Ominous Legislation for 2012 Canada,

A beautiful house somewhere, I can't remember where. I took it for my desktop pleasure.

I like to look at beautiful rooms so I surf the Internet and then put the prettiest ones, the ones that speak to me, on my desktop.

I only put this one here to make a point. I don't own the copyright. I can't even remember who does.

Today, I was surfing Google News to see the most popular topics. Angelina Jolie for A, Beyonce for B (the usual) and then NOT George Clooney but  C-11 for C. Bill C-11. The proposed Canadian copyright legislation.

I stopped right there.

C-11 is Canada's Sopa, except there's no outrage from the Canadian version of the BIG websites. And right now behind the scenes wrangling is supposedly going on, by those well-paid lobbyists, right in our fair country, to make Bill C-11 HARSHER, not more benign.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/25/bill-c-32-copyright-the-movie/

C-11, the Copyright Bill is on the plate at this session of Parliament, as is the costly, unnecessary omnibus crime bill and, ah, these changes to social security just announced.

I smell a rat. A big fat hairy neo-con rat with long long whiskers that are right now prying into the private lives of every Canadian.

Harper announced these "BIG" changes to social security last week, while out of town, and of course that raised the ire of Canadians, many of whom are Boomers, like me.

I smell a rat because on the CBC news website, they have run a poll. "What's the most important issue facing MP's in the House and 40 percent vote for Social Security and only 8 and 10 percents for the C-11 and the Omnibus Crime Bill.

Of course, CBC may be for old farts, but this is scary. This whole social security announcement by our esteemed Prime Minister, may be a BIG DIVERSION to get through these truly frightening bills, designed to straight-jacket average citizens by criminalizing their behavior.

(Not that it's only young people who download stuff from the Internet, old folks do to, from what I see. And everyone else: A while back, ahem, someone I know told a work buddy about an interesting TV show he has on dvd, the person was interested, so he offered to lend the dvd to the person, but the person, a thirty plus professional, said "Don't bother, I'll just download it." DVDs are cumbersome for the modern generations. Loading a disk into a player is harder than getting a ladder, climbing up on the roof to adjust the antenna, while your kid yells to you from the living room, "It's good, better, worse, nah, you lost it. Dad, can I go, now, and play with my friends in the park with the dangerous monkey bars and perverts.")

As I wrote in a previous post, it's ironic. Hollywood was behind SOPA and PIPA in the United States yet Hollywood exists because a group of creative artists back in the 1900's wanted to escape the ALL POWERFUL Edison and his monopoly on patents.  The Oppressed become the Oppressors.

And America will not get this SOPA law, due to the imagination and vigilance of their Internet companies, but Canada might. Silly old complacent Canada. Full of old farts, like me, worried about their social security.  But still content to pay twice as much as Americans for all things media.  We Canadians pay through the nose for everything, satellite, cell phone service, even our digital books cost twice as much here as in the US. And now we're the ones who are going to get the crappy law that will diminish our democracy, and disempower the middle class.

All very ominous.

Last week, on Google News, all I saw on the headlines was the word HARPER. I smelled a rat there, too. (But I was too lazy to change my location, to say, England, where I wouldn't see his name or pasty face ever.)

 Maybe they should pass this C-11 law and we ALL should get off the Internet, before it's too late.

(As I often post, it's our illustrious Governor General, David Johnston, esteemed educator and Law Professor,  who advised all Canadian parents to get online in the 90's for the sake of our children's education - and now that they are online, they are to be passive consumers, not innovative or EMPOWERED citizens... or be criminalized. Is that what you had in mind, Dr. Johnston? You've read 1984, I imagine.

 Or is it already too late?  What with the new loosy-goosy privacy policies of Google (they are at this moment likely scanning this post for keywords, info on my habits, hopes and dreams,  they can use to sell me stuff, information which later might be used to control me, threaten me, bribe me, when this same marketing info (this post) is turned over to my Dear Government due to some possible infringement of copyright laws. (I've read 1984 and all the other dystopic classics. Maybe this was all inevitable, given human nature.)

(Of course, their "eye in the sky" or Big Brother-Marketing Division,  will think I am in the market for a 12 million dollar loft in Tribeca, by my surfing habits. )

They have us hooked, in many ways, and now, like drug addicts, we are at their mercy.

In the US they know what to do to keep the population, their 99%,  anesthesized.  Food is still cheap (junk food, 'comfort' food at least and the poor are morbidly obese with no health care) and so is the entertainment. And critical thinking is highly discouraged.  Despite all of George Clooney's best efforts. (And he's likely for SOPA, being "Hollywood" and Google is against it.. I'm soooo confused.)

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/27/people-will-still-pirate-if-george-clooney-says-not-to/

 Bread and circuses!  And there are always the jails. Jails coming to a snowy country near you.

