Here is another photograph from the December 29 1922 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a British actress.
Jeanne de Casalis (1897-1966) was born in the British colony of Basutoland (now part of Lesotho) and was raised in France, where her father was a corset retailer. She was arriving in New York in 1922 to appear in The Tidings Brought To Mary, a play that appeared at the Garrick Theatre for 32 performances before closing in January 1923.
Ms. de Casalis went on to appear regularly in British films and stage productions. She also created a character named “Mrs. Feather” who appeared in a British radio comedy. She was married twice: to British actor Colin Clive, who played the doctor in the 1931 filming of Frankenstein, and to Royal Air Force Wing Commander Cowan Douglas Stephenson. Her last film appearance was in 1948.
The Tate Gallery owns a bronze bust of her, sculpted by Frank Dobson in 1934. It was presented by Cmdr. Stephenson, who owned the only other cast of the artwork.
Here’s a photograph from the December 29 1922 edition of the Toronto Daily Star – exactly 100 years ago today – of an English actress.
Sybil Arundale (1879-1965) had been a performer since the age of 11, when she started appearing with her sister Grace in English music halls. Her first screen appearance was in Tom Jones (1917). She finished her career with some television appearances, the last of which was in The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel in 1956.
The Stage Beauty website has an entry on Ms. Arundale, including a collection of photographs and a (favorable) review of a performance of hers in 1903.
Here’s a photograph from the December 19 1929 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a British artist who was planning to exhibit some of his work in Toronto.
Richard Jack (1866-1952) was elected an associate of the British Royal Academy of Arts in 1914 and became a full member in 1920. During the First World War, he became Canada’s first official war artist. He later painted a portrait of King George V that the monarch purchased.
During the 1920s, Jack became fond of Canada, making several visits to this country. When his daughter married a businessman from Ottawa, he and his wife moved to Montreal.
The art gallery mentioned in the photograph caption, Malloney’s Art Gallery, has previously appeared in this blog here.
Here’s a photograph from the December 19 1929 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of the wife of a British peer.
Victor Warrender (1899-1993) was the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty in Winston Churchill’s wartime cabinet. He had been honoured with the Victoria Cross in the First World War. At the time of this photograph of his wife, he was the 8th Baronet of Lochend, and he became the 1st Baron Bruntisfield in 1942. He and his wife, the former Dorothy Rawson, divorced in 1945. He remarried in 1948.
The former Lady Warrender (and eventually the former Lady Bruntisfield) became an officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. She passed away in 1975.
I found a photograph of the couple on their wedding day and a portrait of Lady Warrender from 1922.
I never cease to be astonished by the fact that old Toronto newspapers from the 1920s and 1930s used to publish photos of babies and young women with their names and addresses included. I haven’t yet figured out when this stopped happening, but obviously no one would do this now.
Here’s another example – a baby photo from the December 19 1929 edition of the Toronto Daily Star:
Attempting to trace W.A. Carter and his family proved frustrating and confusing. William A. Carter doesn’t appear until the 1931 directory, which shows his residence as 344 Beresford and him working as an accountant for L. M. Green and Company. However, in the Streets section of the 1931 directory, the owner of the house is listed as Thomas E. Matthews, with Charles W. Rutherford living there. Perhaps the Carters were boarders there, but I am not sure what is going on.
To add to the confusion: Mr. Carter is not listed in the 1933 directory and 344 Beresford is listed as Vacant. However, in 1935, he is listed again at 344 Beresford, and the Streets section lists Thomas E. Matthews and Gordon G. Van Horne as living there. I suspect that the city directory compiler was not having a good day in 1933, but I do not know for sure.
In 1940, Mr. Carter was still listed at 344 Beresford, and the Streets section listed Mrs. Johnina Matthews and John Richardson as living there, which suggests that Thomas passed on. This appears to have prompted a move: in 1941, there is now a William Carter (no middle initial) listed as working as an inspector for the Gore Insurance Company and living at 383 Beresford, just down the street. Carter is a common name, but I’m going to guess that this is the same person. The Streets section of the directory lists him as the resident, which suggests that he and his family finally had a home of their own.
He remained there throughout the 1940s – the 1949 directory still lists him at 383 Beresford and working for Gore Insurance. But the 1950 directory does not list him, and 383 Beresford is listed under another resident. I don’t know whether he passed away or moved. Because of this, I was not able to trace Little Miss Dorothy Joan from the photograph.
One hundred years ago, in 1922, the last edition of the Toronto Daily Star that was published before Christmas was the one that appeared on December 23. So this edition contained all of the Christmas greetings and wishes, including this poem:
I’m not much of a judge of poetry, but this didn’t really do anything for me. I could find no references to Ernestine Sella on the Internet, and she doesn’t appear in the 1922 Toronto city directory, so I have no idea who she was.
Naturally, there were many businesses who wanted to wish their customers or potential customers a Merry Christmas. London Life was the most self-serving of these, combining their wishes with a sales pitch:
Here are a few other Christmas wishes that were closer to the spirit of the season:
Not surprisingly, Eaton’s had the most elaborate greeting:
This is now the fifth Christmas Eve for this blog. On each one, I’ve always posted the same image because I like it a lot. It appeared in the young readers section of the December 22 1928 edition of the Toronto Globe.
I hope that you and everyone that you care about have an enjoyable holiday season. Thank you for reading.
Here’s a photograph from the December 19 1929 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a scientist who had reportedly isolated the germ that caused influenza:
This turned out not to be correct: according to current scientific knowledge (if Wikipedia is accurate), influenza is caused by one of four viruses, labelled A through D, with variants of A causing most of the severe illness and pandemics. People who have contracted influenza may also be unfortunate enough to be afflicted with secondary pneumonia caused by the streptococcus virus; this might have been what was discovered here.
The “Prof S. Falk” mentioned here might have been Isidore S. Falk, a bacteriologist who taught at the University of Chicago in the 1930s. This Dr. Falk passed away in 1984 at the age of 85, so the age matches up. And this photo seems to be a close enough match.
Here’s a photo from the December 19 1929 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a Toronto woman who was about to perform in Vancouver.
Searches for Marion Copp on the Internet turned up nothing relevant. The 1929 Toronto city directory lists a Marion Copp who worked as a teacher. It’s possible that she might have done singing work as a hobby – since it’s not likely that she would have been able to do this for a living unless she was very lucky – but I have no way of knowing for sure.
The Marion Copp who was a teacher first appears in the 1919 directory and then does not appear in the 1930 directory. This suggests that either she got married or she stayed in Victoria. But that’s just a guess.
Toronto Old News 