REDISCOVERING PARADISE: THE INIMITABLE RUFUS ROCKHEAD $10 Quebec

VOL 7, NO. 4 FALL 2013 HeritageNews

A Mind at Sea Henry Fry and the Cosmo Teapots, Flies, Chains and Phones QAHN’s 2013 Heritage Photo Contest Winners Other Musical Venues Cat’s Corner and the Potpourri QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Quebec CONTENTS HeritageNews EDITOR Editor’s Desk 3 RODERICK MACLEOD Crucifixation Rod MacLeod PRODUCTION DAN PINESE; MATTHEW FARFAN President’s Message 5 Plotting a course for the next five years Simon Jacobs PUBLISHER THE QUEBEC ANGLOPHONE QAHN News 5 HERITAGE NETWORK 400-257 QUEEN STREET Letters 7 SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC J1M 1K7 California Old Girls Linda Buzzell-Saltzman

PHONE Seraphic inspiration Heather Darch 1-877-964-0409 (819) 564-9595 The House that Rockhead Built 8 FAX Montreal’s jazz paradise Rohinton Ghandhi (819) 564-6872

CORRESPONDENCE 600 Miles of Music 13 [email protected] A StoryNet audio documentary Glen Patterson WEBSITES WWW.QAHN.ORG The Great Ship Cosmo 14 WWW.QUEBECHERITAGEWEB.COM Quebec’s finest square rigger John Fry

PRESIDENT 2013 Heritage Photo Contest Winners 16 SIMON JACOBS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & Mystery Objects 18 WEBMAGAZINES EDITOR MATTHEW FARFAN Off to a Bad Start 19 Cartier and the Laurentian Iroquoians Joseph Graham OFFICE MANAGER KATHY TEASDALE A Feast of Identity 23 Quebec Heritage News is produced four The Potpourri Myra Shuster times yearly by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) with the support Shim Sham and Downtown Stomp 29 of the Department of Canadian Heritage and Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et Finding the past through swing dance Lys Stevens des Communications. QAHN is a non-profit and non-partisan organization whose mis- sion is to help advance knowledge of the history and culture of the English- speaking communities of Quebec. Annual Subscription Rates: Individual: $30.00; Organization: $40.00 Canada Post Publication Mail Agreement Number 405610004. Cover photo: Rufus and Elizabeth (Bertie) Rockhead. Wedding photo taken at the Plaza ISSN 17707-2670 PRINTED IN CANADA Studio, New York City, 1928. Photo: courtesy of Anne Rockhead.

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EDITOR’S DESK Crucifixation by Rod MacLeod

he ornament over the speaker’s sight of the host and the holy water and this, however, without making unreason- chair in Quebec’s National As- the crucifixes that some ancestral part of able claims about neutrality and what it sembly is a crucifix – that is, a me finds unnerving. Protestants are, ad- is to be secular. Quebec has rejected cross with the figure of Jesus mittedly, unusually hung up about idola- “multiculturalism” as a policy in favour onT it. It is a direct reference to that form try – but that reaction helps me appreci- of “interculturalism” on the perhaps log- of execution practiced most famously on ate how, to a great many non-Catholics, ical grounds that the former is cheaply the first-century religious leader many a crucifix can be something other than a sentimental and encourages moral rela- hold as the Messiah. It isn’t exactly a de- symbol of selfless sacrifice. tivism while the latter acknowledges piction of that event, nor is it exactly a Protestants, furthermore, aren’t the neutral territory where cultures may in- symbol (a cross, without the figure of only ones in history to have reacted ag- teract freely. Sounds nice – but how Jesus, is a symbol). The best term might gressively to Catholicism. Indeed, taking does one achieve this neutrality? Shuck- be icon. Some crucifixes are quite on the church has been a cornerstone of ing one’s crosses, scarves and stars may graphic, suggesting pain and suffering. revolutions, from the seminal French give the appearance of neutrality, but This one is rather discrete, unthreaten- one to our own Quiet version. Such ani- can one so easily shuck one’s beliefs, ing, even pleasant. mosity has clearly had more to do with one’s traditions, one’s prejudices? It is I say this, aware that crucifixes are the church’s power than with its sym- naïve to think so. not part of my own religious tradition. bols, but symbols are all-too-often the To be secular (as I have argued be- My ancestors, going back generations of victims of restrictive policies. A great fore in this magazine) is not to be free of course, were staunch Calvinists out of many people feel (and this view is, sig- religion, but rather to be willing to inter- Geneva by way of Scotland and western nificantly, well-represented in both act with others on non-religious terms. France. They were Puritans who would France and Quebec) that public display There is indeed a public arena where we have found religious icons as pagan as of religious symbols is a threat to the meet to do public things – exchange the celebration of Christmas. Some of hard-won freedoms that their respective goods, pass laws, educate our young – them may have been iconoclasts, the revolutions were all about. Granted, re- and when we are there we have to agree perpetrators of the often mindless de- strictive policies usually emphasize the to respect some overarching principles, struction of church decoration that “public” display of symbols: on soccer otherwise known as human rights. Of- makes studying English Medieval art fields, at airport security, at licence bu- ten, respect for rights seems to clash such a challenge. (“The Reformation,” a reaus. There is a prevailing view that with some religious tenets. This is logi- rueful professor of mine once pro- public figures – people connected to, or cal, given that rights typically came claimed, “was a very bad thing!”) As an representing, the state – should present a about in opposition to religious tradition art lover, and as a human being, I de- “neutral” aspect, as though the state (including the so-called Judeo-Christian plore the fervour of those vandals – but I could ever be free of cultural influence. tradition). Rights are the product of rev- understand their motivation, given that, Determination by Quebec governments olution – including that painfully fought to them, religious images suggested to keep the crucifix on the wall of the (and still not by any means won) battle idolatry, and idolatry was dangerous to National Assembly is evidence that the for gender equality – not evolution. your soul. state is not culturally neutral, and per- These days, however, there are elements I also recognize that, on some lev- haps has no intention of being so despite within all major religions that have els, Calvinism has shaped me. Mine was rhetoric to the contrary. come to understand that it is possible to a very liberal upbringing, but I did ab- Our current government’s prospec- embrace human rights without compro- sorb the idea from the extended family tive assault on religious symbols is mising faith. Others are less sure, and that certain “pagan” tendencies within wrong on several counts, beginning with for them the business of interacting in Christianity were spiritually question- its faulty notions about neutrality. This the secular domain is more challenging, able. These tendencies included church striving for neutrality is in itself com- particularly when it comes to frontier is- paraphernalia such as candles, incense, mendable, and follows in the prestigious sues like gender. We don’t make their chalices, vestments and, of course, cru- footsteps of France, the nation that first challenge any easier by attacking their cifixes. This sort of thing sticks. I love went through the un-baptism of fire, cultural symbols – by, in fact, limiting visiting Catholic churches, especially risking its own soul in an effort to break their capacity to work without compro- when there are paintings and carvings free from the dominance of one church. mising aspects of their faith that have lit- and a sense of spiritual mystery that Quebec did all this “quietly,” of course, tle or no impact on their jobs. Quebec transcends denominationalism – but I al- but the urge to keep church and state does itself a great disservice by arguing ways feel a little uncomfortable at the separate is no less noble. One can do against multiculturalism; the argument

3 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS may be about policy, but it sounds to to openly express one particular her- The heritage argument for keeping most people like a refusal to acknowl- itage, in defiance of any attempt to ap- the crucifix is highly flawed, and inher- edge diversity. Instead of accommodat- pear neutral. ently offensive. But whether or not any- ing diversity, we seem to be trying to I do not deny that Catholicism has one finds it offensive is moot, for the is- pretend it doesn’t exist. Those turbans been a major force in Quebec’s history, sue at hand is values and the way values and kippahs make this pretence harder to or that the crucifix is central to Catholi- are projected by public institutions. maintain, so better get rid of them. The cism. In rural areas, you can still see Here, the proposed charter has gotten result will be to isolate people who hold crosses at the sides of roads and in the things backwards. I say the state, via its traditional beliefs, when they might have centres of villages, and in Montreal the laws, should promote the expression of been integrated through inclusive dia- mountain sports a large one that lights religious diversity among citizens, in- logue and (for want of a better term) rea- up at night. These objects are a collec- cluding those who work for the state – sonable accommodation. tive expression of Catholic heritage, just but when it comes to institutions state Banning religious symbols would as a cross on a chain around the neck and citizenry have to think carefully. also take away a lot of colour in our would be a personal one. Do I, as a per- Some public crosses, including the one lives – important colour. Symbols (and son of another faith (one, moreover, that on Mount Royal, were in part sanctioned remember that this is the descendant of is opposed to iconic symbols on princi- by municipal governments, which is iconoclasts talking) serve to remind us ple), find such public crosses offensive? probably questionable but that leads us that we are not all the same, that we No. Would it matter if I did? No, be- into the whole Xmas Tree / Crèche con- have diverse and possibly incompatible cause these religious symbols are as troversy. Suffice it to say that public en- (at least at some level) views. Yes, there much a part of heritage as churches dorsement of religious imagery should are some symbols we can all agree themselves, and if I were to object to the only be a problem when certain faiths should never be displayed, and others presence of churches I would hardly be are clearly privileged over others. I was that individuals would probably be un- able to consider myself a good citizen of distressed to hear from my son that in wise to sport. In general, however, we a free society. the public high school he attended one have everything to gain from allowing But Catholicism is not the only reli- of the teachers displayed a crucifix on the trappings of religious diversity to be gion to have had an impact on Quebec’s the wall. I’d have had no objection to on view, even on public figures. Espe- past – very far from it. More to the her wearing a cross, but to hang one on cially on public figures, who then serve point, it was never the only religion of the wall was to imply its endorsement by as evidence that the “state” apparatus the Francophone population, even an institution that has no business doing (eg. teachers, SAAQ employees, and so though generations of politicians and that kind of endorsing. on) is a reflection of the wider society pundits have singled it out as a defining One way around this problem of and not just one interest group. True, characteristic of French Canada, particu- privilege might be for public institutions some people might not feel comfortable larly when resisting Anglo-Protestant ac- to adopt a “rainbow” approach, which having to deal with officials who obvi- culturation. This view has left a highly was one of the proposals for religious ously have different beliefs than they do, dubious legacy. In fact, a (quiet) revolu- education in schools argued some years but that again is something they have to tion was required to unseat it as the ago. In other words, Xmas Trees are OK deal with. The rest of us also have to dominant mythology – or so one would if a town also puts up a Menorah. deal with their discomfort – sympatheti- think were it not for the current rever- This solution is an agreeable alternative cally, of course, knowing that none of us ence for symbols like the National As- to official grinchiness at the darkest time is without prejudice. sembly crucifix. But more to the point, of the year. (Of course, my Calvinist In addition to being naïve about this mythology ignored the rich contri- streak says just stay indoors on winter neutrality and misguided about diversity, bution to Quebec’s history of non- nights, but I won’t pursue that.) But in the prospective attack on religious sym- Catholic Francophones, including the general, surely it is far simpler for public bols is inconsistent, even hypocritical. Jews and Muslims who have come from institutions to stay as neutral as possible. If the Quebec government really be- North Africa in recent decades, the Whether or not individual public figures lieved that banning the wearing of reli- Swiss Huguenots of the nineteenth cen- can, or should, leave their religious con- gious symbols would bring harmony to tury, and many early French Protestant victions at the doors of schools, court- its citizenry, it would long ago have leg- visitors to these shores (Champlain him- houses and parliaments, the institutions islated against saying prayers before self might be counted among them) who themselves must not show favouritism. town council meetings (there has been would certainly have been more numer- To do so is to thumb the official nose at some recent movement on this one, ad- ous had colonization by Protestants not diversity. mittedly) and removed the crucifix in been banned in 1627. Many historical Madame Marois, tear down that the National Assembly. On the latter forces have contributed to the notion crucifix! score, all major political parties seem to that Catholicism was essential to the agree: the crucifix is sacred, part of our identity of French speakers, and the Na- heritage. Apparently, individuals should tional Assembly crucifix perpetuates this not express their heritage, or at any rate mythology. Arguments that it is part of not if they are in any way affiliated with our collective heritage imply that what is the state – but it’s all right for that state not Catholic must inevitably be foreign.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Plotting a course for the next five years by Simon Jacobs Greetings! (COCo). Once the information and brainstorming has been Apart from the AGM that was held in Stanstead at the be- sifted and analyzed, we will contact our membership to ginning of June, this is my first occasion as QAHN president continue the process and discussion. to address you. One change soon will be the look of our As you may know, Kevin O’Donnell Heritage Line e-bulletin. Rather than a text- stepped down from the presidency, having only document, there will be an interactive in- spent five years at the helm of QAHN. Under dex at the beginning and images to his careful guidance we have seen the organi- accompany the text. I also hope that people zation continue to flourish. Last year QAHN will profit from the section with “Requests for undertook three significant projects (100 Ob- Information” or “Help Needed.” Sharing in- jects, Storynet, and Mapping the Mosaic) formation and know-how makes membership alongside its regular duties such as advocacy, in this network so rewarding. keeping our network active and informed, and Another important role we play is in the publishing the Quebec Heritage News. None protection of our heritage. QAHN passed a of this would have been possible without the resolution at the June 2013 AGM regarding dedication of Kevin, members of the Board, the perceived lack of protection of heritage the QAHN staff and all the volunteers who sites afforded under the new Cultural Heritage are involved with the organization. I would al- Law. More information about this can be so like to thank the Department of Canadian found on our website, www.qahn.org. Should Heritage and Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et des Commu- there be threats to heritage in your area please ensure that we nications for their financial support that allows us to accom- are made aware of the situation. plish our mission. I look forward to hearing from you in the future and don’t We now need to look ahead to the future, taking stock of hesitate to contact me if you have suggestions regarding the what we have achieved and plotting a course for the next five improvement of services offered by QAHN. years. In the first week of September, the QAHN board started the strategic planning process with a two-day meeting facilitat- Simon Jacobs ed by Kit Malo from the Centre for Community Organizations President QAHN News Security for Heritage Outreach and from various fields will assist throughout this project. Workshop Initiative Over the coming weeks, the project managers will QAHN is pleased to report that its 15-month be developing the program for the coming year. For project, "Security for Heritage Outreach and Workshop more information, or to sign up for conferences in your Initiative” (SHOWI), has been funded by the Depart- area, contact QAHN at: (819) 564-9595; or toll free at: ment of Canadian Heritage in the amount of $114,300. (877) 964-0409. QAHN veteran Dwane Wilkin and Missisquoi Museum curator Heather Darch have been engaged as Strategic Planning project managers. At the beginning of September, members of the SHOWI will enable QAHN to develop a series of board, staff and volunteers, with participation from the workshops, conferences and other outreach events Centre for Community Organizations, met in designed to inform personnel at small community- Longueuil to begin mapping out the path that QAHN based museums, heritage organizations and historic will take over the next few years. Over the coming sites around rural Quebec about how to attain a greater months, QAHN will be working to refine a new 5-year level of security. Issues to be addressed will include strategic plan. We will be looking for feedback from physical security (for buildings and premises), collec- our member-organizations. tions security (protection from theft and degradation), virtual security (digital vandalism), and security for Legends of Magdalen staff and volunteers (insurance concerns). QAHN will The documentary film “Legends of Magdalen” ex- be producing instructional handbooks and other plores the shipwrecks and treasures of Quebec’s resources pertaining to security-related topics. Experts Magdalen Islands. The documentary is led by Leonard

