street-car tracks that caused “terrific successive explosions” as the trams went over them.  Police also acted to curb dangerous driving on the crowded city thoroughfares. Reportedly, louts also molested young women. Generally speaking, however, the street partying was carried out in good humour. A dozen youths organized an impromptu game of leap frog on Sparks Street between Bank and Elgin Streets.

Wednesday, 18 August, was declared a civic holiday by Mayor Balharrie, and more commemorative plaques were unveiled. In addition to non-stop sporting events, rodeo competitions and other fun activities at the Exhibition Grounds, one thousand guests attended a garden party at Rideau Hall. Although Lord Byng had left Ottawa to return to Britain, his term of office as governor general having just ended, he had given permission for the residence to be used as the venue for the civic birthday party celebration. Mayor Balharrie provided a massive four-tier cake decorated with silver foliage and tiny silver cupids. Guests received little boxes of cake bearing the inscription “A souvenir of Ottawa’s Centenary with the compliments of Mayor J. P. Balharrie.”

^{Float of the Ottawa Electric Company, Col. By’s Home, Trades & Industry Pageant, August 1926, Samuel J. Jarvis/Library and Archives Canada, PA-025127.}

That evening, Ottawa’s merchants and businesses held the second of the week’s three parades. Starting in the Byward Market and ending at Lansdowne Park, the parade highlighted milestones of Ottawa’s commercial progress over the previous one hundred years. Among the many entries, the Producers’ Dairy’s float featured a huge milk bottle and milk maids. Camping equipment in 1826 and 1926 was the theme of the Grant Holden and Graham entry. Also in the parade was the largest shoe ever manufactured in Canada with six little girls seated inside it, courtesy of Ottawa’s boot and shoe stores. Representing the Ottawa Department Stores Association, four white horses with attendants dressed in white and yellow uniforms pulled a float bearing eight young women in long gowns. Not to be outdone, the A. J. Freiman entry, which was decorated in silver and flowers, was drawn by six white horses with six attendants dressed in white and blue livery. On board were five young ladies wearing period costumes. The Ottawa Electric Company float consisted of an (inaccurate) replica of Colonel By’s house. Instead of a pioneer’s log home as depicted, the Colonel’s actual home was made of stone.

With amusements and events continuing at the Exhibition Grounds, Thursday’s highlight was an “old timers’ parade. In front of immense crowds, historical floats, three bugle bands, three brass bands and one band of bagpipers wended their way slowly from the Byward Market, along Rideau and Sparks Streets before heading down Bank Street to Lansdowne Park. Old-time vehicles on display included an 1897 Oldsmobile and penny-farthing bicycles. Firefighters dressed in the red outfits of yore pulled hand reels or drove antique horse-pulled engines including the “Conqueror,” Ottawa first fire engine. There were also historical tableaux depicting the early days of the Ottawa Valley and Bytown, including Champlain and his men, the arrival of the Jesuits, the establishment of the first white settlement in the region by Philemon Wright, and the beginning of the lumber industry.  Guests of honour in the parade included veterans from the Fenian Raids, the South African War and the Great War.

^{Ottawa Firefighters with hand reels, “Old-Time Pageant,” Ottawa Centenary, August 1926, Trades & Industry Pageant, August 1926, Samuel J. Jarvis/Library and Archives Canada, PA-025131.}

Centenary celebration wound down on the weekend but not before the finals of the stampede, more street dancing, this time in Hintonburg, more sporting activities, and a “Venetian Nights” boating event held on the Rideau Canal.

For those who hadn’t had their fill of fun and games, the Central Canada Exhibition opened immediately after the official ending of the centenary fun, prolonging the excitement for another week.

Both of Ottawa’s major newspapers covered in detail highlights of Ottawa’s first hundred years and centenary events, with each publishing extended supplements. The Evening Citizen boasted that its edition of 16 August weighed in at more than two pounds. It’s rival, The Ottawa Evening Journal ran a close second. In one regard, however, the Journal went one step further by publishing a fascinating prospective view of what Ottawa might look like on its bicentenary in 2026. Some of its guesses look pretty accurate. It predicted that Ottawa would have a population of 975,000 (actual number 934,240 in 2016) and that it would annex neighbouring communities. It also correctly forecast the elimination of the above-ground, cross-city train tracks and the replacement of the tram lines with buses. It even predicted a tunnel between LeBreton Flats and downtown used by electric trains!

Not surprisingly, however, the crystal-ball gazers got a lot of things wrong. The newspaper predicted that Canada would have a population of 100 million by 2026, and that the airplane would effectively eliminate the automobile as a mode of transportation. The paper also postulated that after decades of delay the great Georgian Bay Ship Canal would finally be completed in 1982, almost eighty years after the idea was first proposed, thereby making Ottawa a deep-water port with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. As well, given the region’s cheap hydro-electric power, the Journal envisaged a massive expansion of manufacturing in the Ottawa area, forecasting that the Capital would become the home of the largest Canadian plant for the manufacture of pleasure, commercial and air taxicabs. It also predicted the emergence of a large furniture manufacturing industry in Chelsea in West Quebec, and the construction of immense iron ore smelters in Ironside, just north of the old city of Hull, to process iron ore mined in the Laurentians.

For the Journal, the demise of manufacturing and the conversion of Ottawa into the primarily white-collar city that it is today were unimaginable.

Sources:

The Ottawa Evening Citizen, 1926. Various issues, 14-24 August.

The Ottawa Evening Journal, 1926. Various issues, 14-24 August.