May 09, 2020 — GREENWOOD, BC (BG)

The Scottish residents of early Greenwood gave their non-Scots neighbours many opportunities to enjoy the music of their homeland, at a variety of concerts and entertainment programs. Many of these songs are included in the appendix below.

In May 1901, the St. Andrews Society announced an upcoming concert to play at the Greenwood Auditorium. The musicians, Gavin Spence and Miss Flora McDonald, would become great favourites here, returning for numerous other performances in the Boundary. The evening duo was applauded in the Greenwood Weekly Times:_[1]

"Scotsmen were enthused and all lovers of good music charmed by Gavin Spence and Flora McDonald at the Auditorium on Thursday evening last. The audience was a large one and the vigorous encores given every number were eloquent tributes to the merit of the entertainment.

The concert was a two hour delineation of Scottish character. Both were dressed in the Scottish costume. Mr. Spence's introductory remarks cleverly portrayed Scottish peculiarities. He is an inimitable story teller and even chestnuts appeared witty and entertaining. Blessed with a powerful tenor voice, he enthused plegmatic Greenwoodites with the stirring notes of "A Hundred Pipers" and other Scottish songs.

Miss McDonald has a winsome stage presence and is a clever dancer. The "Shan Trews" always a pretty dance and was particularly graceful as given by Miss McDonald. She has a sweet tenor voice and in her solos and duets with Mr. Spence she was thoroughly appreciated by the audience. For the duets Miss Flesher kindly acted as accompanist.

To Scotsmen particularly the night was a most enjoyable one but the merits of the concert were sufficient to captivate those who are not Jock Tamson's bairns, and should Mr. Spence and Miss McDonald ever return to Greenwood they will be warmly welcomed by those who appreciate merit."

In the autumn of that year, the ladies of the Presbyterian church organized another Scottish concert, engaging many local performers who took to the stage, offering song, dance and Scots merriment._[2]

SCOTTISH CONCERT
Successful Concert Held in the Presbyterian Church

"The concert given in the Presbyterian Church on Wednesday night was Scottish throughout. Costumes, songs stories and addresses all told of the Land of the Heather.

Rev. Dr. McRae presided and introduced the programme with a character sketch by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Choir, comprised of members of the choirs of the different churches in the city, sang "Scots Wha Hae" and C. Scott Galloway gave the Battle of Stirling. Then Miss Minkler dressed in the national costume sang in a sweet soprano voice "My love is like a red, red rose."

L. B. Hodge's Bonny House o' Ivy introduced a barnyard full of cackling hens, quacking ducks, neighing horses and other creatures that make a noise. The choir then sang the Blue Bells of Scotland and James Kerr gave Burn's fine selection, "A man's a man for a' that." Miss Laird dressed in costume sang "Colier Herrin." Mr. Meiklejohn, with kilt and tartan and a powerful voice electrified the audience "Wi a Hundred pipers an a, an a'.

H. C. Shaw read a Scottish reading which was introduced with humorous remarks. Mrs. Winnett whose well trained voice was heard for the first time by a Greenwood audience sang "Will ye no come back again". The different numbers were enthusiastically encored and the concert was brought to a close by singing "Auld Lang Syne." There was a very large audience present."

In January 1903, the Scottish duo of Gavin Spence and Flora MacDonald were back on the Greenwood stage._[3]

Gavin Spence and Flora MacDonald Entertain Greenwood Audience

"Gavin Spence and Flora MacDonald have not lost the knack of enthusing the Scots and entertaining those who have no claim on the land of the heather. Those who heard them in Greenwood about one year and a half ago made it a point to be present on Monday night and they were not disappointed. Miss MacDonald is as winsome and bonnie as ever. She danced the Scottish dances and sang the Scottish songs in a manner that won the hearts of her audience.

Gavin Spence is not only a Singer of Scottish songs, but as well a capital story teller and delineator of Scottish character, and an aggressive champion of everything Scottish. His short talks between the various numbers were as much enjoyed as the numbers themselves."

The duo followed this performance with another in Phoenix.

Gavin Spence didn't return to Greenwood until 1906, this time with a different partner, but during the intervening years, there were several other programs of Scottish entertainment put on here. One was delivered by the MacKenzie-Glove company, who included a large repertoire of Scottish numbers in the program. Although encouraged to stay and play a second night, it seems that few of our Scots attended, for reasons not told:_[4]

"It was at the request of representative Scotchmen that the company remained to play the second night, but though the entertainment was arranged to please lovers of Scottish song, those who would have appreciated it most were conspicuous by their absence."

