American musical theatre pioneers hit a roadblock

Datelined “Berlin, Ont. — The Band of the Mulligan Guards ...” this chaotic scene of men and horses; snowdrifts and flying hats, came to light recently. A ferocious snowstorm has ambushed 13 men, four horses and two wagons partway to Elmira. Who are the Mulligans and why are they here?

A story emerged combining Waterloo County, a wellknown Canadian artist, a groundbreaking newsmagazine and the beginnings of American musical comedy ... but still leaves questions. Let’s look at the image and its physical survival first; its local associations second; and then discover the phenomenon of the Mulligan Guards.

First: this print. Matted, numbered and blind-stamped, before being framed by Carleton Ross Willmott Company of Toronto, it appeared to those who initially saw it as an artist-supervised print. We were wrong. According to a pencilled note hidden under the matte and visible only after removal from the frame, this coloured engraving was from the March 3, 1875 edition of the Canadian Illustrated News (CIN), an innovative weekly newsmagazine (1869-1883) published in Montreal.

In the 1920s through 1940s, the Willmott firm cut out hundreds of different images from CIN. After mounting them on a black clothlike material to prevent see-through, Willmott then matted and numbered them before selling the attractive historical scenes across Canada. One of CIN’s most prolific artist/engravers was Eugene Haberer (18371921) whose name appears at bottom right. Haberer’s illustration shows 13 men in what looks like an impossible-to-survive situation. Susan Mavor assisted by finding an online copy of the same issue with a tiny one-sentence mention of the image: “This is a comic representation of the tribulations which a band of American itinerant minstrels experienced in our Canadian winter scenery.”

Second: the local angle. In early 1875, after putting on a show in Berlin’s town hall meeting room or one of several halls situated above King Street retail blocks, the players headed north. Elmira historian Roger Miller feels they would have entertained Woolwich residents in the thirdstorey hall of the Elmira House retail building at Church and Arthur streets. Obviously, if the players did reach Elmira, it would have been a tired and dispirited troupe putting on the musical.

Third: Mulligan’s Guard. Everyone who initially saw this engraving thought it referred to a military band from some British Guards unit showing the flag across Canada. Again, we were wrong.

In chaotic post-Civil War New York City, numerous minority groups from the poorest districts set up their own “militia guards” or hunting clubs and these created frequent problems in adjoining neighbourhoods.

Edward Harrigan and his fa

“By 1875 Mulligan fever had reached Berlin and the wacky troupe had at least two dates in Waterloo County.”

ther-in-law, David Braham, wrote a parody song titled “Mulligan Guards” in 1873 and it was immediately adapted for stage.

Two actors (Harrigan and Tony Hart) adopted it, made it into a devastating lampoon of those “militia guards” and, in effect, created American musical comedy. Both the song and the act became wildly-popular hits and made stars out of Harrigan and Hart. Numerous versions of the song and play were created, all based on the Irish community’s fictional but madcap Mulligan Guards. Published books included one gruesome version detailing, in pictures and verse, the deaths of 10 members of the Mulligans. More songs, touring performances, plus newspaper and magazine coverage created Mulligan-mania. Harrigan and Hart became as famous in their time as Florenz Ziegfeld, Lerner and Lowe, Irving Berlin and the Gershwins were in 20thcentury musical theatre. The duo’s breakup, one writer has claimed, was the 19th-century equivalent of the Beatles breakup.

For several years, Mulligan Guards songs were the hottest music on the continent. At the time, sheet music and live performances were the only ways the latest songs could spread. Even so, by 1875 Mulligan fever had reached Berlin and the wacky troupe had at least two dates in Waterloo County. Whether Harrigan and Hart were actually in the cast caught in the storm is unknown but quite obviously the troupe did not have ... a good weather forecaster.

This sketch is not Berlin or Elmira but undoubtedly the scene is very similar to what the Mulligan Guards' 1875 performances would have looked like in the local meeting halls.

PRIVATE COLLECTION Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart in their roles as Mulligan Guards. There was always a young black actor in the Guards, usually carrying what they called "The Target." Souvenir photographs and cartes-de-visite featuring the Mulligans were hot sellers in the 1870s.

RYCH MILLS COLLECTION Artist Eugene Haberer's flying hats, tipped wagons, scattered music books, frantic horses and mountainous snowbanks provide a great idea of the 1875 disaster. The leader, right, seems anxious while two almost-human trees laugh uproariously in the background.