1 Comment July 31, 2013 at 10:30 am

cityscape

“The Old Lady of Shuter Street”

As renovations near, a look at the history of Massey Hall.

By Jamie Bradburn

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268012 Hart Massey. Toronto Old and New by G. Mercer Adam (Toronto: The Mail Printing Company, 1891). During his lifetime, <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=6263">Hart Massey</a> (1823-1896) had a complicated reputation. The patriarch of one of the city’s most powerful industrial families, he was often seen as, according to historian William Kilbourn, “a tight-fisted, quarrelsome, opinionated old autocrat.” He was known to send detectives to spy on employees of his agricultural machinery business. Yet Massey was also a devout Methodist who lobbied for reforms to improve the living conditions of the working class, and supported methods of self-improvement via libraries and public lectures. Massey Music Hall, as the building was originally known, fit perfectly within his philanthropic philosophies. The hall would honour his son Charles Albert, who had been watching day-to-day operations of the family firm before his untimely death from typhoid in 1884. Charles Albert had been an amateur organist and was responsible for arranging the company’s cultural and social activities. To honour his son, Massey commissioned a large hall suitable for events ranging from public meetings to symphony performances. Massey hired architect Sidney Rose Badgley, a Canadian who had designed auditorium-style Methodist churches in Cleveland, where Massey had lived for several years. Massey purchased land at the southwest corner of Gould and Victoria Streets in 1892 for the hall. The small size of the plot would impact its future development, a situation not helped by Massey’s refusal to buy a lot to the south for what he though was too high a price. 20130730hartmassey https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey.jpg 600 689 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730hartmassey/ 20130730hartmassey 0 0

268013 Interior of Massey Music Hall, circa 1894. Toronto Public Library, R-4116. In a September 21, 1893 ceremony, Hart’s six-year-old grandson <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Massey">Vincent</a> laid the cornerstone of the new hall. The venue would be built to seat 3,500, with room for 500 more seats onstage. Massey expressed his hopes for the building in a speech which was read by an aide on opening night: “The building is modest in appearance, not too costly, nor too elegant, it being in every sense a hall for the people, and I only hope it may fulfill my expectations concerning it, and be a great source of usefulness and enjoyment to our citizens. Further, I hope that in the matter of conventions our fellow countrymen throughout the province may derive benefits therefrom, both directly and indirectly. If the building is disappointing to you in any way it cannot be for lack of time and thought on my part, for I have given it the closest possible attention in all its details.” 20130730originalinterior https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior.jpg 800 805 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730originalinterior/ 20130730originalinterior 0 0

268014 Front page, the Toronto Star, June 15, 1894. A capacity crowd turned out for opening night on June 14, 1894. The musical highlight was a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” featuring a 75-piece orchestra and a 500-voice choir. Among the dignitaries on hand were Governor-General the Earl of Aberdeen and Toronto Mayor Warring Kennedy. Though he was too ill to read his opening address, Hart Massey received loud applause when his physician led him to sit on the stage during the ceremonial speeches. 20130730starfrontpage https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage.jpg 1000 1800 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730starfrontpage/ 20130730starfrontpage 0 0

268015 Cartoon, the News, June 15, 1894. Local media lavished praise on the hall and its benefactor, with one major exception. The News objected to high prices on opening night, which flew in the face of making Massey Music Hall accessible to all—a small cartoon showed a music note and dollar sign dancing together. The paper claimed the acoustics were terrible, which made it “hardly likely” that few attendees would return. Heat was also problem, which made the paper speculate that opening a window “appeared to be some sort of a crime.” There was a cheeky suggestion that “had Mr. Massey’s gift been in the shape of public swimming baths it would have been more in keeping with the sultriness of the evening.” A Star editorial the following day suggested the News’s bitterness stemmed from the refusal of the committee organizing the music festival to advertise in that paper, and that attacking a sick old man was “cruel and ungenerous.” 20130730newscartoon https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon.jpg 529 882 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newscartoon/ 20130730newscartoon 0 0

268017 Sketch of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (the future King George V and Queen Mary) in Massey Hall. The Toronto Star, October 11, 1901. Massey Hall entertained royalty on October 10, 1901, when the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall attended a concert as part of their tour. Originally the new heir to the British throne, who would be invested as the Prince of Wales the following month and take the crown as George V in 1910, was to be presented with the opera Carmen. However, the royal family was still officially mourning Queen Victoria months after her death, and protocol demanded that they couldn’t be seen indulging themselves with live theatre. Hall officials hastily assembled a recital featuring Carmen star Emma Calvé. The royal entourage, which included Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and Governor-General the Earl of Minto, was delayed. Calvé began singing, but lost her audience when the royal party entered around 10 p.m. 20130730royalbox https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox.jpg 800 993 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730royalbox/ 20130730royalbox 0 0

268019 Postcard produced by Warwick Bros. and Rutter, Limited, 1910. Toronto Public Library, PCR-2207. An exterior view preparing just before iron fire escapes were added in 1911. Other renovations during that decade included a connection to the neighbouring Albert Building in 1917, which provided much-needed office and storage space. Hart Massey’s will stipulated that all of his assets had be dispersed within 20 years of his death. When that date approached, Vincent Massey devised a plan to place Massey Hall in the hands of a charitable entity, which was incorporated as the Massey Foundation in 1918. 20130730card https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card.jpg 640 403 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730card/ 20130730card 0 0

