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Canadap2.doc 13-12-00

I REMEMBER CANADA ______

A Book for a Musical Play in Two Acts

By

Roy LaBerge

Copyright (c) 1997 by Roy LaBerge

#410-173 Cooper St.. ON K2P 0E9 11111 2 Canada [email protected] .

Dramatis Personnae

The Professor an articulate woman academic Ambrose Smith a feisty senior citizen Six (or more) actors portraying or presenting songs or activities identified with: 1920s primary school children A 1920s school teacher Jazz age singers and dancers Reginald Fessenden A 16-year-old lumberjack Alan Plaunt Graham Spry Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers Guy Lombardo and the Lombardo trio Norma Locke MacKenzie King Canadian servicemen and civilian women Canadian servicewomen The Happy Gang Winston Churchill Hong King prisoner of war A Royal Canadian Medical Corps nurse John Pratt A Senior Non-Commissioned Officer A Canadian naval rating Bill Haley The Everly Brothers Elvis Presley Charley Chamberlain Marg Osborne Anne Murray Ian and Sylvia 3 First contemporary youth Second contemporary youth Other contemporary youths This script includes only minimal stage directions. 4

Overture: Medley of period music)

(Professor enters, front curtain, and takes place at lectern left.)

PROFESSOR Good evening, ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to History 3136 - Social History of Canada from 1920 to the Year 2000. I am delighted that so many have registered for this course. In this introductory lecture, I intend to give an overview of some of the major events and issues we will examine during the next sixteen weeks. And I have a surprise in store for you. I am going to share this lecture with a guest, a person whose life spans the period we are studying. Will you please welcome Mr. Ambrose Smith.

(Agitation behind curtain. Ambrose Smith enters through curtain downstage centre, looks about nervously, sees where professor is standing, and then walks to stand beside her.)

PROFESSOR Welcome, Mr. Smith. I am very pleased that you are able to join us today and to assist me with this lecture.

MR. SMITH: I'm glad to help, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.

PROFESSOR Mr. Smith, you've been complaining about the way things are in Canada today and how much better they were in the old days. So here is your chance to have your say. Just comment on my lecture from your own experiences. Feel free to speak out anytime. Tell us if the Canada whose history I am describing is the Canada you remember.

MR. SMITH Well, I'll try. But I'm kinda nervous in front of all these people.

PROFESSOR Now don't worry. I'll help if you get stuck. Besides, all these people are on your side. How about a hand for Mr. Smith to show we're with him?

(Pause for applause, whether real, claque-stimulated or sound- effect simulated. Mr. Smith responds with awkward bows.) 5

PROFESSOR Now suppose you begin by telling us what was different about the Canada you grew up in. MR. SMITH That's easy. The Canada I grew up in was the greatest dominion in the British Empire.

PROFESSOR Good. That's the idea. And later Canada became the greatest dominion in the British Commonwealth. Now what are some of your earliest memories of that Canada?

MR. SMITH The family's visits to on July the first -- Dominion Day. The bands played and the solders and sailors marched by in the King's uniform. And at school, we were taught to be proud of the British Empire and Canada's place in it.

(Curtain opens. Classroom scene. Schoolchildren, standing, sing.)

THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER*

(Children sit.)

TEACHER The readings for your first test are: Wolfe at , by Francis Parkman, Defeat of the Armada, by James Anthony Froude, The Death of Nelson, by Robert Southey, England My England, by William Ernest Henley, Rule Britannia, by James Thomson, and The Queen's Jubilee 1897, by Sir Wilfred Laurier.

PUPIL England, by William Shakespeare This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by nature for herself 6 Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, PUPIL (Cont.) Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

(Children stand and sing.)

LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY

TEACHER Very good class. Now let's join in singing some of the songs our brave Canadian soldiers sang in the Great War, when they went overseas to save the mother country.

(Children sing.)

(Medley, three of, one chorus each) IT'S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY* PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES* THERE'S A LONG LONG TRAIL* KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING* SMILE THE WHILE YOU KISS ME SAD ADIEU

PROFESSOR (at lectern) When the war was over and those servicemen returned home, many of them were unable to find jobs. The Canadian economy was on the downturn in the early 1920s. But business boomed later in the decade. Automobiles appeared on our city streets. Streets and highways were paved.

MR. SMITH And more people got electricity and telephones and central heating. And even indoor plumbing.

PROFESSOR And young women started bobbing their hair and wearing short skirts. It was the beginning of the jazz age, the fun time called the Roaring Twenties. 7

(singing and dancing in 1920s garb, one of:)

CHARLESTON* AIN'T SHE SWEET* YOU'RE THE CREAM OF MY COFFEE* FIVE FOOT TWO, EYES OF BLUE*

PROFESSOR Canada had prohibition. But it was just one-way prohibition. It was against the law to drink alcohol, but it was legal to produce it for sale outside Canada.

MR. SMITH That opened up a new business for -- smuggling booze into the .

PROFESSOR Canadian Sovereignty took a big step forward in 1925. The Imperial Conference recognized that all the members of the Commonwealth were autonomous and equal in status. In 1931, this was confirmed in the Statute of Westminster. As early as the 1920s, a new gadget, a radio receiver, started appearing in Canadian homes. An Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, is recognized as the first person to transmit a signal by radio. But that’s all he transmitted, a signal.

(Sound of morse code transmission . . . --- ...... - - - . . .)

It was a Canadian, Reginald Fessenden, who made the world's first transmission of the human voice by radio. That was away back in 1900.

MR. SMITH Reginald Fessenden? Never heard of him.

PROFESSOR Reginald Fessenden also made the world's first broadcast of live and recorded music. That was in 1906, on Christmas Eve.

(Fessenden on stage in radio "studio" with Mrs. Fessenden and Miss Bent, his secretary)

FESSENDEN 8 This is Reginald Fessenden bringing Christmas greetings from the United Fruit Company to the crews of all our ships at sea. We open our transmission with a recording of Handel's "Largo"

("Ediphone" recording of a few bars of LARGO)

FESSENDEN And now, a carol familiar to all.

(Fessenden plays violin solo of O HOLY NIGHT, singing the last verse as he plays.)

FESSENDEN Next, some readings from scripture by Mrs. Fessenden and my secretary, Miss Bent.

(Mrs. Fessenden and Miss Bent come to microphone, freeze, open mouths but no sound comes out. Mr. Fessenden encourages them but they remain paralysed by microphone fright. Fessenden grabs the script from Miss Bent's hands and reads.)