QAHN President Simon Jacobs. 5 Photo: Matthew Farfan QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

SecuritySecurity for Heritage Workshops & Resources

Interested in local history? Would you like to learn how you can help preserve this heritage for future generations?

Join the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) as we explore ways that history societies, small museums, faith groups and other concerned citizens can better secure and protect: . Historical Properties . Cultural Sites & Institutions . Community Archives . Artefact Collections You can make a difference! Learn from museum professionals, conservation specialists and experts in risk management how to:

. Reduce Theft & Vandalism . Plan for Emergencies . Safely Handle Collections . Minimize Liablility Don’t miss this series of workshops and outreach events Starting April 2014

Visit our website at www.qahn.org for a list of dates and location details beginning November, 2013. or email [email protected] to receive notice of upcoming events and information tools. For more information please call toll-free 1-877-964-0409 or (local) 819 564-9595.

Security for Heritage, Outreach and Workshop Initiative (SHOWI) is sponsored by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, with financial support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.

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Clark, a local fisherman, farmer and self-taught archae- To order a copy, please send $13 (which includes ologist who has studied hundreds of sunken ships shipping and handling) to: QAHN, 400-257, Queen, around the Islands. Executive-produced by Gregory Sherbrooke, Qc J1M 1K7. For non-QAHN members, Gallagher, and funded in part through QAHN’s Sto- add $2.00 per order. This DVD makes an excellent gift ryNet project, “Legends of Magdalen” was first broad- or fundraising tool. For bulk orders of 20 or more, cast on CBC TV’s “Absolutely Québec” on August 3. please send payment of $6 per DVD, plus $20 s/h. Order The film is now available on the CBC website at: while supplies last! http://www.cbc.ca/player/ Shows/ID/23995238188/. The Documentary Channel (Canada) will also be airing “Legends of Magdalen” on November 19 at 8:00 p.m. A French-language version will be released later this year, along with an interactive website.

100 Objects DVD “The Identity of English-Speaking Quebec in 100 Objects,” the DVD produced as part of QAHN’s suc- cessful “Significant Objects for Telling Identity (SOFTI)” initiative, is now available. This stunning DVD, which comes with an attractive 12-page booklet, features essays on each of the 100 objects selected for the project, over 500 photographs, a detailed historical timeline, and six documentary videos. It is a veritable treasure trove, and a must for anyone trying to make sense of the patchwork that is English-speaking Quebec.

Letters California Old Girls Hopefully some of the “old girls” tales will appear in future QHN issues or on the website so they won't be Warm congratulations to Sandra Stock for a won- forgotten. derful article in the Summer 2013 issue of Quebec Heritage News on the fascinating Eastern Townships Linda Buzzell-Saltzman history of Dunham's St. Helen's School! Santa Barbara, California Years ago, my father proudly informed me that my grandfather Enoch Buzzell of Buzzell Bros. hardware Seraphic inspiration store in Cowansville was on the committee that brought the school into being, so the connection with It was with great interest that I read the informa- St. Helen's was natural for his two granddaughters, re- tive article “Traditional Education, Changing Times: tired Montreal diocese Anglican priest Rev. Karen St. Helen’s School,” by Sandra Stock (QHN, Summer Buzzell-Frey and myself. I always joke with California 2013). The Missisquoi Museum houses a small collec- friends that I was brought up in the Victorian era, as tion of objects and documentation from the school in- Miss Wade's strict regime was still being followed cluding a school jacket and class yearbooks. As a small even in the 1950s, and among the many teachers from addition to the article, I wanted to mention that Seraph England we had a history mistress, Miss Coggan, who Amanda Comstock Morgan (1838-1919), principal at endlessly enthused about the “glorious British Em- the Stanbridge East Academy, directed a letter-writing pire.” My experience of the school library was less up- campaign to the community calling for proper educa- to-date than Sandra's, though, and when I arrived at tion for young women in this region. She believed that McGill to study English and American literature I was sound intellectual training in a cultured environment ashamed to realize that I hadn't read many books pub- would ensure a certain degree of independence for lished after World War I! women and would provide a new model for the public And of course there are so many additional stories roles women were being called upon to fill. The Dun- and experiences that could be told to bring the St. He- ham Ladies College was established largely through len's story to today's readers. A St. Helen's Old Girls the support of independent entrepreneurs who had ral- group existed for a while, organized by former Head lied behind Seraph’s call for action. Girl Holly Higgins Jonas, but it no longer seems to be in existence. Is there a place online where Old Girls Heather Darch could post their stories about their time at SHS? Missisquoi Museum, Stanbridge East, Quebec

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TE H HOUSE THAT ROCKHEAD BUILT Montreal’s jazz paradise by Rohinton Ghandhi Don't it always seem to go cased some of the most talented performers helped build British military installa- That you don't know what you've got of his time. tions, and soon made his way to ‘til it's gone. Magically, we reopen the double Montreal. They paved paradise, put up a parking lot. doors of “The House that Rockhead Built” - Joni Mitchell and walk into the smoke-filled nightclub A call to arms… world of Rufus Rockhead’s Paradise… On January 29, 1918, Rockhead n a chilly Sunday evening in joined Canada’s Infantry as a private Montreal’s Plateau district, first-class with the 1st Depot Battalion a landlord was putting out of the 1st Quebec regiment at $15 pay the trash in a dimly-lit per month, all of which was forwarded Olaneway between his buildings. All to his mother, Drusilla, back home. seemed normal, until his eye caught Three months later, on March 24, he the glimmer of something metallic at boarded the RMS Scandinavian. The the rear. Squeezing through the alley, ship was previously named the Ro- he saw the reflection of a large green manic under the ownership of The frame behind layers of debris and White Star Line, and was built in the pulled it out of the pile revealing its same Harland & Wolff docks as the plywood-covered centre. Back in his Titanic, which had been lost only six apartment, he pried off the wood, un- years earlier. Arriving on the shores of covering what had been hidden for so England, Rockhead travelled to a stag- many years. It was a lost billboard ing area at Bramshott, and then ever from Montreal’s jazz era announcing closer to the front lines. He served in the “Hottest Show in Town” and France in the Canadian Forestry “Swing Nite Fri. Sat 8pm - Rock- Corps, earned a British War Medal head’s.” Unsure of either its history and a Victory Medal, and returned or its value, he passed the piece along. home a hero on March 19, 1919. The breadcrumbs led from there, enticing us to follow the music back A snare-drum picks up a beat with to a lost time when a small Montreal the bass… nightclub made all the difference in The Roaring Twenties brought in the world of Jazz and beyond. the wild times of Prohibition, speakeasies, flappers and the earliest The faint sounds of jazz… notes of jazz. Rockhead began work- Standing in an empty parking lot at ing as a porter for the CPR Railway, the corner of Mountain and St. Antoine frequently running the Montreal- streets was an eerie feeling. As swirls of Windsor route and hopping over to dust danced across the asphalt on a cold Detroit to “make some real cabbage” winter’s day, it was almost as if he knew during Prohibition. In 1927, he left that we were there. For at that moment, we Setting the stage… the CPR and set up a prosperous hat- were standing centre-stage at what was Rufus Nathaniel Rockhead was ex- cleaning and shoe-shine business in Ver- once known as “the hippest place for jazz tremely secretive about his birth date, dun called the Wellington Shoeshine in the world.” Over several decades, it was even with his closest family and friends. Parlour, located at 6 Stephens Street. a listed stop in Billboard magazine’s “At- The limited records we have show only A vintage photo from late 1927, traction Routes” for many entertainers and that he was born in the year 1896 in Ma- stamped “Plaza Studio,” was most prob- musicians touring through Montreal. The roon Town, an independent territory in ably taken at the Plaza Hotel in New club once boasted having the longest bar in Jamaica. Like his father, John Rockhead, York City, since luxury hotels provided the country (75 feet). It also claimed the he came from a long line of “Maroons” portrait-taking as an in-house service. It distinction of having the first black night- who were the proud freedom-protectors shows a young Rufus Rockhead proudly club owner in Montreal, possibly in Cana- against English rule. In early 1918, Ru- standing beside his new bride, Elizabeth da. With only his keen sense of knowing fus Rockhead immigrated to Halifax, (Bertie). Her long white wedding gown what the crowds wanted, his club show- Nova Scotia, where his forefathers had and “peacock” headdress fully comple-

