bonus features: scenes from the brunswick house

This post offers supplementary material for an article I recently wrote for Torontoist, which you should read before diving into this piece.

Globe, December 12, 1921
Ontario implemented prohibition of liquor sales via the Ontario Temperance Act in 1916. It was about as successful as such things go, which is to say, people still wanted to drink. Its repeal began in 1924 (after which weaker beer was allowed), then replaced entirely in 1927 by the creation of the LCBO.

A follow-up to Mr. Jennes's transgression appeared in the Globe five days later. Along the line, his last name lost an "e":
Fred Jenns, bartender at the Brunswick Hotel, was fined $50 and costs or 10 days for obstructing  the police. Jenns held on to an officer when he entered to look for liquor. The explanation was that Jenns kept a little liquor for his own use, and that he did not mean to obstruct the police.




gm 1969-11-03 wedding at brunswick house small
Globe and Mail, November 3, 1969.
A fuller account of the wedding of Henry Ford and Nora St. Jean. It wasn't the last nuptials witnessed at the Brunswick...

gm 1971-04-08 wedding picture
Globe and Mail, April 4, 1971.

Three months after their wedding, Mrs. Kalman won the title of "Mrs. Brunswick" in what was intended to be the first annual contest for the "woman with the mature figure." Among the runners-up was 78-year-old Olive Lyman, who attested her youthful looks and good skin to living "the clean life," which several bystanders swore she said with a wink. Wearing a black bathing suit, Ms. Lyman trotted out what the Globe and Mail described as her "withering soprano."

gm 1970-07-25 fun's not a crime
Globe and Mail, July 25, 1970.
Note that the Brunswick was the last survivor of the singalong bars mentioned in the article.


star 1979-03-19 blossom dearie
Toronto Star, March 19, 1979. Click on image for larger version.
Giving a sense of the great musicians who played the Brunswick House, especially during the 1970s and 1980s, merits another full-length article. Here's a profile on one of them (and one of my partner-in-crime's favourites), Blossom Dearie.


Among the clips of Peter Appleyard Presents floating around YouTube is this one from Dearie's performance.

star 1982-09-04 issue with sidewalk patio
Toronto Star, September 4, 1982. Click on image for larger version.
The full article on issues surrounding the Brunswick House's application for a sidewalk cafe license in 1982.

Additional material from the December 17, 1921 edition of the Globe and the July 26, 1971 edition of the Globe and Mail.


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