Couples comedies in Grand Bend and Petrolia

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Book & Lyrics by Joe DiPietro, Music by Jimmy Roberts
Performed by Mairi Babb, Kristin Galer, Michael Lomenda, Mark Weatherley
Directed by Marc Richard
Drayton Entertainment Production
Playhouse II, Grand Bend
July 16 to August 30, 2008

Live! On Stage!
By Mary Alderson

Like Separate Beds, (now playing at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at Playhouse II in Grand Bend is all about the funny side of relationships. A musical comedy of vignettes, this production pokes fun at first dates, courting, engagement and the wedding in the first act. The second act moves on marriage, babies, raising kids, empty-nesters and retirement, and the effect they have on couples.
Mairi Babb, who recently played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Huron Country Playhouse’s main stage, and Kristin Galer, who was Ado Annie in HCP’s Oklahoma! are the two women teamed up with Michael Lomenda who was in last year’s Miss Saigon, and Mark Weatherly, who was in A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline in Playhouse II a few years ago. The four actors play an assortment of roles as couples in various stages of their lives. There is no plot or storyline, just a series of scenes depicting life’s changes.
Well-written comedy and hilarious song lyrics make this show a real crowd pleaser. In Playhouse II’s cozy setting, the audience really enjoys becoming intimate with the four performers. There was lots of laughter and applause, and even little comments like “oh boy” and “look out” rippling across the small theatre.
Anyone who has ever been in a wedding party can identify with Galer’s solo “Always a Bridesmaid” – and her horror of having to wear a bright fuchsia gown adorned with too many flounces and lace.
Weatherley had the audience roaring with laughter when, as an overprotective parent, he tries to bite the eyes off a Teddy bear to ensure it is safe for his baby.
Later all four work together perfectly to move their “car” around the stage, in a hilarious family road trip scene.
An enjoyable night out for couples of all ages, with many laughs, and excellent singing. .
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change continues with eight shows a week until September 3 at Playhouse II, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at (519) 238-6000 or Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463

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Separate Beds
by Mary Jane Cruise
Performed by Mary Long & Ralph Small
Directed by Walter Learning
Victoria Playhouse/Theatre Orangeville Production
Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia
July 22 to August 9, 2008
Reviewed by Mary Alderson

Author Cruise Takes Audience on a Cruise

In Petrolia, Separate Beds explores married life in a humourous comedy, sharing many of the same themes as I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. This play, taking place on a cruise ship, tracks two middle-aged couples.
In the first act, we meet Twink and Ernie, who own a hardware store, and are celebrating their 33rd anniversary. They discuss another couple they’ve met and make comparisons. Then in act two, we meet the other couple Beth and Blake. Mary Long and Ralph Small play both roles, showing their versatility in playing opposites.
Mary Long was the tough cop and Ralph Small was the guy who only knew first lines of songs in the Norm Foster comedy Looking at VPP in 2005, so the pair have already established some chemistry. Small is also familiar to VPP audiences as the endearing slow-learner in Cheatin’ Hearts.
Both Long and Small rise to the challenge of playing two very different roles in one play, and they do an excellent job of making each character distinct. There are clever one-liners throughout the production that both actors handle well, with good comedic timing. They are also heart-warming moments, leading to the predictable happy ending. Long and Small’s Sonny & Cher duet “I’ve Got You Babe” is a real crowd pleaser.
While Separate Beds is very comparable to I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, it is also quite similar to Sexy Laundry, which ran at the Grand Theatre in London last winter. Separate Beds is better than Sexy Laundry at telling the story of couples trying to improve their love life. By using everyday dialogue and making the pair more believable, playwright Mary Jane Cruise has captured human nature very well. The talented author is also a St. Catharines’ area schoolteacher.
This is good summer-stock theatre, offering a pleasant diversion – especially good for couples who just can’t find time for each other.
Separate Beds continues with eight shows a week at Victoria Playhouse Petrolia until July 19. Call the box office at 1-800-717-7694 or (519) 882-1221 for tickets.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Broadway comes to B-Line

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book by Jeffrey Lane
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
Performed by Brian McKay, Stephen Patterson & Company
Directed by Alex Mustakas
Drayton Entertainment Production
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend
July 16 to August 9, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