268020 Sketch of Massey Hall interior, the Telegram, June 4, 1913. A sketch made for a meeting of the Presbyterian Congress. The hall hosted groups ranging from the Boy Scouts to Christmas parties for Toronto Hydro. It also booked an impressive list of speakers during the early 20th century, including Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle, Helen Keller, Nellie McClung, Bertrand Russell, and Booker T. Washington. 20130730presbyteriansketch https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch.jpg 1000 571 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730presbyteriansketch/ 20130730presbyteriansketch 0 0

268021 Street railway strike meeting, 1919. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 8056. The hall was also used by labour organizations for conventions, rallies, and strike meetings. One colourful moment: at the end of a convention of the American Federation of Labor in November 1909, president <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Samuel-Gompers-1850-1924">Samuel Gompers</a> was handed a telegram informing him that he had to report to prison upon his return to the United States on a contempt of court charge. 20130730strikemeeting https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting.jpg 1000 723 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730strikemeeting/ 20130730strikemeeting 0 0

268023 Toronto Police Band, Massey Hall, February 2, 1923. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1266, Item 189. Besides professional performers, Massey Hall drew amateurs and institutional bands such as these musical cops. 20130730policeband https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband.jpg 1000 763 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730policeband/ 20130730policeband 0 0

268024 Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 1926–27. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 3, Item 1. Though an orchestra had performed for 11 seasons before disbanding due to the First World War in 1918, the ensemble that became the <a href="http://www.tso.ca/">Toronto Symphony Orchestra</a> formed in 1922. Originally known as the New Symphony Orchestra, it made its Massey Hall debut on April 23, 1923, an evening for which its musicians each earned a whopping $3.95. The program featured selections from Brahms, Dvorak, and Weber, climaxing with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. The Telegram observed that while the musicians showed great range, “what it has in mobility it lacks in colour, and a strengthening of the woodwind[s] seems necessary.” 20130730tso1926 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926.jpg 900 501 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tso1926/ 20130730tso1926 0 0

268025 Advertisement, the Globe, October 10, 1933. By the late 1920s, weakening bookings and outdated facilities made trustees consider selling the building. No serious buyers emerged. The situation improved when the conversion of movie theatres to sound pictures freed up time for pit musicians, which allowed the TSO to schedule more performances. Taking a risk in the midst of the depression, the trustees took Massey Hall off the market and hired the architectural firm of Mathers and Haldenby to renovate the building. Capacity was reduced by almost 750 seats to allow the enlargement of the ground floor entrance and the creation of a gallery lobby. Rickety wooden staircases were replaced with steel and stone. A red-and-gold colour scheme was used onstage to, according to Alvan Mathers, “pull what was a vast cold cave into a rich warm interior.” 20130730mhsimpsonsad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad.jpg 800 1172 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730mhsimpsonsad/ 20130730mhsimpsonsad 0 0

268026 Advertisement, the Toronto Star, September 30, 1933. For the grand reopening on October 10, 1933, management brought in Guelph-born opera star <a href="http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/resources/archival_&_special_collections/the_collections/edward_johnson_collection.cfm">Edward Johnson</a> as the star attraction, along with pianists Scott Malcolm and Reginald Godden. The increased schedule of TSO performances helped show off conductor <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/sir-ernest-macmillan">Ernest MacMillan</a>, who had first performed at Massey Hall as a 10-year-old. MacMillan guided the TSO through 1956, earning a knighthood along the way. 20130730tuesdaynights https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights.jpg 536 530 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tuesdaynights/ 20130730tuesdaynights 0 0

268028 Sketch of Massey Hall by Stanley Turner, 1934. Toronto ‘s 100 Years by Jesse Edgar Middleton (Toronto: City of Toronto, 1934). A nice sketch of the hall after renovations wrapped up, for what appears to be a busy night for the <a href="http://www.tmchoir.org/">Toronto Mendelssohn Choir</a>. 20130730mhsketch1934 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934.jpg 1000 793 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730mhsketch1934/ 20130730mhsketch1934 0 0

268029 G. Ross Creelman, manager of Massey Hall, with mover Jack Hughey, circa 1952. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 2556, Item 1. A little backstage humour from the house staff. Careful with that harp! 20130730harp https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp.jpg 1000 791 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730harp/ 20130730harp 0 0

268030 Boxer Jack Dempsey with hatter Sammy Taft, 1950s. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 4397. It may be hard to imagine, but Massey Hall was used for sporting events. The trustees had mixed feelings about showcasing boxers and wrestlers, occasionally vowing never to hold matches ever again when people complained such events were rowdy and vulgar. One of the hall’s first forays into sports was an appearance by rising boxing star <a href="http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jack_Dempsey">Jack Dempsey</a> on April 12, 1919. “The Manassa Mauler” referring some opening bouts, then pummeled a sparring partner in preparation for his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvCHk_kKpVI">upcoming heavyweight title fight against Jess Willard</a>. According to the World, the hall was “almost overflowing by men and men only—real men who appreciate the art of self-defence.” Regular fight nights began in the 1930s and lasted until 1948, when the installation of a concrete floor under the orchestra seats as a fire safety measure meant ring posts could no longer be placed through the stage floor. 20130730dempseytaft https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft.jpg 1000 769 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dempseytaft/ 20130730dempseytaft 0 0

