Gault Parker: the last minstrel
In the three decades preceding the arrival of television broadcasting in Quebec in the early 1950s, Gault Parker played a singular role in the Eastern Townships, one that—for two different reasons—will never again be played.
Gault Llewellyn Parker was born in 1900 in Sherbrooke into a very musical household. An undated, posed photo shows Gault at the piano surrounded by his family. Next to the piano are his two brothers and sister, while his parents are placed like bookends on either side. It is not known if his mother, Josephine Woodward, played an instrument or sang, but his father, Albert, and two brothers, Maurice and Fenwick, were cellists, and his sister, Marian, sang and played the piano. Another photo shows the cast of more than 30 actors and musicians who mounted a musical comedy in Richmond in 1917, as a wartime fundraising effort. Gault, his father, two brothers and sister are all in the photo.
In 1928, Gault married Elaine Dobson Rice who was then working as a dietician at the Sherbrooke Hospital. The couple married in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and, the same year, moved to Drummondville where Gault joined the payroll department of the newly established Celanese plant. Elaine would later become a teacher at Drummondville High School. The couple raised three children, William, Gerald, and Margaret, who went on to successful careers of their own.
Beyond his responsibilities at home and at work, Gault led a remarkably active musical life. This, he had begun while he was still a teen. If 1917 saw Gault performing in Richmond in a benefit performance, the following year his musical talents were earning him money.
Among the family archives kept by Margaret is a thank you note from a Sherbrooke hotel, Magog House, dated December 21, 1918 which reads in part:
Dear Gault,
Enclosed please find cheque for fifty (50) dollars, as a small appreciation for your many kindnesses to Mrs. Leigh and myself in the production of our CINDERELLA. Without your great assistance by writing the NURSERY RHYME scene for us, we feel that the production would not have attained the success financially and artistically with which it was received by the Sherbrooke public.
Did Gault write dialogue for a short sketch for this production, or did he write words and music for a musical number? What other “kindnesses” did Gault provide? Whatever the case, $50 in 1918 was a generous honorarium; a clerical worker at the time might expect to earn $25 per week.
As for the production, it was mounted more than once. A headline from the March 20, 1922 edition of the Sherbrooke Daily Record announces, “Tributes Paid Mrs. Leigh for Success of ‘Cinderella’.” Half way through, the article reads:
At the close of this scene Mr. Gault Parker was called before the audience and bowed his thanks for the appreciation shown for his musical efforts in composing this pretty addition to the musical play.
Newspaper clippings from the period show that, in the decade before he married and moved to Drummondville, Gault performed in towns and cities around the Eastern Townships: North Hatley, Waterloo, Fitch Bay.
Gault Parker, beyond playing the piano, composed music, directed choirs and stage productions, accompanied visiting vocalists, taught music and, for a time, served as organist at Drummondville’s United Church. He was also, during the years he lived in Drummondville, the English community’s cultural lynchpin—the driving force behind the musical and theatrical presentations that regularly brought people together.
Within three years of his arrival in his new home, his name started appearing in short news items such as this one from October, 1931, announcing a “Grand Concert at St. George’s Club.” The article notes that, “Mr. Parker himself will take part also. He has radio experience and has composed some of the songs which will be sung at this concert.”
News clippings indicate that he performed as an organist, not just at the United Church, but also at St. Frederick’s Catholic Church, as well as at St. George’s Anglican Church.
Similarly, he was an accompanist at variety shows and at concerts featuring both local vocalists and well-known singers from beyond.
It’s fair to ask how often he played his own compositions or had them performed. His work as a composer began when he was only 18 and it continued for most of his life. It’s easy to imagine that writing music came to him quite effortlessly. Among the family archives are reams of sheet music written by Gault, including two songs, “The Song of Bethlehem” written to his mother, and “White Lily” dedicated to his wife. It would be interesting to know if they were written to mark an event, even one as simple as the arrival of spring. It is interesting to note that both songs reference religion and nature and both are written in E-flat.
While he was paid for his work on Cinderella, much of Gault’s musical and theatrical energy was invested into fundraising events and would have brought him no financial reward. A poster from 1934 announces, “Recital, organ and violin music and songs, given by local artists, directed by Mr. Gault Parker, for the benefit of the poor, under the auspices of L’amicale de la Présentation, in St. Frederic Church, Wednesday, January 31st, 1934.” Five of the 15 pieces on the classical program were performed by Gault, including the opening number and the two closing numbers.
In the 1940s, fundraising efforts shifted from the church to the war. It was during this period that Gault was involved in the creation of the Dixie Minstrels, a troupe of more than 40 men who sang, in blackface. Today, it’s difficult to acknowledge that choral and theatrical shows by white performers with black-painted faces were a popular artform from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century in Canada as well as the United States. The Dixie Minstrels, sometimes in full force and at other times as a skeleton crew, brought their performance to places like Sherbrooke and Waterloo. A newspaper clipping from the time reports on a show given in Waterloo, “The entertainment was under the capable direction of Gault Parker who, in addition to being master of ceremonies, rendered two patriotic vocal numbers.”
The same article continues a little later on, “The net proceeds, which are entirely devoted to war work, amounted to $150.”
Gault didn’t restrict his work to recitals and musical comedies. In 1951, he was the director and producer of a lighthearted play entitled, “Curse You, Jack Dalton.”
It would be interesting to know if there were personal as well as social factors that came into play in the early 1950s when Gault Parker’s involvement in community productions ceased. The great, determining force that—slowly in some places and very quickly in others— brought an end to community theater, talent shows, and benefit concerts, and even closed cinemas in small towns was the advent of television. No longer was it necessary to go out on an evening to watch something; entertainment for the whole family now came directly into the living room through the TV screen. Television rendered Gault Parker’s role in the English community somewhat obsolete.
Gault Parker died in 1964 and was buried in Drummondville. At the time of his death the English exodus out of Quebec was only just starting. In little more than a decade, the departure of large numbers of English-speakers meant that in Drummondville, as in some towns across the Townships, the English community no longer had the numbers needed to produce musical or theatrical presentations, or a population large enough to provide an audience. In the context of Drummondville, it’s fair to think of Gault Parker as the last minstrel.