FESSENDEN And the angel said to them: Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people; for on this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. (pause) We now close our radio transmission by once again extending our best wishes for a merry merry Christmas on behalf of the United Fruit Company. If you heard this broadcast, please write and let me know. You can address your letter to Reginald Fessenden -- that's F E S S E N D E N -- in care of the United Fruit Company's office at Brant Rock, Massachussets.

MR. SMITH Brant Rock, Massachusetts? But you said he was a Canadian?

PROFESSOR Reginald Fessenden was born in Sherbrooke and educated in Canada. But, like many 9 other Canadians, he had to go to the United States to earn a living and develop his inventions. On the other hand, the Canadian government gave financial support to Marconi, as well as the exclusive right to build wireless stations in Canada. Radio Station XWA in , now CFCF, is credited with the first scheduled broadcast in . It was a musical program aired on May the 19th, 1920, to the Royal Society of Canada, which was meeting in Ottawa . The first in Canada was developed in the 1920s by the Canadian National Railways. It produced musical programs and pioneered in radio drama. Many people heard their first radio broadcast on a CNR passenger train. Mr. Smith, did you ever year a radio broadcast on a CNR train?

MR. SMITH No, I never heard a radio on a train. But I remember the CNR radio station in the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, CNRO. I remember one summer night in 1930, when I was nine years old, the big dirigible, the R100, flew right over my house. You know what a dirigible is. It's a big airship.

PROFESSOR (annoyed) Yes, Mr. Smith, I know what a dirigible is.

MR. SMITH You're pretty smart. We don't see many dirigibles around any more. You must really know something about history.

PROFESSOR (sarcastically) Thank you.

MR. SMITH You're welcome. Anyway, when this big airship, the R100, flew over our house, it was only about 1,000 feet up, and it flew slowly, at 36 miles an hour.

PROFESSOR (explaining to audience) That's about, ah, 300 metres up and an airspeed of 60 kilometres an hour.

MR. SMITH Well, whatever. It was low and slow. And it was longer than two football fields. It was all lit up. And it filled the sky. It was the biggest thrill of my life. 10 PROFESSOR Thank Mr. Smith, but what's that got to do with the CNR radio network?

MR. SMITH Well hold on. I'm coming to that. We had just bought our six-tube, RCA electric radio, with a loud speaker. And we had it tuned to radio station CNRO. And as the R100 was flying right over our house, we heard the Prime Minister on the radio telling people across the country all about it. I still remember how exciting it was. I'll bet that even with all the modern high tech stuff, you never had an experience like that. That wasn't a computer or a TV screen. That was the real thing. And it didn't come easy. We bought the radio for a dollar down and a dollar a week. And it took us three years to pay it off.

PROFESSOR (resignedly changing the topic) Canadian women made some notable gains in the 1920s. At the 1928 summer Olympic games in Amsterdam. Canadian women competed for first time.

MR. SMITH I don't remember anything about that. I was only seven years old then. Besides, we didn't see the Olympics. You wouldn't know this, but in 1928 we didn't have television.

PROFESSOR (showing annoyance) Mr. Smith, I'm an historian. I know you didn't have television in the 1920s. Canadian women made another notable gain on October the 18th, 1929. A joint committee of the Privy Council ruled that women were persons and therefore eligible for Senate appointments.

MR. SMITH Yeah, and right after that the started.

PROFESSOR Mr. Smith, the Privy Council decision had nothing to do with the Depression. The New York Stock Market collapsed on October the 29th, 1929. That collapse wrecked the economies of most of the rest of the world. International trade dropped by 50 per cent in three years. Factories and stores closed. And unemployment spread.

MR. SMITH It sure was a bad time to be out of a job. There was no such thing as unemployment insurance or medicare. Welfare was called relief. It was hard to get and usually just 11 enough money to buy a little food.

PROFESSOR You're right, Mr. Smith. Most politicians thought the market would recover by itself, and that the Depression would soon be over. They didn't believe any federal or provincial money should be spent on creating jobs or on income support for unemployed people. That was a responsibility of municipal governments.

MR. SMITH That sounds like a lot of politicians today.

PROFESSOR People who lived in cities often went hungry. But in eastern and central Canada, farmers could at least grow their own food.

MR. SMITH If they could make their mortgage payments and keep their farms.

PROFESSOR On the Prairies, farmers were devastated by drought and drifting soil and plagues of grasshoppers. Millions of acres of topsoil were blown away to North Dakota and the American midwest. The Depression was the time of the great Canadian railway trek. Hundreds of thousands of men, and many women, hitched rides on freight trains as they travelled the country looking for jobs.

MR. SMITH But there weren't enough jobs. People died of starvation, or froze to death riding the rails.

PROFESSOR The government was embarrassed by the large number of hoboes who were knocking on doors for food. So the Prime Minister, R.B. Bennett, found away to get 175,000 of them isolated in bushlands, far from any city.

(Cameo: Sixteen-year-old male in lumberjack garb is writing letter at bushlands work camp.)

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD MALE Dear Mom: I've been at this R.B .Bennett work camp for two months now. I suppose 12 I'm better off here than riding the rails. I've got a place to sleep, and I eat regularly. But the food is awful and the work is hard. I'm glad I'm just clearing the underbrush and not cutting down trees. We've have had three men hurt badly cutting trees. There's no doctor or nurse here. They just cart you off by truck more than 50 miles to a clinic where there's a nurse on duty. It's just as bad here at night after work. The bunkhouse is crowded. And there's nothing to do except gamble and fight and I don't do either. And the language! You'd wash my mouth out if I used it at home. The 20 cents a day pay doesn't go very far. I'm glad you finally understand why I felt I had to leave home. The welfare people cut off the food money for me when I turned sixteen. And I just couldn't bear the way you and my sisters were going hungry so I could eat. I went looking for work but there is no work anywhere. There's talk here about a trek by unemployed people to Ottawa.

MR SMITH The trekkers didn't make it to Ottawa. They got as far as Regina and were turned back. No wonder people got pretty cynical during the Depression.

(Soloist and chorus in Depression era garb sing one of:)

PIE IN THE SKY* THE BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN* THE GOLD DIGGERS SONG* AIN'T WE GOT FUN*

PROFESSOR During the Depression, people also sang songs of hope.

(Soloist and chorus in Depression era garb sing one of)

LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS* HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN*

PROFESSOR Radio was the only entertainment many families could afford during the 1930s. Life was made bearable when comedians like Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Fred Allen or Edgar Bergen and Charley McCarthy made people laugh and forget their troubles for a little while.

