Ivan Gets Promoted

I took a couple of days off from writing this blog. I decided to get some extra rest since this is a big week for me. I am starting personal workshops to help people reach their goals. Look into it and tell others please.

So the last I told you of Ivan Ackery was continuing with his promotional stunts even though the country was in the midst of a depression and he - as well as other Famous Players staff - had been forced to take a cut in pay.

In 1932, Ackery was transferred to Victoria to manage the Capitol Theatre. He did well but something suggests he was anxious to return to Vancouver. The mainland city had more than doubled in size and population. On January 1, 1929, the municipalities of Point Grey and South Vancouver amalgamated, making Vancouver the third largest city in Canada.

 In 1934, Ivan returned to Vancouver. He was to manage the newly reopened Strand Theatre. The Strand was located on the south side of Granville Street, at Seymour and had been closed due to the Depression. The fine vaudeville acts that had once performed there were moved to the Orpheum. Ackery was pleased, to say the least, to be managing this theatre.

“It was a grand theatre, the third largest in the city, and I was extremely proud . . .”

Originally, the Strand was opened as the Allen theatre by Mayor R.H. Gale on August 16, 1920. The Allens - Jules and Jay J. - had been in a race with Famous Players to build Canada's first deluxe movie house and the Allens had won by almost a year. The Allen Theatre was billed as ‘The Theatre Beautiful—Canada’s Finest and most Modern.’

It had taken six months to build and cost $300,000. Howard C. Crane was the architect and Charles Marega was the sculptor.  The Allens may have opened first, and it sounds like it was a beautiful theatre, but Famous Players had the last laugh. “Within a year the theatre was bankrupt and Dewees and Schuberg bought it for five cents on the dollar. Famous Players later bought a half share in it, then took it over entirely in 1944.”

The Strand Theatre in 1948. Compliments of The City of Vancouver Archives

Ivan wasted no time in making his presence known as manager of the Strand. The first thing he did was to get Scott's Bakery to bake a giant cake that stood as tall as a man. It was the theatre's 14th birthday and all week every patron was given a piece of cake.

Ivan Ackery was edging into the big time - The Fanchon and Marco shows returned and Vancouver impresario Lily Laverock booked the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo into the theatre. But his destiny was sealed in 1935 when Ackery was informed he was to become the manager of the Orpheum Theatre, the largest theatre in Canada.

"

It was such a thrill for me, and I can remember how excited my mother got.” 

“I recall how tickled I was because I’d be getting a $10 a week raise!”

And Famous Players got a lot for those ten dollars.

Thanks to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Steve Brodie

This photo is from the Province Newspaper. This is Steve Brodie, after the men were evicted from the post office in June of 1938.

Steve Brodie was a Scottish orphan who came to Canada at the age of 14. He worked as a farm labourer and at 18, the young Brodie befriended a Marxist ex-newspaperman. Then the depression hit Canada and Steve, like many men of that time, started 'riding the rods' and criss crossing the country looking for work. He wasn't successful and ended up in the relief camps in B.C. (riding the rods means sneaking aboard the freight trains and getting a free ride somewhere.)

Brodie joined the fight to press the government for "work and wages". He joined 1500 others in the On-to-Ottawa trek in 1935. That journey was stopped in Regina by police bullets and billy clubs. That is where the young man lost a few teeth. 

Steve looked back at that journey and didn't see anything to celebrate."It was one of the battle's we lost... It was a desperate attempt on the part of the unemployed to draw attention to our plight."

This young Scot made history in 1938 with the sit down strike at the post office. He paid it for too. As I stated last week, numerous people were hurt and Brodie was the target of the police wrath.

The man who drove the injured Brodie to the hospital, reported to the Vancouver Sun newspaper: "Brodie had his hands over his head. He was trying to fight off two cops in front of him. There were three behind him, pounding on him with their billies. He fell. They still pounded on him." An RCMP Sergeant stopped the beating when he spotted a newspaper photographer recording the event. Brodie regained consciousness 24 hours later in St. Paul's hospital.

Later, when asked, Brodie would tell of the postcards the men received during the occupation. People would tell them what a great thing they were doing. As appreciative as he probably was for the support, Brodie also noted that 'everyone was waiting for someone else to do something'.

As we know from our history books, the Great Depression ended in 1939 when the world went to war. Steve Brodie joined the merchant marines and after the war, he went to work at the Esquimalt dockyard. But he was still the fireball of before and delighted in needling guests on a call-in radio show. He never ceased to challenge others on issues such as unemployment, poverty and capitalism.

What many may not know is that this natural leader was a devoted and loving grandfather. When he lost his battle with liver cancer on December 6, 1997 at the age of 87, Grampa Steve had five grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. 

Whether you agree with the stand this man took or his politics, you have to admit that he had a great fighting spirit and earned his place in history.

I would like to thank the Livable4All website for the information on Steve Brodie.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Bloody Sunday

This photo of a man donning a gas mask is from the City of Vancouver archives.

Five o'clock in the morning of June 19, 1938 is when all hell broke loose. Presumably, this zero hour chosen by officials was to minimize the number of onlookers and surprise the unemployed men camped out at the post office and the art gallery.

Colonel Foster enlisted the help of Harold Winch of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, who had acted as a liaison in the 1935 relief camp strike. Winch's assignment this time was to ensure that the protesters left the art gallery and the treasures within remained unharmed. Winch successfully negotiated the withdrawal of the unemployed men with a little help from police tear gas canisters.

The post office, however, wasn't the same story.

The post office was a federal building so the RCMP led the assault. The leader of the dissidents, Steve Brodie was known for his infectious militancy. The men inside responded to the first round of tear gas by breaking the windows to allow fresh air inside and hurling whatever they could find at the advancing officers. The RCMP entered the building and forcibly ejected the men into the waiting cordon of police waiting with batons.

It was a bloody mess. Of the 42 hospitalized, only five were police and all of those were Vancouver police constables. 

Supporters of the sit down strike immediately arrived on the scene and following the eviction, the throng marched back to the East End, smashing windows in the Woodwards and Spencer department stores as well as other targets. They caused $35,000 in damage.

As in 1935, the Ukrainian Labour Temple served as a makeshift hospital with the help of volunteer doctors. Steve Brodie had been targeted by the police for particularly brutal treatment and was left with a permanent eye injury. A former militia sergeant, Arthur Redseth, slipped on the post office floor during the fracas and another Serb, 'Little Mike', managed to drag Redseth out of the building through the police clubs to safety. Unfortunately, the gauntlet of police clubs managed to knock Redseth's eye out of the socket. 

Redseth was later rejected for service in World War II because of this injury and committed suicide in 1942. Little Mike asked the police to call an ambulance for his friend and received an injury that required five stitches to his jaw in response. Little Mike died at Dieppe the same year as Redseth committed suicide.

Even though this occurred early in the morning, onlookers, supporters and photographers from the Vancouver Daily Province newspaper arrived on scene. News of what happened travelled fast and that Father's Day afternoon, between ten and fifteen thousand people went to the Powell Street Grounds to protest the police terror of 'Bloody Sunday'. Many thousands also went to the CPR pier to send off a delegation to Victoria to meet with the premier.

Premier Pattullo refused to give any concessions to the unemployed, saying these men had "too much sympathy already". He did try to use this event as evidence the federal government should restore relief funds to the provinces. Prime Minister King offered the same response as his Conservative opponent, R.B. Bennett, gave in 1935. Relief was a provincial responsibility. 

I would like to thank Wikipedia for the information and the Vancouver Library for all the photos except where noted.

I hope you find the beauty around you.