THE CANADIAN CONCERT PARTY IN FRANCE

Patrick B. O'Neill

Although most Canadians have heard of the Dumbells and the entertainments that they provided during the First World War, few are aware that numerous concert parties operated in France at the same time. This article describes the various actors and companies providing diversion to the Canadian troops, and traces the growth and history of those concert parties.

Bienque la pluparte des Canadiens a entendu parler des Dumbells et des divertissements qu'ils ont fourni pendant la Première Guerre Mondiale, peu d'entre eux sont conscients des soirées de concert nombreuses qui étaient opéré en même temps. Cette article décrit les acteurs et les companies diverses qui ont amusé les troupes, et esquisse de plus la croissance et l'histoire de ces soirées de concert.

Ask the average Canadian about troop entertainment during World War I and his reply will include some reference to the 'Dumbells' who have become, in the popular mind, the epitome of the army concert parties, because of their post-war successes on the Canadian stage, and, more recently because of the Charlottetown Festival recreation of the 'Dumbells' myth. The trappings of this myth were being hung almost before the war was over and with such successful effect that, by the time the Canadian Army published its official history of the war in 1962, the 'Dumbells' had become synonymous with 'concert party':

The period saw the introduction of the divisional concert parties which were to become famous all over the Western Front. As early as March 1916 the popular 'Dumbells' organized by Captain Merton Plunkett, though not yet excused from duty were delighting audiences of the 3rd Division.¹

A surprising statement to find in an authorized account, since Plunkett himself did not form the 'Dumbells' until the summer of 1917. ² It is easy today for people writing about the 'Dumbells' in France to forget that they were only one of thirty or more troupes operating in France. What of the others and where do the Dumbells fit into the whole picture?

What role did entertainment play in the operation of the Canadian Army overseas? One assessment of the concert parties or smokers in the battle zone, written soon after the war, stated:

The armies which were being sent to war in this modern day would require at least as much of recreation and entertainment as they were accustomed to in their civilian life. The practicability of providing for it in camp and barracks is easy to understand, but how it could be worked into the life on the battle front remained for this war, and largely for the Canadian Army to demonstrate. In no other of the armies on the Western Front did the program of recreation assume such large proportions, and in none was it so potent a factor in the maintaining of morale.³

The task of entertaining the troops originally, however, fell to the British. As part of the British Army, the Canadian Army's morale was a British problem.

At the beginning of the war, troops in England were entertained by professional and amateur performers who offered their services freely, under the sponsorship of the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and the Knights of Columbus.⁴ As the war dragged on, the artists found it necessary to ask for remuneration, and by the early months of 1918, the Canadian YMCA alone was paying $9,000.00 a month in entertainers fees for English performers appearing at Canadian Camps in England.⁵ Forced with rising costs, the various British charitable groups had made their Canadian counterparts autonomous by 1916. Although Canadian organizations worked with their British counterparts, they were responsible for raising their own funds and supplying theatres and entertainment for the Canadian troops stationed in England.

Once the Canadian troops reached France in 1915, the same pattern developed. Professional entertainers had volunteered their services quickly and concert parties had begun to tour in France in 1915. Lena Ashwell, an English actress who was born in Canada, worked through the Ladies' Auxillary Committee of the YMCA and the Actresses' Franchise League, to supply entertainers for the base camps in France.⁶ Two touring routes were established: a one-month run from Rouen to Le Havre, and a shorter three-week route from Dieppe to Boulogne. In 'Singing to Canadians', an anonymous performer conveyed her impressions of working these routes:

We drove from place to place in ambulances, often through mud that was knee-deep, and over roads where the ruts were so deep that each yard we threatened to overturn. Often they had to carry us from the car to the hut .... It was hard work, rather. We had to give two concerts each day, and we always gave a third voluntarily, in one of the hospitals. That meant a dozen at least, and often eighteen or twenty songs. Besides that, after each concert they would crowd and shake our hands to pulp.⁷