Whatever is good for business is 'good'. "Democracy is bad for business" Therefore democracy is 'bad'.

Capone and Edward VIII and Edward Beck

Well, I found something interesting, looking up "Al Capone + Montreal" on the Internet for my play Milk and Water  about Montreal in 1927, during the era of American Prohibition, using my grandfather, Jules Crepeau as a character. He was Director of Services in Montreal all through the 1920's.

This pic is a still from a YouTube film. (The original movie, Chicago, aired in 1927, you know, the story of Roxy Hart, is it, that inspired the popular musical a while back.)

In early July, 1930, a few months before my grandfather, Jules Crepeau, was forced to resign by Houdists on the Municipal Council, the Gazette published an article comparing Montreal Crime with Chicago crime.

It's not an example of stellar reportage. Indeed, I wonder what it was really all about.

Apparently, a Chicago judge, passing through Montreal, claimed to a local reporter that "Chicago is not a healthy city to live in."

Then an anonymous person, upset by the criticism,  wrote a letter to someone and this someone showed it to City Council and asked for their opinion, and it was published in the Gazette.

This anonymous Chicagoan said that he has seen more racketeering in Montreal than in Chicago. That there is more open gambling in Montreal than in Cicero (Al Capone's hangout). And as for immorality, Montreal makes Chicago look like a village."

Chief Langevin of the Montreal Police Corps was asked to answer to this anonymous letter, and said the usual, that they are always closing up gambling houses and houses of ill-fame, but they needed the addresses first.

He said "We have no gangsters in Montreal. We have officers at every train station looking for suspicious characters and many have been deported."

Alderman Bray, Chairman of the Executive Committee says that the criticism does not come from a Montrealer, but from a Chicagoan, who is upset by a remark from another Chicagoan criticizing his city. True enough.

A silly article, that shows that Al Capone was known in Montreal circles. Again, I have to wonder: wonder what was  purpose and who "planted" it in the Gazette.

Oh, let's say it was crusading reporter Edward Beck...(I have no idea.) Beck died in October of this year, a month after my grandfather got 'let go' so he got some revenge in the end. He hated my grandfather and McConnell apparently.

I might write a story based on his life, it would be interesting.

Now, in a 1985 article, Tommy Schnurmacher wrote a piece about Montreal night life and opened with the line that "Montreal has been famous for its nightlife ever since Al Capone came down from Chicago to party all night." It's just a lead, so means little...I must go back over my Montreal Then and Now. If there is a Montreal/Capone story,  Edgar Andrew Collard would have written it I think.

His book is where I got the VERY USEFUL  info about the Prince of Wales, David, Edward VIII, that he liked to party with Mederic Martin.

Don't Blame Us Boomers, Blame Consumerism!

Horse and carriage, Richmond Quebec. Turn of the Last Century. This is likely the carriage that took Finance Minister Peter Mackenzie around Richmond Country during the 1912 provincial election.


Well, there's been an awful lot about Quebec's budget in the News, what with Mario Dumont saying that without equalization Quebec is as badly off as Greece (without the 24/7 blue skies and cheap wine.). And now one of his advisors, the 42 year old Eric Duhaime is blaming Mom and Dad.  In a new book L'État contre les jeunes: Comment les baby-boomers ont détourné le système 


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Boomers+selfishness+leading+bust+author/6059130/story.html#ixzz1kl892VxV

(Hey, when you cut and paste from the Gazette article it automatically puts in the link. Cool!)

Apparently, he says we're spending too much on health care and not enough on education. 

Well, well. Be careful Monsieur Duhaime. If the Boomers don't have health care it's the Boomers' kids who are going to have to take care of them. Hey, even with some reasonable health care, you are going to have to take care of them. Believe me. I've been there. Of course, there's always euthanasia. Not a bad idea: I'm considering it for myself, after having watched my mother suffering due to incompetent medical care at the end of her life in a pricey privatized Rest Home. 

Considering the fact everything might be privatized when the time comes (a representative of one of those American Rest Home Corporations warned me that will be the case) and I won't have 10,000 a month or more for my end of life care, a little pill seems the smart thing to do.  Hey with Harper's Social Security cuts I may have no choice. Especially since, we live privatized lives these days, a by-product of consumerism. (Don't blame us boomers, blame consumerism, I say.)

Now, I do think I have a unique (if not a blanket) perspective on things budgetary, having researched and written Threshold Girl. I know what it was like for 'an average family' in 1900 in Quebec. An average family under economic stress. If you read the ebook, you will too.

Margaret and Norman Nicholson, two respectable and very frugal people who did everything right all their lives, would not have survived - in old age - but for financial support from their kids and all kinds of other support from friends and community. 

There was a reason Norman always paid his Masonic fees, which were considerable, even when totally broke!