8 Rockhead’s billboard discarded in an alley. Photo: courtesy of Rohinton Ghandhi. FALL 2013 ment his black tuxedo, white gloves, and citizen to hold a tavern license. He first leg, had been given the nickname top hat. The one flower in his lapel tried purchasing a building on Bleury "Stump" by Rockhead), which was fa- would become his trademark. Rufus and and “St. Kit’s” (St. Catherine), but was mous for its fried chicken and ribs. The Bertie had met at their local church and refused and reminded that “his place centre of this floor was completely cut was not uptown, but downtown, after the out and surrounded by a horseshoe- tracks.” Soon after, he purchased a shaped balcony so that patrons could three-storey building and opened a tav- watch the acts below while dining from ern on the corner of Mountain and St. their perches above. Antoine, the very first street below the tracks. The band’s in full swing… Early in 1929, Rockhead added a The 1940s were the club’s heyday, lunch counter, serving full-course meals as the war attracted servicemen who for 25 cents, and opened a fifteen-room were hungry for entertainment. Rock- hotel on the uppermost floor. In Octo- head’s gave them big glittery shows fea- ber, the Crash started the Great Depres- turing comedians, acrobats, hoofers (tap sion, but Rockhead was undeterred. In dancers), exotic-dancers, and a chorus 1930, Rockhead’s Paradise club was of- line called the “Rockadets.” The house ficially opened, serving only wine and band, Allan Wellman’s Orchestra, pro- beer in its new second-floor dining room vided the music for many of these per- with a stage where local coloured jazz formers. From snake-wielding burlesque bands played. dancers on the second floor’s main stage to wandering Calypso singers like Lord A trumpet joins the group… Caresser crooning the booths with guitar After a five-year battle, Rockhead in hand through the street-level lounge obtained his hard-liquor license and the below, Rockhead’s was “the buzz.” His Paradise became a cocktail bar. One year nightclub became as famous as the Cot- later, Quebec’s Premier Maurice Dup- ton Club in New York’s Harlem, featur- lessis cancelled the licenses of all ethni- ing many great black performers, includ- cally-owned establishments, a precursor ing Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, to the 1937 Padlock Act. By now well- Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Ella fallen in love. They would go on to raise experienced and well-connected, Rock- Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and two three children: Jackie, Kenny, and head knew just what to do and soon re- young Montrealers named Oscar Peter- Arvella. gained his license. The famous “Rock- son and Charles Biddle. It made Rufus a head’s Paradise” neon sign then lit up wealthy man. The club’s popularity at- A piano chimes in… the corner block. Yet another law re- tracted many celebrities from around the Rockhead always dreamed of own- quired that hotels have a separate en- world, including Joe Louis, Sugar Ray ing a bar. In 1928, he applied for a beer trance. Rockhead kept the street-level Robinson and, at times, the entire permit, but the commissioner replied, cocktail bar, remodeled the second floor Harlem Globetrotters team. It was said “You know we don’t give licenses to into a nightclub, and converted the old that soldiers fighting overseas would tell coloured people.” Rockhead persisted hotel’s third floor into an upper dining the guy in the next foxhole, “If you ever and, after eleven months of pulling area, complete with “Stump’s Kitchen” get up to Canada, go to Rockhead’s.” strings, he became Montreal’s first black (the chef, an amputee with a prosthetic Rockhead welcomed all into his

Top: Rufus and Bertie, 1929. Photo: courtesy of Anne Rockhead. Bottom (left and right): Allan Wellman’s band at Rockhead’s, early 1950s. John 9 Gilmore Fonds, Records Management and Archives, Concordia University. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Paradise, without the race rules of the uptown clubs. He always wore a red car- nation in his lapel and handed a flower to each lady as she entered. In his club, black and white musicians performed to- gether freely, so that all could enjoy the jazz, no matter their race.

The players take five… In 1951, Rockhead brought his son Kenny, now 21, on board and spent $100,000 to double the club’s size, in- stalling a new air conditioning system and a water tower. In 1952, with renova- tions completed, Rockhead refused to make a $40,000 “political contribution” to Duplessis’ party. He offered half, which wasn’t enough to save his liquor license. Under a mocked-up charge of was back. Re-entering the club was a days-a-week schedule was now replaced staying open after hours, the club was surreal experience, with cobwebs by two daily nurse-assisted walks padlocked with everything in place, all stretching from ceiling to floor and with through the hospital’s corridors. On Jan- except $10,000 in alcohol which was dust covering everything as it was in uary 18, 1979, as Rockhead’s Golden never seen again. Rockhead’s stand took 1952. (50th) anniversary was being celebrated a heavy toll on him. As a gesture of resistance, Rock- at his club, the man who had personified For the next eight years, only the head reopened the club with exactly the its spirit sat silently in his room under tavern paid the bills as the new Paradise same acts as when it was closed down so doctor’s orders. rotted away next door, and with it Rock- many years ago, including Allan Well- The city decided to celebrate on his head’s fortune. He sold an apartment man back at the helm. After being shut behalf, as people from all walks of life building and two duplexes to avoid down for so long, the place was practi- gathered at the club to speak of this one bankruptcy and was frequently seen sit- cally forgotten. Montreal’s action had man’s dignity and of his passion for ting quietly on a stool outside his empty shifted uptown and television was cut- entertaining them over the last tavern on Mountain Street. Only a mira- ting into nightclub traffic. Although half-century. cle could save his dream. headliners like Redd Foxx, Nipsy Rus- sell, Sammy Davis Jr. and Montreal mu- The bands return… sician Oliver Jones would fill the club at In 1960, that miracle came. times, the Paradise kept struggling. With the Liberals in power, Rockhead’s Rockhead’s reputation would again be its saviour. In the 1960s, Montreal’s hotels and restaurants did not have the same colour discrimination as in the U.S. southern states. This brought black tourists up to Canada. When they came to Montreal, they came to Rockhead’s. A few tour buses arrived at first, but soon they all flocked to the Paradise for their holi- Final curtain call… days. Year after year, the lines of buses On brighter days he would remem- grew as did the business. By the summer ber his son Kenny, and on others, no-one of 1973, the 300-seat club was filled in at all. In a wheelchair, with his memory 20 minutes and the bar was out of scotch fading, Rufus Rockhead passed quietly by midnight. Rufus Rockhead simply on September 23, 1981, joining Eliza- smiled and said to Kenny, “This is just beth who had gone nineteen years before like the old days!” him. Along with him went the echoing sounds of jazz that he had brought to his The last gig… city. A year later, the Paradise would be In March of 1978, Rockhead suf- sold, and by the end of the decade de- fered a massive stroke and entered the molished and paved over. St. Anne de Bellevue Veteran’s Hospital. As funeral goers paid their final re- His lively eighteen-hours-a-day / seven- spects, they could only imagine the ex-

Bottom left: Rufus Rockhead, 1930s. Photo: courtesy of Anne Rockhead. Top: Postcard, Rockhead’s Paradise. 10 Courtesy of Matthew Farfan. Bottom right: courtesy of Rohinton Ghandhi. FALL 2013 periences of this legendary man, a great Brenda Zosky Proulx, “‘Paradise’ is fad- man, a man who had once made Montre- ed but it’s not all 50,” Montreal Gazette, al his Paradise. May 22, 1982. Additional

Rohinton Ghandhi is a local David Sherman, “Rockhead’s is 50,” Rockhead’s Trivia author/historian who loves writing Montreal Gazette, January 2, 1979. stories of Montreal in times gone by, The emcee at Rockhead’s was so specifically stories about Crawford Robert Stewart, “Rockhead’s Paradise,” afraid of snakes that he hid in the Park, Verdun and LaSalle. Many of his Montreal Gazette’s Show magazine, July closet during the times the "snake historical stories have been published in 21, 1973. dancers" put on their act. newspapers, magazines, and online, in- cluding on Montreal Mosaic web- David Yates, “Friends bid goodbye to Rockhead never owned a car, al- magazine. Rohinton has been digitally Rockhead today,” Montreal Gazette, ways taking the streetcar to pick up chronicling the Verdun Guardian for the September 26, 1981. the flowers from an NDG florist last five years, from 1931 to currently twice a week. In later years, he 1941, as a personal preservation inter- Gerald A. Archambeau, A Struggle to would take a cab to and from the est, before the pages turn to dust. Walk with Dignity: The True Story of a club daily. Jamaican-born Canadian, 2010. Sources: Rockhead always wore a red tie, a flower in his lapel, and a stiff de- Author’s interviews with Anne Rock- Tom Massiah, Emanations from the tachable collar that he bought only head, February-May 2013, Montreal. Corpse of Little Burgundy, 2012. at one specific store. Billboard Magazine, January 1, 1944, Sarah-Jane Mathieu, North of the Colour Sandra Fields led and choreo- and July 1, 1946 – “Routes include Line: Migration and Black Resistance in graphed the Rockadets chorus line. Rockhead’s Montreal.” Canada, 1870-1955, 2004. Their name was changed to The Rockheadettes at the reopening in Dane Lanken,“Rufus Rockhead - he Al Palmer, Montreal Confidential, 1950. 1961. keeps on smiling,” Montreal Gazette, June 12, 1970. Marthe Sansregret, Oliver Jones: The Musician, the Man: a Biography, 2006. Rockhead was known to eat toast and coffee twice a day, once after Ian Mayer, “Club owner Rufus Rock- entering the street-level lounge in head dies,” Montreal Gazette, Septem- the morning and again at about 4 ber 24, 1981. p.m. From 6-8 p.m. each evening he would nap in his closet office on the upper floor.

In 1974-1975, the street-level lounge itself was completely re- done with mirror-balls and strobe lighting for the disco years.

Rockhead never called people by their real names. He always gave them nicknames according to their attributes or their individual charac- ters.

Rockhead once owned the whole block of buildings from the corner of St. Antoine to Torrence (to the south) on Mountain Street.

The rival club, the Café St-Michel, operated just across the street from Rockhead's on the west side of Mountain Street.