MR. SMITH 13 So did Amos 'n Andy, and Joe Penner, and Singin’ Sam the Barbersol Man and Ed Wynn the Fire Chief, and Fibber McGee and Molly.

PROFESSOR Lowell Thomas told gripping stories about the First World War. There were daytime soap like Ma Perkins and Big Sister, and night-time ones like One Man's Family.

MR. SMITH For mystery, we had the Shadow and for music and jokes we heard Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard and Bing Crosby and the Kraft Music Hall.

PROFESSOR On Hallowe'en night in 1938, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre broadcast a radio adaption of H.G. Wells's novel, the War of the Worlds. It was so realistic that tens of thousands of people believed earth was being invaded by creatures from Mars. Did you get fooled, Mr. Smith?

MR. SMITH I don't want to talk about that. Anyway, you promised you wouldn't embarrass me.

PROFESSOR Most of those shows originated in the United States. But there were many popular Canadian radio programs in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

MR. SMITH Yeah, like the Shirrif's Breakfast Hour from with Roland Todd, Gordon Calder and Bill Campbell. I used to hear them every morning before I left for school. And we bought Shirrif's marmalade because Bill Campbell called it "that jar of golden sunshine". And there was hockey. Every Saturday night we listened to 's broadcasts of the Toronto Maple Leaf home games.

PROFESSOR Despite efforts of to develop Canadian programming, about 80 per cent of the radio broadcasts that Canadians heard came from the United States. Some of the more powerful Canadian stations became part of U.S. networks.

MR. SMITH Sure, that's how we could hear some of those good American programs. 14

PROFESSOR (annoyed) Many Canadians nationalists were concerned that United States culture was flooding the Canadian airwaves. A royal commission on broadcasting was appointed in 1929 headed by Sir John Aird.

MR. SMITH John Aird? Never heard of him. What did he know about broadcasting?

PROFESSOR John Aird was the president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce.

MR. SMITH So that made him qualified to investigate broadcasting? Sounds like some of the people telling us what to do with the CBC today.

PROFESSOR The Aird commission recommended that Canada build a national public radio system to offset the invasion of Canadian airwaves by United States broadcasts. Like most royal

PROFESSOR (Cont.) commission reports, the Aird report would have gathered dust on a shelf somewhere. But it didn't, because of the efforts of two young men: Alan Plaunt and Graham Spry.

( Alan Plaunt and Graham Spry are seated at a small table. As the scene opens, Alan Plaunt is pouring wine into two wineglasses.)

ALAN I'm glad we could get together, Graham. We have a big job ahead of us.

GRAHAM You're right there, Alan.

ALAN I've been saving this bottle for a special occasion. I hope you like it.

GRAHAM What a magnificent claret! What is it? 15 ALAN Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

GRAHAM It's superb. What vintage?

ALAN 1913.

GRAHAM 1913? That was a good year.

ALAN The Aird Commission Report was good news. But what happens next?

GRAHAM The Liberals established the royal commission, but now the Conservatives are in power, and I can't see them favouring a system.

ALAN Not as long as commercial broadcasting stations can make a profit by selling advertising.

GRAHAM Alan, we can't let broadcasting be treated as a business. That would be a disaster. Broadcasting has to be treated as a public service. Like the school system.

ALAN I'm with you there, Graham, but how can we persuade the government to establish a public broadcasting system?

GRAHAM By lobbying. We'll establish a league?

ALAN A league?

GRAHAM We'll call it the Canadian Radio League. And we'll generate a whole lot of publicity in support of public broadcasting. 16

ALAN And get organizations to support it?

GRAHAM Yes. We'll get leaders of influential organizations to be on our board of directors. They won't have to do anything except come to an annual meeting, and get their organizations to pass resolutions in favour of a public broadcasting system.

ALAN Sure. We can draft the resolutions for them.

GRAHAM Alan, you've got lots of powerful friends in business and in government. You can go after them for support.

ALAN Yes, there's the president of the Canadian Bar Association, Louis St. Laurent. He can lead the charge in Quebec.

GRAHAM And we can both talk to Lester Pearson at External Affairs.

ALAN Mike? Of, yes. And also Vince.

GRAHAM Vince?

ALAN Yes. Vincent Massey.

ALAN And we have an in at the Prime Minister's Office.

GRAHAM Of course, Bill Herridge. He's one of R.B. Bennett's closest advisers. 17 ALAN I know Margaret Southam. She can get the Southam newspapers behind us.

GRAHAM We'll have no problem with The Ottawa Citizen. Its editor, Charles Bowman, was on the Aird Commission.

ALAN Graham, we can get most of the newspapers our side. We'll argue that the commercial radio stations are competing for their advertizing dollars.

GRAHAM Well, one thing we can be sure of. No government will ever expect a public broadcasting system to raise money by selling advertizing.

ALAN No, nor by collecting donations from listeners either. I know somebody else we can get on side. That social worker at the Child Welfare Council who's always sounding off about something. You know, Charlotte What's-her-name.

GRAHAM Whitton, Charlotte Whitton. Good idea. Once she gets started she's non stop. She can talk anybody into anything.

ALAN And we can get Tom Moore, the president of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada.

GRAHAM I can talk to him. I see him at lunch regularly. At the Rideau Club.

ALAN The Rideau Club is a great place to be in touch with people with influence. It's a good thing we're both members.

GRAHAM Yes. That membership in the Rideau Club was one of the best investments I ever made, even if it did cost me $300. And it still costs me $10 every year to renew it. 18 ALAN Graham, you're the secretary of the Association of Canadian Clubs. You can get the local Canadian Clubs to support us. And here in Ottawa, we can rent an office on Wellington Street right near the Rideau Club, hire a secretary, and start pouring out press releases.

GRAHAM We'll flood the Prime Minister's office with resolutions and petitions and newspaper clippings. R.B. Bennett won't know what hit him.

PROFESSOR The lobby worked. The CRBC, the Canadian Commission, was created in 1932 and established publicly owned radio networks in English and French. In 1936, the CRBC became the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

MR. SMITH I don't want you to give people to get the wrong impression about the 1930s. We didn't spend all our time just listening to the radio. We also had the movies. When we could afford to go. For 20 cents we could see a double bill at a neighbourhood movie house and get a free dish. For 50 cents we could go to a posh theatre palace uptown, like the Capitol Theatre in Ottawa. We could spend two hours in a palace of white marble and pretend we were rich.