Ashwell and her supporters aimed to provide 'the best in literature, art, music and drama'; Ashwell's troupe performed selections from The School For Scandal, Macbeth and The Twelve Pound Look. ⁸ Their programme was well received, but the rank-and-file Canadian soldier, once he had experienced the horrors of the front line, demanded a simple form of escapism as well:

Chopin, Grieg, Mendelssohn? where are your laurels when the fighting man finds solace in 'Keep the Home Fire Burning', 'Pack all your Troubles'and 'Roses are Blooming in Picardy?' The writers of these hackneyed, stale effusions, anonymous so far as we were concerned, could move us and lift us more surely with their homely notes than all your classic masters.⁹

The men in the line looked, not for the classical, but for the frivolous:

Yes, we needed our entertainments light as froth, and took that craving with us on leave. What man, however of old time devoted to the clasical and heavy, wasted one night of his precious ten or fourteen on the Opera or the 'legitimate'. The Palladium, the Alhambra and their kind knew us well, for our souls demanded 'bubble and squeak' after the strong meat which was our daily pabulum on the other side. So in our visions of actual food we dreamed of pastry, whipped cream and sugar-plums.¹⁰

Although the professionals delivered entertainment to the army base camps in France, the troops themselves were quick to make their own entertainment in the front-line trenches. Military newspapers and magazines published in France draw attention to such home-made entertainment from their first issues: 'Battalion Concerts' in the third issue of The Listening Post and 'Second Canadian Infantry Brigade Concert Sept lst, '15,' in the fifth issue.¹¹ The trench entertainers needed a stage on which to perform, and this they would provide from materials at hand:

The card tricks of Pte. Owens of the 8th Battalion were interesting, especially the one which knocked the footlights on to a tin of nitro-glycerine. At this point of the entertainment several brave soldiers left the barn, I mean Hall, for the above incident brought to our attention the dangerous articles used in the construction of the stage. A trench floor formed the platform, but the supports looked suspiciously like trench mortar bombs. The footlights were fixed in biscuit tins placed on top of tins of gunpowder. When the candles burned low, several war scarred veterans suddenly remembered that they had an appointment elsewhere.¹²

As the war progressed and lines became stationary, electricity gradually replaced candle-power except in emergency situations:

One day a Taube came across, and that night we sang in darkness save for two candles at our feet. One only guessed at the size of the place from the red tips of cigarettes, or when someone at the back of the big hut struck a match.

By 1917, Major Beecher's Theatre at Gouy Servins (where the Dumbells would make their first appearance) was equipped with electric spotlights made from machine gun parts.¹³ By this time, theatre architecture had stabilized into a safer format. The basic form was represented by The Pavillion built at the Canadian Corps Training School:

Thirty by ninety, with a stage thirty by fifteen. Such are the feet dimensions of the new Lecture and Social Hut just completed at the new Corps School under the supervision of Sgt. Major Hughson. Behind the stage a Nissan hut is connected for a dressed room; to one side near the entrance a lean-to canteen has been attached, and over the entrance doors a room projects in which a cinema machine will be installed.¹⁴

In elaborate contrast to The Pavillion, of course, was the Corp Theatre built at Canadian General Headquarters as an entertainment centre for the officers and visiting dignitaries:

To outward appearance it was just an unusually large hut. Inside it was arranged in theatre style with sloping floor, an orchestra pit, and an especially large stage. Lighting was introduced to give all the scenic effects of a regular theatre. It even had boxes arranged at the sides for the special use of officers.¹⁵

These theatres came under the general control of the YMCA which, by the beginning of 1918, had twenty-five theatres and cinema halls in continuous operation throughout the Corps area in France.¹⁶ The most unique theatre built by the YMCA was its 'concert factory' at Mons which had no seats for an audience. Concert parties were organized at Mons at a training centre known as the 'Dramatic School'. One hut at the school was set aside under the direction of a YMCA officer to store, alter and construct costumes and sets; in the section of the theatre with a stage but no auditorium, new concert parties were trained; in another section, the members of the party were housed during their stay. The 'concert factory' turned out nineteen different parties during the winter of 1918-19. ¹⁷

