Village Squire, 1975-10, Page 5Mr. McLaren doesn't have to go far for inspiration while he works. He merely looks out the window of his
studio on the beautiful Maitland River.
Jack McLaren
Retirement
is the busiest
time of his life
Jack McLaren should be an advertisement
for the beauty of retirement years.
"I'm working far harder than I ever did,"
he says as he reports all the projects he has on
the go in his studio overlooking the Maitland
river at Benmiller. Since he and his wife
retired to Benmiller 12 years ago he's been
able to devote full time to his painting and, he
says, those years have been the happiest of
the couple's lives.
Though Mr. Maclaren made his living in
the advertising business in .Toronto he's
really become more well known for the
occupations that came before and after that
career. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he
came to Canada at age seven in 1902. His
family lived in what was called Toronto
unction and later known as West Toronto. A
decade later he was back in Edinburgh,
studying art at the Edinburgh College of Arts.
He returned to Canada just before the
outbreak of World War One and was
holidaying at Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe
when the news came through that war had
been declared.
He wanted to enlist as soon as he could, he
recalls with a laugh, and so headed for
Toronto as fast as he could. That turned out
not to be so fast. His mode of transportation
was an old trolley that ran from Toronto to
Lake Simcoe. It stopped so often, and went so
slowly, he recalls, he fretted that the war
would be over before he could enlist.
But he made it, probably too soon for his
own good. He joined the Third Battalion and
was sent to Valcartier Camp in Quebec where
the early Canadian volunteers were 'trained.
Canada just wasn't ready for war. There were
no uniforms, few weapons and conditions
were horrible He worked in the cook house
and then caught jaundice. He lay in a
so-called hospital in the middle of a field with
grass growing so high one could hardly see
the patients. The care he was getting was so
poor that he worried he'd never get better.
Finally he deserted and fled to Toronto where
he got proper medical care. When he
eventually got himself cured he joined up
again, this time with the University
Companies which were formed at the
campuses as reinforcements to the Princess
Pat's.
Soon after joining the Pat's, his Colonel
sent for him. The colonel was an acquaintance
of Professor James Mavor (father of Dora
Mavor Moore, grandfather of Mavor Moore)
who had seen McLaren put on shows for the
cottagers at Lake Simcoe and realized he had
a talent for entertaining. Mavor urged the
colonel to make use of his talent and he in
turn set McLaren and others to work on the
Princess Pats comedy company to entertain
the troops and help boost moreal.
The group was rehearsing for the shows
during the third battle of Ypres, he recalls
when the Germans blew right through the
Princess Pats and reinforcements were'
rushed in. It was for a company of
reinforcements the first show was performed.
The troops were angry because they were
forced to go see the show rather than be free
to pursue other pleasures and so it was a
hostile audience that this bunch of beginners
first played to. The first few skits, Mr.
McLaren recalls, were rather tense, but they
kept trying and soon won the audience over.
The popularity of the show grew and soon it
played for the whole battalion.
The group was+,asked to become part of a
show for the whgle division, The Dumbells
show, but they wanted to stay with;heir own
battalion.
It was after the war, while he was living in
New York, that Jack McLaren became part
of the famous Dumbells. The wartime
entertainers were reunited in a peacetime
troup that toured Canada coast to coast. He
played through 44 weeks of mostly one night
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1975, 3