Calgary's Grand Story: The Making of a Prairie Metropolis from the Viewpoint of Two Heritage Buildings (review)

History professor Donald Smith's folksy recreation of the life and times of two prominent Calgary landmarks, the Lougheed Building and the adjacent Grand Theatre, from 1912 to the present, memoralizes the two neglected buildings he set out to save in 1999. His introduction outlines the striking coincidence of the narrow escape of the Lougheed from a fire on 10 March 2004, the same day that Calgary City Council revisited owner Neil Richardson's pleas to restore it. With the reopening of a remodelled Grand in December 2005, and the restoration of the Lougheed underway, Smith's story ends happily for all, as it now appears that Calgary is ready to protect its cultural heritage.

Smith's self-proclaimed 'urban biography' presents the two buildings in their glory days as 'centres of gravity for both Calgary's business and cultural communities,' reminding Calgarians of the important history of the handsome six-storey brick multi-purpose commercial and residential building that also housed the lavishly appointed fifteen-hundred-seat Grand. The breadth of well-illustrated archival material makes Calgary's Grand Story appealing to both general readers and interested scholars. Offering some analysis of class, gender, and race issues, this study is most memorable for its gossipy coverage of important events and the city fathers and mothers who influenced them. My brief reference to individual chapters is intended to reveal Smith's anecdotal treatment of materials from a well-tapped archive.

His thirteen chapters span the hundred years, beginning in chapter 1 with his recreation of the extravagant displays that marked the Grand's opening night gala on 12 February 1912, when a famous English touring company performed. In chapter 2, the rise of real-estate mogul Senator James Lougheed sets up a contrast to chapter 3's history of his highly cultured wife, Belle Hardisty Lougheed, who influenced her husband to include the Grand in his building plans. Chapters 4 and 5 set up the details of the selection of the site, the purchasing and construction of the showcase building and theatre. Chapters 6 profiles the popular W.J. Tregillus, who made the Lougheed Building headquarters for his tremendously successful clay manufacturing business, and who also devoted himself to establishing a university in Calgary.

In chapter 7, early activities at the Grand are filtered through the letters of a priggish young lawyer, Fred Albright, which means that his descriptions of performance omit the visits of divas like Olga Nethersole, Lily Langtry, and Sarah Bernhardt, and vaudevillians Fred and Adele Astaire, in favour of more acceptable British fare such as The Only Way, adapted from A Tale of Two Cities, and As You Like It, with Canadian Margaret Anglin. Chapter 8 outlines incidents in the theatre reflecting the racist policies discriminating against African Americans, as well as the efforts of theatre manager Jeff Lydiatt to keep the touring companies coming during the First World War. Chapters 9 and 10 focus on important tenants at the Lougheed and on its owner's apotheosis. In chapter 11, highlights of the performances of George Bernard Shaw by Maurice Colbourne's British touring company mark the end of the era of regular road shows. After the stock market crash, and the advent of talkies, the Grand, now leased to Famous Players but prohibited from getting sound, hosted 'Little Theatre' groups, the Calgary symphony, and other forms of entertainment.

In chapter 12, new owner J.B. Barron renovated the theatre to show talkies in 1942. Premiering the smash British feature film Forty-Ninth Parallel was one particular highlight in a now-varied season that included dance bands, touring theatre groups, dance companies, Betty Mitchell's Workshop 14, and visiting artists such as Arthur Rubenstein, Paul Robeson, and Marian Anderson. However, by 1957 when the larger Jubilee Auditorium was built, the Grand became a movie house.

Chapter 13 charts the final ups and downs...