My grandfather, Jules Crepeau, middle with hat with dark band, beside Mayor Mederic Martin, cap. And some aldermen.
Hmm. I was scoping the web freestyle and discovered as song written in the twenties called Hello Montreal.
Perfect for my story, Milk and Water, about Montreal in 1927, when my grandfather was Director of City Services and when the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII and his younger brother, George, the future Duke of Kent, visited Canada and were received at City Hall at the beginning of their trip and stayed for a few days of leisure on the way back.
This song, Hello Montreal, was written by Willie Eckstein and is all about Montreal's status as a wet city, so to speak. Not a dry city. Full of Speak Easy's or is it Speakeasies.
Well, this is what I need... My play is about typhoid and the right to free drinking water, and about French vs English in Quebec, but since The Prince liked to party, I'll have him go to a speakeasy. I don't think that's much of a stretch.
Which one. Rockhead's didn't open until a year later.
The lyrics to Hello Montreal follow.. and they are PERFECT for my story. But first this story... My husband's grandfather, Thomas Wells, President of Laurentian Spring Water was married to May Fair, a first cousin to General Douglas MacArthur. Well, she was a tall, thin good looking women who liked her booze. When she travelled down south, she would hide bottles of booze under her kids' pillows. When the agents came to check, she'd say "Don't wake the kids."
And I also read that Willie Eckstein was a pianist in a motion picture palace and verry popular. I can put in my Marion Nicholson story, when I write it. She went to the Motion Pictures in 1912.
Now for the lyrics..
shhhhh) Speak easy, (shhhh) Speak easy,
Said Johnny Brown; I’m gonna leave this town, Ev’rything is closing down.
(shhhh) Speak easy, (shhhh) Speak easy,
And tell the bunch: I won’t go East, won’t go West, Got a diff’rent hunch:
I’ll be leaving in the summer, And I won’t come back till fall,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
With a stein upon the table, I’ll be laughing at you all,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal. I’m on my way, I’m on my way,
And I’ll make whoop-whoop whoopee night and day.
Anytime my wifey wants me,
You can tell her where to call,
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.
That old tin pail, that old tin pail,
Was never meant to carry ginger ale.
There’ll be photographs of brew’ries
All around my bedroom wall,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
(shhhhh) Speak easy, (shhhh) Speak easy,
Asked Tommy Gray; I must know right away,
Are the gals up there okay?
(shhhhh) Speak easy, (shhhhh) Speak easy,
Said Johnny Brown;
You ain’t been hugged, ain’t been kissed,
Till you’ve hit that town:
I got the lyrics from the Deco Montreal website.
http://artdecomontreal.com/congress/music/en/