PROFESSOR That's true, Mr Smith. The movies offered people escape from the sometimes harsh reality of their lives. People could escape into adventure and romance and the Hollywood version of the world of high society. And for romance in the 1930s, nothing could top the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

(Ballroom dancer(s) and chorus singing:)

NIGHT AND DAY

(Duet and chorus)

A FINE ROMANCE

MR. SMITH For entertainment we also went to the six-day bicycle races to see Ottawa's Roy McDonald and ’s Torchy Peden take on the world's best. And there were the 19 dance marathons. What a racket! Poor people danced and performed for days and weeks until they collapsed. They did it for free meals, and the hope of cash prizes at the end.

PROFESSOR But didn't people love to dance in the 1930s? They danced to records and to big band music playing from hotel ballrooms. Few could afford to go to the ballrooms, but they listened to the big bands on the radio.

MR. SMITH Yeah. Glen Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Kay Kaiser, and Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians. They played the sweetest music this side of Heaven.

(Soloist and trio sing - Lombardo-style)

COQUETTE* BOO HOO*

PROFESSOR There were broadcasts by Canadian orchestras from hotel ballrooms in Canada, too, like Luigi Romanneli from the Crystal Ballroom of the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Len Hopkins from the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, and Canada's King of Swing, Mart Kenney, from Vancouver. Mart Kenney also toured with his band and his singer, Norma Locke.

THE WEST A NEST AND YOU*

PROFESSOR In December 1936, Canadians were shocked when our King, Edward the Eighth, the popular Prince of Wales, told us by radio that he was giving up the throne to marry the woman he loved.

MR.SMITH But we knew he had to make a choice. It would not be right for the King to marry a divorced woman.

PROFESSOR In May 1939, Canada's ties with Britain were strengthened by the royal visit of our new King, George VI, and Queen Elizabeth. The royal couple spent a month in Canada, travelling from coast to coast on a special train. Wherever they stopped -- whether small village or big city -- the entire population turned out by the thousands and tens of 20 thousands to welcome them.

MR. SMITH In Ottawa, the King made a speech in Parliament. And he unveiled the National War Memorial on Confederation Square. During the construction we used to call it confusion square. And the Queen laid the cornerstone for the Supreme Court of Canada building.

PROFESSOR The CBC broadcast every detail of that royal visit as it happened to listeners all across Canada. It was the beginning of a golden age for the CBC. We heard great radio drama from producers Andrew Allen, Lister Sinclair, Esse Ljungh, and Rupert Caplan.

MR. SMITH And how about the actors? Like John Drainie and Frank Pettie and Lloyd Bochner and Tommy Tweed.

PROFESSOR And Jane Mallett, Beth Lockerbie, Kate Reid, Frances Hyland, Andrew Allan, Mavor Moore, Austin Willis, Murray Westgate, and Barry Morse. The CBC was the biggest employer of actors in Canada.

MR. SMITH And don't forget the announcers: J. Frank Willis and Alan McPhee.

PROFESSOR And, Harry Mannis, Charles Jennings, Elwood Glover, Byng Whittaker, Larry Henderson, Earl Cameron, and Herb May and, of course, Max Ferguson, better known as Old Rawhide. The CBC produced world recognized radio drama. It never compromised quality. One of Canada's best-known radio actors of the 1940s and 1950s was John Drainie. He always maintained that the CBC radio drama programmed for the intelligent minority that enjoyed flexing its mental muscles. The CBC didn't apologize for this PROFESSOR (Contd.) policy but supported it, and defended it. The CBC was a tremendous force for morale during the Second World War. But Canada was far from ready for that war.

MR. SMITH We sure weren't. We read about Adolf Hitler taking power and about re-armament in Germany. But few of us expected it to lead to another war. 21 PROFESSOR No, Mr. Smith, and neither did our Prime Minister. MacKenzie King visited Hitler in Berlin right after the 1937 Commonwealth Conference.

(Cameo: MacKenzie King writing diary.)

KING I found Hitler to be a simple sort of peasant. He didn't seem very intelligent. I certainly don't expect any trouble from him. He is concerned about Germans living in neighbouring countries, and he wants to bring these territories back into Germany. I'm sure once he's done that he'll be satisfied.

PROFESSOR But Hitler wasn't easily satisfied. On March the 12th, 1938, he declared all of Austria to be part of Germany, and German troops occupied the country. Then, on September the 29th, 1938, an agreement was reached called the Munich Pact. France and Great Britain allowed 10,000 square miles of Czechoslovakia to be incorporated into Germany. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, returned from Munich with a paper signed by Hitler in his hand. Mr. Chamberlain said he had achieved piece in his time.

MR. SMITH In Canada, most of us hoped Chamberlain was right. We didn't want another war. And we were glad it had been avoided.

PROFESSOR Especially our Prime Minister. MacKenzie King sent Mr. Chamberlain a cable of congratulations over the Munich Pact.

(Cameo: MacKenzie King, seated at his desk, finishes writing a cablegram, puts down his pen, and reads it aloud.)

KING The heart of Canada is rejoicing tonight at the success that has crowned your unremitting KING (Cont.) efforts to peace. My colleagues in the government join with me in unbounded admiration of the service you have rendered mankind. On the very brink of chaos, with passions flaming and armies marching, the voice of reason has found a way out of the conflict. A turning point in the world's history will be reached if, as we hope, tonight's agreement means a halt to the made race of arms and a new start in building the 22 partnership of all peoples.

MR. SMITH That was a turning point in history all right. But it turned the wrong way.

PROFESSOR How true, Mr. Smith. Less than six months after Hitler signed the Munich Pact, Germany troops marched into the Czechoslovakian provinces of Bohemia and Moravia and Hitler soon had control of the rest of the country. But even after Hitler dismembered Czechoslovakia, MacKenzie King was still hoping Canada would not get involved in a war.

(Cameo: MacKenzie King is speaking in the House of Commons.) KING Mr. Speaker, the idea that every twenty years this country should automatically, and as a matter of course, take part in a war overseas for democracy or self-determination of other small nations, that a country, which has all it can do to run itself, should be called upon, periodically, to save a continent that cannot run itself, and to these ends risk the lives of its people, risk bankruptcy and political disunion, seems to many a nightmare and sheer madness.

PROFESSOR Mr. Smith would you say most Canadians agreed with MacKenzie King at that time?

MR. SMITH Most of sure didn't want war . My generation was brought up with our parents' memory of the horrors of the First World War. That was supposed to be the war to end wars. We had lived through the Depression. We had seen Francisco Franco take over Spain, and Italy invade Ethiopia, and Japan invade Manchuria. And we heard about what Hitler was doing in . But we still hoped for peace and better times.

