Village Squire, 1980-07, Page 10Jack
McLaren
A one man "show"
BY HERMAN GOODDEN
This year the Blyth Memorial Community Hall has reached the
age of sixty. Built in 1920 as an edifice to honour the area's effort
in the great war, it is now the home of The Blyth Summer
Festival and this August that same great war will be one of the
subjects touched on in the Festival's original production of "The
Life That Jack Built."
The Jack in question is Jack MacLaren, a one man Canadian
renaissance who at the age of 85 still spends five hours a day
painting in his studio/home which is located a stone's throwaway
from The Benmiller Inn. Artistic director of the festival, Janet
Amos, sees MacLaren's life as the perfect dramatic vehicle by
which to tell the story of a large part of our nation's cultural
history. It seems a far fetched idea at first but after a brief two
hour visit with Jack at his home, I had to admit that Jack's
propensity for being in the right place at the right time in the
company of the right people was simply astonishing. He
recognizes it too, admitting that "I've been lucky in the people
I've met in this stupid journey."
Between now and August Sth, Janet Amos, six actors headed
by David Fox, musician John Ruby and designer Linda Muir
have got their hands full. Vignette by vignette they're pulling
their show together, creating it as they go along, scrounging
through public archives for morsels of MacLarenana and
pumping poor old Jack for every story he's got. Asked how he
feels about the upcoming show, Jack said, "I think they should
call it "Much Ado About Nothing." " Jack has never been one to
step out from behind his work in the pursuit of fame and
publicity and is obviously bewildered by all the broohaha. But at
the same time he seems genuinely amused. He's interested that
they're interested. And Jack too is working toward an August Sth
deadline as an exhibition of his paintings will be held in an
impromptu gallery at the theatre.
BORN IN SCOTLAND
Born in Scotland, Jack received his primary and high school
education in Toronto. After a brief sojourn studying the arts in
Britain, Jack enlisted in the army at the outbreak of World War
One and was stationed with Princess Pat's Canadian Light
Infantry, a regiment which served with the Canadian Corps as
part of the 7th Infantry Brigade. It was the last military unit to be
raised by a private individual, Major Andrew Hamilton Gault, a
man whose memory Jack fervently honours to this day.
Believe it or not the war was Jack's big break as an actor. On
temporary leave while recuperating from the strain of war, Jack
threw together his first impromptu show which he performed on
the dock of the lodge where he was staying.
Lit by the searchlights of boats in the harbour, his shows were
immediately popular with the other men and on the
reommendation of Major Gault, Jack was assigned to put
together a troupe of actors who could travel to the battle front
camps bringing some much needed entertainment to the allied
forces. A combination of burlesque, satirical skits, and songs,
Jack said that basically, "We held the mirror up to these boys
and showed them what they were doing."
HUMOUR WAS NECESSARY
As Major Gault must have suspected when he recommended
P0. 8 VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1980
Jack McLaren, centre played Uncle Sam In a show
about World War One. He is flanked by "John Bull"
(left) and "Kaiser BIII" (right.)
Jack for the troupe, his humour was something very necessary.
Yet Jack is not a man who has ignored or denied tragedy. Jack
tells another story about being with a German soldier while he
died. After a bitter campaign of fighting, he and the German
came upon each other unintentionally, alone and in silence. Both
of them were fatigued beyond words that the other would not
have understood anyway and instinctively, simultaneously, they
rejected the entire notion of 'enemy" and spoke with just their
eyes. agreeing profoundly that this was the greatest waste of all.
At the conclusion of the war some members of Princess Pat's
entertainment troupe joined comic forces with another group
called The Dumbells. Jack was part of this enlarged group,
which, in addition to a number of Canadian tours, played shows
in London, England for 4 weeks and Broadway for 12 weeks. The
group was enthusiastically received wherever they went. Jack
was able to brush up against such luminary show business
personalities as the Barrymores and Al Jolson.
Though the Dumbells didn't officially disband until 1929, Jack
checked out somewhat earlier, eager to get on with his own life
and perceiving that his future would be limited in recycling
wartime humour.
The most striking thing about Jack is his adaptability, the