Soldiers of Song: The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War by Jason Wilson (review)

In Soldiers of Song, Jason Wilson makes a strong case that sketch comedy, especially the black humour of troupes like Monty Python, had its roots in the concert parties of the First World War. These events, sanctioned and supported by the military authorities for their morale-boosting benefits, and succeeding partly because of their willingness to send up these same authorities, had more far-reaching effects in helping soldiers survive the absurdity of the war.

One aspect of this that Wilson highlights is the “enduring and vital bond” created between performers and audiences. Soldiers came to the shows sometimes straight from the front, wounded or shell-shocked. The performers they watched were respected not just because they provided entertainment but because they were soldiers too, had been there, and were sometimes sent back to the fighting. The audience wanted black humour, they wanted sentimental songs that reminded them of home, and they wanted pretty girls, however the troupes could invent them.

Some of the strongest work in the book is in the discussion of the interrelationships between soldiers and actors and the setting. Wilson addresses the physical experience of both putting on and attending a show. His discussion of the setting is evocative, describing the makeshift stages and scavenged sets, often in war zones. Extant recordings offer insight into elements of sound: the class and ethnic elements of jokes, for example, as revealed in accents, and elements of timing – the pause before a punchline – help illuminate the ephemeral experience of the shows.

The book also offers an interesting addition to the militia myth: the belief that Canada’s volunteer citizen-soldiers were superior in skill, motivation, and character to professional soldiers. Our soldier-entertainers, interestingly, seem to have shown the same qualities. They were not professionals. Grateful to be plucked from the front lines for their comic stylings, musical skill, or maidenly falsetto, they invented themselves as performers. And they, apparently, were very good.

The Dumbells were the most famous, and arguably the best, of the concert parties, and they were a hit after the war as well. They had successful runs in London and New York and toured Canada extensively. The anecdotes Wilson shares from people reminiscing about the shows in their towns are entertaining, and he shows the degree to which these post-war shows were important in shaping our cultural memory of the war.

Wilson contextualizes the entertainment well: the long-standing relationship between the military and early theatre in Canada; the links to the British music hall, with its popular appeal and audience participation; and the degree to which the Canadian concert halls were distinctive. Canada put more emphasis on this form of entertainment than did other Allied countries, and, in terms of content, some themes, such as the ineffectiveness of the Ross rifle, spoke directly to Canadian soldiers, while others, such as death and homesickness, were more universal.

This study focuses on an interesting, underexamined subject, and its main drawback is that one might wish for more attention to certain areas. There is little discussion of how the entertainment evolved over the course of the war, for example. And some interesting ideas and linkages are raised – the connection between massive immigration before the war and ethnic humour in the shows – but the author quickly moves away from these and does not treat them to any sort of in-depth analysis. This is a comparatively short work and would be richer with the extension of some of Wilson’s ideas and analysis.

This is a book that adds to our knowledge not only of wartime but also of theatre history. Several Canadian firsts come from here – a Dumbell revue entitled Biff, Bing, Bang was the first Canadian show to have a hit on Broadway, for example – that are surprisingly unknown. It is further evidence that the First World War was not separate from other aspects...