Repertory theatre
Repertory theatre collection. – 1923-1927. – 3 scrapbooks.
The collection concerns several repertory theatre companies that were
active in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont. in the 1920s. The Toronto companies
were: Cameron Matthews English Players, the English Players, the Comedy
Players, the Vaughan Glaser Players, the English Repertory Co., and
the Theatre Guild of Canada Ltd. Some of these companies occasionally
put on a production in Hamilton. There is also one Hamilton company,
Hamilton Theatrical Enterprises Ltd. In addition to the repertory companies,
the Arts and Letters Club Players are also represented. The theatres
where the plays, mainly comedies, took place are the Victoria, Empire,
Regent, Capital, and the Uptown in Toronto and the Lyric Hamilton and
the Capital in Hamilton.
The collection consists of three small scrapbooks, each titled “Milestones”.
The collector wrote a table of contents in the front of each scrapbook,
listing the dates of performance, the title of the play and the theatre
where the performance took place. There is one letter from Fred Jacob
to Mrs. Doolittle dated 14 Feb. 1924. Jacob was the musical and dramatic
critic for the Toronto Mail and Empire. He was also a playwright
– his plays were collected and published as One Third of the
Bill in1925. He died in 1928 at the age of 46 – his obituary
in Saturday Night (43, 9 June, p. 6) was written by Hector Charlesworth.
His letter concerns Mrs. Doolittle’s performance in Jacob’s
play, “Autumn Blooming” performed by the Arts and Letter Club
Players. Mrs. Doolittle may be Anne Carew, an English actress who settled
in Toronto. She appears in every play in this collection. This may be
her collection or more likely, someone collected it for her. The scrapbooks
contain newspaper clippings and tear-sheets from Saturday Night
(mainly reviews), programmes, ticket stubs, autographs and photographs.
Most of the items have been pasted into the scrapbooks but some remain
loose. There is one photograph postcard of a troupe on stage with “Merry
Makers” written on a drum in their midst.
An article on Vaughan Glaser and his career has been printed off the
web by archival staff and is located with the collection.
Title based on content of collection.
Collection (77-2009) was acquired from Morris Norman in 2009.
Finding aid available as part of this description.
There are no access restrictions.
Further accruals are not expected.