11 St. Antoine Street, corner of Mountain, 2013. Photo: Rohinton Ghandhi. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

12 FALL 2013

600 MILES OF MUSIC Making a StoryNet audio documentary by Glenn Patterson ast January I was contacted by been essentially undocumented. (One im- tial of making accessible their musical her- QAHN to produce an audio portant exception is the wonderful disk, itage in an audio documentary format. documentary featuring tradi- Ireland in Quebec, put together by Lisa StoryNet gave me the opportunity to tional music from several Que- Ornstein, André Marchand, and Nick develop my ethnomusicological toolbox, as becL Anglophones for the StoryNet oral Hawes, profiling the music of two English- it were. This was the first time that I inter- history project. I felt this would be a speaking musicians, Keith Corrigan and viewed participants with the goal of creat- great opportunity to raise awareness Jimmy Kelly, from the Irish communities ing a “listening product” for an external au- about this rich and diverse musical her- of Valcartier and Shannon in the Quebec dience, and I was quickly made aware that itage. It also drew from my current doc- City area.) In the absence of commercial these interviews are about not only the “da- toral work in ethnomusicology at Me- or archival records, our musical heritage ta” (what is said) but also the emotional morial University, in St. John’s, New- resides primarily in the memories of musi- presence created by the subtle qualities of foundland, researching music-making cians and listeners who lived in these com- the unique voices of the interviewees. Get- among rural Anglophone communities munities and are still around to tell us ting great-sounding interviews meant in the Gaspé and Chateauguay Valley. about it. A project like StoryNet was just learning how to get in close with the mi- Ethnomusicology attempts to docu- what was needed to increase awareness of crophone (1 foot to 3 inches from their ment and interpret music-making and its this aspect of our heritage. mouths) while still making participants feel place in different cultures. It began as a My documentary, “Six Hundred Miles comfortable. Minimizing my own com- way to address academia’s lack of under- of Music,” available on QAHN’s Sto- ments and interjections significantly sim- standing of the vast world of music that ex- ryNet.ca, attempts to allow listeners to plified the task. The audio of Cyril De- isted outside the institutions of Western “hear,” through music and spoken word, vouge came from an informal visit to his classical music. How can we approach an- the deep ways in which music has connect- seniors’ residence, complete with a loud air other culture’s music in a way that respects ed three musicians to each other and to the conditioner and fridge, the mic placed that culture’s own understanding of it while places and communities to which they be- about six feet from Cyril, and us musicians seeking broad insights that have meaning long. The central character is Brigid Drody, noodling somewhat incessantly on our in- for an outside audience? Ethnomusicolo- a guitar player who was brought up in a struments while he was speaking. Editing gists tend to collect oral histories from peo- family of fiddlers in Douglastown on the the audio for this chapter probably took up ple willing to share their thoughts on their Gaspé coast. She introduces us to musical a good two-thirds of the time I spent creat- music with us. life in Douglastown in the 1940s and 1950s ing the entire documentary. Requesting a Music is a potent symbol of who we and then takes us to Montreal through quiet room to interview participants, asking are as individuals and as members of a Murdochville (a trajectory followed by to close windows and turn off air condi- community. Many of us associate a song many Gaspesians who have left the coast tioners was well worth the momentary with a memorable event or period in our since 1950). After relocating to the awkwardness, and participants were al- past – typically our high school years when Chateauguay Valley, she met two fiddlers ways more than happy to oblige me. The we socialized with those of similar musical with whom she has played extensively: vast array of online resources devoted to tastes. Perhaps no other art form has the Cyril Devouge (originally from L’Anse-a- the nuts and bolts of producing audio docu- power to evoke memories of time, place, Brillant near Douglastown) and Neil mentaries (see www.transom.org and emotions, and community as does hearing MacKay. www.how sound.org) were a great help music from our personal and collective Getting to know these three musi- and I highly recommend them. The Hin- pasts. cians, I have come to see that for them and denburg software for radio documentaries So how has music connected Quebec many in their communities the music they (http://hinden burgsystems.com) is an intu- Anglophones to our communities, both its have played is more than a collection of itive and user-friendly way for beginners to people and its places? What insights can great melodies and songs; indeed, it also edit and mix music and spoken audio. the study of music-making in English- indexes a deep set of powerful memories I would encourage readers to consider speaking communities bring to the under- of people, places, and experiences they their unique musical heritage still living in standing of Quebec’s greater cultural her- have encountered in their communities. practice and the memories of their family itage? Unlike Francophones, who have a Given the diasporic history of Quebec’s ru- and neighbours. If you have questions vast set of commercial and archival re- ral Englsih-speaking population, I see mu- about documenting musical heritage (com- sources (see Archives de folklore et d’eth- sical heritage as a powerful resource for ing up with interview questions, how to nologie at Université Laval) through which fostering senses of connectedness to our record, and so on ), don’t hesitate to contact they can access the musical heritage of communities. The responses left by listen- me at [email protected]. their communities, traditional and vernacu- ers on StoryNet.ca and on links to it shared Happy listening! lar music-making among Anglophones has on Facebook speak to the emotional poten-

13 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

ETH GREAT SHIP COSMO Quebec’s finest square rigger by John Fry n 1876, Henry Fry – Quebec mer- England in 1853 to take up life in North suited to carrying huge loads of timber – the chant, ship-owner, Lloyd’s agent America. The original had been named for the world’s most cost-efficient freighters at the for the St. Lawrence River, ex-pres- illustrious Florentine merchant prince Cosimo time. ident of the Dominion Board of Medici. For the jutting wooden figurehead of Cosmo, though, was far more than a con- CanadaI – arrived at a decision that the new Cosmo’s bow, Henry ordered a tainer. “When she was launched,” wrote mar- would lead to the shipbuilding triumph carved representation of the fifteenth century itime historian Frederick William Wallace, of his life. Strange as it seems, he potentate’s head and torso. “Lloyd’s surveyor stated that the Cosmo was wouldn’t have undertaken it if economic the finest ship ever constructed in Quebec. circumstances had been better. But a The foremast, mainmast, and lower bowsprit world-wide economic downturn, which were of iron. Her cabins were beautifully fin- had started with the financial crisis of ished in ash and black walnut.” Lloyd’s rating 1873, was underway. of the ship Cosmo was 9A 1, indicating a A close friend, Quebec shipbuilder Hen- first-class vessel whose rating would hold ry Dinning, revealed to Fry that he faced the good for nine years. A project to help the poor coming winter of 1877 totally without money had produced a masterpiece! to construct a ship. “Some two hundred de- Cosmo slid into the St. Lawrence on cent men at Cap Blanc are dependent on my Wednesday, June 27, 1877. She must have yard for work,” said Dinning. “Without it, ful- been fully masted and rigged, and virtually ly a hundred poor people will starve. Give me ready to sail after she went down the ways, a contract for a new ship, and I will build her because within five days she was fully loaded cheaply,” he implored. with wood, including 308 pieces of oak, The undertaking didn’t attract Fry, who 2,758 pipe staves, plus elm, red and white was sitting on a heavy inventory of wood, pine – destined, Fry believed, for certain sale with no spare cash at hand. He could not an- in England. When the ship arrived in Liver- ticipate that the ship would lead him to finan- pool at the end of July 1877, however, no one cial suffering, and a personal crisis. It wasn’t a was waiting to purchase her cargo. Henry’s problem. Two of Quebec’s leading bankers – brother and business partner Edward had Abraham Joseph, of the Stadacona Bank, and The specifications for the three-masted “failed lamentably to carry out my instruc- James Stevenson, general manager of the ship were stringent. The keel and planking to tions as to sales of wood. He came back from Quebec Bank (whose daughter eventually the unloaded water line were to be of the England [to Quebec] in the spring [of 1877] would marry Fry’s eldest son) – said they finest rock elm. “Tamarac frame, beams and with most of my heavy stock unsold. For the would lend him the money to build the ship. planking,” Henry wrote. “Double diagonal first time in my life, I feared financial trouble.” “I felt that I should do it as an act of mer- ceiling (giving great strength) locust and elm In fact, the trouble precipitated a personal cri- cy,” Fry confessed. He agreed to pay Dinning tree-nails, and iron lower masts and sis that came to define the rest of his life, even- $39.50 per ton for a 1200-ton ship. . . or bowsprit.” Tamarac, or red spruce, had the tually turning him from merchant to historian $47,400, an amount he would advance in best combination of strength and durability for and essayist. (The story is told in my new bi- weekly instalments so that the workers could shipbuilding. ography of Henry Fry, A Mind at Sea.) receive the pay they desperately needed. The Cosmo measured 200 feet overall, In Liverpool drydock, the bottom of He immediately found himself absorbed with a 37.3-foot beam. She was typical of Cosmo’s sleek hull was coppered to protect it in the details of the new ship’s building, so Quebec-built sailing ships launched after against worm and marine weed. She sailed much so that he decided not to travel to Eng- 1854. The captain’s and mate’s quarters were with a cargo to New Orleans, and over the land in the winter of 1877, as he typically did in the stern, while the crew was housed for- next dozen years, she criss-crossed the world’s to find cargoes for his ships. Instead, he sent ward. The galley was between. Sometimes oceans, carrying kola nuts to China, and ni- his brother and business partner Edward. there was a wheelhouse, but more often the trate from Chile. By 1883, Quebec tycoon Henry started with the laying-out of the man at the wheel was at the mercy of the ele- James Gibb Ross owned her. When Ross suf- ship’s plans in the moulding loft, and then the ments and, in a storm, lashed to the wheel. fered a bankruptcy, she was taken over by a setting of the keel on the sloping beach of Over a quarter-century, a total of 349 Norwegian. “She made remarkably fast pas- Dinning’s yard. “I superintended her construc- such large square-rigged ships were built in sages,” wrote Fry, “but times were very bad, tion all winter, chose her dimensions and yards along the St. Lawrence and the St. steam was everywhere cutting out the sailing model.” He decided to name the ship Cosmo, Charles rivers. Virtually all of them basically ships.” In 1889, sailing out of Savannah, the name of the barque on which he’d first left were simple containers with a single deck, Georgia, bound for Hamburg, Germany,

14 Henry Fry, 1872. Photo: McCord Museum , I-70328.1. FALL 2013

Cosmo disappeared over the the building of the two-foot horizon, never to be seen model of the good ship Cosmo again. for Prince Philip, the three- Yet Cosmo would be masted timber ship becomes seen again – and again, even one of the most storied of the though in diminished sizes. sailing ships built at Quebec After her launching, Fry had during the 19th Century. In the commissioned the marine annals of the Ancient Capital, it artist and craftsman Thomas has its rightful place among the H. Willis of Connecticut to legends and stories of history portray the ship. On a canvas that have added to its fame 31 inches wide by 18 inches over three hundred years.” high, Willis painted sea and sky. He fashioned the Cos- John Fry is the great grandson Philip Mountbatten, who had served in the mo’s hull from embroidered velvet, made the of Henry Fry and of James Stevenson. He is Royal Navy. The Prince was a keen collector rigging with silk thread, the masts of woven the author of A Mind at Sea: Henry Fry and of model ships. During the visit, Quebec offi- string, and the sails of silk or cast paper – all of the Glorious Era of Quebec’s Sailing Ships, to cials told the Prince’s secretary that the City it stitched onto the oil-painted canvas and be published later this year by Dundurn Press would like to present Philip with the gift of a placed in an ornate frame. It hangs in the en- Toronto. Montreal-born Fry worked over 25 model sailing vessel built in the port. trance hallway of my home, and a photo of it years as a chief editor of magazines at the “Dear M. Lecouvie,” wrote the Duke of appears on the cover of A Mind at Sea. Times Mirror Co. and the New York Times Edinburgh’s private secretary on December Nor was Fry finished with commemorat- Co. He lives in Katonah, New York. 18, 1951, “His Royal Highness has asked me ing. Something far larger had to be made. He to write and say that he would very much like paid a master carpenter in Dinning’s yard to COSMO LECTURE AND RECEPTION, to have a model of the Cosmo, which he build a handsome nine-foot model of Cosmo. would place in his study.” MORRIN CENTRE The model was likely mounted and displayed Lecouvie immediately began work, tak- initially in Dinning’s yard. Then it became ing more than 800 hours to carve by hand at The Literary and Historical Society in Que- something of a white elephant, finding its way least a thousand tiny pieces assembled into a bec’s Morrin Centre (44 Chaussée des Écos- around the taverns and hotels along the water- 30-inch long model of Cosmo. Finished, the sais) will host a talk by author John Fry on front in the Lower Town. Each move led to exquisitely crafted model was transported Sunday, December 8 at 2 p.m. about the curi- damage. One summer night in 1927, a Nor- across the Atlantic aboard the Empress of ous history of the illustrious Cosmo. A large wegian skipper Captain Jarlsen, who was in France. It can be viewed today in Bucking- model of the sailing ship has been displayed port, eyed the oversized, beaten-up Cosmo ham Palace. for many years in the Society’s library. model in a pub in Ancienne-Lorette. The next Lecouvie made yet another model, a day he called on his friend Edmond Lecouvie copy of the one given to the Prince, for his Fry will be signing copies of his new book A who, in addition to his vocation of police con- own collection, which includes 42 miniature Mind at Sea – Henry Fry and the Glorious stable, was a skilled model shipbuilder – ships carved from Canadian walrus ivory. Ac- Era of Quebec’s Sailing Ships, which will be among the best in North America. The two quired by Gaston Déry of Quebec, it is today available for purchase. On hand will be the men visited the bar, and examined the nine- part of his private Lecouvie-Déry Collection. doyenne of Quebec shipbuilding history, au- foot model. “It was in a terrible state,” Lecou- The June 2, 1952 edition of the Quebec thor Eileen Marcil, whose research was used vie later recalled. “Her spars were all gone, Chronicle Telegraph had the final say: “With extensively in the writing A Mind at Sea, and and her rigging too. The bowsprit was broken, Gaston Déry, owner of a her hull stove in. But I knew Cosmo model and of the she meant something. She was Lecouvie-Déry Collection of original.” miniature ivory ships. Jarlsen bought the Cosmo for “a paltry sum,” and present- RSVP (418) 694-9147, or ed it to Lecouvie. After restor- [email protected]. ing the giant model, Lecouvie later sold it to the Literary and During Quebec’s remark- Historical Society. (Visitors to able 19th Century ship- Quebec can view it today in the building boom, the Cosmo Morrin Centre, home of the So- may have been the finest of ciety’s Library.) the giant square-riggers Lecouvie’s involvement launched from the port with the Cosmo didn’t end. In city’s shores. Prince Philip the fall of 1951, Princess Eliza- has a model in Buckingham beth visited Canada with her Palace. handsome husband Prince