PROFESSOR And you could still sing happy songs. So let's hear one before we take our refreshment break.

(Soloist and/or chorus sing one of:)

SINGING IN THE RAIN* KEEP YOUR SUNNY SIDE UP* 23

(CURTAIN OR BLACKOUT))

(END OF ACT)

(INTERMISSION) 24 ACT TWO

(In a Second World War canteen, women in Second World War era civilian clothing and men in uniform sing one chorus and the men depart as they sing the second chorus)

WE'LL MEET AGAIN*

PROFESSOR Despite their hopes for peace, Canadians were caught up in the war to save the world from the evils of Nazism. The war effort transformed Canada into a great industrial nation. Men and women civilians worked long hours in war production. They endured housing shortages and rationing. They said goodbye to loved ones they might never see again. More than one million men and women served in the Canadian armed force. Some were away from home and family for six years. Mr. Smith, you lived through those years, and served in the armed forces. Would you call it the worst time of your life?

MR. SMITH It was the worst time of my life, and it was the best time of my life?

PROFESSOR The best time? How could it be the best time?

MR. SMITH (pausing reflectively) It's. It's kind of hard to put it into words. But there was a feeling of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. We had a cause that we believed in. We had hardships. But we shared them. We didn't live just for our own individual well being. To us, no sacrifice was too great to save the world from the dictators. There was a feeling of togetherness. Canadians sure could use more of that feeling today.

PROFESSOR Surely you don't want Canada to have to go through another world war?

MR. SMITH No, of course not. Do you think I'm stupid? Don't answer that. But during the war we worked together. Sure, families were separated and we had to make sacrifices. But we were willing to make them. And it wasn't all bad. We had full employment and almost no inflation. And we willingly bought war bonds and gave of our spare time to volunteer work to support the war effort. I wish we could find some way to work together to solve 25 our country's problems today.

PROFESSOR What about morale? How did people keep up morale?

MR. SMITH We had inspiring leaders in Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The newspapers all supported the war effort. And the CBC was a big help. Art Holmes, a CBC technician, brought us the sound of the blitz in London from his recording van, Big Betsy. CBC Correspondents like Matthew Halton and Peter Stursberg and Marcel Ouimet broadcast right from the front in Italy and France and Holland.

PROFESSOR Didn't Lorne Greene, read the CBC nightly news bulletin?

MR. SMITH Yes. And during the first years of the war, the news was so bad we called him "the voice of doom".

PROFESSOR One of the strongest forces for morale during the war as a group of CBC entertainers with a daily network show out of Toronto.

(offstage sound: knock, knock)

FIRST OFFSTAGE VOICE Who's there?

SECOND OFFSTAGE VOICE It's the Happy Gang.

FIRST OFFSTAGE VOICE Well, come on in.

(Enter six singers, one women, five men three of the men carrying violin, trumpet and accordion. They sing.)

HAPPY GANG SONG* CARRY ON* 26

PROFESSOR Songs like those sung by the Happy Gang helped to keep up people's spirits, especially during the frightening time that began in the spring of 1940 with the unleashing of the PROFESSOR (Cont.) Blitzkrieg on Holland, Belgium and France, the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk, and the fall of Paris.

(solo) THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS*

(Man woman duet) I'LL BE SEEING YOU*

PROFESSOR With France defeated, the Nazi military machine was poised to cross the English channel and invade Britain. But we rallied behind Winston Churchill's defiant stand.

(In canteen, Canadian women in Second World era civilian clothing and men in uniform listen to Churchill on radio)

CHURCHILL (voice on radio) Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the street, we shall fight on the hills; we shall never surrender.

(Woman soloist sings verse; first, women and, later, men join in chorus. Men are in uniform. Women are in Second World War era civilian clothing)

THERE'S ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND*

MR. SMITH Hitler planned to invade across the English Channel. But Canadians flying Hurricanes and Spitfires helped win the Battle of Britain in 1940. And Hitler was forced to call of his invasion. 27

PROFESSOR On December the 7th, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour and brought the United States into the war. That was good news for Canadians.

MR. SMITH But that was followed by bad news for Canadians. Just a few months before Pearl Harbour, Canada had sent 2,000 soldiers to Hong Kong. The Japanese invaded and by Christmas day 1941 all 2,000 Canadians were either killed or captured.

(Cameo: Monologue by emaciated prisoner of war)

PRISONER OF WAR We envy the men who were killed in action. They were the lucky ones. They didn't have to go through the hell that we are going through as prisoners of war. We get very little food. And what we do get is often rotten or full of worms. The food is so bad and we were so hungry we're better off when we can catch rats and cockroaches and eat them. We are beaten and tortured and we've been tied together with barbed wire around our wrists and necks. Now they've got us working in a coal mine as slave labour. No matter how sick we are, we have to work underground filling and pushing heavy coal trucks. We have no way of knowing what is happening in the outside world or how the war is going. It's been more than three years now, and the few of us who have survived so far expect to die here as prisoners of war.

PROFESSOR Canadians got more bad news after the raid on Dieppe on August the 19th, 1941. Five thousand Canadians were in the raid. Nine hundred were killed and two thousand were captured. Only 22-hundred returned, and six hundred of them were treated for wounds at Canadian hospitals in England.

(Cameo: Royal Canadian Medical Corps nurse speaks to audience.)

NURSE They were brought to us directly from the beach. They were still in uniform and the sand of the beach was mixed with their blood. At our hospital, we performed a hundred operations in ten hours. We were experienced nurses, and we thought we had seen everything. But this was our first exposure to battle casualties, and it was shocking. The hardest for us were the men with legs or arms amputated. I think they handled it better 28 than we did. Their biggest concern wasn't about their wounds. It was about not having achieved their objectives. We have failed the people back home. What will they think of us?

PROFESSOR As more and more men and, later, women enlisted, the Canadian forces grew. People left their friends and families, knowing they might never see them again.

MR. SMITH That's why some wartime songs mean so much to people of my generation. They helped make partings bearable.

(In canteen, soloist and chorus, both men and women in uniform, sing:)

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER YOU BY* WE'LL MEET AGAIN*

MR. SMITH One of the hardest things was the loneliness. Just about everybody was lonely for somebody back home. I think that's why those songs still mean so much to us who lived through the war. They gave us hope for better times.

