Of artists now living and in most cases exhibiting regularly in Montreal there are the following:
Napoleon Bourassa, born 1827; Robert Harris, born 1849; William Brymner, born 1855; Edmond Dyonnet; Auréle Suzor Cote, born 1870; Maurice Cullen, born 1866; James W. Morrice, born 1864; (Clarence) Gagnon; F. St. Charles; J.C. Franchere; Charles Gill; William Hope; John Hammond; Horne Russell; Laura Muntz; G. Delfosse. There are also many other artists in Montreal, but the above are certainly all names which are well known to art lovers here and have been for some time identified with the art we have of the city.
THE DRAMA
Amateur theatricals have been in vogue in Montreal for many years. Among the officers of the garrison under the French régime, doubtless and certainly among the young scholars taught by the “Congregation” and the Sulpicians, whose students of the College de Montréal performed early in the British Rule the play “David and Jonathan or The Triumph of Friendship.”
However the drama proper in Montreal dates especially from 1804, when a Mr. Ormsby, from the Theatre Royal, Edinborough, established a company of comedians to perform a play in five acts called “The Busy Body” and a farce entitled “The Sultan.” A building next to the old postoffice was fitted up and the charges were: boxes, 5s. and gallery, 2s. 6d. Circuses came and went, a notable one taking place in 1812. In the early ’40s there was still standing the Theatre Royal, built in 1825 and situated opposite Rasco’s Hotel on Bonsecours Street, then the great hotel of the city and it was in this house that Charles Dickens acted during his visit in 1842. The second Theatre Royal, in Coté Street was opened in 1850, and which after a long, splendid and eventful career, closed its doors ignominiously in 1913. One of its early lessees was J.W. Buckland, who engaged a good stock company, which gave such plays as “Peg Woffington,” “Rob Roy” and “The Cricket on the Hearth.” This theatre in its palmiest days enjoyed the patronage of the élite and military of the city and when any stars visited Montreal, such as Jenny Lind, Patti and Kean, the Theatre Royal was the scene of their triumphs.[1]
The present City Hall Annex on Gosford Street is built on the site of the old Dominion Theatre, which up to 1864 had been an Anglican church, then a vinegar factory, before being turned into what the proprietors claimed to be the largest and most up-to-date theatre in the city. But it did not have a very long life. One of the first plays to be given on its stage was the “Commune,” a sensational melodrama of the French Commune. Kate Quinton, who in her day had somewhat of a reputation, was the star of the play. After one year of melodrama the proprietors tried vaudeville, principally using local talent. It was at this theatre that Madame Albani, then Miss Emma Lejeunesse of Chambly, whose father was a music teacher, made one of her earliest appearances as a pianist. In those early days the great singer did not know that she possessed the wonderful voice which has since entranced the world with its beauty. In 1871 the Dominion changed the character of its bill of fare again, this time to opera, under the name of Debar’s Opera House, though dramatic plays were given at times as a change. It was at this theatre that L. Guyon, in 1878, tried his prentice hand as a dramatist in the play “Le Secret de la Roche Noire.” The following year another play from his pen was produced “La Fleur de Lys.” The plays were staged by the local Cercle Dramatique Jacques Cartier. This society continued to produce plays until 1889 when the theatre, which had been its home was sold. Since that date many French Canadian dramatic societies, such as those at the Theâtre National Français and the Theâtre des Nouveautés, have come into being most of them being very successful, indeed it has been said by the critics that the standing of these amateur productions is often higher than that of visiting professional companies.
As the residential part of the city spread northwards the Queen’s Hall appeared on St. Catherine Street, between University and Victoria streets, being burnt down in 1874, about which time a new theatre was built called “The Academy of Music,” on Victoria Street, which in a short time took the place of the Theatre Royal as the fashionable place of amusement. On its stage many famous actors have appeared—Irving, Terry, Bancroft, Wyndham, Toole—etc. In time “His Majesty’s Theatre” became the leading English theatre and about the same time the “Français” was opened, first for the production of French plays and afterward for melodrama, as well as a number of small French theatres. The position of the English theatres in 1908 stood as follows: leading theatre, “His Majesty’s”; for musical comedy, “Academy of Music”; for melodrama, the “Français”; for burlesque, the “Royal” and the “Theatre Royal.” The “Princess” for general purposes followed immediately.
Until recently, with an occasional visit by an English company, most of the plays put on the Montreal boards were by companies from the United States, but during the last four years England’s best companies have visited Montreal, including Marie Tempest, Sir Beerbohm Tree, Sir Forbes Robertson, Sir Charles Wyndham, Horniman Players, Charles Harvey, etc. To-day there are catering to the English public, two first class theatres (“His Majesty’s” and “Princess”), one vaudeville (“Orpheum”), one burlesque (“Gaiety”), and 200 moving picture theatres, headed by the “Imperial,” which holds about 2,500 people.
There are a number of small French theatres, one or two running stock, but most of them are the home of amateur dramatic companies, and consequently circumscribed in doing really ambitious work, but as already stated, very creditable performances are to be seen at these theatres. Sarah Bernhardt, the great French actress, has played in Montreal several times and her art has always been equally acceptable to English and French, thus drawing full houses in the largest theatre available. Of late years the “Arena,” a skating rink, has been the scene of the greatest gatherings for concerts, horse shows and motor shows.
The Monument National has been the scene of many ambitious and successful French dramas and comedies. There also are given, from time to time, good dramas in Hebrew by competent artists and these plays, mostly of a serious nature, are much appreciated by the Jewish residents of Montreal.