Norman worked until the day he died at 72. Doctor's bills were always a problem. A lot of people couldn't pay them. In fact, Norman made extra money working as 'collector' for a couple of doctors. I have the documentation. Lots of bills of 10 dollars, some as high as 35. In a day and age when 100 dollars a month was a good salary, but few made that.

Want to see what it cost to live in 1900, for a typical Quebec Family. .A List for the Laurier Era

Anyway, I just happen to have on hand the 1912 Quebec Budget. Norman Nicholson kept it. I think it must be from the Montreal Witness. Of course, my eplay Milk and Water is about Montreal in 1927 and the emergence of the Quebec 'welfare' state. 

Here's a summary of the budget

:

	Quebec Provincial Budget Speech, 1912 (From insert in Richmond Times Guardian - Nicholson Family copy.) Hon. Mr. P S G Mackenzie, Provincial Treasurer, Shows Splendid Financial Standing of Province - $905 910,04. (Mackenzie was the Liberal Member of the Legislature for Richmond - re-elected in 1912, with the help of the Nicholson carriage.) I have transcribed excerpts relevant to certain web site themes: the automobile, the temperance movement, education, forestry.Comparison of results: Recalling that the last Conservative Administration were in office from December 17, 1891 to May 28, 1897, when Mr. Marchand assumed the reins of power for the Liberals, he compared the results of the two regimes… The Treasurer then went on to say that he had seen, from the time the Liberal party took office in 1897, up to 30th of June, 1911, not only had the public debt been decreased from every point of view, and the interest charges diminished and equilibrium restored, but the party was able to say that it had largely increased expenditure for pubic instruction, agriculture, rural roads and colonization. The ordinary receipts for the the past year paid out of ordinary revenue consisted of: Legislative and departmental buildings, painting roof and repairs, construction of new library, Jacques Cartier Normal School furniture, iron bridges, Normal School Quebec purchase of land, Dairy School Ste Hyacinthe, repair and construction of farm buildings. Assets and Liabilities: The honorable gentleman explained that during the 1910-1911, the government had increased the assets of the province, a sum of 21,009,941.12. The funded debt stood at 25,661,284.15 For the current year, among the items that had increased expenditures beyond the estimates, he mentioned 10,000.00 for the committee of organization of the French Language; 6,405.77 for the reception of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, 40,000 for farmers' clubs, 80,000,00 for rural roads. The Quebec Bridge Subsidy: Referring to this matter, he recalled in 1900 there was voted to the Quebec Bridge Company the sum of 250,000 to be payable 30,000 per annum for eight years. At that time it was contemplated that the bridge, in addition to being a railway bridge would provide a highway for vehicles and pedestrians. The bridge collapsed in 1907.The Last Census The honorable gentleman also touched upon this subject. In the 1901 census the population of Quebec was 1, 648,898, and under the census of June last it was 2,005,805. The Dominion subsidy to the Province of Quebec based on population, were annually 959, 252.80 being based on moribund census of 1861. Thanks to the persistent efforts of he Prime Minister in leading the successful demand made by the provinces for an adjustment in terms, provided by the BNA Act, the subsidy was increased. Lands and Forests. Referring particularly to this source of provincial revenue, he said that he receipts for 1910-11 from the Crown Lands Department had exceeded the receipts for 1909-10 by 79, 181.81. Estimated results for the current year, 1,410,000.00Licenses: (See: temperance: page 4) Under this head the honorable gentleman remarked that if we are to judge by the revenue returns, the conclusion would be that the people were drinking to the health of the nation. The revenue from this source last year was 983,663.00 an excess of 88,664.00 over the estimates. Education The Treasurer devoted a good deal of remark to this important question. He explained that there would be a further increase of 150, 646,70 in the estimates for 1912-1913 over those of 1911-12. The total vote for the latter being 1,065,950.40 as compared to 1, 16,596.0 for the latter. He gave the details of this increase and about 125,000 for distribution among the school municipalities, which paid all their teachers annual salaries of not less than 100 dollars to increase that to 130 dollars and later 150 a year, the object of the Government being to encourage the payment by local effort of a higher standard of salary as well as the employment of qualified teachers. (EDITOR: In 1910 Quebec's teachers were the lowest paid in Canada.) Referring to Laval and McGill Universities he commented on the great services they had paid in building up the state. In the past they had been mainly sustained by public munificence. Now, however the time had come when a united public demanded that the state should aid their great and good work . A substantial subsidy was also provided to Bishop's College in he estimates. Agriculture and Rural Roads (the impact of the auto) In consequence of the amendments to the law relating to automobiles, last session, by increasing the duties, there had been a significant augmentation of revenue from that service. He had no doubt that this source would increase from year to year, until it reached a very considerable amount, as it was obvious that improved highways would greatly increase the number of automobiles. He thought the automobilists deserved to be regarded as pioneers of the good roads movement. They had more than any other class drawn attention to the wretched condition of our highways In conclusion the honorable gentleman spoke as follows: Wise expenditure, within the limit of revenue, is in my opinion the truest economy. Let us all patriotically bear our share of the Burdens of the state, and encourage every movement toward the development of our resources; to uplift the moral and social conditions of our people; to make them happy and contented at home; and admired and respected abroad. Tighsolas | The Nicholson Family Saga | Canada 1910 | Historical Terms | 1908 Letters | 1909 Letters | 1910 Letters | 1911 Letters | 1912 Letters | 1913 Letters

Buttering up the Future King! O Canada!