In addition to the parties turned out at the school, various divisions had already organized their own concert parties even before the school was formed: the Canadian Scottish concert Party of the 16th Battalion; the Whizz Bangs of the Canadian Artillary; the Rouge et Noir of the First Division; the See Toos or the 2nd Canadian Division Concert Party; the Dumbells of the Third Division; the Maple Leafs of the Fourth Division; the 13th Canadian Field Ambulance Concert Party; the Little Black Devils of the Winnipeg Rifles; the Y Emmas of the YMCA; the Woodpeckers of the 126th Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps; and the originator and most successful of the concert parties in France, The Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry Comedy Company.¹⁸ Rather than the Dumbells alone in France, there were thirty to forty more or less permanent entertainment troupes similar to the Dumbells.

The greatest of these companies in terms of material and importance was the PPCLI Comedy Company. Organized by Captain H.E. Pembroke, the Princess Pat's Paymaster, the PPCLICC gave its first performance at the Town Hall, Steenvoorde in June 1916. Earlier concert parties had formed for an evening's entertainment and disbanded; this troupe remained together. The officers of the Princess Pat's were the first in the Canadian Army to recognize officially the importance to morale of these regimental entertainments. In quiet times, the members of the Comedy Company were relieved of trench duties and given time to prepare new material. The Comedy Company's format was skits, choruses and plays - 'many of them almost daringly personal' - and its format became the standard format for other concert parties.¹⁹ Indeed, when Merton Plunkett organized his first concert party, the Y Emmas, he modeled it on the PPCLI Comedy Company. The Comedy Company performed throughout the base camps in France, and was the first France-based company to perform in London, where they played at the Apollo and St James Theatres. As well as providing a model for other companies to imitate, the Princess Patricia officers themselves spread the concept as they were transferred to other units. The Woodpeckers of the 126th Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps were under the direction of Lieutenant Archer G. Read, originally of the PPCLI, and the Dumbells Divisional Officer was Lt Col Hamilton Gault, formerly of the Princess Pats.

If the Comedy Company was the finest concert party in France, why then do current accounts ignore it? Moreover, if the Dumbells were only one concert party of many, formed late in World War I, why then did the Dumbells emerge as the one group we now remember? Undoubtedly the preeminence of the Dumbells derives from the machinations of Captain Merton W. Plunkett, good public relations, careful planning, and being in the right place.

Although Merton W. Plunkett played a limited role in the development of the Dumbells, the association of his name with the group, because of his personal reputation, assisted the success of the troupe. When Plunkett arrived in France in 1916, concert parties were already a regular feature of Canadian Army life. Plunkett, whose captaincy came from the YMCA rather than the Canadian Expeditionary Force, arrived on the Somme Front at the beginning of the September campaign. The base of the forward work was called the City of Albert and here a tent city was established for the men coming out of the line for rest and recreation before being returned to the line. At this site during the Battle of the Somme Plunkett established his original reputation as an entertainer among the soldiers.²⁰ He did not form a concert party, but performed as a stand-up comic and singer, assisted by a quartet organized from the ranks; night after night he played to crowded 'houses' of troops coming from or going to the line. Graced by virtually captive but continually changing audiences, Plunkett's fame spread immediately throughout the ranks of the CEF; the recognition of his ability as a morale booster at this critical point, both time and place, by Headquarters led to his emergence as the preeminent YMCA Officer. Thus it was to Plunkett that Headquarters referred for opinion and advice.

