Village Squire, 1977-07, Page 6The Princess Pat's put John Bull, Uncle Sam and Kaiser BW
together for some fun during their World War One show.
created in Britain that has been handed down ever since.
Indeed, Mr. McLaren recalls, such modern giants as Sir
Tyrone Guthrie, used some of the Grimaldi techniques in
clown scenes at the Stratford Festival.
The war years saw the English music hall entertainment
being replaced by the Revue style imported from France with
songs, sketches and dances dealing tgy with topical
subjects. It was, Mr. McLaren says, _rt of political cartoon
set to music. This was the forma of the Dumbells shows,
using everyday life as the background and finding the funny
things that made every soldier laugh.
Mr. McLaren himself, who was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland and came to Canada at age seven in 1902 had just
returned from studying at Edinburgh College of Arts when
the news flashed across Canada that the war had broken out.
He was holidaying at Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe, he
recalled some time ago, and was anxious to enlist as soon as
possible. He headed right back to Toronto using the old
trolley that ran from Toronto to Lake Simcoe and the journey
had so many stops and took so long that he kept worrying that
the war would be over before he got to the city.
He eventually ended up with the University Companies
formed as reinforcements for the Princess Pat's. It was soon
after joining this group that his Colonel sent for him. The
colonel's acquaintance, Professor James Mavor (father of
Dora Mavor Moore and grandfather of Mavor Moore, giants
on the Canadian arts scene) and told him of the talents of Mr.
McLaren who Mavor had seen presenting shows for cottagers
at_Lake Simcoe. Mayor urged the colonel to make use of this
PG. 4. VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1977.
1737,Z1. .It rrCarran
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