Edward VIII, as prince of Wales, in a butter sculpture at the 1925 British Empire Exhibition. Library and Archives.

Geez! Apparently, the Prince was honored by this sculpture, that was a promotion of both the dairy and refridgeration industries in Canada.

You know, I might stick this in my story,Milk and Water. The story is about Montreal in 1927 and centers around a visit by the Royal Prince for the country's Diamond Jubilee.

Apparently, this was the only representation of  anything to do with Native Canadians at the Canadian Pavilion.

At the beginning of the movie the King's Speech, Bertie, the Duke of York, is giving a speech at the closing.  I have the Official Guide of the 1925 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. It was a two year event.

I bought it off eBay while writing another play, Looking for Mrs. Peel, which takes place in 1967 and goes backwards. 1967 was the year of Expo67, my favourite year, so I have a thing for Exhibitions.

Now, it was while researching the 1900 French Exhibition that I discovered, to my amazement, that the Canadian Pavilion contained an exhibit of Pelee Island wines from Ontario.

I was surprised, since I had only heard of Pelee wines lately. (I often go to Hawkesbury to buy them at the local LCBO as the SAQ doesn't carry them.) Could it be? Was Canada into winemaking in 1900? And would they dare to presume to sell it to the French? Well, yes, so it seems.

Today, I wondered, out of the blue, if Canada exhibited Ontario wine at the 1924 and 1925 exhibitions, considering that the US was under Prohibition and Ontario had strict regulations concerning wine and hard liquor.

So I consulted the Official Guide and it appears, NO. Only Cypress and Australia were showing off their wines. "Australia is specializing in wine and proclaims of the day when she will be able to compete with France for the trade of the world. True enough.. France and Italy and Spain and Chile  and California and Canada and, and, and, and.

Canada had tobacco products on exhibit and fish and forestry products too. And dairy of course. In the Official Guide, in the Canada Section it says "You must not miss a two tonne silver nugget and a butter model of the Prince of Wales and the story of 'a shanty man's life.'

The Official Guide has full page portraits of the King and the Queen and the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of York and Colin Firth. Ah...And some Princess they left out of the King's Speech. Princess Mary, a patroness of the Women's Section. I wonder if she handed out pamphlets at the kiosk of the Women's Total Abstinence Society.  It was situated in Clean Way, on Quality Street. The Duchess of York was also a patroness of this Women's Section, but from what I've read about the future Queen Mom she probably has a seat reserved in the Australian Pavilion, beside the wine exhibit. Had I been alive, I would have met her there!

The Pelee Wine Exhibit, 1900 Paris Exhibition. Canadian Pavilion. Oh La! La!

I found an ad for 1913 for Pelee wines, saying that comparatively few people know of this wine, that it is "Canadian Port" containing a low percentage of alcohol and of a red, rich colour. (I found a bit fro 1912 saying that it was a banner year for grapes.)

$1.50 a gallon!

Hmm. I wonder how much alcohol, likely 5 percent or less. Of course today, the wine is 12 and 13 percent, the usual.

Another article I found from 1883 said that vinyards at Pointe Pelee were established in 1866 by a Brantford guy, a Mr. Hamilton. He built a three storey stone winehouse.

They produced dry and sweet catawba, isabella, claret, port and sherries. Hmm. And communion wines and invalid wines. Wine was often prescribed for ailments at the turn of the last century. I have some family letters where people speak of this. Lucky for them, as most of the correspondents were Presbyterian, adherents to temperance. Being 'an invalid' was an excuse to drink.

Today, we need no excuses! Especially since Ontario wines have come into their own.

This same article says that Ontario wine is being introduced in the West Indies and Great Britain. But in 1900 they brought it to Paris, and along with Edison's moving sidewalk, it didn't really catch on.

Boardwalk Empire Montreal -Milk and Water

Crepeaus in Atlantic City 1927 ish.

The other day we went to Hawkesbury to buy wine. This, apparently, isn't strictly legal. So I'm a bit of a bootlegger. I used to think the LCBO's wine was cheaper than the SAQ's wine, but I've done more research and it isn't really. According to wine afficonados who have checked. But they do have Ontario wines, which I like. The SAQ doesn't carry much Ontario wine. Hard liquor is more expensive in Ontario.