In June of that year, Gavin Spence and Miss Nannie Strachan, a native of Galashields, Scotland, came to the Greenwood stage. Among the Scottish classics they sang were Caller Herrin, The Crookit Bawbee, Cam Ye By Athol and The Hundred Pipers._[5]

In December 1907, the Times announced that in January, a company of 30 performers would be arriving in Greenwood to put on "The Bonnie Brier Bush", a dramatic musical of stories about rural life in Scotland._[6] The show apparently required an enormous set, such that "The entire New York scenic production and electrical equipment is carried, a special large baggage car being required for the transportation."

Unless news of the performance escapes our search, it appears that the Scottish musical troupe never arrived for their Greenwood performance. And, it seems that this peculiarity was to be repeated two years later…

In December 1909, the Times again reported that The Bonnie Briar Bush would be arriving on the Greenwood stage in early January._[7] Among the star performers would be the same beloved singer, Miss Maggie McCann, known as 'the Australian nightingale', who was to have been here with the 1907 troupe.

THE BONNIE BRIAR BUSH

"That beautiful Scottish drama, "The Bonnie Briar Bush," is to pay us a visit in the very near future. This will be welcome news to all lovers of this delightful interpretation of Ian McLaren's widely read stories of Drumtochty. The story is so well and favorably known here that it is unnecessary to detail the plot. Iachlan Campbell, Postie, Tammas, McLure and all the other lovable characters will be well presented by a thoroughly capable company of players.

An entirely new and beautiful scenic production has been built for this season, the former one having been destroyed this summer in a fire which burned up one of the largest storage warehouses in New York City."

A week before the scheduled performance, the Times announced the troupe was on their way, and 'the Australian nightingale would be singing several favourites here by special request, including Land 'o the Leal, Come Under My Plaidie, Down the Burn David, Lad, and Lang, Lang Syne._[8]

[Boundary Creek Times — Jan 03, 1908 ]

The date of the show, set for January 7th, was then postponed, rescheduled for either the 10th or 11th, depending on which page of the Times one settled on. And sure enough, the January 10th edition announced their imminent arrival:_[9]

"W. B. Willcox, editor of the Pioneer, Phoenix, came down the hill on Tuesday in company with the Bonnie Briar Bush Co. It took three sleighs to carry all the brightness and beauty of the party."

Strangely enough, that was the last mention of the Bonnie Briars we find in the Times . They came down the hill, but there seem to be no reviews written about the performance actually taking place…

Perhaps to offset disappointment, the following month another famous Scottish soprano was brought to the Greenwood stage — Miss Lena Duthie performed in the Auditorium to an appreciative audience._[10]

The last Scottish mention of the decade takes us back to Saint Andrew. While there was apparently no big celebration of St. Andrew's Night in Greenwood in 1910, a brief biography of the now global patron saint was offered in the local news:_[11]

"He is also the Patron of the most noble and the most ancient Order of the Thistle, the Scottish Order of Knighthood. He is the Patron of Russia, and the Order of St. Andrew is the principal Russian Order of Knighthood. And lastly he is the Patron of the Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, A. D., 1429, and now belonging to the Austrian Empire."

MUSIC APPENDIX

A collection of the traditional Scottish songs performed in early Greenwood at gatherings of the St. Andrews Society, and other programs of entertainment.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Greenwood Weekly Times — May 23, 1901, p. 1 & 4
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172916

[2] Greenwood Weekly Times — Nov 08, 1901, p. 4
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172954

[3] Boundary Creek Times — Jan 16, 1903, p. 1
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0170931

[4] Boundary Creek Times — Apr 27, 1906, p. 5
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171972

[5] Boundary Creek Times — Jun 29, 1906, p. 5
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171802

[6] Boundary Creek Times — Dec 13, 1907, p. 3
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172591

[7] Boundary Creek Times — Dec 31, 1909, p. 1
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172246

[8] Boundary Creek Times — Jan 03, 1908, p. 2 & 4
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171385

[9] Boundary Creek Times — Jan 10, 1908, p. 4
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171379

[10] Boundary Creek Times — Feb 26, 1909, p. 3
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0172206

[11] Boundary Creek Times — Dec 02, 1910, p. 1
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xboundarycr/items/1.0171504