[Candrama] 19th century Canadian vaudeville

[Brian Morton]

Hello there Can Drama Listserv.

I have been working on a play about the "Deborah" scandal of May and June
1913.  The play by William Legrand Howland was the subject of two
censorship court cases in Toronto and the whole affair was covered
extensively in the Toronto newspapers.

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/tric/article/view/7529/8588

The best article about the case that I have found was by
Conolly, L.W. aka Leonard Conolly

https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Conolly%2C%20L.W.

Does anyone on this listserv know  if he is still alive, and perhaps
willing to discuss his research and conclusions?  I'm based out of Hamilton
myself.

I have spent this past month on a speculative reconstruction of Howland's
lost three act play, based upon the various synopsis and characters
descriptions in the journalism of the time period.   Ultimately I would
like to create a play kind of loosely inspired by Frayn's play "Noises
Off", in which we watch the play, and then watch the backstage shenanigans
and the censorship battles.   So it was easier for me to recreate a
complete, hopefully stageable, version of all of Howland's lost play.

Also I was able to obtain a copy of the final two acts of the play out of
the copyright archives of the Library of Congress; although it is clearly.
a later revision dated October 15, 1913.  The second act in particular was
extensively revised, and bears very little resemblance to what was staged
in Toronto in June.

Under the title, "The Smoldering Flame", the play was revived in September
1913, with a different cast.  It ran for a week in Philadelphia at the
Adelphi Theatre before being rushed into New York, where it was performed
for but a single performance on Tuesday September 23, 1913 at the
Forty-eighth  Street Theatre.   There are more than 25 reviews of that
single performance, which revealed that once again. the play had been
heavilly revised from the Toronto version of the play.

Any leads on tracking down Mr Leonard Conolly, or any other lines of
research would be. gratefully appreciated.

All the best

Brian Morton

On Mon, Oct 27, 2025 at 9:53 AM Don Rubin <drubin at yorku.ca> wrote:

> Is anyone on this list familiar with the Canadian vaudeville scene in the
> late 19th century? If so, you might want to contact Jennifer Weisz who sent
> me this enquiry. I told her it is a bit too specific for me as a Canadian
> theatre historian but would pass it on in case anyone knew the area.
>
> Your interest in reading  on appreciated.
>
> *Don Rubin*
>
> *Professor Emeritus, York University*
>
>
> *From:* Jenny Weisz <jennyweisz at musicalstagecompany.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 22, 2025 11:29:27 AM
> *To:* Don Rubin <drubin at yorku.ca>
> *Subject:* Research Conversation on Theatre in 1890s Toronto and the
> Trial of Clara Ford
>
>
> My name is Jenny Weisz and I am the General Manager at The Musical Stage
> Company in Toronto, the largest professional musical theatre organization
> in Canada.
>
> We are currently developing a new musical about the 1894 Trial of Clara
> Ford, and our writing team from the United Kingdom will be visiting Toronto
> soon to conduct research. As part of the story, we are exploring the
> theatre scene in Toronto in the 1890s, particularly Clara’s connection to
> the Sam T. Jack Creole Vaudeville Company.
>
> We would love to connect with you to learn more about Toronto’s theatrical
> landscape during that period and to better understand how performance and
> popular entertainment might have intersected with Clara’s life and social
> world. Is this an area you feel you could speak about? If so, we would be
> very interested in arranging a brief conversation or meeting while the
> writers are in town.
>
> Thank you so much for your time and looking forward to hearing from you.
>
> Best,
>
> Jenny Weisz
>
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Brian Morton
www.theatre-erebus.ca
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