Past stars of the town return to life on DVD
Stew Slater, Staff Reporter Ruth Lawson and Ruth Matheson both married in 1948 and moved away from their native Embro. They didn’t move too far; just to nearby Brooksdale and Tavistock. But they’ve both since returned to live in their home community, and it’s clear from their reaction to recently-made-available archival
footage from the late 1940s that their hearts never really left the centre of the Zorra Highlands.
“There’s Mr. Clarke, who had the grocery store. I used to work for him,” Lawson explained on a recent evening at Matheson’s Commissioner Street home, while viewing the Embro instalment of the University of Western Ontario (UWO) archives’ new “Stars of the Town” series. The series, adapted to DVD from silent, 8 mm, black and white films created by the late Rev. Roy Massecar, features footage from 88 locations, almost entirely in southwestern Ontario.
Massecar “was sort of an interesting mix of Baptist minister, entertainer and entrepreneur,” UWO archivist Robin Keirstead told London Free Press columnist Ian Gillespie for a recent article. “He wasn’t making a lot of money with his church stipend, so this was actually a bit of a revenue generator.”
Neither Lawson nor Matheson remember Massecar bringing his camera through Embro –- which isn’t far from what was the Reverend’s home base of Drumbo and Wolverton, where he held a pastoral charge. Nor do they remember him returning to the town later, charging admission for a public viewing of the edited results.
But there’s a good chance at least Matheson was in attendance when Massecar filmed the annual fair. For the ladies watching the DVD, there was no mistaking the occasion. There was the instantly-recognizable (for them, anyway) R.A. Macdonald at the announcer’s podium; the swirling swings of the midway ride; and what seems –- to a casual observer from another generation
–- like a bizarre variation on today’s fairground game of chance: about a dozen live mice scurry around an enclosed game board. If one stops to nibble treats on the spot chosen by a player, the player might win a prize.
It all seemed like yesterday to Lawson and Matheson. Matheson may well have been at the fair that year, however. Her late husband certainly attended; early in the half-hour DVD, she suddenly pointed to a spry young calf showman strolling across the screen and shouted, “there’s Willis!”
“Look at all the people there,” Matheson exclaimed, noting the packed grandstand at the former fairgrounds in the now seldom-used Matheson Park, just north of downtown. “It burned down. I don’t remember what year, but I remember it was on a Halloween night.” The Embro Fair, set to celebrate its 150th anniversary in September, 2008, moved to the Community Centre on the
edge of town many years ago.
Lawson had her own chance to shout a few minutes later, after the scene
shifted first to the wedding of Agnes Bowles and Cy Muir, and eventually to
extensive footage of everyday people carrying out everyday activities
throughout the town’s business district.
Her twin brothers –- fondly remembered as favourites among the town’s adults
–- make occasional appearances in vehicles or entering a store. Then a
gentleman’s head appears on screen, tilted to one side and sporting an
apprehensive expression. The camera pans out (Massecar obviously enjoyed
honing his filmmaking skills: he zooms in on people, transitions from
out-of-focus to in-focus, and even turns the camera upside down as a car
drives past) and the full scene is revealed: Lawson’s father, the town’s
barber, is providing the man with a shave.
Even though I couldn’t successfully hook up my DVD player to Matheson’s
not-so-new television, the ladies gladly leaned forward in their easy chairs
to watch Stars of the Town on my small-screened laptop computer. When asked
if they wanted to watch again, Matheson –- who later admitted to losing the
competition against her keen-eyed friend to identify the film’s subjects -–
enthused, “of course! We’re just getting wound up.”
In fact, they did even better. They called up Matheson’s neighbours, who
also happen to be Lawson’s son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, and
announced, “we’re coming over. I think you’re going to like this.”
Out the lane, along the road and in the next lane we went (too much snow to
just cross the lawns), with Lawson holding Matheson’s arm as they chatted
about trips to hospitals to visit ailing friends. Amidst the bustle of a
household winding down from the work and school days and preparing for the
next, 11-year-old Jared willingly stepped away from his chores to perform
the anointed task of all 11-year-olds: running this newfangled electronic
technology.
It wasn’t long before he, too, was engrossed, and had to be called away to
complete his homework. The thought crossed my mind that the ladies, perhaps,
thought that was a good thing, considering the depictions of kids presented
in Massecar’s 1949 film.
A boy rides past on a bike, “doubling” a younger friend between the
handlebars. A teenaged tractor driver hauls a load of loose hay, while an
adult sits facing backwards on the floor of the tractor platform, his feet
dangling towards the roadbed. And, perhaps most shockingly, the belly
buttons on girls of various ages are revealed, thanks to the chosen fashion
of button-up shirts tucked bottom-to-top in what might be called a precursor
to the more modern “halter tops” (which are banned in many of today’s school
dress codes).
“I don’t complain about the kids any more,” Matheson confesses, when asked
about 1949 teenage fashion. “Because I know we did just the same thing.”
St. Marys is not included in the Massecar collection, but he certainly
criss-crossed the region for his filmmaking exploits. Just some of the
communities featured are: Atwood, Milverton, Mitchell, Monkton,
Bright/Plattsville, St. Clements, Thamesford, Seaforth, Zurich, Exeter,
Shakespeare, Lucan, Hensall and Belmont.
Copies have been donated to public libraries in the communities featured.
One library administrator from Bruce County told me they plan to run
screenings at local retirement homes -– a great idea.
A full list of the communities featured can be found online at
www.lib.uwo.ca/archives. You can also order your own DVD, at a cost of $15
plus $3 for shipping.