Albert V. Trueman
Floyd S. Chalmers has had a long and distinguished career on 'Both Sides of the Street'; that is to say, as a highly successful business man and servant of the public, on the one hand, and as a fervent, continuing supporter of the arts, on the other. As a boy, Chalmers read the Horatio Alger books, all of which treated the theme, as Floyd states it in a classy phrase, of 'upward mobility', a phrase which exactly describes the inevitable course of his life, as he set his sights high and rose rapidly in business achievement, and in his taste for literature and the other arts. At twenty-seven years of age he was made editor of The Financial Post, a job which he filled brilliantly for seventeen years. His association with the Maclean-Hunter publishing company, of which he became President in 1950, lasted for six decades.
Before he was out of his 'teens his interest in art, music and theatre took root, and continued to grow. He valued the arts not only as a source of personal enrichment, but as an enduring bond which helps to hold society together and minimize the troublesome differences and antipathies which diminish us all in our less civilized moments. His attitude toward Quebec and bilingualism is refreshingly sane and liberal.
Both sides of the Street is a fascinating book, rich in the details of a long, active and fruitful life. Its style is always clear, forceful and interesting. He has no false modesty. He does not play down his triumphs or skip over his difficulties. That now and then he irritated and gained the resentment of powerful men - R.B. Bennett among them - was inevitable for a man of his abilities and aggressive nature. His references to colleagues and employees are open, often generous, sometimes bluntly critical and - one believes - always fair. His record, in fact, of a long life devoted, in the main, to the publishing industry and to support of the arts is a piece of Canadian history which scholars will need to consult. How many prominent business men in this country could produce a comparable document?
In this short review for Theatre History in Canada, I must pass over his business career - outstandingly successful though it was - and make at least brief, if inadequate, reference to the long and generous involvement of Floyd Chalmers and his wife, Jean, with music and theatre. Early in his career he was instrumental in the founding of the Canadian Opera Company, and later became President of its governing body. He exerted a strong influence on its policies and plans, and characteristically worked hard at the troublesome problems of finance, and building an audience and reputation.
For forty years he and his wife were involved in working in the interests of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, very successfully in the raising of money. Jean Chalmers joined the TSO Women's Committee, of which she became the Vice-President in consequence of the 'zeal and ability'; with which she performed her extremely useful services. In fact, Jean Chalmers was an enthusiastic and able partner in all Floyd's activities in support of the arts - not to say that from time to time she didn't strike out on her own!
Their contributions to the theatre are most conspicuously evident in their association with the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, of which Floyd was President in 1966 and 1967. In 1962 the family (father, mother, Joan and Wallace) formed the Chalmers Foundation, the assets of which eventually amounted to a million dollars. With Foundation money and private funds, they served Stratford richly and variously, made individual awards, assisted generously in the restoration of the Avon Theatre in Stratford, gave a house in Stratford to the Festival, helped theatrical groups in several Canadian cities, commissioned the highly successful opera, Riel - and so on, and on. After a family conference in 1979, the Chalmers Foundation was made over to the Ontario Arts Council for purpose of administration.
There are many ways in which the arts may be supported by private citizens, but a combination of giving and raising money, and intelligent, concerned, continuing hard work is incomparably the best. This is the way the Chalmers chose, early in life, and continued for decade after decade. All honor to them and their record.