268032 Advertisement, the Globe and Mail, May 15, 1953. The venue’s most famous jazz concert occurred on May 15, 1953, showcasing the only recording of five genre titans. The New Jazz Society of Toronto wanted to secure trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker for a show, and soon added bassist Charles Mingus, pianist Bud Powell, and drummer Max Roach to the bill. Chaos reigned over the evening, as the performers argued over what they being paid. Not helping was a half-full house, partly due to a televised heavyweight title boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. When Gillespie and Parker wandered off for over an hour, the remaining trio played several numbers which Globe and Mail critic Alex Barris deemed the highlight of the evening. “With those two deposed bop kings off the stage, there was more opportunity to hear Bud’s brilliant, coherent playing as well as the flawless drumming of Roach and the precise bass playing of Mingus.” When <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/oct/23/quintet-jazz-at-massey-hall">an album of the concert</a> was released, contractual complications forced Parker to be billed as “Charlie Chan.” 20130730quintetad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad.jpg 366 187 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730quintetad/ 20130730quintetad 0 0

268035 Seiji Ozawa and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra rehearsing Satie’s “Parade,” February 14, 1966. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 72, Item 1. The TSO scored a coup when it hired 28-year-old Japanese conductor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Ozawa">Seiji Ozawa</a> to take over for the 1965–66 season. “We were lucky to get him,” TSO managing director told the Star in May 1964. “A young man on the way up today doesn’t usually want to get tied down.” Symphony members welcomed Ozawa’s non-tyrannical personality—as one performer put it, “he never insults anyone, cuts them up, or uses a harsh word.” Ozawa conducted the TSO through 1969. 20130730tsoowaza https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza.jpg 1000 762 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tsoowaza/ 20130730tsoowaza 0 0

268036 Elmer Iseler, conductor, rehearsing the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Massey Hall, circa 1970. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 2367, Item 1. The <a href="http://www.tmchoir.org/">Toronto Mendelssohn Choir</a> was Massey Hall’s oldest ongoing tenant, having made its debut several months after the hall opened. <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/elmer-iseler">Elmer Iseler</a> became its conductor in 1964 and would lead the ensemble until 1997. 20130730iseler https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler.jpg 1000 707 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730iseler/ 20130730iseler 0 0

268037 CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey interviewing Bob Dylan at the Friars Tavern, fall 1965. The Telegram, November 11, 1965. Bob Dylan’s late 1965 tour split fans across the continent. While an acoustic first set placated longtime fans and uber-purists, the electric second set provoked catcalls and cries of “sell out!” To back him for the plugged-in portion of the show, Dylan recruited Yonge Street scene vets Levon and the Hawks (who later became the Band). Dylan rehearsed with the band at the Friars Tavern (now the Hard Rock Café) that fall, during which he slipped in an interview with CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey. Published on the eve of Dylan’s November 14 and 15, 1965 performances at Massey Hall, the singer-songwriter addressed recent criticisms. “My ideas change and my songs change,” he told McAdorey. “I don’t think the way I did when I was 18 or 19, and I don’t like being quoted on things I said or did then.” 20130730dylaninterview https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview.jpg 640 498 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dylaninterview/ 20130730dylaninterview 0 0

268038 Review of Bob Dylan’s performance at Massey Hall, the Telegram, November 15, 1965. As happened elsewhere, the audience split when Dylan hit the Massey Hall stage. There was booing and hissing when the electricity was turned on for the second set. Somebody sarcastically yelled out “Elvis!” A few people left the building. One irate fan complained to the Globe and Mail that Dylan had become “a cheap imitation of the Beatles.” Newspaper reviews are laughable in hindsight. The Globe and Mail’s Bruce Lawson treated the performance as the interview he couldn’t secure with Dylan before the show. The Star’s Antony Ferry was filled with bile, calling Levon and the Hawks “a third rate Yonge Street rock n’ roll band” whose noise drowned out Dylan’s message. “That great voice, a wonderfully clean poet’s voice, is buried under the same Big Sound that draws all the Screamies to a Beatle orgy of pubescent kids at Maple Leaf Gardens.” Ferry’s Star colleague Robert Fulford disagreed; he found the acoustic half boring, while the electric set offered “great waves of sound roaring off the stage in marvellously subtle rhythms…It’s Dylan’s own new thing. I love it.” The Telegram’s Barrie Hale felt Dylan could lose the fussier members of the audience, and that the performance demonstrated that his new sound was picking up new fans. “They know something is happening there, they just don’t know what it is, but they dig it.” 20130730dylanreview https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview.jpg 1000 729 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dylanreview/ 20130730dylanreview 0 0

268039 Cover of Sunday Concert by Gordon Lightfoot (United Artists 1969), recorded at Massey Hall in March 1969. Like Ernest MacMillan, Gordon Lightfoot made his Massey Hall debut at an early age, appearing in a Kiwanis vocal competition at age 12. Few suspected that a series of performances by Lightfoot in March 1967 marked the start of an annual spring tradition. “Above his grey denims he hulks uneasily in a light blue blazer and an Eaton’s basement tie, a screaming modmash of scarlet-orange, green, and purple flaming against his innocent white shirt,” observed Telegram reviewer Michael Walsh during Lightfoot’s March 31, 1967 show. “A disorganized tangle of hair crowns his intense, rural features. Then the flat pick begins to move across the strings and electric magic that is Lightfoot suddenly takes over.” Over the course of Lightfoot’s two-hour set, Walsh noticed a deep connection between singer and audience. There was no catcalling a la Bob Dylan’s show. Instead, “there were moments of hush when a song was brought forth for the very first time. There were moments of stereophonic sound, as couples would take up a chorus and sing along with familiar lyrics. There were moments of thunderous applause calling him back to encore again and again.” In 1969, Lightfoot’s Massey Hall shows were recorded to wind up his contract with United Artists records, resulting in the album Sunday Concert. 20130730sundayconcert https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert.jpg 640 637 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730sundayconcert/ 20130730sundayconcert 0 0

