[Candrama] 19th century Canadian vaudeville

[Don Rubin]

Len lives in Niagara and can be contacted at lwconolly at gmail.com

Don Rubin

Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
________________________________
From: Brian Morton <mortonbg1999 at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2026 1:09:23 PM
To: Don Rubin <drubin at yorku.ca>
Cc: candrama at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca <candrama at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Re: [Candrama] 19th century Canadian vaudeville

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<mailto: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<mailto:jennyweisz at musicalstagecompany.com>>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 11:29:27 AM
To: Don Rubin <drubin at yorku.ca<mailto: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







_______________________________________________
Candrama mailing list
Candrama at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca<mailto:Candrama at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca>
https://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/candrama


--
Brian Morton
www.theatre-erebus.ca<http://www.theatre-erebus.ca>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/candrama/attachments/20260114/59006641/attachment-0001.htm>