That makes the trip to the LCBO worth it. Also, it's easier to drive West these days with all the traffic into Montreal - and BIG BONUS_ the LCBO's beautiful promotion magazine Food and Drink was out. What a gorgeous thing! And free. There isn't a recipe in in I don't want to try.

So, I'm a bit of a bootlegger, but I doubt I would have been as brave as May Wells, in 1927. Defying the American authorities like she did. My story Milk and Water explains.

Here's the beginning of Milk and Water my prohibition era e-play about Montreal City Politics based on TRUE events. Click on the link for the entire eplay on pdf. The play explains the beginning of the roots of the SAQ and LCBO, of government control of alcohol. In 1927, a 17 dollar case of whiskey cost 56 after taxes, according to a source I read.

Milk and Water

1927 was Canada’s Jubilee year, the 60^th anniversary of Confederation. To celebrate, 2 Royal Princes, David (the future Edward VIII) and George (the future Duke of Kent) took a month long tour of Canada. Upon arrival, at the beginning of August, they were feted, along with UK Prime Minister Baldwin, at Montreal City Hall. A public ceremony was held in front on the steps of the recently refurbished Hotel de Ville, with Mayor Mederic Martin standing in state in his long purple robes. My grandfather, Jules Crepeau, Director of Municipal Departments and his eldest daughter, my Aunt Alice, watched from a perch higher up on the steps.

The Royal Princes would stay in Montreal only 36 hours, then travel across Canada, to return to the City on the St. Lawrence at the end of the month for four days of rest and recreation before returning to England.

 This setting of this play, Milk and Water, takes advantage of this fact.

In 1927, the City of Montreal was at the peak of its influence, a bustling industrial and transportation centre, even if  some Torontonians disparaged the city, claiming that, although happily situated for business, it was corrupt to the core, French and “so hopeless.”

In the 1920’s the Americans had Prohibition and reportedly many crime bosses headed up North to control their empires from Montreal.

Montreal had no Prohibition, although the sale of hard liquor was controlled by a Provincial Liquor Commission. Liquor licenses were handed out primarily to taverns, as well as to restaurants and hotels. According to the Coderre Inquiry into Police Corruption, conducted in the city in 1924 and 25, there were about 1,000 establishments in Montreal serving hard liquor without a license, not speakeasies in the traditional sense, but still operating outside the law.

Montreal, Quebec, September 2, 1927.

A warm autumn night.

The Mayor of Montreal from his office at City Hall: Allo. Mr. Crepeau. 

C’est Mayor Martin. Vous etes rentrer chez vous. Bien.

Jules Crepeau (from his home at 72 Sherbrooke West): Comment peux je vous aider, Monsieur le Mayor.

Mayor: Monsieur Crepeau. I will speak in English as I have a representative of the Royal Prince in my office.

Jules: D’accord. Your Worship. So will I answer in English. What is the problem?

Martin. Problem? No problem. I have a personal favour to ask of you, on behalf of our esteemed Royal guests. All in the strictest confidence, of course.

Martin: Do you remember that Westmount bloke with the bottled wat

Jules: Comme Toujours. As alwayser company, the one with the bullshit name?

Jules: Thomas  Wells?  What’s bullshit about the name?

Martin: Not that name, the name of his company. Laurentian..ah

Jules: Spring Water.

Martin: Yes, the company that sells water it pumps from under Craig Street. Near our giant sewage collector. Not from the Laurentian Mountains.  So, bull shit.

Jules: Yes, well, I believe I have met him just recently at the Royal Reception.

Martin: He’s the short older man with the very very tall young wife.

Jules: Oh, yes, the amiable man with the very tall and very thin and very outspoken young wife.

Martin: The same man.

Jules: What about him?

Martin: Well, we need some of his bottled water delivered tonight to a certain dance club in the midtown.

 Jules: Why?

Martin: Because the Royal Prince might turn up there later on.

Jules: I understand.

Martin. The thing is, I would like 3 gallons delivered, merely as a precaution of course, but no one is to know. No one except this Mr. Wells – and you.

Jules: So he is to deliver it himself. Alone? The President of this company?

Martin: Yes. Discretion is of the utmost importance.

Jules; I see. But how am to reach him on such short notice.

Martin: I’ve already taken care of. The thing is, ah, I would like you to meet him at 11.pm in front of the Mermaid Cafe.

Jules: 11. pm. The Mermaid Cafe? But, I just got in, myself.  There was a meeting of the City Improvement League.  And you know how those ferocious Presbyterian ladies never let you go home.

Martin : Unfortunate. Do you know the address of the Mermaid?

Jules: How could I not?  It’s got a (clears throat) certain widespread reputation.