Cosmo Cosmo Top: Composite painting of the , with woven velvet hull, silk rigging, by 15 Bottom: Model of the in the library of the Thomas H. Willis, 1877. Photo: Doug Abdelnour. Morrin Centre, Quebec. Photos: John Fry. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

2103 HERITAGE PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS

1ST PRIZE Gramma's Tea Pot by Esther Grebe Secondary 4 Maniwaki Woodland High School

Going to Gramma’s house was al- ways fun. One of the things I loved was looking at her china cabinet and all of the pretty plates, statues and teapots that it held. Each particular treasure had its own story. I can’t explain why, but for some reason I was always inexplicably drawn towards the teapots, especially this teapot. I never grew tired of hearing about the story of my Great-Great-Grandmother Al- ice Doggert. This fun-loving school teacher migrated from Ireland in 1912 to “teach the heathens.” She set sail only a few weeks after the Titanic sank, suffering the long and arduous voyage over the Atlantic Ocean. When For as long as I can remember, we’ve always gone fish- my Gramma traveled to Halifax on a cruise last autumn, she ing in the summer. My parents took me, their parents took found Alice Doggert’s name written in a book of arriving im- them, and their parents took them. My father’s side of the fam- migrants as having docked at pier 21. As a little girl I found it ily is Native American (Qalipu Mi’kmaq) and fishing is an in- hard to believe that something that was so old could still exist tegral part of the Mi’kmaq way of live. My family has tried today. I remember running my fingers over the Wedgwood hard (and succeeded) in teaching me the importance of know- pottery, cracked with time and wear. The past is not altogether ing how to survive in the woods, and because of this I have gone. It has managed to survive in little pockets of memory. I learned to fish and hunt in traditional ways. The flies (lures promise I will not forget all the stories I was told. It only takes used in fly fishing) in the accompanying photograph were one person to lose what has been built up for generations. I made by the art teacher at my school, since I haven’t the skill promise I will not be the one. nor the expertise to create a fly, and with the addition of a hook would attract at least three different species of freshwater fish. 2ND PRIZE My father is a very proficient fly fisherman and though he’s Fly on the Wall teaching me, I find it harder than spin fishing. These flies rep- by Kelly Benoit resent my familial heritage because the different types of fish- Secondary 4 ing, whether spin, fly or hand fishing, are all important parts of Joliette High School and a basic skill in a simple, social society of yesteryear that people today seem to be leaving behind in favour of ‘ready in 5 minutes’, cookie-cutter society.

3RD PRIZE Old Rusty Logging Chains by Joshua Hearty Secondary 5 Doctor Wilbert Keon School, Chapeau

During summer time I would always go down to the riv- er to fish or lay on the hill to relax. One day I saw an old log rise up out of the water. We call them dead heads because when they’re underwater for a long period of time they would

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school bus ride on a frosty January morning. This photo to me showed me that we can make it through the hard Canadian weather and still play and have fun. Her hand prints have been frozen on the window for only 7 days, but the heritage has been frozen to her heart and it will stay for the rest of her life.

2ND HONOURABLE MENTION Go Habs Go by Jean-Charles Fillion Secondary 4 Joliette High School

rise due to oxidation. Every day that log made my beach look like an eye sore so I finally got fed up with it sticking out. I got my four-wheeler and hooked it up with chains to pull it out. Only to find that there were chains already attached to it. They weren’t just any ordinary chains; they were antique logging chains from way back in 1960s. My mom used to be one of those log runners that would stand on a bunch of logs and push them down the river to the old mill. These chains represent the lumber industries from way back when there wasn’t any elec- tricity around here. Every time I look at the old chains I won- der what those chains have been through and think of the pos- sibilities on how and when they used them. These rusty old chains represent the hard working community of the early What’s the weirdest thing you can see at the IGA store in 1960s. Rawdon, Qc? It’s also the coolest. There are two of the original seats from the Montreal Forum just next to the jelly bean ma- 1ST HONOURALE MENTION chine. Frozen Hands The Forum closed in 1996 so I never went there, but if by Liam Racine you ask anyone of my Dad’s friends, it was the best place to Secondary 5 watch the Habs and apparently these were great seats. Doctor Wilbert Keon School, Chapeau 3RD HONOURABLE MENTION The Red Phone by Amelie Mongeau Work Oriented Training Path Joliette High School

This picture is a simple sunset but it has a strange twist, frozen hand prints on the window. These were from a little girl. Her family has been here for 4 generations. This is a true sym- bol of heritage because this little girl has been here her whole life and so has her family and these frozen hand prints repre- The red phone is in the general office. It sits there for sent the strength of community. Riding in cars in freezing cold emergencies, like when we don't have electricity. With all the weather is a Canadian experience. Most adults have recollec- modern technology, we still need a backup. The secretary tions of making designs on frosty windows during their child- jokes about it by saying it's a direct line to the president. hood years. This particular picture was taken on a bumpy

17 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS Mystery Objects im Caputo of Heritage Gaspé displayed a number of in- triguing items from his collection at the QAHN AGM in Stanstead this year. It occurred to us that these objects would make fascinating entries in our Mystery Objects Jseries. Jim has obligingly furnished us with a series of questions as well as (it was darned nice of him!) the answers.

QAHN has decided to sweeten the deal a little for you by offer- ing a free DVD of “The Identity of English-speaking Quebec in 100 Objects” to anyone successfully answering the following question and identifying the object or objects in question. Send your answers to: [email protected].

Here is the first challenge, for objects 1 and 2:

These two items (one a reproduction and the other real) are significant to a Canadian historical event. What are they and what is their significance?

Editor’s note: Credit where it’s due

The photographer responsible for the image on the front cover of our Spring 2013 issue (“Winners at 1979 Calf Rally,” Quebec 4-H) has been identified as Charles Bury, veteran Quebec journalist and the first editor of the Quebec Heritage News.

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O FFTOA BAD START Cartier and the Laurentian Iroquoians by Joseph Graham he sixteenth-century French ing them onto his ship and forcing Don- knowledgeable Iroquoians when it came imagination was stirred by the nacona to accept the idea that they to their French visitors, had lost confi- existence of a country beyond would go to France. The sons told Carti- dence in the intentions of the French, but Hochelaga, a country so influ- er that the Bay of Gaspé was at the they were still willing to listen and try. entialT that the St. Lawrence River valley, mouth of a great river and they expected They proved this during the hard winter with its many villages dotting the shore- him to establish a proper business rela- that followed by saving the French from line between Stadacona and Hochelaga, tionship with them before exploring fur- scurvy, sharing their medicinal expertise was just its threshold. This country and ther. When he returned with them the and demonstrating at the same time their its people, the Wendat, dominated trade next year, he anticipated that they would civility. and culture in the Great Lakes re- During the next year, Cartier gion and had furnished the Iro- discovered that there was a contest quoian world with a good deal of between headmen. Instead of trying its history and mythology. It con- to understand how such rivalries sisted of four farming nations that were resolved, Cartier invited Don- traded with their non-farming nacona, his sons and some support- neighbours, fostering trade, manu- ers to celebrate the Holy Cross, of- facture and a cosmopolitan culture. fering to aid them against their ri- The French, who would call them val, Agona. When they came, he the Huron, were ill equipped to took the whole lot hostage and travel into their country. They brought them back to France, lacked the means of transport nec- where they died. essary and, in any case, Jacques When Cartier again returned to Cartier’s uncivilized intrusions Canada in late August of 1541, he alienated the St. Lawrence Iro- reported that Donnacona had quoian nations for more than a gen- passed away and that the other Iro- eration after his visits in the 1530s. quoians had declined to leave Donnacona, a Laurentian Iro- France because they had become quoian chief, was the headman large landowners. In truth, nine Cartier first met in the Bay of were dead and the only survivor at Gaspé in 1534. The headman of an that point was a child, a girl who Iroquoian group was not a warrior, was the youngest of the group. nor a strongman. He was chosen by Cartier, initially welcomed, soon the women for his ability to build found that the Iroquois, led by Ago- consensus and to represent the people. act as his interpreters. They guided him na, distrusted him. His men built a fort Donnacona was a colourful storyteller to Stadacona, their settlement at present- further east at Charlesbourg-Royal, near who shared tales of a great culture to the day Quebec City, and Cartier expected present-day Quebec, but the Iroquois west, or perhaps the north. He told many the brothers to lead him in exploring the travelled there anyway, keeping it under stories, as though testing European gulli- river as far as Hochelaga on Montreal Is- siege the whole winter and killing 35 bility, including describing a people who land, but they refused because the two Frenchmen. In the spring, Cartier aban- lived on a strictly liquid diet because parties had not come to a business un- doned the fort and headed back down they had no anuses. Communications derstanding. Cartier headed off to the the St. Lawrence. must have been difficult, but the Native lands they had told him about without A reading of Cartier’s interactions peoples had been trading with Basque them, and without any interpreter. Upon with the Laurentian Iroquois demon- fishermen and had some familiarity with his return he found that the men he had strates which of the two societies was Europeans. Donnacona and his people left behind were erecting a fort to protect the truly civilized. His actions were con- did everything reasonable to establish a themselves from Donnacona’s people. temptuous and power-based. On that last decent trade relationship with Cartier, The French had lost the trust of their trip, the French king had made Cartier but the French sea captain had no diplo- hosts and feared they would be attacked. subservient to Jean-François de La matic skills and sowed distrust among Cartier had planned to stay for the win- Rocque de Roberval, a man who had the the people he met. Cartier effectively ab- ter and he worked to re-establish the re- means to finance the establishment of a ducted two of Donnacona’s sons, trick- lationship. Donnacona’s sons, the most permanent colony. Cartier, who was the Cartier and Donnacona. Photo: uppercanadahistory.ca. 19 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