The problem facing Headquarters was this: entertainment increased morale, but professional entertainers demanded good salaries and moreover wished to avoid the front lines. The solution offered by Plunkett was to create an entertainment troupe of soldiers who would demand no extra salary and for whom the front lines were already familiar territory. Plunkett developed the Princess Patricia's idea of the Comedy Company on a larger scale. Among the Princess Pat's, the concert party was an adjunct to being a soldier. The Comedy Company rehearsed on the line during quiet times, and were generally able to present a new 'show' when the Regiment returned to a base camp to rest.²¹ As already mentioned, Plunkett formed a concert party named the Y Emmas to signify its special connection with the YMCA. The members were released from trench duty, rehearsed at sites well behind the lines, and performed wherever Headquarters directed. The PPCLICC had primarily entertained the Princess Patricias themselves; the Y Emmas entertained all troops.

The success of the Y Emmas led to a decision to create more companies modelled on the Y Emmas. The supervision of the Y Emmas was transferred to Sergeant Carey while they toured.²² Captain Plunkett returned to them occasionally to help rehearse new material, but was largely free to work with other groups. Major-General J. P. Lipsett authorized the formation of the Dumbells in the summer of 1917. Lt Col Hamilton Gault, formerly of the Princess Pat's, was appointed their Divisional Officer, but the group came under the active direction of Captain Merton W. Plunkett, YMCA Officer, since the YMCA paid the expenses of the troupe.²³ Gault recognized the value of concert parties and did much to help the Dumbells as their careers progressed. The original company, numbering only eight members, included Captain Plunkett, Ivor E.(Jack) Ayre (pianist), Elmer A. Belding, Ted Charter, and Allan Murray. While rehearsing at Gouy Servins, the Dumbells were seconded to Ben Allen and his,16th Battalion Party, who had already absorbed the Y Emmas with Red Newman and Charlie MacLean, for the creation of a special show to honour General Currie, the new commander of the Canadian Corps. The combined production, under Allen's direction, proved a great success.

Using material created by Allen, the Dumbells returned to Gouy Servins to perfect their show; with the backing of the RCR Band, they presented their first performance at Major Gale's theatre. During the run of this first production, half of the company were recalled to their own units. Lt Col Gault interceded to General Lipsett, who wrote to the commanders of each unit concerned, stating that he 'Would be pleased if you could leave these men attached indefinitely'. It was not an order, but the request was granted. Had it not been for Lipsett and Gault's intervention, the Dumbells would have been disbanded before completing the run of their first production.²⁵

Captain Plunkett remained with the Dumbells for only four performances when other duties claimed his attention. Although under the direction of Plunkett, who paid the company bills, the Dumbells would not see him for weeks at a time. From its base at Ferfay, where the 3rd Division School was located, the Dumbells travelled to performance sites, arranged by Plunkett, throughout France. In Plunkett's absence, however, problems arose. Constantly on the move and with no commanding officer, the men were cut off from their mail, and even rations on occasion. Dissension threatened to destroy the company. At Pernes, sitting on their equipment in an empty field, the Dumbells elected Ted Charter as their leader: Charter assumed day-to-day control of the Dumbells.²⁶ Plunkett, meanwhile, busied himself with the preparation of other concert parties such as the Maple Leaf Concert Party, which included his brother.²⁷

On 17 October 1917, the Dumbells officially inaugurated the new Pavillion Theatre, built at the Canadian Corps Training School.²⁸ As did its counterpart in England, the School supported drama for morale purposes, and the Dumbells created a favourable impression with their opening production, so much so that the School staff undertook to form a permanent entertainment company under the direction of Lieutenant R.W. Day. Within two months of its formation, the Dumbells Company was serving as a model to train others.

