The Crepeaus in 1920's..6 or 7. Atlantic City probably. (Well, I can see exactly what Jules wore in the Summer of 27..)
As I write Milk and Water, my play about 1927 Montreal, that uses my grandfather and my husband's grandfather as main characters, I've decided to flip through some era Gazettes.
You see, I have reached the point where I need to print out the draft to do an edit - and I don't have any paper.. and it's Christmas madness in the stores.
Lots of interesting stuff in the paper. The Gazette had plenty of ads for Scotch Whiskey and such. Also lots of ads for theatres and gambling as in the races, horse and greyhound. And the fashion ads are lovely, the era styles being so enduring in their appeal.
One summer editorial revealed to me that J.L. Perron, (one of the men who benefited from the Montreal Water and Power purchase by the City of Montreal) was Minister of Roads.
He is cracking down on speeders in 1927. I read somewhere else, in a McGill Thesis I think, that cars in the city increased tenfold during the decade.
Cars and horse drawn vehicles were at war. The horse lobby (livery lobby?) held a giant parade in 1927, where cart horses used in industry were showcased. As in "SEE HOW IMPORTANT HORSES STILL ARE." Mederic Martin attended.
Laurentian Water in 1927 still sent its water around by horse drawn vehicle.
Another article that has relevance to my play: In 1927 they the Parks and Playground people opened a new park and playground for children in Point St. Charles. "If we are to have a strong and virile nation" we need parks like this for kids, said on of the officials presiding over the opening.
"Kids need a safe place to play," said another. "to get them off the streets." "There is scarcely a day when children playing in the streets aren't knocked down-sometimes fatally."
Apparently, someone has promised to pay to have a drinking fountain installed in the park. (Important!)
So, Mothers were afraid of cars in those days...So no wonder they felt good when their sons were safely in motion pictures houses...even if the moralists did not.
And now, with the Laurier Palace Fire, children were to be banned from movie houses. Well, at least they had playgrounds, although not that many. Montreal famously had (has?) far fewer playgrounds than most North American cites.
But it had the Mountain, right? Except the mountain was for rich anglos mostly.
Anyway, I do believe my grandfather was on the Park and Playground Committee. Many social activist Protestant types were on this committee, feeling that green spaces rehabilitated the poor, as long as the poor were kept from behaviors typical of their class.
Water fountains in parks were good, then Dads didn't have an excuse to take off to the tavern.
Today, parks are 'dangerous' places, what with perverts and monkey bars. It's much safer for kids to stay cooped up in the house and garburate media and junk food.
..
Also, I found an ad for clothes. Morgan's I think. Remember the era of corsets and lace, the ad read. Well today it is all simple lines, brief skirts and boy-like tendencies.
Another article talked about the women's movement. Curious and Restless women (as they were called in the 1910's) were now the norm, although when it came to the vote, women were more conservative than men. So the article said.
Social activists were referred to as 'busy women.'