expert on the St. Lawrence Valley, now er met is the subject of a lot of specula- joined with the Algonquin on the Ottawa had to report to Roberval who would tion. The most probable explanation is River. take over the process of establishing a that Cartier’s presence had spread Euro- It is possible that the memories of permanent presence at Charlesbourg- pean diseases among his hosts, decimat- the descendants of the Laurentian Iro- Royal. Roberval was travelling with the ing their numbers and leaving a vacuum quoian drove the Mohawk to try to take people and all the makings of a colony, to be filled by the Innu, a people Cham- the valley back. When Champlain ar- and was due to arrive that spring. Cartier plain called the Montagnais. rived, the Mohawk were already irregu- met Roberval’s contingent at the port of Archaeological evidence demon- larly present in the St. Lawrence and, St. Jehan (St. John’s, Newfoundland). strates that the Laurentian Iroquois who had he never come, they may have even- Roberval insisted that Cartier return to were established further up the river, be- tually re-established the Laurentian Iro- Stadacona in order to found the colony yond Stadaconna, practiced agriculture. quoian farming culture along its banks. the king had authorized Roberval to es- As a farming culture, they probably trad- But Champlain did come, and with tablish. Cartier put to sea and returned to ed with the Innu and with Donnacona’s a very different mission. France, disobeying direct orders, making people, exchanging grain in the form of it impossible for Roberval to succeed, corn for fish and other products. Histori- Sources: and showing historians the kind of man ans argue that the remnant of their popu- Dictionary of Canadian Biography. he was. Roberval nevertheless proceed- lations joined neighbouring peoples to Recherches amérindiennes au Québec, ed to Charlesbourg-Royal but was the west. This would be more logical vol. XX, no. 1, 1990 and vol. X, no.3, forced to abandon his colony and return than their joining with the Innu since 1980. to France within a few months. their neighbours, both west of the Ot- Georges Sioui, Histoires de Kanatha, No Frenchman succeeded in creat- tawa River and south towards Lake 2009. ing a colony in the St. Lawrence Valley Champlain, were also Iroquoian people Bruce Trigger, The Children of during the balance of the sixteenth cen- in large, established communities. They Aataentsic, 1988. tury, and by the time Samuel de Cham- are said to have joined both the Wendat plain arrived in the early seventeenth (Huron), who were centred around Lake Joseph Graham (joseph@ ballyhoo.ca) century the St. Lawrence Iroquois had Simcoe and Lake Huron, and the Mo- is the author of Naming the Laurentians, disappeared. hawk of the Five Nations, who lived and is currently writing a book on the What happened to the people Carti- south of the Great Lakes. Some also history of the Ottawa Valley.

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21 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

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A FEAST OF IDENTITY The Potpourri by Myra Shuster

“The cradle rocks above an abyss, and So who am I keeping records for? Steven Berlin Johnson describes we realize we are but a brief crack of Will any of this stuff have a life beyond (“Where Good Ideas Come From,” TED light between two eternities of dark- mine? Maybe there’s a gene for the lecture, September 21, 2010) how the ness.” archivist’s impulse, and a future grand- coffee house has long been a fertile - Vladimir Nabokov child will consider them treasures as place for nurturing creativity, a place I do. where people of different backgrounds ust how brief the crack of light my My preservationist/archivist in- would gather together to share ideas. He little life is has become disturbing- stincts recently turned to the Potpourri, a describes the quest that took him as far ly palpable to me. My crowded Stanley Street coffee house and book- as coral reefs and the tropical rain forest study cluttered with photos, jour- store my late uncle Morris (Moishe) to find environments that lead to innova- Jnals and memorabilia is testament to an Feinberg owned and ran in the early tion and creativity, and he notes that an irrepressible urge to hold on to its traces. ’60s, taking over Bicycle Bob Silver- astonishing number of innovations in the I won’t live long enough to preserve man’s Seven Steps. Sir George Williams seventeenth century had a coffee house them in any aesthetic and enduring in their story. The coffee house way, and I’m not sure what pur- was crucial to the advent of the pose preserving them would serve. Enlightenment, one of the greatest My digital teenage kids don’t find intellectual flowerings of the last my scrapbook and photo album 500 years. It is in such environ- approach to memories very palat- ments, which he calls the liquid able, and they have no attachment network, “where lots of different to records of the past as I do. In ideas jostle off each other,” that the mere click of the ‘delete’ but- the spirit of innovation can be ton, they’ve done away with the found. “Coffee houses are where texts, writings, school projects, ideas have sex,” he says. poetic Facebook posts and emails. Was my uncle's coffee house When I was their age, I would a “liquid network,” I wondered – have considered this precious and did ideas have sex there? If stuff. But they love streamlined so, what were those ideas, who living, love purging their rooms of was tossing them around, and relics of the past and their cell phones College was housed in the YMCA just a what did their intermingling give birth and computers of excess information, few steps away. Students thirsty for new to? I found answers to these questions, keeping only an essential minimum on music and the leftist and existential liter- but the route to them was circuitous. hard drive. Today's treasures are so yes- ature sold in the bookstore poured in af- I stepped up enquiries for Potpourri terday, come tomorrow. ter class. Many poured in during and in- stories to my mother and her two surviv- stead of going to class. ing brothers, but they had a hard time I craved stories about the coffee calling up specific memories. I couldn't This and the following article were house as a kid, curious about this defini- find anything in the archives at Concor- produced as part of QAHN’s tively hip stage of my uncle's life and my dia, the Grande Bibliothèque or the Mc- “StoryNet” project, administered in mother's too, since she'd helped out there Cord Museum. I attempted to bring the partnership with the Quebec Writers’ as a waitress. I also wondered about the Potpourri legend alive for myself by vis- Federation and with funding from the influence a coffee-house hangout like the iting the site at 1430 Stanley, now a Sub- Department of Canadian Heritage. Potpourri might have had on the people way fast food restaurant. The yeasty Emerging authors were matched with who experienced it firsthand, and where smell of freshly-toasted buns and mouth- established writers who served as it fit in the vibrant cultural history of watering fresh-cut cucumber filled the mentors through the process of pro- Montreal's pre-television heyday when air, but clearly the heart of the Potpourri ducing original non-fiction articles. dance halls, bars and coffee houses were had long stopped beating there, and its Quebec Heritage News is pleased to thriving meeting places. Regulars were spirit was gone. Out the window, past publish these articles as an ongoing drawn to their favourite spots in search of the Subway girl and boy waiting expec- feature. community and a shared love of the cul- tantly for me to order the sub of the day, tural events they featured. I watched youths dashing up Stanley

23 The author in front of 1430 Stanley Street, site of the Potpourri. Photo: Myra Shuster. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS from St. Catherine, flashy Forever 21 puscinski, I began writing a letter telling there? I came to believe that the leftist and Urban Outfitters bags in hand. Since him how much I loved it, only to despair credo of my uncle's political, its ’60s heyday, this little quadrant of upon learning he'd been dead for many pre-Potpourri days played a role, and Montreal's downtown core has morphed years. By contrast, here I'd thought the was passed on to them in unspoken from anti-materialistic hippie haven into Potpourri was dead, but was amazed to ways. consumerist hipster heaven. discover it's still alive in another form, a I became resigned to the fact that half-century later. the Potpourri had disappeared from I may disparage my kids' love of so- Montreal’s collective memory, like the cial media and the digital world, but “brief crack of light” Nabokov refers to, without incredible tools like Facebook, swallowed up in the large hungry jaws which enliven things long past, I would of a new fast-food identity. But as I was never have made this heady discovery. writing about another coffee house not Reconnecting with my uncle's Potpourri too long ago – Café Mariposa in NDG, I entourage was like finding long-lost googled “Potpourri” and was thrilled to family. After I launched a rich corre- find an entry called “Seven Steps: Pot- spondence with several of the group’s pourri” in a blog entitled Beat the Devil members, I felt I’d found kindred spirits. by Vancouver writer-photographer and The stories I'd been craving since child- jazz presenter Brian Nation. “Seven hood began to fill the gaps between what Steps” contained poignant vignettes of I already knew about the Potpourri (af- his early ’60s experiences at my uncle’s fectionately referred to by them as the coffee house. 'Pot'), and what I’d imagined. I contacted Brian and was amazed I became familiar with these folks' to learn that the Potpourri was alive in a remarkable artistic accomplishments, the way I'd never imagined possible. A dy- deep social conscience they're imbued namic ex-pat community of people with and their continued social activism spread throughout North America had and involvement in the arts. Brian is an years ago created a Potpourri Facebook extraordinary writer with a crisp, cynical group to keep in touch with each other. style, whose blog entries span several Uncle Moishe These very artistic and engaged people, years, showing the interplay of his per- y uncle worked for several whose intellectual and political sensibili- sonal history with cultural events of the leftist organizations affili- ties had taken root in the fertile atmos- times. He's immersed in the world of ated with the Communist phere of the Potpourri, now shared jazz music, both as a jazz presenter in Party in the 1950s. Ac- memories, blogposts and photographs. Vancouver and as what some have affec- cording to Merrily Weisbord in The When Brian invited me into the group, I tionately referred to as a jazz advocate. M Strangest Dream, Moishe’s social circle began to see that my uncle's coffee Renee Rodin is also Vancouver-based was “an idealistic, hardworking group of house was still very much alive. This and the author of three books of poetry Canadians who believed they could revelation was the exact opposite of an and non-fiction. She owned the R2B2 make a better world.” Some joined the experience I’d had some time ago: hav- bookstore in Vancouver from 1986 to Communist Party and others worked for ing discovered the work of Ryszard Ka- 1994, where she hosted poetry readings. affiliated organizations promoting social Her bookstore concept was inspired by justice. They fought “for unions, for the the Potpourri. San Francisco artist and unemployed, and against fascism. They writer Marlowe Rafelle is a deeply com- thought of themselves as revolutionaries mitted social activist; she promotes re- – in the heroic mould of the Russian sponsible and sustainable living through worker pitted against the tsar.” My un- environmental and related causes such cle lost his job in the fur industry trying as the anti-fracking movement, organic to defend workers' rights and help them farming, and efforts to expose the haz- unionize. ards of GMOs. Montreal-based Hyman In 1956, Moishe’s faith in commu- Glustein is a writer and researcher who nism as a fair and workable system end- works in the Cree communities of north- ed abruptly. Everyone in his leftist en- ern Quebec, and Murray Meyer is a Los tourage suffered serious disillusionment Angeles criminal lawyer and stand-up upon hearing Kruschev's speech to the comic. Through our correspondence I Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Com- came to see that much of their social ac- munist Party about the horrors Stalin tivism and their artistic and political sen- had been committing. Weisbord aptly sibilities took root in the Potpourri's vi- describes the reaction to the revelations brant ’60s spirit. Was it something in the as amounting to a “shocking perversion coffee? The literature? The music played of everything (they had) believed.”