(Uniformed soloists and chorus, both male and female, sing:)

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN ALL OVER THE WORLD* THERE'LL BE BLUEBIRDS OVER THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER* A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE*

PROFESSOR In July 1943, Canadians took part in the liberation of Sicily. Soon afterwards, they were fighting their way through Italy against heavy resistance. Eleven months later came the long-awaited D-Day, June 7, 1994, when the allies landed in force in Normandy. Once again, it was a busy time at Canadian military hospitals.

(Cameo: Nursing Sister monologue)

NURSING SISTER 29 The wounded arrived by the hundreds, most of them still in uniform. Some took two days to get here. Our operating rooms were busy day and night. It was Dieppe all over again. But it was worse. Dieppe was one day. From now on, the wounded would come every day. They wouldn't stop coming until the fighting ended. We had no idea how long that would be. Nor how many more amputations there would be.

PROFESSOR War correspondents landed with the troops in Sicily and Italy and Normandy and kept Canadians informed. In Italy, Peter Sturberg and Alec MacDonald recorded battle sounds. One day, they he heard some Italian peasants singing the song of Rommel's PROFESSOR (Cont.) Afrika Corps. They recorded the song. The recording was broadcast by the BBC. And it became one of our most popular songs of both Allied and Axis forces.

(Solo in German by German soldier, solo by Canadian soldier and chorus by Canadian servicemen.)

LILI MARLENE

PROFESSOR Our armed services did what they could to help morale. They found entertainers and among their ranks and put together shows for the troops both in Canada and overseas, entertainers like John Pratt from the show, "Meet the Navy"

(Actor in oversize black overalls and navy hat and carrying mop, sings.)

YOU'LL GET USED TO IT*

PROFESSOR The shows also presented cheery songs, songs everybody sang to keep up moral.

(In canteen, Men and women in uniform sing.) DON'T SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE* PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION*

PROFESSOR Throughout the war years, Canadians were united in their determination to stop the Nazis from taking over the world. 30 MR SMITH United? United? Where did you get that idea? Have you forgotten about the zombies?

PROFESSOR You mean the conscripts who wouldn't sign up for overseas service.

MR. SMITH Yeah, we called them zombies.

PROFESSOR There was a crisis over conscription. MacKenzie King's government had won the 1940 election on a pledge that there would be no conscription of men for overseas service. But PROFESSOR (Cont.) as the war progressed, MacKenzie King faced pressure for conscription from both the Conservatives and his own Liberal cabinet. So in April 1942, he had Canadians vote in a plebiscite to release his government from its promise. The vote was a big "yes" in every province except Quebec.

MR. SMITH So how did Willy King respond? With a typical obscure MacKenzie King statement. He said his policy was "conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription". Now what was that supposed to mean?

PROFESSOR. The conscripts were put under heavy pressures to sign for active service.

(Cameo: Senior Non-commissioned officer monologue)

SENIOR NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER Men, I've got good news for you. The Officer Commanding says you can all have a 72- hour pass this coming weekend. But on one condition. Your only going to get the 72- hour passes if every man among you has signed for overseas service. There are three zombies in this unit. You know who they are. So if you want those passes, you know what to do. Parade, to your duties, dismiss.

PROFESSOR Despite the pressure, By October 1994, there were still 60,000 Canadian conscripts who had not signed for overseas service. Of those, 15,000 were sent overseas before the war ended. And about 2,500 were in combat in Europe . And 69 of them were killed in action. 31

PROFESSOR Canada's air and naval services were made up entirely of volunteers, And, surprisingly, a high percentage of the navy volunteers came from the Prairie provinces.

(Naval rating monologue)

NAVAL RATING I didn't know much about French Canadians till I came to Quebec City. And what a surprise it was. I didn't know there were people in Canada who couldn't speak English. I like some things here. The food is great. And the girls are friendly. And the way they walk is different from the girls in Saskatchewan. The people here do something I never saw before. They drink wine with their meals. Back home, you only drank wine when NAVAL RATING (cont.) you wanted to get drunk and you couldn't afford gin. The trouble is, most of the people here don't seem to realize there's a war on and we've all go to do our part to win it. German U boats are sinking ships in the St. Lawrence River, but many of these people don't seem to care. Sometimes, I wish the Luftwaffe would drop a few bombs here and wake the people up. But that wouldn't work. They'd believe the Royal Air Force did it. They call themselves Canadiens--that means Canadians. And they call the rest of us the English. English? I'm not English. My parents immigrated from the Ukraine in their teens. I was born on a farm near Prince Albert and I'd never been out of Saskatchewan till I joined the navy. But one night I got into an argument in a pub and you know what the waiter said to me? He told me to go back to England.

PROFESSOR Canadians served in many theatres of war. The army served in Asia, Sicily, Italy and northern Europe. The Royal Canadian Air Force was active in all those theatres as well as in North Africa and many other areas. Canadian air crew in the Royal Air Force and the fleet arm served around the world. The Canadian navy had the terrible task of protecting North Atlantic convoys and Arctic convoys to Murmansk. It also served in the Pacific, in North Africa and in support of our troops in Europe. Canada also lent thousands from our own navy to serve with Britain's royal navy. And the Canadian merchant navy played a courageous role in every theatre of war, a role that has largely gone unrewarded. By the way, Mr. Smith, from the harsh words you had for the zombies, I presume you signed up for active service.

MR. SMITH Your darned right I did. I was no zombie. 32

PROFESSOR And in what theatres of war did you serve?

MR. SMITH (obviously embarrassed) I don't think these people are interested in my war record?

PROFESSOR Oh, I'm sure they are. (to audience) Don't you want to hear about Mr. Smith's military exploits?

(Claque inspired or sound-effect-created cries of yes. yes we do. And applause)

PROFESSOR Come on Mr. Smith, don't be modest. Tell us where you served and what you did in the war.

MR. SMITH (obviously embarrassed, replies quickly and quietly.) I served in military districts three and five.

PROFESSOR I'm sorry, Mr. Smith. You'll have to speak louder.

MR SMITH (still embarrassed, but louder) I said military districts three and five.

PROFESSOR Where were military districts three and five, Mr. Smith? In Italy? In Northern Europe?

MR. SMITH (even more embarrassed) No. They were and Quebec.

PROFESSOR And what did you do?

MR. SMITH (still embarrassed) 33 I was a clerk in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps.

PROFESSOR The Ordnance Corps? Didn't they look after supplies and equipment?

MR. SMITH Yes. I wanted to be an artilleryman. So I enlisted directly in the Ordnance Corps because I thought ordnance meant guns.

