The Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-11-01, Page 15nt
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governbir 15 and 16 Canadian painter Jack McLaren will
0011 1 collection of his works under the ausplcies of the
Alexandra Marine ,and General Hospital Ladies Auxiliary at
North Street United Church in Goderich. Mr. McLaren, now a
roodont of Bsnmiller. was born in Scotland and emigrated to
aid of Hospital Auxiliary
Canada at an early age to live In Toronto. He spent the
working years of his life operating an advertising agency In
that city but retired to Benmiller and his favorite en-
deavour...painting.
'n
Jack Mdaren's work in view
a .
ly Ron Shaw
Thursday and Friday,
otember ,15 and 16--;*' the
idents of the Huron' County
lhave one of its -too few op-
tunities to view the work of
ter Jac_k- McLaren O'S•A•
'n the "ladies auxiliary of
.xandra Marine and General
.pital in Goderich sponsor a
.wing of some 60 of his pain -
p at North Street United
tuck
Those 60 pieces of work will
resent only a sampling of
.McLaren's paintings.
Born at Edinburgh
tland in 1895 he began
inting at an early age and,
.0 the exception of 20 years
een 1930 and 1950 when
little, his-ski:irk ""has-
intained a steady pace.
ce 1950 Mr. McLaren
!sites he has completed one
inting every two days for a
tal of approximately 4100
ipleted works.
Mt. McLaren came to
nada in 1905 and took ,up
idence in West Toronto
here he later gradilaled from
umberside Collegiate.
In 1912 he returned to. his
five Scotland and studied at
•Edinburgh College of Art
ling back to Canada in 1914
.time to volunteer for the
ncess Pats regiment with the
nadian Army and sail back
Europe and World War One.
When that regiment went
to action in France Jack
cLaren found himself at-
ched to the snipers ..to draw
po and on completion of his
sttour in the trenches he was
igned to. organize concert
les and entertainment for
men in the reserve area.
Mr, McLaren's entertain -
t company met with such'
that they were soon
assigned to providing entertain-
ment on a full time basis and
soon combined with the "Durn-
bells" to work on divisional
shows. •
After the war the "Dum-
bells" played coast to coast in
Canada as well as in several
American cities and eventually
found itself on broadivay.
The "Dumbells" we're to con-
tinue to be a theatrical success
across North America for
another 10 years but in 1922
Jack McLaren turned his back
on theatre and went into
business at Toronto.'
He opened the McLaren Ad-
ifertising Agency on the same
day and in the same city as
another Jack .McLaren opened
a simi.lar_afiency. The second
McLaren went into advertising
work for newspapers while our
McLaren involved himself with
the direct mail and public
relations bratich of the'
business.
"It was really quite a coin-
cidence,'', Jack, recalls, ''and we
were forever getting each
other' telephone calls."
With -four -artists in his stable
and a staff of sales people jack
McLaren met with considerable
success in the highly com-
petitive field of advertising un-
til his retirement in ,1954.
His agency handled the
Birks. Jewellers account,
C.C.M., London Life and Im-
perial Tobacco as well and
many other smaller accounts
and did specialty work in the
forrn of booklets and posters.
This field of endeavor ac-
tually began many years
earlier. „
"The, first drawing I ever
sold went to the Star Weekly
for an advertisement," he
recalls.
"It was a 'sketch of a fellow
in a boat, with his bare feet
propped um, against the gun-
wales of a row boat and a
fishing line tied around •'each
big toe, reading a copy of the
Star Weekly. It was entitled the
'Perfect Angler'."
During his years in tile ad-
vertising trade Jack McLaren's
career took an interesting turn
and one which he now sees as
being a break into a truly in-
dividual medium.
"I was always interested in
caricatures," he explains, "and
published a oseries on our
Canadian fathers of con-
federation entitled 'Our Great
Ones' which was printed from
linolium cuts.''
° "I- did r Our Great Ones'
because I was interested in
developing something historical
and Ryerson Press published
the series. They wanted me to
go on and complete a whole
series of prominent Canadians
in this way."
"I think now I may, have
been on to something driginal,"
he observes, "and I should
have done it."
Yohe 'Great Ones*serieS even-
tually found its way to
Canifdian Embassies around
the world and to the Canadian
delegation offices at the United
Nations. In New•York ,the great
photographer Joseph Karsh
saw the work and was taken by
it.
As a result, at the invitation
of Mr. Karsh, Mr. McLaren
travelled to, Ottawa to be
photographed at Karsh's studio
there and sketch the
photographer.
"I spent two days with him
at the time," he recalls. "I
think he saw a great artistic
similarily in my very black and
white cuts .and his style of
photography."
Following the visit to Ottawa
the Maclean Magazine com-'
411. •
pany published a story writteni
by Jack McLaren about having
your portrait done by the great
Karsh.
"I recall sitting in his waiting
room the morning I arrived,"
Jack explains, "and finally
being told Mr. ,Karsh 'could see
me now'."