Martin: Well, well. You are speaking about the excellent dance music, I presume. But the Prince will not show up until after midnight. He is tied up at some stuffy dinner party at the top of the hill, probably at Ravenscrag.

Jules: May I ask, with all due respect, why can’t His Royal Highness get his own people to bring the water. The Ritz Carleton has hundreds of bottles stored in the basement, I’m sure, what with this latest typhoid scare. The Radnor People of Three Rivers are the Official Suppliers.

Martin: The thing is, this, ah, is not an official kind of outing. The Royal Prince is hoping to slip away from his handlers for a few hours.

In fact, this is a personal favour he is asking me, as a personal friend.  Don’t worry, I will send over one of our more ambitious young police officers, un grand gaillard, to perform the heavy work.

All you and Mr…ah…Wells, is it? have to do is can stand outside with the water and wait. You don’t even have to go in. The Prince and his party will enter by the side door. Only then do you have the jugs delivered.

Jules: If it’s after 12am, everyone enters by the side door, I imagine.

Martin: Well, be that as it may.  Apparently, there’s a very good Jazz band playing tonight, the Harlem Kings or Kings of Harlem.  The Prince is young. He has a keen interest in modern forms of music.

And you recognize all the city reporters.

Jules: But they recognize me, too, as the person who, just a year ago, announced to the entire Montreal Press Corps the firm new closing hour of midnight for dance clubs.

Martin: Jules. It’s the Royal Prince. Que voulez-vous?

Jules: Yes, of course. I understand.

Martin: You will be pleased to know, he specifically asked for you. His people thought you did a wonderful job organizing the official reception at City Hall a month ago.

Jules: You mean where we invited about 1,000 too many guests and where the Prince kept glancing at his watch and yawning between handshakes. I’m still fielding angry letters from society matrons who never made it into the reception line.

Martin: Well, yes, yes, That’s done then, I can count on you.

Jules: Certainement, Your Worship. (He hangs up the phone.)

Toujours quelque chose.

Little Girl: Papa?

Jules: Tu es encore debout, Marthe? Ou est Maman?

Girl: Elle prie dans le salon, avec Florida and Cecile.

Jules: Tu dois prier aussi.

Girl: Je n’aime pas prier. C’est ennuyeux. Peux-tu me raconter un histoire?

Jules: No, Il faut que je sorte.

Girl: Juste une courte. Je pars pour couvent demain, tu sais.

Ah, Je ne peux pas ma chouette.

Mais je veux que tu restes.  S’il tu plait.

Jules: Nous avons eu de bons temps à Atlantic City, il y’a deux semaines.

Marthe:Tu n’étais presque jamais avec nous autres. Toujours des meeting.

Jules: (He kisses his daughter). Les rendezvous. Bonne nuit, ma petite. Je promet de t’ammener au couvent moi même demain.

Slam of door.

Setting: Outside a dance hall, Montreal somewhere South of Ste. Catherine, east of University and West of St. Lawrence Boulevard.

Two men, similar in age and body type, both 60 ish, both about 5 foot 8 inches. Both with trim, athletic builds. Both sporting tall bowler hats.

Under his tall bowler, one man has thin black hair and a deep receding hairline, and under his tall bowler, the other man has a healthy head of curly almost wiry hair that is receding only slightly but greying most noticeably.

Both men are well dressed, in white shirts with high-necked collars and  dark blue flannel business suits.  The balding man’s lapels are notched and thin, to match his tie. The curly hair man’s lapels are peaked and wide-  also to match his cravat.

The balding man’s outfit is a more conservative cut, but the style worn by the anglo businessmen of his circle. The curly man’s suit more a la mode, as they say, although still very appropriate for a man of his age of his stature.

These are men of the Upper Middle Class. One English Canadian originally from  Ontario. One French Canadian born in Laval. Both men live with their bossy wives in three storey townhouses in tony sections of Montreal, one on Chesterfield in lower Westmount, one on Sherbrooke Street just a little West of St. Lawrence Street, or St. Laurent.  

The English man is Tom Wells, a businessman and President of Laurentian Spring Water. The French man is Jules Crepeau, a high-ranking City civil servant, the Director of Municipal Departments.

Crepeau arrives in a taxi. A Black Lasalle. He exits the car quickly without paying. Wells drives up in a Bentley, its back seat holding three giant clear glass bottles, the front passenger seat a stack of yellow boxes.

The two men meet and shake hands on the curb in front of The Mermaid Café and Dance Club.

Tom: I brought the bottles myself, as the Mayor Instructed. But I can’t lift them, you know. Sciatica. Curling injury.

Jules: A constable is to arrive shortly.

The front door of the cafe opens and out pour two dozen or so patrons, mostly young men and women, the women in form-fitting flapper dresses with flying fringes and colourful cloche hats, and young men in shiny high-waisted suits with baggy pant legs.