Soon after, the men were realled to their units for the Passchendale assault, but half the troupe received simultaneous leave. The remainder of the men were kept at Divisional School to work on material. Thus the men did not return to active warfare in the front line, nor did the Dumbells ever play the Ypres Sector. The members returning from leave in London brought with them new music, material and costumes from the London theatres. Moreover, they had enlisted as their London contact the services of Leonard Young, who had previously performed and written material for the PPCLI Comedy Company and was now convalescing in London after the loss of a leg. He continued to supply the Dumbells regularly with new material, which greatly assisted the establishment of the Company's repuation for high calibre entertainment in France.³⁰

Reformed and reinvigorated, the troupe played its new material for the division at the rest area established after Passchendale. Christmas 1917 brought the Dumbells to Bracquement, near Bully Grenay, for the troupe's first hospital ward performance. Following rehearsals and the incorporation of new material during the spring of 1918, the Dumbells were at Villers-aux-Bois when the German Spring Offensive began. While awaiting orders to return to their units, a messenger arrived from General Lipsett: 'Now as never before the troops need entertainment'.³¹ The Dumbells remained out of the line. With the assistance of the 59th London Scottish Divisional Band, also stationed at Villers-aux-Bois at the outbreak of the campaign, the Dumbells supplied continuous entertainment day and night. Repeating the Plunkett experience at the Somme in 1916, the Dumbells in 1918 secured a permanent place in the memories of Canadian troops, as battalions of soldiers arrived at the rest base to be fed, entertained and marched back into the line. At the end of the campaign, the Dumbells returned to Ferfay, from where the troupe made regular sorties to entertain the troops. At the beginning of the summer, the Dumbells exchanged with the Bow Bells, the London Scottish Divisional Party; reunited with the 59th London Scottish Divisional Band, the Dumbells travelled with them to entertain the British troops.

On Dominion Day 1918, the Dumbells performed for the Corps Sports Day at Tinques with the Rouge et Noir Concert Party of the First Division.³² Plunkett had by now rejoined the troupe to select an all-star cast for a reorganized Dumbells. Only five of the original eight members remained in the new company of fifteen. The new all-star Dumbells included Ben Allen of the 16th Battalion Party, Red Newman and Charlie MacLean of the Y Emmas, and Ross Hamilton of the Maple Leaf Concert Party. After rehearsing and reworking material, the new troupe made its way down the line performing at Corps and Divisional Schools, hospitals and camps, moving ever closer to London. At Etaples and Boulogne, where the military hospitals had been bombed, the comedians were seconded as stretcher-bearers, a task they did not normally undertake although some accounts claim that this was their function when not entertaining.³³ The trip to London was both recreation and reward.

During a month of scattered performances in London Plunkett promoted his all-star Dumbells well. Two comedian entertainment companies were invited to London to coincide with the opening of the Beaver Hut, the Canadian YMCA centre in London. Inaugural honours at the Beaver Hut's 500-seat theatre went to the PPCLI Concert Party, which then went on to perform at the St James and Apollo Theatres and at hospitals in England. The Dumbells followed the Princess Pat's into the Beaver Hut in August 1918, and performed at other service huts in England as well. For one week the company joined the production at the Victoria Palace, and for two weeks at the Colliseum with costumes supplied by Clarkson's. Performing with professional entertainers and stage crews, the Dumbells continued to improve.³⁴ Six members of the company were offered contracts by London managers. The Dumbells were enjoying London; Plunkett had arranged a Command Performance at Windsor, when the party ended. General Lipsett had been transferred to an Imperial Division, and, in September, his successor ordered the immediate return of the Dumbells to France where Canadian troops were seeing continual action against the famous Hindenburg Line and in need of morale boosting. The Windsor Castle performance was cancelled, and, instead, the Dumbells returned to France to perform seventy-one concerts over the rest of the month.