268040 Advertisements, (left) the Toronto Star, January 9, 1971, (right) the Telegram, January 19, 1971. In <a href="http://torontoist.com/2011/03/historicist_on_the_way_home_to_massey_hall/">a past installment of Historicist</a>, we covered Neil Young’s legendary Massey Hall appearance in January 1971. 20130730neilyoungads https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads.jpg 640 414 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730neilyoungads/ 20130730neilyoungads 0 0

268041 Sketch of proposed New Massey Hall at King and Simcoe Streets, the Globe and Mail, July 6, 1976. As Massey Hall aged, its problems became apparent to its users. Bookings by opera companies and ballet troupes moved elsewhere. The opening of the O’Keefe Centre in 1960 and renovations to the Royal Alex soon after Ed Mirvish bought it in the early 1960s magnified problems with rehearsal halls, storage space, and ventilation issues. Musicians complained for years they couldn’t hear each other on the stage. Recording sessions were marred by noisy radiators and general street noise. Reports commissioned by both the hall’s trustees and the TSO in the mid-1960s suggested that the orchestra needed a replacement venue. Even Vincent Massey noted that “the Old Lady of Shuter Street has served Toronto for over 70 years, but she has had her day.” Initially the southeast corner of King and Church was proposed as a new site, before “New Massey Hall” was incorporated into the Metro Centre plan in 1972. Rumours of its demise sparked action. “Sam the Record Man” Sniderman offered to buy Massey Hall and run it as a popular music venue. Theatre architect Mandel Sprachman proposed connecting it to the Elgin and Winter Garden as a large entertainment complex. Trustees reassured the public that the old hall would continue to operate, as least until a new facility was built. Eventually that condition was dropped, and old Massey Hall would serve as a companion to its official replacement. 20130730newmasseysketch https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch.jpg 800 602 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newmasseysketch/ 20130730newmasseysketch 0 0

268042 Model of New Massey Hall, the Toronto Star, September 8, 1977. While the Metro Centre plan collapsed, elements like the CN Tower and New Massey Hall would be built. The trustees secured a former Canadian Pacific property at King and Simcoe, where ground broke on the new hall in September 1978. Shortly before it opened in 1982, the new venue was named in honour of press baron Roy Thomson. 20130730newmasseymodel https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel.jpg 798 1275 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newmasseymodel/ 20130730newmasseymodel 0 0

268044 Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor Andrew Davis (left) at gala farewell concert at Massey Hall, June 4, 1982. Photo by Norm Scudellari Photography. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 345, Item 32. On June 4, 1982, the TSO held a final concert at Massey Hall before moving to Roy Thomson Hall. Some audience members wore 1920s garb to honour the symphony’s opening night. Besides repeats of pieces performed in 1923, the concert included a performance of the “Hallelujah Chorus” by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and a commission by trumpeter John Cowell titled “A Farewell Tribute To The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street.” 20130730davis https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis.jpg 800 1007 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730davis/ 20130730davis 0 0

268045 A sampling of concert ads, the Toronto Star, June 12, 1982. With the departure of its resident classical music ensembles, Massey Hall’s bills included even more popular music acts, as this list of ads printed soon after the TSO’s final show demonstrates. 20130730rockads https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads.jpg 283 1376 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730rockads/ 20130730rockads 0 0

268047 Advertisement, the Toronto Star, June 9, 1994. When Massey Hall was built in 1894, the roof nails were expected to last a century. An examination in 1993 found the roof was shedding its tiles right on schedule. The result was $750,000 in repairs in time for the venue’s centennial. Besides a touch-up, Massey Hall celebrated its 100th birthday with a gala concert covering the many genres that graced its stage. Among the highlights was a performance of the “Toy Symphony” featuring Ontario Premier Bob Rae banging a drum, opera star Maureen Forrester imitating a cuckoo, and former Maple Leaf Eddie Shack shaking a rattle. 20130730anniversaryad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad.jpg 574 614 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730anniversaryad/ 20130730anniversaryad 0 0

268049 Proposed future look of Massey Hall, taken from an April 10, 2013 City of Toronto staff report (<a href="http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-57665.pdf">PDF</a>). As part of the neighbouring <a href="http://www.themasseytower.com/">Massey Tower</a> condo project, Massey Hall is slated to receive renovations that would have pleased past generations of performers. Projected to take seven years, plans call for the demolition of the Albert Building, construction of a two-level basement and a new annex building which will have improved amenities, replacement of seats dating back to the beginning, and possible uncovering of stained glass windows blocked long ago. 20130730rendering2013 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013.jpg 800 499 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730rendering2013/ 20130730rendering2013 0 0

How do you test a venue’s acoustics? If you’re an expert like Fritz Winckel, you fire a blank from a .38 revolver into the galleries of Massey Hall, as he did in the early 1960s. According to historian William Kilbourn, the result pleased Winckel. “The two second reverberation time, as well as the hall’s dimensions and volume that he had been measuring, corresponded closely to those of the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.” In short, Massey Hall ranked with the world’s greats.

The acoustics, at least for audiences, have been one of the main draws of Massey Hall since it opened its doors in June 1894. Despite the grief performers occasionally endured from its unusual stage dimension and lack of backstage space, the building has showcased the finest in amateur and professional artists. It has also witnessed political rallies, union conventions, church services, and pretty much anything else that, at its peak capacity, could draw over 4,000 people.

Threatened with extinction when plans were made for a replacement during the 1960s and 1970s—those plans ended up becoming Roy Thomson Hall—the “Old Lady of Shuter Street” is set to undergo major renovations tied into an adjoining condo project. Which gives us an excuse to walk through its history. If you have your ticket, step into the photo gallery.

