Palaces of the Night: Canada's Grand Theatres

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and the editor of Newsletter
of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and
Documentation Centres.

John Lindsay shines a spotlight on Canada’s theatres in this
handsomely illustrated chronicle. Theatre-building began in earnest at
the dawn of the 20th century. Across the nation, grand opera houses and
vaudeville and movie theatres opened in centres large and small to
encompass the burgeoning entertainment industry. Lindsay examines in
detail the “atmospheric” and “cathedral” theatres that boasted
splendid lobbies, marquees, and auditoriums as well as exotic painted
interiors. He also examines the industry’s changing economics, which
precipitated a steep decline in the construction and upkeep of these
facilities, with many eventually succumbing to the wrecker’s ball.

Fortunately, as conservation of historic buildings became more of a
concern in recent years, some theatres were spared and restored, such as
Toronto’s Pantages Theatre and Vancouver’s Orpheum. Lindsay points
out that the latter-day rise of megaplex theatres harkens to the penny
arcades and nickleodeons of a bygone era. An interesting sidelight is
the space given to theatre organs. Although many potentially magnificent
instruments were compromised by poor installations, theatre organists
like Kathleen Stokes had large followings in the silent-movie era.

Palaces of the Night is abundantly illustrated with advertisements,
portraits, posters, and photographs of the interiors and exteriors of
theatre landmarks. The quality of the reproductions (some of which are
in color) is excellent, and the annotations are thorough and
informative. Lindsay, whose lifetime interest in theatre buildings is
reflected in several previous books, has given us a definitive history
of the subject.