that was located a short distance from the homestead. This institution was “the rock upon which all knowledge was founded” for many rural inhabitants, and such was its contribution to the educational system that only within the last two decades or so did it pass into oblivion. The standard of education in a one-room schoolhouse, was the cornerstone upon which the Marks brothers created an empire.
The Marks family posing for a photograph at the homestead in July 1895. John Jay had just recently returned from Alaska and Ernie was preparing to enter Perth Collegiate. From left to right: Alex, Tom, Olivia Mariah (Libby), Thomas Sr., Robert W., Margaret Farrell, Ellen Jane (Nellie), John, Joe, Ernie and McIntyre. Perth Museum Collection.
Following considerable success in the United States, Robert William and his troupe returned to Canada, initially establishing themselves in Renfrew, Ontario. Later, Christie Lake became their headquarters. Perth Museum Collection.
CHAPTER 3 CANADA BECKONS – 1882
By 1882, the Emma Wells Concert Company had reached New York City; completing its initial and only trans-continental tour of the United States. At this juncture in their careers R.W., Tom, Emma and Jennie were faced with several important decisions, not the least of which was finding a workable and viable formula that would allow the troupe to break new ground both in the theatrical and territorial sense. A solution to the dilemma was found – Canada beckoned.
The villages, towns and cities of the United States had provided the company with valuable stage exposure and enabled R.W. to hone his business acumen to a fine edge. The tour had provided the troupe with a sizeable nest egg, even though it had been one act in a company of many; for the Emma Wells Concert Company had aligned itself, as was the custom of the day, with a travelling road show under whose “umbrella” upwards of twenty individual artists and troupes had trekked across the countryside. Although this association had proven to be a very profitable one, R.W. had greater goals in mind.
In all probability, the Lanark County showmen had an ulterior motive in wanting to return to the land of their birth: homesickness – that psychological disease peculiar to the human race was no doubt taking its toll. Notwithstanding, common sense dictated that Canada was coming into its own as a “land of theatrical opportunities,” as numerous American-based troupes had already discovered. The Dominion, with its wide open spaces and diverse cultures, abounded with opportunities for the Marks Brothers and other enterprising touring companies. In the spring of 1883, the Emma Wells Concert Company found itself headquartered not at Christie Lake or even Perth, but in the Ottawa Valley town of Renfrew. The reason for the troupe using this locale as a base of operation remains unknown. For the next several years the company regularly played the surrounding towns of Pembroke, Arnprior, Almonte, Carleton Place, Smiths Falls and Perth.
The “Variety” program was, at this time, being phased out by a more socially acceptable form of entertainment – vaudeville, and it was to this genre that the Emma Wells Concert Company turned its talents. The American theatrical phenomenon, vaudeville, originated in 1883 at Boston, Massachusetts, where a former circus employee, Benjamin Franklin Keith, opened a small museum and show in a vacant candy store next to the old Adams house on Washington Street, called the Gaiety Museum.
Determined to preserve the general plan of the variety show and at the same time give it refinement and even distinction, Keith went after the best available stage talent. He encouraged women and children to patronize his small theatre and began to advertise and describe his show as “vaudeville.” He put into operation the idea of continuous performances and was soon able to pay his performers more money that they had been paid in variety, and thus began to command the best talent available. In 1885, Edward F. Albee joined Keith, both of whom would have extensive dealings with R.W. in later years. Together, they organized the Gaiety Opera Company to present, at the lowest popular prices, the new and sensational Gilbert and Sullivan light operas.
When Keith died in 1911, vaudeville was already the most readily attended form of stage entertainment. There were by 1928, approximately one thousand vaudeville theatres entertaining a daily aggregate of two million people by means of well-chosen acts, feature motion pictures and newsreels in every state of the USA and every province of Canada. In 1905, Keith and F.F. Proctor, another vaudeville magnate, joined forces to establish the United Booking Office, which became the official clearing house and engagement bureau for the employment and booking of American vaudeville acts and artists. In 1916, the National Vaudeville Artists Association Incorporated was formed. By 1928, this organization listed about 15,000 artists.1
In adopting the vaudeville format as laid out by Keith, which for the most part was in line with his own convictions, R.W. secured the continued success of not only the Emma Wells Concert Company, but also the other Marks Brothers’ companies which would one day appear on the horizon.
Within months of relocating to Renfrew, R.W., who was acting as manager and business agent for the four-member partnership, increased his hold on the organization by acquiring the controlling share. Whether the takeover was of design or necessity has little relevance today, but the acquisition gave R.W. a stronger grip on the company and allowed him greater flexibility and freedom in choosing both material and personnel. With a commanding personality in control, the troupe was able to provide the intelligent citizenry with a varied and consistent array of talent that included dancers, musicians, comedians, acrobats, specialty performers and, of course, melodrama. The availability of orchestras nearly always posed a problem for touring companies in some communities, as proficient musicians were as scarce as a good five-cent cigar. It was, therefore, necessary for troupes to carry their own musicians. R.W. took this one step further and brought along his own piano, a practice he maintained for many years.
R.W.’s shrewd business sense and ability to provide audiences with what they wanted, combined with his professionalism and affability, and with a production format that centred around wholesome, family-orientated entertainment proved to the ticket to fame and fortune for the Emma Wells Concert Company. During the ensuing years this standard of excellence was strictly maintained. Mediocrity found no favour with R.W. It would, in fact, have rung a death knell for the troupe which was now facing stiff competition from the slick and polished American companies that were slipping across the border in ever increasing numbers in search of greener and more lucrative pastures.
Ontario, due in part to its proximity to New York City, the entertainment hub of North America, and coupled with its greater population and growing economic base, was the natural destination for The Nashville Singers, billed as a troupe of coloured entertainers, The Holman Opera Company, the E.T. Goodrich Company and The Tennesseans. The Shaughraun Company, under the management of E.A. McDowell, was also a popular attraction throughout Ontario at this time; in fact, his company had been playing the Perth circuit: Almonte, Carleton Place, Smiths Falls, Arnprior and towns along the St. Lawrence River since 1880. McDowell, it will be remembered, had performed at Winnipeg in 1879, just prior to the arrival of R.W. and King Kennedy.
It is quite likely the Emma Wells Concert Company met with a certain degree of success during the 1883 touring season, but it would seem that the troupe had been largely ignored by local newspapers, as reviews from the time are hard to come by. It was not until October 1884 that a written account of the company’s merits appeared in area journals:
“The Emma Wells Concert Company has been giving a series of their popular entertainments in the Town Hall here [Arnprior] this week under the auspices of the Arnprior