In the background, a song is plays on a Victrola. It is Hello Montreal by Willy Eckstein. A trio sings:

Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.

 Yamo, yamo, I think I want a drink; Yamo, yamo, there’s water in the sink.

 The sink, the sink, the sink, the sink, the sink;

 The good old rusty sink;

 But who the heck wants water when you’re dying for a drink?

 Oh, “We Won’t Get Home Till Morning” Is the best song after all,

 Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.

 There’ll be no more Orange Phosphates,

 You can bet your Ingersoll,

 Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.

The front door closes as the last couple straggles out, just as a tall young policeman in dress blues, broad-shouldered and burly, arrives on foot. He crosses the street and walks toward the older men standing in front of the big black Bentley.

Jules walks up to meet him a few paces from Tom and whispers a few words to the cop.

He returns to stand beside Tom. The cop takes up position beside the front door a few yards away, standing at ease with his arms behind his back and legs slightly apart.

Tom: How long do we wait, then?

Jules (shrugging) As long as is required.

I have some crates, then, in the trunk. For us to sit on.

Jules nods.

He waves the constable over. Instructs the young man as to the matter. Tom gives him some keys. The Cop goes to the car, opens the trunk, grabs a medium-sized brown crate in each hand and carries them past the sidewalk, and places them on either side of the café’s front door.

The cop resumes his position a few yards away. The older men sit on the crates. LAURENTIAN SPRING is written in upside down green lettering on the crates.

The more than middle-aged men squirm and fidget, turning away each other, turning towards each other. Tom examines the streetlights, Jules the road directly in front. Tom adjusts his hat, Jules his tie. Then the two almost identical looking men turn to face each other – but obliquely.

Between them, the café front door opens and two 30ish women, looking the worse for wear, exit on wobbly ankles.

A voice from inside: C’est l’heure de fermeture. Rentrez chez-vous, mes Pitounes.

Another voice, more drunk sounding: Go home flour lovers.

The two men inspect the women as they might a stray cat or dog, without any perceptible change in their expression.

Then a lock on the front door is banged shut and a sign goes up window over Jules’ head: CLOSED! Over Tom’s head: FERME!

There’s a long pause as the men adjust to this slightly uncomfortable situation. Then finally….

Tom: Yanking at his tie knot. Too hot for an autumn night.

Jules: Some like it hot..What does it mean, flower lover?

Tom: Too much make-up. Flour as in face powder. (He makes a motion with his right hand, as if powdering his cheeks and as he does this he purses his lips.)

Jules: Ah.(After another long pause) So, you are the one who put that crazy advertisement in the newspaper?

Tom:  What advertisement. What do you mean?

Jules: The advertisement that said “Don’t drink filthy germ laden city water. Laurentian Spring Water is always the same, pure and wholesome. Do not wait until you are sick to drink it.”

Tom:  My sad Aunt Sally. That particular promotion was placed over 4 years ago.  You can’t possibly remember it word for word.

Jules: I remember it perfectly, believe me. This is my special gift.

Tom: Well, then, you must certainly be aware that we haven’t run anything quite like it since.

Jules: The letter from the City’s Avocat en Chef might have had something to do with your change of heart.

Tom:  No. The fact is, we’ve changed our advertising policy, right about then. We started pushing our new line of soft drinks.  (He pulls out a bottle from each side-pocket and shows them to Jules.)

Jules: (inspecting labels) Soda water and Sweet Ginger Ale.

Tom: No sir, we certainly didn’t cave to the threats from over at City Hall. (He returns the bottles to his pockets.)

You know, we’ve only ever received one lawyer’s letter from you people. Ever. And we’ve run a slew of newspaper ads along the same lives over the years in promotion of our bottled water. No, the most trouble ever we got, before that letter, were a couple of huffy phone calls from Dr. Laberge’s department.

Jules: Of course, The Health Department

Tom:  Your guys couldn’t catch us on anything.

Jules: Yes, all your clever wordplay. “What chances you take if you don’t drink Laurentian water.” “The Safest plan is to drink Laurentian Spring water.” Never quite lying, never quite telling the truth. Not slander, not in the legal sense. But slippery lies are lies just the same.

Jules: Even the name of you company is a sort of lie. Laurentian Spring Water. Your aquifer is under Craig Street. Right downtown in the business district. And there are underground springs all over the city.

Tom: Sure, but our well has the purest water, it’s a proven fact. The scientists at Macdonald College tested back it in 1909, the year of the last typhoid epidemic.

Jules:  Pure, Purer, Purest. Mere words, once again.  What does the word “pure” really mean, exactly?

Tom: Now, what’s wrong with the word Pure?  It’s a great word. A beautiful word. Everyone likes it. Everyone uses it.

