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09 July 2018
Red Set: The History of Gang of Four is Launched!
Jim's an old friend.
The band is an old favourite.
Because I'm old, I was around to take some of the photos in the book.
It'll all go down in the nation's capital:
Black Squirrel Books and Espresso Bar1073 Bank StreetOttawa
Ottawa friends and readers, please come by.Thursday, July 12, 20189:00pm
No weak men in the books at home!
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05 July 2018
The Great Canadian Lesbian Pulp Novel?
Sadly, no; but I think my expectation was justified. See if you don't agree. Here's the beginning of my review, which was posted yesterday on the Canadian Notes & Queries website:
Strange Desires [?]
Alan Malston [?]
Toronto: News Stand Library. 1949
160 pages
The title of this novel is either Strange Desires or Strange Desire. It doesn't matter which because "Strange" is key. Anyone familiar with post-war paperbacks will recognize the word as code for "lesbian" fiction. Delicate lingerie, gentle caresses, and tender kisses will feature. An insecure, vulnerable, and somewhat unstable young woman (more often than not a blonde) will likely be seduced by a confident, slightly older woman (usually brunette). The young woman will become increasingly insecure, vulnerable, and unstable as a result, until finding safe harbour in the arms of a man. The slightly older brunette may or may not commit suicide.
Those unfamiliar with that code word in 1949 would’ve been aided by the cover pitch: “WHAT MAN COULD SATISFY HER — STRANGE DESIRES.” But for the truly dim-witted, everything is laid out in the back cover copy:
Am I right or am I right?Adele was sophisticated, spoiled and reckless, and her inspired strip dance performed with a snake as partner set men's blood pounding and women's tongues to wagging. Her inseparable female companion seemingly did not quench Adele's desire for the conquest of men and for the one man in particular who seemed capable of resisting every trick and every charm.
Before wasting good money on tracking down a copy, you'll want to read the rest of the review:
Weird, But Not Really StrangeNote: Not to be confused with...
 |
| Strange Desire Wayne Wallace Hollywood: Brandon House, 1965 |
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02 July 2018
Hugh MacLennan, My Favourite Martian
 |
| Each Man's Son Hugh MacLennan Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1962 Cover by Frank Newfeld |
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01 July 2018
Laura Salverson's 'For Canada' for Canada Day
A poem – and prayer – by Laura Salverson, from Wayside Gleams, her only collection of verse, published in 1925 by McClelland & Stewart.
For Canada
Grant us, O Lord, within the coming year.
Some vision of our noble destiny...
* * * *
Give unto us the strength to face anew
Adversity and sorrows... or again
Good fortune, with that valiant humbleness
Which ever marks a depth of inward grace;
Grant us, we pray, sincere, courageous hearts.
Wide sympathies, with minds that seek to see
In giving joy, and pride in honest toil,
In beauty, truth, and good for all mankind;
For every race, for every land, we pray;
Lift them, O God, from out enthralling thought
And prejudice, that they, directing, find
Thy presence manifest on land and sea.
But last, O Lord, for this is our Canada
We crave Thy blessing and eternal aid;
Keep her fair soul unflinching, aye, and true
That she, among the nations, may arise.
Made string with the greatness from the fount within,
Imbued with love that knows not any death,
This gracious land, so young, so little tried.
O'er-shadow her with Thy own righteousness.
That she may stand a New Jerusalem
Where man, by giving much, may gather more;
Where thy same speech and creed of kindliness
At last take root to flourish far and wide,
Till thereon in very truth become
The citadel of justice on earth.
* * * *
Grant us, O Lord, within the coming year,In 2014, I bought this first and only edition of Wayside Gleams for one dollar. The dust jacket features an advert for eight other McClelland & Stewart books.
The vision of our final destiny —
A nation worthy of her ancient dead —
A fabric perfected from deathless dreams.
I haven't read one.
How 'bout you?
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25 June 2018
The Dustiest Bookcase: E is for Eaton
Short pieces on books I've always meant to review (but haven't).
They're in storage as we build our new home.
Patience, please.
Memory's Wall
Flora McCrae Eaton
Toronto: Clarke Irwin, 1956
213 pages
The Bombardier Guide to Canadian Authors places Flora McCrae Eaton as second only to Malcolm Frye. Both writers transcend the boundaries of our literature: Frye rates 6½ out of a possible five skidoos, while Lady Eaton is an even six. According to the Guide, Morley Callaghan is a third the writer she is, and yet I've never read Lady Eaton's work.
Memory's Wall was Flora McCrae Eaton's second and last book. The first, Rippling Rivers: My Diary of a Camping Holiday, was published in 1920 by the T. Eaton Company, the department store headed by husband Sir John Craig Eaton. That just two books propelled her to such heights in the Bombardier Guide speaks to her talent.
Before moving to St Marys, Ontario, our home these past ten years, I'd never seen a copy of Memory's Wall. They're not at all uncommon in this small town. My copy, purchased four blocks down the street, set me back a dollar.
It's signed.
The Eatons were once prominent in St Marys; Lady Eaton's father-in law, Timothy, had a store on Queen Street, as did his brother Robert. They stand with celebrated violinist Nora Clench (Lady Streeton) and Arthur Meighen as the town's most famous residents. The latter, our ninth prime minister, provided a forward to Memory's Wall.
It begins: "This book is truly a Canadian product."
That's as far as I've made it.
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24 June 2018
Root Beer for a Sober Fête de la St-Jean Baptiste
The visage of Louis-Joseph-Paul-Napoléon Bruchési, Italian-Canadian Archbishop of Montreal, dominates the first page of this 1898 Souvenir de la fête de la St-Jean Baptiste, but the most prominent spot belongs to the English firm of Newball & Mason, which placed this ad at the very top of the front cover:
I'd long been aware that root beer was once promoted by teetotals – Hires sold it as the "temperance drink for temperance people" – but had never seen the beverage described as the "Biere de Temperance."
Don't like root beer? Newball & Mason had other drinks to lure one away from that ol' demon alcohol: botanic beer, hop ale, ginger beer, ginger ale, horehound beer, and Devonshire Cider were just six.
Looking through the many ads in the Souvenir, I see no other teetotals.
Newball & Mason's address – 943 St-Laurent – was razed in the 'seventies to make way from the Ville-Marie Expressway. I'm betting the Nottingham, Angleterre firm had long since vacated the building.
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