PROFESSOR May 17th, 1945, was VE Day - Victory in Europe. It was celebrated in every allied city around the world.

(Chorus singing and dancing)

ROLL OUT THE BARREL*

PROFESSOR Some important changes had come about in Canada during the war: Unemployment insurance and the right of employees to recognition of their unions. And the baby bonus in 1945. A well known Canadian social worker denounced the baby bonus. She said it would encourage the weakest people in society to breed more.

MR. SMITH I betcha I can guess who that social worker was.

PROFESSOR (resignedly) All right Mr. Smith. Go ahead and guess.

MR. SMITH It was Charlotte Whitton.

PROFESSOR Yes, you're right. It was Charlotte Whitton. Now, I hope you're satisfied.

MR. SMITH You know what happened soon after the war?

PROFESSOR 34 No, Mr. Smith, But I'm sure you're going to tell me.

MR. SMITH Hospital insurance. In 1946, people in Saskatchewan got hospital insurance. The rest of the country didn't catch up until late in the 1950s.

PROFESSOR In 1949, Canada got bigger by one province when Newfoundland joined Confederation. Many Newfoundlanders had opposed the move. They were quick to point out that it happened on April Fools Day.

(Chorus and soloist in 1940s era clothing sing:)

ODE TO NEWFOUNDLAND*

MR. SMITH We were lucky after the war. The government had proved it could run a prosperous economy. We thought we'd never have high unemployment again.

PROFESSOR In the post-war boom, Canadian factories were producing cars and washing machines and radios. And people were buying them, as well as cribs and diapers. People spent money they had saved by buying war savings bonds.. They could get a mortgage and be guaranteed that the interest rate wouldn't change for 25 years. War veterans were building houses in the suburbs and starting families.

MR.SMITH That's right. That was the beginning of what you now call the baby boom.

PROFESSOR But we didn't just count on the baby boom. Immigration had almost stopped during the Depression, but it picked up in the late 1940s and the 1950s. More than 166,000 homeless people came from displaced persons' camps in Europe. Later came more than 36,000 refugees from Hungary. Immigrants followed by tens of thousands. Two and one-half million between 1946 and 1966. Most of them came from Europe. Only one- third were from Britain.

MR. SMITH You know, at first we worried about these foreigners from the countries like Poland and 35 Germany and Hungary. They hadn't gone to our schools and been raised in our British traditions. We were afraid they wouldn't understand our attachment to the Union Jack and the Red Ensign and the royal family, and our place as the greatest dominion in the Commonwealth. But we learned to welcome them.

PROFESSOR Canada was a big supporter of the United Nations when it was formed. And it was a Canadian who drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And what other country but Canada would give the world the gift of international peacekeeping?

MR. SMITH And don't forget the Korea. More than 25,000 Canadians helped defend South Korea. And more than 300 of them gave their lives.

PROFESSOR In the 1950s, the economy continued to grow. There were big oil developments in Alberta, mining boomed, and construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway began. And Canada was a respected world power.

MR SMITH In 1953, we got the universal old age pensions -- 40 dollars a month to everybody aged MR. SMITH (Cont.) 70 and over. It was the end of old people dying of starvation in lonely rooms.

PROFESSOR By 1963, the old age pension was up to 70 dollars a month and eventually the eligibility age dropped to 65. Mr. Smith, what about entertainment? What was the big change in entertainment?.

MR. SMITH Television, of course, television.

PROFESSOR Television antennas sprouted from suburban rooftops as Canadians tuned into United States stations. Then the CBC moved into television in 1952 and we got our own Canadian programming. What were some of your favourite entertainers, Mr. Smith?

MR. SMITH (slowly and enthusiastically, with pauses for name recognition and 36 applause) The CBC's three Tommies-- Tommy Ambrose Tommy Common and Tommy Hunter.. And Billy O'Connor. And the Rhythm Pals. And singers like Joyce Hahn and Shirley Harmer and Our Pet Juliette. And Wayne and Schuster. And Front Page Challenge. One of my favourite programs was 's Jubilee with Charley Chamberlain and Marg Osborne.

(Man and woman duet dressed as Don Messer and Marg Osborne sing.)

GOING TO THE BARN DANCE TONIGHT SMILE THE WHILE YOU KISS ME SAD ADIEU

PROFESSOR Late in the 1950s, another strange phenomenon invaded Canada from the United States. It was the rock and roll era, with performers like Bill Haley and the Everly Brothers

(Medley, one chorus of each. Soloist sings first number; duet sings second)

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK* BYE BYE LOVE*.

MR. SMITH And don't forget Elvis Presley.

(Presley impersonator sings one of:)

BLUE SUEDE SHOES* DON'T BE CRUEL* HOUND DOG*

PROFESSOR Elvis Presley - Teenage girls flocked to see him. Their parents were upset. They forgot how they themselves had screamed for Frank Sinatra and how their grandparents had swooned when Rudy Vallee sang into a megaphone.

MR. SMITH I've got to tell you. Some of us weren't too happy about Elvis Presley and that rock and 37 roll music. Guy Lombardo was good enough for us.

PROFESSOR But the 1950s weren't all rock and roll. The 1950s also launched the Stratford Shakespearean Festival.

MR. SMITH And in Ottawa, the Canadian Repertory Theatre on Sussex Drive. It was Canada's first year-round repertory theatre. That's where William Shatner and Christopher Plummer got their start.

PROFESSOR One of the greatest controversies of the decade came in 1958. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker stopped the planned production of the Avro Arrow, a jet fighter plane said to be 10 years ahead of anything planned or in production. As a result, about 40,000 highly skilled workers lost their jobs. And many of them took their expertise to the U.S.

MR. SMITH The CBC's Norman Depoe told us about that on television. I was shocked. I still find it hard to believe.

PROFESSOR There also big changes in Quebec. Maurice Duplessis died in 1995, and in 1960 a new Premier, Jean LeSage, led Quebec's Quiet Revolution. In the 1960s, CBC television brought us a weekly musical review from Halifax, called Singalong Jubilee. It introduced PROFESSOR (Cont.) us to an extremely talented group of Canadian performers.

MR SMITH Yeah. they were great. Fred McKenna and Catherine McKinnon and Jim Bennett and Edith Butler and the songwriter, Gene MacLellan, and the show's producer, Bill Langstroth.

PROFESSOR And don't forget the young alto from Springhill, Nova Scotia.