Top: Uncle Moishe in later years. Bottom: Uncle Moishe 24 and Aunt Mary, 1956. Photos: courtesy of Myra Shuster. FALL 2013

As I explored what my uncle creat- gnette of being called upon to help him them, had this power, had an effect on ed through the Potpourri, it seemed to out. Brian had to pick up a delivery of my worldview that has only grown more me his vision for it was born out of this books. Renee helped prepare fancy cynical and despairing with age.” disillusionment. The Potpourri was a sandwiches. Hyman shelved British anti- The café was eye-opening for stu- new way for him to create a socially- war newspapers. Marlowe made gour- dents. “I managed, at times, to wheedle conscious community based on the left- met coffee. As they each recounted these my way into the kitchen to help prepare ist ideals he'd held dear, a space for like- memory-bits to me, I wondered how what to me were most exotic drinks,” minded people to meet and experience could it be – had they all been employ- Marlowe recalled. “They stood out in them through literature and discussion. ees? If not, how did they come to be as- my memory: cappuccino, cafe-au-lait, Many regulars were youths who signed these tasks? It seems that on any scrumptious dessert drinks that were shunned mainstream values and were given night, running the Pot was, in true new to my palate.” Renee said she searching for meaningful answers with collectivist fashion, an improvised but helped serve up platters of fancy Euro- others who saw the world through the cooperative group effort. pean sandwiches surrounded by a gener- same lens. It became a centre buzzing “Your uncle would always give me ous scoop of potato chips. with intellectual debate, where protest something to do,” Hyman said. “We It came as a surprise to me that the songs, and folk music notables could be kept coming back because he got us in- man I’d known as having a distinct dis- heard. Dave Van Ronk played there, as volved. He'd see us wander in and he dain for small talk, and for being quiet well as Reverend Gary Davis, the Mc- knew we (poor students) weren't going and withdrawn, had been an important Garrigle sisters mentor to these folks (then called the in their youth. But as New World they each sent acco- Singers), Pete lades for what my Seeger, Sonny Terry uncle brought to and Brownie their lives, it became McGee and Wade clear that in many Hemsworth. The ways, he had. I en- Potpourri was also joyed some of that home to several the- mentoring, and so atrical performanc- did his children Jen- es. The bookstore nifer and Leon. But sold the Communist we all wish we'd had Manifesto and other more. The protective books by leading wing he extended in thinkers of the day. his Potpourri days Hyman remembers that peace buttons to buy a book, so he'd say, ‘Give me a no longer had the same breadth by the were available at the counter, as well as hand,’ and find something that needed to time we needed it. a publication called Our Generation be done.... Morris was also kind enough “I felt your uncle had a true interest against Nuclear War. to feed me, and lend me books I needed in us young people,” Marlowe wrote, for my courses. But I didn’t really want “combined with a proper distance, Give me a hand to go to school,” Hyman added. “I got tinged, perhaps, with scepticism. The my only (real) education at the Pot.” feeling was that he really cared but was ow is it that the bonds born at Brian's blog entry describes his own not going to gush over us, but still give the Pot still exist today, sev- experience. “One day, Morris asked if hints and clues if we had the sense to lis- eral decades later, especially I’d pick up a shipment of books for him ten to him.” since the members of this at the Customs House. I showed up, doc- In a Potpourri commemorative short-lived coffee house community uments in hand, and watched them slit newsletter he launched in 1994, Murray H open the cartons of books for inspection. Meyer wrote about coming into the Pot span the continent? My uncle nurtured their connection; he kept them coming What were they looking for? Drugs? one day “full of disgust” because he had back to the Potpourri, where they could Sex? Atom bombs? Among the contents received an “F” on an English paper. count on finding each other. Most were they found copies of Erich Fromm’s The My uncle asked him what the problem youths who shunned mainstream values Art of Loving, one of the more popular was, looking at him with what Murray and were searching for meaningful an- psychology books of the day. A gather- described as wry amusement. “Actual- swers with others who saw the world ing of half-wit French-speaking clerks ly,” writes Murray with uncanny accura- through the same lens. He knew how to conferred briefly, perplexedly flipping cy, “Morris had wry amusement etched make them feel at home and engage through the book, then decided they’d into his face.” My uncle read the paper them. have to seize the shipment. Morris even- and told him he thought it might have “Give me a hand” seems to have tually got the books back, but the fact merit. Either it had merit, or Murray been his trademark phrase. Each Pot- that these civil servants, who didn’t have needed a psychologist, he said. “I re- pourri alumnus offered up a different vi- ten words of English among the lot of member that exchange as if it were the

Left: Reverend Gary Davis at the Potpourri. 25 Right: New World Singers (the McGarrigle Sisters) at the Potpourri. Photos: courtesy of Jennifer and Leon Fineberg. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS start of something,” Murray wrote. “Ac- cozy atmosphere inside. him, just the in-people in the Village tually, that's the way I remember the Pot said he was good. So when he came up, – as the start of something.” Bob Dylan's first Canadian we were all surprised. He was very The Potpourri was indeed the start performance young, he looked scruffy, he had his rail- of something for everyone who shared road cap on. He was quiet, reserved, he their memories; they all alluded to this. he most notable piece of folk- wouldn't talk, and when he sang he Brian credits the Pot for nurturing a life- lore associated with the Pot- sounded like the inheritor of Woody long passion for jazz music, and for a pourri is that it was the first Guthrie's style. He played Thursday nourishing a dream that he later ful- place a young and then-un- through Sunday. He got $200 and had to filled: “I was actually at the Pot when I known Bob Dylan ever performed in pay his own transportation up and back. decided I'd be a jazz presenter or club T There were some people there who liked Canada. He played there from June 28 to owner one day. I remember the moment. June 30, 1962. him, but on the whole, he did not go I was in the back (coffee house part) A 1974 Gazette article by Dane over... Frankly, I was not that im- reading a Down Beat Magazine – an ar- Lanken quotes Uncle Morris: “There pressed.” ticle about Charles Mingus' woes deal- was this guy named Barry Cornfeld, a Uncle Moishe later said what was to ing with club owners. He was one of my become the most prized nugget of our favourite musicians; still is. He was family’s collective memory: “With a quoted as saying: ‘All I want is a place The Potpourri on Stanley Street voice like that, he’ll never make it.” to play my music.’ I thought: I can do My uncle was not the only one that!” unimpressed with Dylan's performance. what we put on as clothing Hyman had his first introduction to According to Ontario visual artist Gor- became our skin blues and protest music at the Pot. He don Peffer, who was working at the Pot said the café had no character as a place the night Dylan played, “It was a crappy this was the centre we were starved for – apparently the kitchen was the size of night. Hardly anyone there. I was selling a feast of identity a broom closet – but the attraction was books in front when Morris said why not kindred spirits gathering that he could find like-minded people go and listen to Dylan, which I did, and high on espresso and existentialism and get to hear “hungry performers on even sat with him for a while, but I have Sartre de Beauvoir Goldman Ginsberg the verge of not being hungry.” There no idea what we talked about.” was no other way to hear such music in Hyman said: “I didn't really like at the intersection of sex and symbolism the day, other than to take it in live him. We tried to talk and he mumbled folk music and blues wherever it might be happening. Radio and didn't make any sense.” the McGarrigle Sisters Dave Von Ronk stations played a limited range of music, Marlowe remembers otherwise: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and consumer access was obviously “The musical highlight, of course, was nothing like it is today. Most of the mu- Dylan. I'd... heard a lot about him, but still I gnash my teeth because I refused sicians who played at the Pot didn't have looking at him, didn't expect that much – to help fill an audience for Bob Dylan record contracts. Hyman explained that until he opened his mouth and his voice when he and Brian would take their mu- poured out. People have found fault with in my rush to get “home” after Sir sical thirst to Greenwich Village, they his singing voice, but there was no dis- George Williams couldn't afford the cover charge to hear puting the power of that voice that was I walked right through its plate glass door these acts in the clubs there. Yet for a nearly too big for the size of the room. I not a scratch on me small cover, many of the same acts think he blew us all away.” played at the Potpourri. Soon after Dylan's stint, my uncle huddled there during the Cuban Missile Hyman said he and his friends gath- closed the Potpourri and moved into the Crisis ered at the Potpourri to hear music about air conditioning business. Not surpris- petrified the whole world was going to issues that were important to them then. ingly, he had more success in air condi- blow up He and others were active in the Ban the tioning than he'd had in recognizing mu- and I would die a virgin Bomb movement. He described their sical talent. demonstrations as rites of passage, safe dark space baby beatnik heaven which “happen only once in a lifetime,” Safe, Dark Space and said that he and his fellow demon- A Home away from Home strators were “unrealistic and absolutist, -Renee Rodin lacking any notion of compromise... All ylan's first Canadian appear- we wanted to do was change the world.” ance is a remarkable piece of This was “the first expression of Mon- protegé of Rev. Gary Davis, who used to Potpourri history, but the treal hippies coming out of their shell.” keep me abreast of up and coming tal- more outstanding legacy is After their demonstrations in the streets ent. He told me about Dylan playing at how one short-lived coffee-house-book- of downtown Montreal, they'd meet up D Gerde's Folk City [in Greenwich Vil- store lives on years afterwards in the at the Potpourri. The feeling of the lage] and he said why not try him out? hearts of those who used to meet there. demonstration would carry over in the So I did. There was no background to What does it take for a place, a hangout,

26 FALL 2013 to create such a lasting impact on peo- only student to wear a peace button) I fi- ples’ lives? The language the Potpourri nally found a group of like-minded peo- PROVINCE-WIDE folks used to describe it is telling: not as ple. The Potpourri was a refuge where I EXPOSURE a physical space they occupied, but as could count on being with others who AT A GREAT PRICE!! an abstract place that lives within them – shared my values. It was the ideal home, SPECIAL ADVERTISING RATES a “refuge,” a “feast of identity,” a “home the place for real community.” 2013-2014 away from home,” an “oasis” and a Like Brian, Renee remembered how “haven.” she and her Potpourri friends were terri- Purchase two or more ads of “For me, it was a refuge,” Marlowe fied during the Cuban Missile crisis. the same size, and receive wrote. “I finally met a bunch of people They believed that tensions would esca- 40% off each ad! with whom I had more in common than late and that they would die. She said Purchase a full year and receive an I’d previously experienced. We were, if she wanted to die at the coffee house, additional 10% off! I may say so, an odd crew, in a wonder- among her Pot friends, her second fami- ful way – the ones who didn't quite fit ly, rather than at home with her parents. FULL-PAGE in, through, perhaps, too much talent “Essentially what the Potpourri was, 10 inches (25.5 cm) high and creative aspirations.…. The book- was our home away from home,” she 7.5 inches (19 cm) wide store was wonderful, so many titles to said. open our minds; we were introduced to Renee’s poem “The Potpourri on $400.00 (Special: $240.00) Penguin classics, New Directions publi- Stanley Street” was published in her col- Back page or inside page, full cations, the existentialists – Sartre, Ca- lection Bread and Salt (Talon books: colour $500.00 (Special: $300.00) mus – the absurd playwrights – Ionesco, 1996), and she sent a copy to me, dedi- Genet. It was quite amazing, the selec- cating it to my Uncle Moishe and Aunt HALF-PAGE tion that was in stock, chosen, I Mary. 5 inches (12.5 cm) high presume, by Morris.” I’m grateful to the special people 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) wide Brian recalled being at the who experienced the Potpourri firsthand Potpourri during the Cuban Missile Cri- for generously sharing their memories $235.00 (Special: $141.00) sis. He described it as “the single most with me. They helped me to discover a horrifying event of my life. Most, if not part of my uncle's legacy I couldn't have THIRD-PAGE all, of us expected nuclear war any day. known without them, and to re-create a (COLUMN ONLY) We couldn't imagine either side backing moment of Montreal's folk music history 10 inches (25.5 cm) high I'd thought was lost forever. 2.25 inches (5.75 cm) wide There's comfort in knowing that of $200.00 (Special: $120.00) the brief cracks of light that are our lives, some things come, some things QUARTER-PAGE go, and some things endure. 5 inches (12.5 cm) high Myra Shuster is a Montreal immigration 3.25 inches (8.5 cm) wide lawyer and non-fiction writer, recipient $125.00 (Special: $75.00) of two Quebec Writers' Federation men- torships. She is currently working on a BUSINESS CARD memoir concerning the death of her sis- 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) high ter as a Moonie in the late 1970s, and 3.5 inches (9 cm) wide has launched a blog at http://vintageli ght.wordpress.com/. $75.00 (Special: $45.00) Sources: FREQUENCY, DEADLINES AND http://www.themontrealeronline.com/20 SPECIFICATIONS 4 issues annually 12/08/cafe-mariposa-a-sixties-kind-of- Deadlines: Spring (early March); place-in-the-21st-century/. Summer (early June); Fall (early September); Winter (early December) down. I hung out at the Pot every day http://boppin.com/1995/04/seven-steps- Resolution required: Minimum 300 DPI during that period. (I pretty much did potpourri.html. in black and white anyway.) We were all very scared and By email at: [email protected] depressed and I suppose sought each Vladimir Nabokov, “Speak, Memory,” other out for solace or the like.” from Novels and Memoirs, 1941-1951. Renee described how the Pot served as a “happening place, and a refuge Merrily Weisbord, The Strangest from a scary world.” She said that “af- Dream: Canadian Communists, the Spy ter the misery of high school (I was the Trials and the Cold War.