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268012 Hart Massey. Toronto Old and New by G. Mercer Adam (Toronto: The Mail Printing Company, 1891). During his lifetime, <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=6263">Hart Massey</a> (1823-1896) had a complicated reputation. The patriarch of one of the city’s most powerful industrial families, he was often seen as, according to historian William Kilbourn, “a tight-fisted, quarrelsome, opinionated old autocrat.” He was known to send detectives to spy on employees of his agricultural machinery business. Yet Massey was also a devout Methodist who lobbied for reforms to improve the living conditions of the working class, and supported methods of self-improvement via libraries and public lectures. Massey Music Hall, as the building was originally known, fit perfectly within his philanthropic philosophies. The hall would honour his son Charles Albert, who had been watching day-to-day operations of the family firm before his untimely death from typhoid in 1884. Charles Albert had been an amateur organist and was responsible for arranging the company’s cultural and social activities. To honour his son, Massey commissioned a large hall suitable for events ranging from public meetings to symphony performances. Massey hired architect Sidney Rose Badgley, a Canadian who had designed auditorium-style Methodist churches in Cleveland, where Massey had lived for several years. Massey purchased land at the southwest corner of Gould and Victoria Streets in 1892 for the hall. The small size of the plot would impact its future development, a situation not helped by Massey’s refusal to buy a lot to the south for what he though was too high a price. 20130730hartmassey https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730hartmassey.jpg 600 689 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730hartmassey/ 20130730hartmassey 0 0

268013 Interior of Massey Music Hall, circa 1894. Toronto Public Library, R-4116. In a September 21, 1893 ceremony, Hart’s six-year-old grandson <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Massey">Vincent</a> laid the cornerstone of the new hall. The venue would be built to seat 3,500, with room for 500 more seats onstage. Massey expressed his hopes for the building in a speech which was read by an aide on opening night: “The building is modest in appearance, not too costly, nor too elegant, it being in every sense a hall for the people, and I only hope it may fulfill my expectations concerning it, and be a great source of usefulness and enjoyment to our citizens. Further, I hope that in the matter of conventions our fellow countrymen throughout the province may derive benefits therefrom, both directly and indirectly. If the building is disappointing to you in any way it cannot be for lack of time and thought on my part, for I have given it the closest possible attention in all its details.” 20130730originalinterior https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730originalinterior.jpg 800 805 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730originalinterior/ 20130730originalinterior 0 0

268014 Front page, the Toronto Star, June 15, 1894. A capacity crowd turned out for opening night on June 14, 1894. The musical highlight was a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” featuring a 75-piece orchestra and a 500-voice choir. Among the dignitaries on hand were Governor-General the Earl of Aberdeen and Toronto Mayor Warring Kennedy. Though he was too ill to read his opening address, Hart Massey received loud applause when his physician led him to sit on the stage during the ceremonial speeches. 20130730starfrontpage https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730starfrontpage.jpg 1000 1800 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730starfrontpage/ 20130730starfrontpage 0 0

268015 Cartoon, the News, June 15, 1894. Local media lavished praise on the hall and its benefactor, with one major exception. The News objected to high prices on opening night, which flew in the face of making Massey Music Hall accessible to all—a small cartoon showed a music note and dollar sign dancing together. The paper claimed the acoustics were terrible, which made it “hardly likely” that few attendees would return. Heat was also problem, which made the paper speculate that opening a window “appeared to be some sort of a crime.” There was a cheeky suggestion that “had Mr. Massey’s gift been in the shape of public swimming baths it would have been more in keeping with the sultriness of the evening.” A Star editorial the following day suggested the News’s bitterness stemmed from the refusal of the committee organizing the music festival to advertise in that paper, and that attacking a sick old man was “cruel and ungenerous.” 20130730newscartoon https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newscartoon.jpg 529 882 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newscartoon/ 20130730newscartoon 0 0

268017 Sketch of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (the future King George V and Queen Mary) in Massey Hall. The Toronto Star, October 11, 1901. Massey Hall entertained royalty on October 10, 1901, when the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall attended a concert as part of their tour. Originally the new heir to the British throne, who would be invested as the Prince of Wales the following month and take the crown as George V in 1910, was to be presented with the opera Carmen. However, the royal family was still officially mourning Queen Victoria months after her death, and protocol demanded that they couldn’t be seen indulging themselves with live theatre. Hall officials hastily assembled a recital featuring Carmen star Emma Calvé. The royal entourage, which included Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and Governor-General the Earl of Minto, was delayed. Calvé began singing, but lost her audience when the royal party entered around 10 p.m. 20130730royalbox https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730royalbox.jpg 800 993 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730royalbox/ 20130730royalbox 0 0

268019 Postcard produced by Warwick Bros. and Rutter, Limited, 1910. Toronto Public Library, PCR-2207. An exterior view preparing just before iron fire escapes were added in 1911. Other renovations during that decade included a connection to the neighbouring Albert Building in 1917, which provided much-needed office and storage space. Hart Massey’s will stipulated that all of his assets had be dispersed within 20 years of his death. When that date approached, Vincent Massey devised a plan to place Massey Hall in the hands of a charitable entity, which was incorporated as the Massey Foundation in 1918. 20130730card https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730card.jpg 640 403 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730card/ 20130730card 0 0

268020 Sketch of Massey Hall interior, the Telegram, June 4, 1913. A sketch made for a meeting of the Presbyterian Congress. The hall hosted groups ranging from the Boy Scouts to Christmas parties for Toronto Hydro. It also booked an impressive list of speakers during the early 20th century, including Winston Churchill, Arthur Conan Doyle, Helen Keller, Nellie McClung, Bertrand Russell, and Booker T. Washington. 20130730presbyteriansketch https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730presbyteriansketch.jpg 1000 571 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730presbyteriansketch/ 20130730presbyteriansketch 0 0