Plunkett again left the Dumbells to establish the theatre school at Mons, which opened immediately after the Armistice under the direction of Captain Plunkett with the assistance of Lieutenant Norman Jolliffe, a gifted Canadian vocalist. The school continued to function until April 1919, training nineteen battalion parties during its operation.³⁵ The Dumbells were brought to Mons and amalgamated with the PPCLICC in spite of objections from the Princess Pat's:

Later in the war much of the talent in this CC was merged with the more pretentious concert party of the 3rd Canadian division, which has since become widely known in England Canada and the United States as the 'Dumbells'.³⁶

A new show was created for this enlarged company based on Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore. Totally revised and adapted by McLaren, Lilley, Young, Ayre, Fenwick, Charter and others, the Dumbells H.M.S. Pinafore had five new and current musical numbers from London to replace 'female choruses'. Any resemblance to the original was accidental. The first performance of H.M.S. Pinafore was for an audience of French civilians on 11 November 1918. The company then moved to Mons on November 18 for thirty-one performances at the Grand Theatre, capacity 2,000. ³⁷ Basing his company at Mons, Plunkett used its personnel to help train his theatre students. In December, the troupe performed in Brussels; the charity entertainment was the first entertainment by British forces in Brussels since the Battle of Waterloo. The Belgian Government gave Captain Plunkett a medal for his Belgian relief work. Leaving the Dumbells to their own devices, Plunkett returned to Mons. The Dumbells, numbering near thirty performers and with a small orchestra, were left to fend for themselves under the direction of Charter until making it back to Mons. With a new show, the Dumbells set out after Christmas and toured towns throughout Flanders, arriving at LeHavre in February for a final performance to the division before transportation to England.³⁸

At Bramshott on parade, the members of the Dumbells were offered immediate transportation home if they would remain in the Army, with present rank and pay, for a tour across Canada under the auspices of the Red Cross.³⁹ They declined, and awaited their reunion with Captain Plunkett in April, for with him, it would seem, they had already discussed a Canadian tour as civilians. The Dumbells continued to entertain troops in England until June 1919.

Arriving back in Canada by May, Plunkett immediately contacted Ambrose Small regarding a theatre tour. After a brief reunion with their families, the Dumbells began rehearsing through the summer and began their civilian careers as entertainers in September 1919, one year after their last performance in London, England.

The usual explanation for the post-war Dumbells does not suggest this premeditation. Hector Charlesworth's account is typical:

After demobilization, Captain Morton [sic] Plunkett found at loose ends most of the members of the concert party he had organized and directed in France. The idea of keeping them together and embarking on a Canadian tour occurred to him and he went to see Small to ask his advice.⁴⁰

In fact, the Canadian tour was probably proposed and discussed at Mons, certainly before demobilization. The performers were not the original Dumbells - only Merton Plunkett, the impresario, Jack Ayre, the musical director, and Allan Murray had survived the reorganization between Ferfay, France and Hamilton, Ontario. In reality, the Canadian Dumbell Company came from the London touring show, Ross Hamilton, B. Langley and W.L. Terment, the Pinafore cast, Ben Allan, Red Newman, Charlie MacLean and Fenwick, and, from the Princess Pat's, Hall and MacLaren. It was the cream of the concert parties that made up the Canadian company. Not only did the performers come from other companies, but the material used in the Canadian tour also originated outside the Dumbells: Ted Charter's 'The Estaminet Sketch' and 'The Duchess Entertains' originated with Leonard Young when he was a member of the Princess Patricias.⁴¹

Why then are the Dumbells remembered and held in such esteem? Probably because of this blending of talent form so many different troupes. When they first toured Canada, they represented not simply the Dumbells, but all concert parties. Merton Plunkett had worked with all the companies and had taken the best material and stars from each to create the touring Canadian show. Veterans in the audience were not seeing the Dumbells on stage, but their own concert party in memory. For those who had spent the war years at home, however, the Dumbells brought a sample of what had sustained the forces in the field in a variety of forms. For them, the Dumbells came to mean the Concert Party. By playing on this appetite for a vicarious taste of field entertainment, Plunkett created a market and filled it with his judiciously selected troupe of entertainers. The Dumbells in France had been the Third Division Concert Party; the Dumbells in Canada became the Canadian Army Concert Party.

THE CANADIAN CONCERT PARTY IN FRANCE

Patrick B. O'Neill

(* Please note that there are no endnotes numbered 24, 28 or 29 in the body of the article. A second number 25 endnote follows 27).

