The Canadian Kings of Repertoire. Michael V. Taylor

and dancer.

      The American logging and mining towns of the 1880s and 1890s would prove to be a financial boon to those adventurous stock companies. Not only did they endure verbal abuse, but more often than not risked personal injury at the hands of whiskey-soaked roughnecks who prided themselves on their ability to disrupt an evening’s performance at the “drop of a hat.” It was a rare occasion indeed, when R.W. and Tom were not called upon to forcibly eject at least one boisterous member of the audience for his unsolicited “stage participation.” In essence, this nightly ritual amounted to “theatrical warfare.” Theirs was a never-ending crusade to ensure peace and quiet, and their subsequent success in maintaining law and order earned them enormous respect.

      Their highly efficient method of ejection was technically known as “going over the footlights.” The skill acquired by these two Lanark County farmboys made it a simple process, requiring only a few minutes of a man’s time. Whenever it became apparent that a spectator was a chronic interrupter, one or both of the brothers, accompanied by as many members of the company as was deemed necessary to handle the situation, would leap into the house and whisk the miscreant into the street. With matters well in hand the performance would continue, confident that no further interruptions would be forthcoming that night. Many evening’s while R.W. and Tom were busy with their extra curricular activities, the remaining cast members would continue the production, awaiting the return of the “battling duo.” Upon completion of their task, the two would leap back on stage and resume where they had left off, as if nothing had happened.

      Some years later, Tom would say that the Pennsylvania mining towns, Mississippi settlements and the raw Montana communities offered the biggest challenge.¹⁷ Whenever the company played these hostile territories, R.W. and Tom literally fought their way through each performance. Yet, this necessary, but regrettable, activity quickly endeared them to the more sedate patrons, who endowed upon them the nickname, “the strongman and the wildcat.” These Lanark County natives were credited at the time, so the literature suggests, with changing the whole complexion of show business in these areas. The rowdy element accounted for a very small percentage of the total population, but its consistent trouble-making had kept respectable citizens away from the theatres. The peace-loving segment of society had no intention of paying for an evening’s entertainment only to become embroiled in a near riot.

      “The strongman and the wildcat” squelched these disturbances without mercy, and their reputations were well known all over the continent to both showmen and ruffian alike. During these “blood and thunder” days, they forged their pugilistic reputations in stone and sinew, as more than one aching and bruised heckler would attest after he found himself tossed out on his ear, accompanied by a roar of approval from the remaining patrons.

      Although most incidents lasted only a matter of minutes, if that, there was one occasion, when this was not the case. The setting was in one of those crude and inhospitable Pennsylvania mining towns that had been incorporated on the 1893-94 circuit. The hall in which the Emma Wells Concert Company was to give a performance was situated on the second floor of what can best be described as a rudimentary town hall. Just moments before the opening curtain, a handful of vociferous miners clamoured up the stairs where they were met by R.W. and Tom, engaged in their secondary occupation of selling and collecting tickets. The miners, revelling in their alcoholic euphoria, made it quite clear they were not about to pay admission to a hall which they claimed to have rented for the evening. It soon became apparent that no amount of pacification on the part of the Marks brothers was going to prevent the confrontation that both parties knew was imminent.

      Threats and intimidation were no strangers to these showmen who simply delivered an ultimatum – pay the going rate of admission or leave the premises; the latter option would be accomplished by force if necessary. Preferring to drive home their point with actions rather than words, these “hewers of stone” opted to stand and fight. So, with their usual aplomb, R.W. and Tom went to work and, in doing so, gave an admirable account of themselves by routing the would-be gatecrashers and inflicting upon them grievous injuries. Sore and bloodied, the miners, eager to pacify their bruised and battered egos found solace in the contents of a nearby slag heap. After arming themselves with a quantity of rocks, they returned to the hall determined to seek revenge on the thespians.

      During the final act of “The Two Orphans,” the house suddenly erupted in chaos as a barrage of stones and vindictives invaded the solemnity of the “inner sanctum.” Broken glass flew in every direction as frightened spectators dove for cover. The barrage continued throughout the night, pausing only long enough to allow the patrons to go home; but under no circumstances were any cast members allowed to leave. The siege finally came to an end at daybreak when the beleaguered miners cooled their enthusiasm for revenge. One by one they discarded their ammunition and dispersed without any apparent satisfaction, having caused the company nothing more than a slight inconvenience and the loss of a few hours sleep.

      Thomas and Margaret (Farrell) Marks, parents of the seven Marks brothers, as shown in an 1895 family photo. Perth Museum Collection.

CHAPTER 2 ESTABLISHING ROOTS IN LANARK COUNTY

      In order to more fully appreciate the phenomenal success attained by the Marks Brothers, it is necessary to describe in some detail their humble beginnings, commencing with a brief history of their ancestry and rural upbringing in Lanark County.

      Prior to the first invasion of the Lanark County forests by Europeans, the area was inhabited by nomadic Indian tribes. The region was noted for the bloody, hostile encounters between the warring Iroquois du Nord and the Iroquois du Sud. But with the British occupation of the country came a change of affairs. The vast hinterland was thrown open to settlement, and an invading army of immigrants subsequently marched through the verdant woodlands of Upper Canada, armed with the implements of agriculture, having, through necessity, turned their “swords into ploughshares.” The United Empire Loyalists from the recently established United States formed the vanguard.

      These first pioneers settled along the entire southern frontier of Upper Canada, and their success in establishing a viable existence kindled the zeal of the British government to found other settlements in this, her largest colony. In the year 1815, a proclamation was issued in England, offering free passage and tracts of land to such natives of Britain who might be desirous of proceeding to Canada for the purpose of settling. As a further inducement to potential settlers, this offer was supplemented by free provisions not only during the voyage, but also upon their arrival in the colony and until such time as the land, which was given free to each male immigrant over legal age, could be made to support them. When the first party of settlers arrived in Canada in the autumn of 1815, they found, much to their dismay, that no preparations had been made for their reception by the colonial authorities; thus compelling them to remain in temporary quarters at Brockville until the following summer.

      In the fall of 1816, a party of these early settlers, looking toward the early subjugation of the forest, felled a giant elm tree at the site of the present town of Perth. In June of the same year, the “military colony of Perth,” which was comprised mainly of British Regulars whose terms of service had expired while in Canada, and who more recently had been members of regiments engaged in the War of 1812, arrived in the vicinity, and were assigned to the surrounding townships of Bathurst and Drummond. Alexander Gourley, the eminent historian who visited the settlement in 1817, gave the following account after noting that nearly one thousand of these soldiers had settled in the area:

      “Some of them are doing well, but many were unpromising settlers, and did indeed only remain until the term of receiving rations expired, or they acquired the right to sell the land given them…At the first settlement of Upper Canada it was not uncommon for soldiers to sell their two hundred acre lots of land for a bottle of rum.”¹

      In 1820, the County of Lanark received