268021 Street railway strike meeting, 1919. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 8056. The hall was also used by labour organizations for conventions, rallies, and strike meetings. One colourful moment: at the end of a convention of the American Federation of Labor in November 1909, president <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Samuel-Gompers-1850-1924">Samuel Gompers</a> was handed a telegram informing him that he had to report to prison upon his return to the United States on a contempt of court charge. 20130730strikemeeting https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730strikemeeting.jpg 1000 723 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730strikemeeting/ 20130730strikemeeting 0 0

268023 Toronto Police Band, Massey Hall, February 2, 1923. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1266, Item 189. Besides professional performers, Massey Hall drew amateurs and institutional bands such as these musical cops. 20130730policeband https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730policeband.jpg 1000 763 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730policeband/ 20130730policeband 0 0

268024 Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 1926–27. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 3, Item 1. Though an orchestra had performed for 11 seasons before disbanding due to the First World War in 1918, the ensemble that became the <a href="http://www.tso.ca/">Toronto Symphony Orchestra</a> formed in 1922. Originally known as the New Symphony Orchestra, it made its Massey Hall debut on April 23, 1923, an evening for which its musicians each earned a whopping $3.95. The program featured selections from Brahms, Dvorak, and Weber, climaxing with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. The Telegram observed that while the musicians showed great range, “what it has in mobility it lacks in colour, and a strengthening of the woodwind[s] seems necessary.” 20130730tso1926 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tso1926.jpg 900 501 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tso1926/ 20130730tso1926 0 0

268025 Advertisement, the Globe, October 10, 1933. By the late 1920s, weakening bookings and outdated facilities made trustees consider selling the building. No serious buyers emerged. The situation improved when the conversion of movie theatres to sound pictures freed up time for pit musicians, which allowed the TSO to schedule more performances. Taking a risk in the midst of the depression, the trustees took Massey Hall off the market and hired the architectural firm of Mathers and Haldenby to renovate the building. Capacity was reduced by almost 750 seats to allow the enlargement of the ground floor entrance and the creation of a gallery lobby. Rickety wooden staircases were replaced with steel and stone. A red-and-gold colour scheme was used onstage to, according to Alvan Mathers, “pull what was a vast cold cave into a rich warm interior.” 20130730mhsimpsonsad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsimpsonsad.jpg 800 1172 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730mhsimpsonsad/ 20130730mhsimpsonsad 0 0

268026 Advertisement, the Toronto Star, September 30, 1933. For the grand reopening on October 10, 1933, management brought in Guelph-born opera star <a href="http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/resources/archival_&_special_collections/the_collections/edward_johnson_collection.cfm">Edward Johnson</a> as the star attraction, along with pianists Scott Malcolm and Reginald Godden. The increased schedule of TSO performances helped show off conductor <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/sir-ernest-macmillan">Ernest MacMillan</a>, who had first performed at Massey Hall as a 10-year-old. MacMillan guided the TSO through 1956, earning a knighthood along the way. 20130730tuesdaynights https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tuesdaynights.jpg 536 530 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tuesdaynights/ 20130730tuesdaynights 0 0

268028 Sketch of Massey Hall by Stanley Turner, 1934. Toronto ‘s 100 Years by Jesse Edgar Middleton (Toronto: City of Toronto, 1934). A nice sketch of the hall after renovations wrapped up, for what appears to be a busy night for the <a href="http://www.tmchoir.org/">Toronto Mendelssohn Choir</a>. 20130730mhsketch1934 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730mhsketch1934.jpg 1000 793 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730mhsketch1934/ 20130730mhsketch1934 0 0

268029 G. Ross Creelman, manager of Massey Hall, with mover Jack Hughey, circa 1952. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 2556, Item 1. A little backstage humour from the house staff. Careful with that harp! 20130730harp https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730harp.jpg 1000 791 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730harp/ 20130730harp 0 0

268030 Boxer Jack Dempsey with hatter Sammy Taft, 1950s. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 4397. It may be hard to imagine, but Massey Hall was used for sporting events. The trustees had mixed feelings about showcasing boxers and wrestlers, occasionally vowing never to hold matches ever again when people complained such events were rowdy and vulgar. One of the hall’s first forays into sports was an appearance by rising boxing star <a href="http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jack_Dempsey">Jack Dempsey</a> on April 12, 1919. “The Manassa Mauler” referring some opening bouts, then pummeled a sparring partner in preparation for his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvCHk_kKpVI">upcoming heavyweight title fight against Jess Willard</a>. According to the World, the hall was “almost overflowing by men and men only—real men who appreciate the art of self-defence.” Regular fight nights began in the 1930s and lasted until 1948, when the installation of a concrete floor under the orchestra seats as a fire safety measure meant ring posts could no longer be placed through the stage floor. 20130730dempseytaft https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dempseytaft.jpg 1000 769 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dempseytaft/ 20130730dempseytaft 0 0