1 COL G.W.L. NICHOLSON, Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918 Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1962, p 135
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2 The Army Lists for 1916 and 1917 indicate that Captain Merton Plunkett began his YMCA posting with the 34th Canadian Infantry Battalion with its formation on 15 October 1915. He travelled to England with the 34th in January 1916 and served in England with them until the autumn of 1916.
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3 Report of the Ministry, Overseas Military Force in Canada 1918 London: Queen's Printer, 1919. See also p 499: 'The Army authorities, indeed, were quick to realize the effect of the "Y" service on the morale of the soldiers and provided facilities with a gratifying willingness...'
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4 See J. CASTELL HOPKINS, Canada at War 1914-1918 New York: Canadian Annual Review Ltd, 1919 and Canada in the Great World War 6 vols Toronto: Canadian Annual Review Ltd, 1921 for various charitable groups' contributions to the war effort.
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5 CHARLES BISHOP, The Y.M.C.A. In The Great War Toronto, 1921, p 150
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6 'Entertaining the Fighters', Echoes No 66 (December 1916) pp 43-46
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7 'Singing to Canadians', Maple Leaf Magazine II, 5 (October 1916) p 31
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8 'Entertaining the Fighters' p 44
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9 RALF FREDERIC LARDY SHELDON-WILLIAMS, The Canadian Front in France and Flanders London: A. and C. Black, 1920, p 190
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10 SHELDON-WILLIAMS p 191
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11 The Listening Post, No 3 (12 September 1915) and No 5 (6 October 1915)
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12 The Listening Post, No 5 (October 1915)
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13 Allan Murray, 'The Dumbells-Nostalgic Memories of World War I's Great Soldier Entertainers', The Legionary 39, 8 (January 1965) p 7
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14 'The Pavillion', in 'Tchun 1, (5 December 1917) p 13
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15 BISHOP p 156
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16 BISHOP p 157
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17 BISHOP p 155. The Times Index indicated that Plunkett discussed his plans for the school when the Dumbells visited London in an interview that was published on 3 September 1918. The Librarian for The Times and I were unable to locate the edition which included the article.
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18 The Canadian Daily Record, a newspaper devoted to the Canadian Forces, includes notices and photographs of these various performing groups.
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19 The information on the PPCLI Comedy Company is contained in RALPH HODDER-WILLIAMS, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 1914-1919 London and Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, 2 volumes.
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20 BISHOP p 101
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21 HODDER-WILLIAMS I p 140
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22 Y Emmas Programme for 12 and 13 September 1918. The original is in the Imperial War Museum, London, England.
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23 MURRAY p 7
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24 Ibid
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25 Ibid
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26 Ibid
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27 The most successful show produced by the Maple Leaf Concert Party was 'Alladin,' a pantomime which ran for over sixty performances in France. See The Canadian Daily Record, 8 February 1918.
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28 'The Pavillion', p 13
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29 Troop entertainment in England lies outside the scope of this paper; those interested in the entertainments at the Canadian Training School, England, should refer to the regular column 'Pierrot Notes' in the Training School's newspaper, Chevrons To Stars.
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30 MURRAY p 7
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31 MURRAY p 9
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32 NICHOLSON p 310, gives an account of the Dominion Day celebrations.
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33 This myth appears in LARRY WORTHINGTON, Amid the Guns Below Toronto, 965, p 64: 'when not giving concerts they served as stretcher bearers'.
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34 For additional information on the Beaver Hut, and the tours by the Princess Patricia's Concert Party and the Dumbells to London see BISHOP p 232.
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35 BISHOP p155
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36 HODDER-WILLIAMS I p 140
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37 Nicholson p 529
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38 MURRAY p 8
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39 Ibid
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40 HECTOR CHARLESWORTH, 'A Popular Memory - The Dumbells', The Legionary, (April 1937) p 13
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41 MURRAY p 9
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