27 Perusing the titles on the Potpourri bookshelves. Photo courtesy of Jennifer and Leon Fineberg. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

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SIMH SHAM AND DOWNTOWN STOMP Finding the past through swing dance by Lys Stevens nother Friday night and my twentieth century. Up here, north of the archivist Nancy Marrelli. However, not man and I zip south on our border, Montreal exploded with the much of the actual substance of that danc- bikes to St. Laurent and Mil- rhythms of jazz between the 1920s and ing is revealed in the images and its ac- ton, scramble up the two 50s, the only major city in North America companying text. In one picture, taken at flightsA of stairs to Cat’s Corner Swing to avoid total prohibition. Chez Maurice, the stunned crowd peers Dance School for our beginner class. It I am intrigued by what I might dis- up at the famed American scat singer, is our fourth session, and once again cover about the past by dancing a dance bandleader and popularizer of the Jitter- Kevin tells me he might not have his steeped in another era. What might the bug, Cab Calloway, wailing it on the mi- heart in it tonight. His body’s there, he movement evoke in me? How does crophone. A picture of The Auditorium is says, and he isn’t resenting similar – all faces oriented in being here. “But I just one direction, not in pairs, no might not love it as much as limbs in off-kilter motion. I did last week.” On the sheet music for a But he does. It’s become song by the early Montreal almost predictable that by jazz band the Melody Kings, the end of the class Kevin line drawings depict couples wants to dance in the streets in a closed, upright position, with me. ladies in long dresses – no We pass through the ready stance with bent knees front room, with its one brick here. In another, the white wall and a curiously inviting floor-length gown of a empty floor, to the bigger woman suggests a more ele- back room, and our two- gant and restrained kind of dozen classmates. A south dancing than the get-down wall of potentially-intimidating mirrors is nostalgia work in the mind? How does I’m learning on Friday nights. offset by the Chinese lanterns, velvet cur- nostalgia work in the body? Are there, in It remains unclear how “swinging” tains and hardwood flooring. The space is today’s swing scene, traces of Montreal’s Montreal swing dancing got back in the both cozy and classy, welcoming and ex- Swing Era history? day. A wide range of stylistic interpreta- pectant, a place where you can imagine In pre-television Montreal, dancing tions likely existed across Montreal dance good dance parties happen. was a major leisure activity, despite con- locales, depending on the social make-up We begin to bounce. On one foot, demnations from the clergy. House bands of the clientele. Many venues barred black and then the other, we get ourselves back played for dancing patrons at nightclubs, patrons; fancy hotel lounges such as the into the beat of the music. Back to our lounges and restaurants between sets of Ritz Carleton on Sherbrooke Street also swing stance, which is likened to a sports exotic and entertaining floorshows. Up- excluded black entertainers from their stance – feet apart, knees flexed, body town, downtown, in the east and west stages. Couples in these contexts would leaning forward slightly, ready. ends, the number of dance houses is incal- have learnt the latest social dances – “re- Various things brought me to take, culable. The Big Band Era of the Second fined,” based on white racial ideals, from and drag my man into, swing lessons. World War saw a proliferation of ball- self-proclaimed professionals. Venues Probably the clearest reason is my aca- rooms: Chez Maurice Danceland on St. such as Connie’s Inn on St. Laurent that demic interest in African American ver- Catherine Street, The Roseland Ballroom featured exclusively black artists for ex- nacular dance. Dance is the art form I at Ontario and Bleury, later licensed for clusively white audiences might have pro- trained in, and race interests me: I want to alcohol and renamed The Auditorium. A vided a more direct transmission. At understand the privilege my white skin young Oscar Peterson played with the Rockhead’s Paradise at Mountain and St. holds. I have researched hip-hop street Johnny Holmes Orchestra at weekly Sat- Antoine, black artists were showcased for dances and the intimate connection of jazz urday night dances at Westmount’s Victo- an integrated clientele, and who knows to the African American tradition in tap. ria Hall throughout the ‘40s. what exclusively black locations might Swing, a family of forms including the Dancing is mentioned all through the have witnessed the swingingest and Charleston, the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug book Stepping Out: The Golden Age of Harlem-esque dancing in town. and blues dancing, emerged out of the Montreal Night Clubs 1925-1955, a fasci- Meanwhile, my body is learning the same spaces and collective inspiration of nating collection of photographs and pro- basics of what swing dancing is. Black America in the first half of the grams compiled by Concordia University Pretty quickly we are told to experi- Doing the Lindy Hop at the Cat’s Corner, Montreal. 29 Photo: catscorner.ca. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS ment a bit with a few of the simple foot- had noticed he had technique from the where those with a birthday that week are work combinations we had already learnt: couple of times he ventured onto the floor. told to take the floor, as the crowd gathers side to side, double time, and if we want Now, silently, we dance as he leads me in in a circle, and, for one song, dancers cut to go crazy we can step forward and back, the basic steps everyone is working on – in to whisk the birthday girl or boy in a maybe even travel around a bit. After the back and side, side – me staring at his frenzy of partnering – point to the com- warm-up we are asked to pair up and form white pointed leather shoes as I listen as munity-minded nature of Cat’s Corner. a circle around the room. We practice hard as I can, with my whole body. His The school seeks to promote an authentic closed holds and open holds, turns and touch is angular, but firm. An extra knee experience of swing dancing, defining au- walks. We begin the Cat’s Corner merry- pump here, a leg shake there, I try to thentic in its accessibility and social char- go-round, a speed dating of swing pairing match him as he nudges us past where the acter. “There are very few sources for the where you spend only a few minutes with curriculum has brought us. I marvel at the original swing dancing,” points out own- a given partner before moving on to the white shoes, the way his shirt hangs off er/manager Debbie Carman. She explains next. his lanky frame, trying to avoid lecherous that many of the old-timers have passed I quickly realize that being the man is thoughts. He barely speaks. Just one ques- on, and the little available media footage, not easy. Yes, as a follower I am exercis- tion at the end: “Is this a beginning or in- such as the famous Whitey’s Lindy Hop- ing my skills in “écoute” – responding to termediate class?” I take that as a compli- pers scene in the 1941 movie Hellzapop- the slight indications of the lead. Picking ment. pin, were intentionally created as a specta- up the steps is easy enough – following is References to the past come in vari- cle, to “wow” an audience. They were my main task. It is surprisingly hard for ous shapes and sizes at Cat’s Corner: a meticulously planned choreographed rou- women of my generation to give up lead- poster of Frankie Manning here, of Nor- tines, in response to the demands of cine- ership in a couple. Kevin adores admon- ma Miller there, two of the original matography. The acrobatic, gravity-defy- ishing me (“Stop trying to lead!”) as a Harlem lindy hoppers. It’s in the music ing flips were characteristic of Whitey’s teasing blame when our bodies go in op- they choose to play, in what they wear troupe. They were the “cats,” in fact, posite directions. But leaders must master when they dress up. It’s a particular eponymous to the name Cat’s Corner: the the movement, and then live in it confi- flavour of retro fashion - the white leather section of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem dently enough to direct the follower. As shoes come to mind. It’s in the movement. where the Lindy Hop was developed by they improvise. “Make a decision about “I feel it in my sense of groundedness, in the likes of Minns, Manning and Miller in what you are going to do next, and then the pulse, and in my connection to the the ‘20s and ‘30s. make it clear to your partner,” is some- music,” says Anaïs Sekine, who has been We can presume, however, that the thing the teacher likes to say. “It’s always swing dancing for seven years. It’s a majority of swing dancers of the time the man’s fault if things go wrong,” is an- movement aesthetic that is promoted by were enjoying it socially, not as a per- other. As I said to one seven-minute part- most of the teachers at Cat’s Corner. formance, explains Carman. The philoso- ner, this is not part of our society’s cultur- The Shim Sham is a ritual done by phy of the school is to emphasize improv- al habits: men dancing, men leading. contemporary swing dance groups around isation and a connection to the music, The merry-go-round is a great way to the world that recalls the roots of the rather than perfecting difficult choreogra- learn to adapt to a range of abilities and a dance. Well into a social evening such as phies. “It’s not that we never perform or variety of movement styles. It also primes the Downtown Stomp, the song 'Taint compete, but that’s not what the core of you to feel comfortable asking or accept- What You Do comes on, and everyone be- what the dance is,” says Carman. For ing a dance with a stranger if you stay for gins doing this rollicking solo group rou- those that can and want to push the form the Downtown Stomp – a dance event tine insiders seem to know very well, and beyond this realm, there’s encouragement later on in the evening. those of us on the fringes struggle to keep for that too. This activity is the heartbeat of the in step with. Kevin and I are still laughably far studio. As of 9:30, all levels come out to The story famously goes that Al from being good enough at swing danc- strut their stuff, try new moves, meet new Minns and other original lindy hoppers ing to compete or perform, unless you dance partners, and share in the good were “rediscovered” in the early 1980s by count our Saturday morning kitchen per- vibes. It is also an opportunity to witness separate groups of dancers from New formances for our kids, who are eager to superb floor improvisations as more expe- York City, California, Stockholm and the cut in and dance along with us. We’re rienced dancers magically fall into pairs United Kingdom, and urged to come out happy enough attending our beginner of movement communication that habitu- of retirement. Minns died in 1985, passing classes, and occasionally making an ally explode in creativity and connectivity. the torch on to Frankie Manning, who evening of the Downtown Stomp. On this night the DJ arrives early to died in 2009. Manning and Minns had Laughing is definitely part of the game, set up, crossing behind the paired confu- each developed alternative swing choreo- though, and it’s a large part of what sion to the corner where I happen to be graphies for what was originally a tap rou- keeps us coming back. partnerless for one last turn. When he sees tine. Manning’s version is likely the one me alone, he asks politely if I need a part- done at Cat’s Corner, as his presence at ner. I had noticed him at the last Down- modern swing events had a longer, and Lys Stevens is a Montreal writer and town Stomp, a young bashful thing, tall therefore more lasting, impact. researcher specializing in the history of and slim. He had spent most of his time The weekly Shim Sham and the popular dance. on that occasion behind the DJ table, but I Birthday Jam – another ritualized moment

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