268032 Advertisement, the Globe and Mail, May 15, 1953. The venue’s most famous jazz concert occurred on May 15, 1953, showcasing the only recording of five genre titans. The New Jazz Society of Toronto wanted to secure trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker for a show, and soon added bassist Charles Mingus, pianist Bud Powell, and drummer Max Roach to the bill. Chaos reigned over the evening, as the performers argued over what they being paid. Not helping was a half-full house, partly due to a televised heavyweight title boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. When Gillespie and Parker wandered off for over an hour, the remaining trio played several numbers which Globe and Mail critic Alex Barris deemed the highlight of the evening. “With those two deposed bop kings off the stage, there was more opportunity to hear Bud’s brilliant, coherent playing as well as the flawless drumming of Roach and the precise bass playing of Mingus.” When <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/oct/23/quintet-jazz-at-massey-hall">an album of the concert</a> was released, contractual complications forced Parker to be billed as “Charlie Chan.” 20130730quintetad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730quintetad.jpg 366 187 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730quintetad/ 20130730quintetad 0 0

268035 Seiji Ozawa and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra rehearsing Satie’s “Parade,” February 14, 1966. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 72, Item 1. The TSO scored a coup when it hired 28-year-old Japanese conductor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Ozawa">Seiji Ozawa</a> to take over for the 1965–66 season. “We were lucky to get him,” TSO managing director told the Star in May 1964. “A young man on the way up today doesn’t usually want to get tied down.” Symphony members welcomed Ozawa’s non-tyrannical personality—as one performer put it, “he never insults anyone, cuts them up, or uses a harsh word.” Ozawa conducted the TSO through 1969. 20130730tsoowaza https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730tsoowaza.jpg 1000 762 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730tsoowaza/ 20130730tsoowaza 0 0

268036 Elmer Iseler, conductor, rehearsing the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Massey Hall, circa 1970. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 2367, Item 1. The <a href="http://www.tmchoir.org/">Toronto Mendelssohn Choir</a> was Massey Hall’s oldest ongoing tenant, having made its debut several months after the hall opened. <a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/elmer-iseler">Elmer Iseler</a> became its conductor in 1964 and would lead the ensemble until 1997. 20130730iseler https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730iseler.jpg 1000 707 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730iseler/ 20130730iseler 0 0

268037 CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey interviewing Bob Dylan at the Friars Tavern, fall 1965. The Telegram, November 11, 1965. Bob Dylan’s late 1965 tour split fans across the continent. While an acoustic first set placated longtime fans and uber-purists, the electric second set provoked catcalls and cries of “sell out!” To back him for the plugged-in portion of the show, Dylan recruited Yonge Street scene vets Levon and the Hawks (who later became the Band). Dylan rehearsed with the band at the Friars Tavern (now the Hard Rock Café) that fall, during which he slipped in an interview with CHUM DJ Bob McAdorey. Published on the eve of Dylan’s November 14 and 15, 1965 performances at Massey Hall, the singer-songwriter addressed recent criticisms. “My ideas change and my songs change,” he told McAdorey. “I don’t think the way I did when I was 18 or 19, and I don’t like being quoted on things I said or did then.” 20130730dylaninterview https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylaninterview.jpg 640 498 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dylaninterview/ 20130730dylaninterview 0 0

268038 Review of Bob Dylan’s performance at Massey Hall, the Telegram, November 15, 1965. As happened elsewhere, the audience split when Dylan hit the Massey Hall stage. There was booing and hissing when the electricity was turned on for the second set. Somebody sarcastically yelled out “Elvis!” A few people left the building. One irate fan complained to the Globe and Mail that Dylan had become “a cheap imitation of the Beatles.” Newspaper reviews are laughable in hindsight. The Globe and Mail’s Bruce Lawson treated the performance as the interview he couldn’t secure with Dylan before the show. The Star’s Antony Ferry was filled with bile, calling Levon and the Hawks “a third rate Yonge Street rock n’ roll band” whose noise drowned out Dylan’s message. “That great voice, a wonderfully clean poet’s voice, is buried under the same Big Sound that draws all the Screamies to a Beatle orgy of pubescent kids at Maple Leaf Gardens.” Ferry’s Star colleague Robert Fulford disagreed; he found the acoustic half boring, while the electric set offered “great waves of sound roaring off the stage in marvellously subtle rhythms…It’s Dylan’s own new thing. I love it.” The Telegram’s Barrie Hale felt Dylan could lose the fussier members of the audience, and that the performance demonstrated that his new sound was picking up new fans. “They know something is happening there, they just don’t know what it is, but they dig it.” 20130730dylanreview https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730dylanreview.jpg 1000 729 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730dylanreview/ 20130730dylanreview 0 0

268039 Cover of Sunday Concert by Gordon Lightfoot (United Artists 1969), recorded at Massey Hall in March 1969. Like Ernest MacMillan, Gordon Lightfoot made his Massey Hall debut at an early age, appearing in a Kiwanis vocal competition at age 12. Few suspected that a series of performances by Lightfoot in March 1967 marked the start of an annual spring tradition. “Above his grey denims he hulks uneasily in a light blue blazer and an Eaton’s basement tie, a screaming modmash of scarlet-orange, green, and purple flaming against his innocent white shirt,” observed Telegram reviewer Michael Walsh during Lightfoot’s March 31, 1967 show. “A disorganized tangle of hair crowns his intense, rural features. Then the flat pick begins to move across the strings and electric magic that is Lightfoot suddenly takes over.” Over the course of Lightfoot’s two-hour set, Walsh noticed a deep connection between singer and audience. There was no catcalling a la Bob Dylan’s show. Instead, “there were moments of hush when a song was brought forth for the very first time. There were moments of stereophonic sound, as couples would take up a chorus and sing along with familiar lyrics. There were moments of thunderous applause calling him back to encore again and again.” In 1969, Lightfoot’s Massey Hall shows were recorded to wind up his contract with United Artists records, resulting in the album Sunday Concert. 20130730sundayconcert https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730sundayconcert.jpg 640 637 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730sundayconcert/ 20130730sundayconcert 0 0