"I Went into the studio and
sat down but there was no nne
in the room. After I waited, a
few moments Karsh made his
entrance down a long flight of
sweeping stairs which led fioni
a balcony above the studio to
(Continued on page 8A)
br oberirb
SIGNAL STAR
126' YEAR - 4- `- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1973
fr,
SECOND SECTION
Back to the land
More and , more people are
finding themselves earning
their living from behind .a, desk
and inside the four walls of an,
office these days and as a result
make an attempt to get out of
doors and -back to nature in
their spare time.
Such is the case of a group of
Western Ontarip men who are
now in the midst of their
special outdoor project which
will be, and is for the moment,
,giving them'an opportunity for
more recreation in the great
outdoors.
A short time ago a group of
four, Jim McCaul, chief health
inspector with the Huron
County Health Unit; Willard
Page, an engineer with the
Ministry of the Environment at
London:John Bray, also an en-
vironmental engineer from
London; an.d. Joseph
McCallum, operator of a Lon-
don auto sei'vice business, ban-
ded together and purchased
100 acres of wooded land in
West VV.awanosh Township
about two .miles north of
Dungannon.
The property was to serve as
their outdoor playground for
hunting, fishing and
snowrnobiling but during Oc-
tober they decided to make
their bush land real estate a
home away from home and laid
plans for the construction of a
log cabin.
"•,.-Withthe help of two more
Huron Health Unit inspectors,
Riddell presents brief
on school bus safety
Jack Riddell, Liberal MPP
for Huron, spoke' last week in
the Legislature on behalf of his
own Bill • designed to improve
the safety of those students:who
trav'el by schoolbus.
Mr. Riddell emphasized the
responsibility of the Ontario
Government to ,ensure the
students' safety.
-"Largely due to the cen-
tralization of our school system
and of county school boards,
well over half a million of On-
tario's. ..sch.00l children do
travel ..by schoolbus. To my
mind, students who travel by
schoolbus deserve special atten-
tion from the Government.
These young people are really
involuntary passengers: they
need to go to school and the
schoolbus is the only, means by
which they can get there. Since
they a re involuntary
passengers,, the Government
,
Pm, end Frank McDonald nall down roof
100 °OM project they have undertaken In
of Igo_ Mr 0 winter et snownitobIlIng on property north-
inmeannon. A group rseently purchased 100 acres:10f
weeded land and plan to Maki if their outdoor recreation
center. The log cabin will terve as a horn* away from home
,for hunting and fishing trips as weN as snottnnobifing. •
(staff photo)'
has a special responsibility to
ensure that all possible steps
are taken to ensure their safety.
The safety of our children can-
not be over emphasized. Surely
there could be no more precious
cargo than Ontario's students,"
the Huron member said.
Mr. Riddell's Bill would
bring about action in two
areas: the schoolbus driver,
and the schoolbus itself. An
aspiring schoolbus driver
would have to not only pass the
present test for schoolbus
drivers but also , have clean
driving and police records and
'take compulsory courses in
defensive driving, highway
safety and emergency first aid.
A schoolbus driver's licence
would need to be renewed
every year- and the driver
would be retested before
(Continued on page 8A)
•
Jack McKinnon and John Orr,
and Goderich high school
teacher Frank McDonald the
project got underway about two
weeks ago and should be com-
plete before the snow flies.
'Mr. McCaul explains that the
whole project should only cost
about $200 and when complete
will consist of a 12 x 12 foot
cabin with an adjoining 8 x 8
foot sleeping area.
As such the cabin will
provide .a center for their hun-
tingsorties and a spot to *arm
up after a day of ,snowmobiling.
The cost was kept to a
tr'nimum through full use of
natural materials found at
hand. The main structure is
constructed of dead trees the
men have cleared from their
land, mostly elm and maple.
Two by fours for rafters were
salvaged from a remodelling
project Mr. McCaul had under-
taken at home and the only
materials purchased were lum-
ber for floor boards, nails, roll
roofing and a stove purchased
from a junk dealer for $25.
That stove, manufactured
years ago under the trade name
"Good' Cheer" has given the
project its name .... "Good
Cheer Lodge'
Jim McCaul, Chief inspector klth the Huron County Health Unit, tries his hand at work of a,
slightly different sort as he beQIns installing the first of the rafters on a log cabih presently
under construction on a tract of land hi and several others have purchased north of
Dungannon. The cabin will hopefully be finis/He'd before the snow flies this winter.
(staff photo)
The log cabin hide -away, presently under construction, has
roeufted in a now use 'for dead elm and maple trees other
than firewood. Although the structure will be only 12 by 12 foot
whh an additional eight by eight foot bedroom the en-
thusiastic group are looking forward to many hours 01
recreation in the out of doors after too many days behind's
desk. Thoee working on the project loichide three health In-
spectors, two Department or the linvIrononent engineers and
an auto SIVntr operator.
fr