(Woman solist sings.) SNOWBIRD* 38 PROFESSOR The 1960s brought great changes. Saskatchewan introduced medicare in 1962 - and the rest of the country followed suit a few years later. Then in 1963, the federal government established the Canada Student Loan Fund.

MR. SMITH That meant that even kids whose parents weren't rich could afford to go to university. Even one of my kids tried it. But he dropped out in first year. Said he couldn't get along with some of his professors. (pause) Now I can understand why.

PROFESSOR In 1963, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was established. In 1966, our social network grew with the introduction of the Canada Pension Plan. In 1967, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was appointed. It made 167 recommendations for improving women's rights. It was also in 1967 that the Trans- Canada Highway was completed.

MR. SMITH And don't forget our big birthday party.

PROFESSOR Of course, Mr. Smith. For most Canadians, the unforgettable events of 1967 were the celebrations of Canada's 100th birthday. Expo '67, the World's Fair in Montreal, was just part of our year-long, coast-to-coast birthday party. And a veteran of the Happy Gang, a trumpeter named Bobbie Gimby, led the parade.

(Chorus march and sing, led by trumpeter.)

CENTENNIAL SONG*

MR. SMITH A lot things we didn't like happened in the 1960s. A new flag replaced the red ensign, and a lot of us were pretty upset about that. Paul Hellyer put all our armed services in green uniforms. He called it unification. Some of us war veterans had another name for it. But I won't say it here. In 1969, the CBC, cancelled Don Messer's Jubilee and we marched in protest on Parliament Hill and at CBC Headquarters in Toronto. And we worried about the younger generation. Our young people were into drugs. They wore 39 awful clothes. And they had no respect for authority. Every day it seemed, young people somewhere were demonstrating against something or boycotting classes. They were into sex like we had never seen before -- not even in England during the Second World War. And their music drove us crazy. The big bands gave way to electric guitars and synthesizers. And they were so loud. We just couldn't take it.

PROFESSOR Surely you liked some of the music of the 1960s.

MR. SMITH Yes. There was a handful of Canadian folk singers and songwriters who made music we could listen to. People like Ian and Sylvia, and Gordon Lightfoot, and Joni Mitchell.

(Singers sing all three)

FOUR STRONG WINDS* EARLY MORNING RAIN* BOTH SIDES NOW*

PROFESSOR This brings us to the 1970s and the FLQ crisis and Trudeaumania and the imposition of the War Measures Act. And Canadians began to use to use the metric system.

MR. SMITH Some of us veterans weren't happy about that metric stuff either. The Second World War was won by the Imperial measure countries -- like Britain and the United States and Canada. We defeated the metric countries: Germany and Japan.

PROFESSOR Canada really moved ahead as a country in the 1980s. We patriated the Constitution and adopted a Charter or Rights and Freedoms

MR. SMITH But we have lost so much since 1980. We got more unemployment. And some of our National Hockey League teams moved to the United States. And we sold Air Canada and CN Rail and we cut back the CBC. Medicare is in trouble, and governments cut back on social programs. What's happened? Why can't this country, with all of its great wealth, provide a job and a decent living for all its people? Why aren't our city streets safe places 40 to walk at night any more? Why aren't people willing to help one another? How can we live in an apartment building and not even know the people on our floor? Canada wasn't always like this. Canada once was a country of caring people who looked after one another, of children who respected their parents and their teachers, of politicians like C.D. Howe who could get things done. Canada was once full of people bursting with patriotism and love of their country. That's the Canada I remember. Will we ever see it again?

(Enter Young people.)

FIRST YOUTH Don’t worry about Canada, Mr. Smith. There's a new generation of Canadians on the move. And we're not going to let our country down.

SECOND YOUTH We know it was Canada that gave the world insulin and Cobalt Bomb therapy, and Marquis wheat and pablum and the broadcasting of voice and music by radio, and basketball and the world' best hockey players, and the Universal Charter of Human Rights and snowmobiles and anti-gravity suits for aircrew and microwave cooking.

FIRST YOUTH And powdered eggs.

ALL (EXCEPT FIRST YOUTH AND PROFESSOR) Ugh!!!

SECOND YOUTH We know it was Canada that developed the most advanced jet fighter plane of its time and led the world in developing nuclear reactors.

FIRST YOUTH It was Canadians who took Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach and waded through the Scheldt to liberate Holland.

SECOND YOUTH It was Canada that gave the world Karen Kain . . .Jim Carrey .. . John Candy . . . Norman Jewison . . . William Shatner . . . Chistopher Plummer . . . Dan Ackroyd . . Rich Little and Lorne Green. 41

FIRST YOUTH And John Kenneth Galbraith and Marshall McLuhan and Robertson Davies and Glen Gould and Oscar Peterson.

SECOND YOUTH And Northern Dancer and all of his prodigy and Barbara Ann Scott and Nancy Greene and Elvis Stockjo and Jonathon Bailey and Alanis Morrisette and Pamela Lee Anderson and Celine Dion.

MR. SMITH And Mary Pickford and Deanna Durbin and Walter Huston.

(All youths looked puzzled as he lists the names.)

FIRST YOUTH Who?

MR SMITH Mary Pickford and Deanna Durbin and Walter Huston. And Walter Pigeon and Norma Shearer and Fay Wray and Raymond Massey.

ALL YOUTHS Never heard of them.

MR. SMITH Never heard of those great movie stars? Must be the because of all that television. And all those computers. And all those rock concerts. No wonder we're in trouble (pause) Aren't you worried about the Canada's future? Can't you see how Canadian unity is being threatened? Aren't you worried about the country breaking up?

SECOND YOUTH Mr. Smith, here's quotation for you to think about: "I believe we have come to a period in the history of this country when dissolution seems at hand. What will be the outcome? How long can the present fabric of Canada last? Can it last at all?"

MR. SMITH 42 Exactly what I mean. By the way, who said that?

FIRST YOUTH Sir Wilfred Laurier, in 1891.

SECOND YOUTH And Canada is still one country, a great country. And Canadian unity is stronger than ever.

MR. SMITH But didn't Sir Wilfred Laurier also say that the Canada would fill the 20th Century?

SECOND YOUTH Mr. Smith. maybe Canada didn't quite make it, yet. But we're a new generation, We're a caring generation. We're a stronger generation than you think. We're proud of our heritage as Canadians.

FIRST YOUTH And we're going to build an even stronger country.

SECOND YOUTH Look out world, here we come. Canada will fill the Third Millennium. (All sing.).

THIS LAND OF OURS*

(END OF ACT TWO)

(THE END) 43