268040 Advertisements, (left) the Toronto Star, January 9, 1971, (right) the Telegram, January 19, 1971. In <a href="http://torontoist.com/2011/03/historicist_on_the_way_home_to_massey_hall/">a past installment of Historicist</a>, we covered Neil Young’s legendary Massey Hall appearance in January 1971. 20130730neilyoungads https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730neilyoungads.jpg 640 414 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730neilyoungads/ 20130730neilyoungads 0 0

268041 Sketch of proposed New Massey Hall at King and Simcoe Streets, the Globe and Mail, July 6, 1976. As Massey Hall aged, its problems became apparent to its users. Bookings by opera companies and ballet troupes moved elsewhere. The opening of the O’Keefe Centre in 1960 and renovations to the Royal Alex soon after Ed Mirvish bought it in the early 1960s magnified problems with rehearsal halls, storage space, and ventilation issues. Musicians complained for years they couldn’t hear each other on the stage. Recording sessions were marred by noisy radiators and general street noise. Reports commissioned by both the hall’s trustees and the TSO in the mid-1960s suggested that the orchestra needed a replacement venue. Even Vincent Massey noted that “the Old Lady of Shuter Street has served Toronto for over 70 years, but she has had her day.” Initially the southeast corner of King and Church was proposed as a new site, before “New Massey Hall” was incorporated into the Metro Centre plan in 1972. Rumours of its demise sparked action. “Sam the Record Man” Sniderman offered to buy Massey Hall and run it as a popular music venue. Theatre architect Mandel Sprachman proposed connecting it to the Elgin and Winter Garden as a large entertainment complex. Trustees reassured the public that the old hall would continue to operate, as least until a new facility was built. Eventually that condition was dropped, and old Massey Hall would serve as a companion to its official replacement. 20130730newmasseysketch https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseysketch.jpg 800 602 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newmasseysketch/ 20130730newmasseysketch 0 0

268042 Model of New Massey Hall, the Toronto Star, September 8, 1977. While the Metro Centre plan collapsed, elements like the CN Tower and New Massey Hall would be built. The trustees secured a former Canadian Pacific property at King and Simcoe, where ground broke on the new hall in September 1978. Shortly before it opened in 1982, the new venue was named in honour of press baron Roy Thomson. 20130730newmasseymodel https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730newmasseymodel.jpg 798 1275 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730newmasseymodel/ 20130730newmasseymodel 0 0

268044 Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor Andrew Davis (left) at gala farewell concert at Massey Hall, June 4, 1982. Photo by Norm Scudellari Photography. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 329, Series 1569, File 345, Item 32. On June 4, 1982, the TSO held a final concert at Massey Hall before moving to Roy Thomson Hall. Some audience members wore 1920s garb to honour the symphony’s opening night. Besides repeats of pieces performed in 1923, the concert included a performance of the “Hallelujah Chorus” by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and a commission by trumpeter John Cowell titled “A Farewell Tribute To The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street.” 20130730davis https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730davis.jpg 800 1007 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730davis/ 20130730davis 0 0

268045 A sampling of concert ads, the Toronto Star, June 12, 1982. With the departure of its resident classical music ensembles, Massey Hall’s bills included even more popular music acts, as this list of ads printed soon after the TSO’s final show demonstrates. 20130730rockads https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rockads.jpg 283 1376 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730rockads/ 20130730rockads 0 0

268047 Advertisement, the Toronto Star, June 9, 1994. When Massey Hall was built in 1894, the roof nails were expected to last a century. An examination in 1993 found the roof was shedding its tiles right on schedule. The result was $750,000 in repairs in time for the venue’s centennial. Besides a touch-up, Massey Hall celebrated its 100th birthday with a gala concert covering the many genres that graced its stage. Among the highlights was a performance of the “Toy Symphony” featuring Ontario Premier Bob Rae banging a drum, opera star Maureen Forrester imitating a cuckoo, and former Maple Leaf Eddie Shack shaking a rattle. 20130730anniversaryad https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730anniversaryad.jpg 574 614 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730anniversaryad/ 20130730anniversaryad 0 0

268049 Proposed future look of Massey Hall, taken from an April 10, 2013 City of Toronto staff report (<a href="http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-57665.pdf">PDF</a>). As part of the neighbouring <a href="http://www.themasseytower.com/">Massey Tower</a> condo project, Massey Hall is slated to receive renovations that would have pleased past generations of performers. Projected to take seven years, plans call for the demolition of the Albert Building, construction of a two-level basement and a new annex building which will have improved amenities, replacement of seats dating back to the beginning, and possible uncovering of stained glass windows blocked long ago. 20130730rendering2013 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130730rendering2013.jpg 800 499 [] https://torontoist.com/2013/07/the-old-lady-of-shuter-street/slide/20130730rendering2013/ 20130730rendering2013 0 0

Additional material from Intimate Grandeur: One Hundred Years at Massey Hall by William Kilbourn (Toronto: Stoddart, 1993), the June 15, 1894 edition of the Globe, the May 18, 1953, November 15, 1965, October 13, 1967, April 9, 1969, and July 2, 2013 editions of the Globe and Mail, the June 15, 1894 edition of the News, the June 16, 1894, October 11, 1901, October 7, 1933, May 2, 1964. November 15, 1965, November 19, 1965, November 10, 1972, June 6, 1982, and June 15, 1994 editions of the Toronto Star, and the April 25, 1923, November 11, 1965, November 15, 1965, and April 1, 1967 editions of the Telegram.

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“The Old Lady of Shuter Street”

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