Jules: That’s precisely what’s wrong with it. (Pause) A word that everyone uses can’t be a good thing. A word like that means too many different things to different people. And if something is pure, then something has to be impure.

The Devil's in the Details: Milk and Water

Aunt Flo and Mom circa 1927.

I just added a bit to my eplay Milk and Water, about my Aunt Flo, who was 'plucked' from the city streets in and around 1912 to live with my grandparents. Milk and Water is about Montreal in 1927, and it's a Two Solitudes type story, about political corruption and the power of words.

It's in the section where the two men compare families: yesterday I added detail about the death of Morris, Thomas Wells's second son. He died in South America, on a job. I assume he worked for the Canadian Industrialists who were setting up big POWER projects in Mexico and South America in the 1910 era. William Mackenzie, McConnell.

In Milk and Water a powerful French Canadian, Jules Crepeau, and a Westmount Businessman, Tom Wells, have a long talk.

Tom: Three, really, I’m on my fourth marriage. Between us, my wife and I have been in seven marriages.

Jules (Now Jules appears dumbfounded.) C’est vraiment vrai?

Tom: I’ve been widowed 3 times and my wife, well, let’s say, she’s had her adventures. She married her first husband on a dare. No children though, so no harm done. She told the Minister she was a widow so we could get married. (He snickers and makes a jabbing motion toward Jules with his elbow.) I had to grease his palm so there’d be no publication of banns.

Jules: Maybe 30 years is too kind.  I have one wife, of 26 years, and one son, 25 years, and three daughters, well four, if I count sweet Florida, the adopted girl. As a young child, she came begging at our door all the time, around 1912. My wife would feed her, give her a clean new dress and send her home. She’d return a few days later in rags, so one day, we just took her in for good.  And I had a young son who died as an infant. At 3 days old.

Tom: I have 3 daughters and 2 sons. Three, if you count my second son, Morris. He died, in the prime of life really. On his first job as an Engineer. Way down in South America. He drowned, they said. An accident. But he had been a top competitive swimmer at Lower Canada College. And at McGill. So I’ll always have my doubts. My eldest son survived the Belgian Front without a scratch and my second son died on his first job building a dam in Brazil, for Mackenzie’s big concern down there. With McConnell. I got him the job. Through my Rotary Club connections.

Jules: My son, too, is a McGill Engineer.

A while back, I think I found Aunt Flo's family on the 1911 census. The father was a City Worker. So he would have known about Jules and maybe found out where he lived. 

William Fong, Edward Beck, Financiers and Fuddy

Fuddy and May, Thomas Wells and Mary Hardy Fair Wells, my husband's grandparents.

All things are connected, that's for sure.

I am editing Milk and Water my e-play about Montreal in 1927, the Roaring Twenties, the era of American Prohibition, Al Capone, and Elliot Ness (was he real?) and I've found yet another connection between this Milk and Water Story and my Threshold Girl story about 1910 Montreal.

In a bit of dialogue where Fuddy is telling Jules Crepeau, (Director of City Departments and my grandfather) about the death of his youngest son in South America, I decided to get specific.

So I consulted my FONG biography of McConnell to remind myself what South American concerns the Toronto Industrialists were involved in...

Brazil!

So I have Morris Wells die in Brazil. My father in law can't recall exactly where. (Why else would he have been down there? He was an engineer who died on a water power project.)

And I have Thomas opine (is that the word?) that he got his son the job. This likely happened. He was Director of the Rotary for Eastern Canada!

Odd, I'm also working on "The Diary of A Confirmed Spinster" that is the follow up to Threshold Girl. It tells the story of Edith Nicholson and how she lost her great love in a hotel fire.

In this story, I am fiddling around a bit. In real life, her boyfriend disappeared to Mexico in late 1909. I figured out why. They'd had a typhoon in Monterrey and that's where a Mr. William Mackenzie, Toronto tycoon, had a Power Company.

I'm taking guesses here, but I think they are educated guesses. Good guesses.

In Diary of a Confirmed Spinster, I'm fiddling a bit with the story, turning it into a murder mystery involving the opium trade.

Anyway, I noticed that the Fong bio of McConnell mentions Edward Beck, Journalist! He says that Beck is McConnell's biggest enemy journalist. Oh my. So Beck hated McConnell and my grandfather! And McConnell was involved with the Forget's, my grandfather's relations. HMMM. This is much more complicated that even I can figure out. Alas!

I guess I must thoroughly read Fong's Chapter on the Water and Power situation in 1910....
Oh, I did and it's still complicated. In a footnote to the chapter, No. 42. Fong says that Beck probably wasn't a reliable journalist as he lost a defamation suit in 1915. I think he is referring to my grandfather's suit. He 'sort of' lost... he only had to pay 100 dollars.

Hmm.