I used to wonder what the “B” stood for in B-Line, the road just east of Grand Bend. Now I know – it stands for Broadway! With the arrival of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Huron Country Playhouse is a Broadway theatre.
Drayton Entertainment’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the Canadian premier of this Broadway hit, showing first in St. Jacobs and now in Grand Bend. In fact, the sets and costumes for this show arrived directly from the Broadway show, in three big transports from New York.
So with spectacular sparkling sets and numerous fantastic costume changes, all that was left for Director Alex Mustakas to do, was find the right cast. And he has. He has assembled 18 very talented all-Canadian actors/singers/dancers, who can easily rival any New York cast.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a popular movie in 1988 starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Then the musical opened on Broadway in June 2005, with John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz. It garnered 11 Tony nominations that year, with Butz winning the best actor award for his riotous performance.
It’s the story of Lawrence Jameson, a con-artist who works the upscale resorts of the French Riviera. He is suave and debonair, attracting all the rich widows and young debutantes who turn over their jewellery and fortunes to him. But along comes a small-time grifter, Freddy Benson, who is swindling for meals. Freddy wants Lawrence to teach him the ropes, and the two become partners and then competitors in various scams. There is a special surprise ending that really pleases the audience, as the swindles unfold.
Brian McKay is perfect as the charming and sophisticated Lawrence, delightfully conning all the ladies. A former artistic director at Huron Country Playhouse, McKay has an impressive resume from Stratford to Broadway.
Stephen Patterson, also very familiar to Huron Country Playhouse audiences, is excellent as Freddy Benson. His rendition of the song “Great Big Stuff” is hilarious as he admires all the trappings of Lawrence’s lavish mansion, while the maids and servants parade around with materialistic items such as works of art and silver bowls. Patterson is outrageous when he pretends to be Ruprecht, the mysterious brother locked away in the cellar. Then he performs the side-splitting number “Love is My Legs” as he stumbles out of the wheelchair and miraculously learns to walk.
Heather McGuigan is outstanding as Christine Colgate, the soap heiress. McGuigan played the lead role in The Spitfire Grill at the Grand Theatre last year, where she was a toughened tomboy. These two roles show her great versatility – she’s a clever actor and an amazing singer.
Adding to the comedy are Patrick Brown as Andre Thibault, the corrupt chief of police, and Rebecca Poff as the ditzy but wealthy Muriel Eubanks. Brown maintains an amusing French accent in the style of Inspector Clouseau, while Poff delivers many hilarious one-liners with perfect comedic timing. Brown has many credits at Huron Country Playhouse, including Cogsworth in their very popular Beauty and the Beast, while Poff will be remembered for her Aldonza in Man of LaMancha, and Marion The Librarian in The Music Man.
Christy Adamson has fun with the role of Jolene Oakes from Oklahoma, giving a great performance of country singin’ and dancin’.
The ensemble consists of six young men and woman who dazzle the audience with glitzy costumes and high kicking. The chorus members have an abundance of energy, singing and dancing on stage, then racing back stage to change yet again into various colourful gowns, wigs and shoes.
This musical has great fun alluding to other musicals. When Lawrence decides to mentor Freddy, he becomes Henry Higgins fixing up Eliza in My Fair Lady. Later, we relive Oklahoma! with a team of sparkling, dancing cowboys.
A word of warning – in certain parts, the “Scoundrels” are a little bit vulgar. If you are easily offended, leave your prudish hat at home and let your hair down. And this is not a show for youngsters; get a babysitter and come out for some laughs.
I rarely say that I would like to go back and see a show a second time, but this is one show that I would love to see again. There are so many subtle jokes; I know I missed some along the way. I would like to return and catch them all.
Enjoy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it’s Broadway quality. So, let’s start petitioning the municipality of South Huron to rename the B-Line Broadway!
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels continues with eight shows a week until August 9 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend. Tickets are available at the Huron Country Playhouse box office at (519) 238-6000, Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463, or check out www.draytonentertainment.com

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Perhaps all does not end not so well

All’s Well That Ends Well
By William Shakespeare
Performed by Juan Chioran, Brian Dennehy, Martha Henry, Jeff Lillico, Stephen Ouimette, Tom Rooney, Daniela Vlaskalic and company
Directed by Marti Maraden
Stratford Shakespeare Festival Production
Festival Theatre, Stratford
June 19 to August 23, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review By Mary Alderson

The title of All’s Well That Ends Well is somewhat ironic. This play by Shakespeare does not actually end well at all – in fact, it suffers from a very contrived ending which attempts to make the audience believe that the young couple will live happily ever after, when our instincts tell us otherwise.
All’s Well That Ends Well is one of several of Shakespeare’s works that has been nicknamed the “problem plays” — the problem being that the play doesn’t fit into one of Shakespeare’s categories. Most of his works can be neatly packaged as comedy, history, tragedy, and romance. Scholars believe that All’s Well That Ends Well was intended to be a comedy, but compared to other works, it is simply not as funny. The humour is rather dark comedy.
The 2008 production of All’s Well That Ends Well at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival has not risen above Shakespeare’s artificial ending. However, a very strong cast has still given us an interesting story with many funny moments.
The King of France (Brian Dennehy) is very ill, when fortunately, Helena (Daniela Vlaskalic), the daughter of a respected physician who is now dead, is able to cure him. As a reward, the King grants her request to marry anyone she wishes. She chooses Bertram (Jeff Lillico), the son of a Countess (Martha Henry) who is Helena’s adopted mother. Bertram is horrified – someone of his high class would not consider marrying a lowly doctor’s daughter, who also happens to be his mother’s charge. The King forces the marriage, but Bertram, being such a snob, declares that he would rather go off to war and face death, then be the husband of the common Helena.
But Helena is determined. She tricks him into marital relations with the help of Diana (Leah Oster), a young woman who has caught Bertram’s eye, assisted by Diana’s mother, the Widow Capilet (Fiona Reid). Once Bertram finds out that Helena is pregnant, and he’s the father, (he vowed this would never happen), he suddenly decides that he will love her and be a good husband. It’s this unbelievable change of heart that makes for a weak conclusion, causing All’s Well That Ends Well to be one of Shakespeare’s less popular plays.
Having said that, the cast that has been assembled for this production should make it very popular with audiences. Dennehy is outstanding as the King, and it’s a treat to watch the two-time Tony award winner command the stage. Dennehy has an impressive list of Broadway credits, several guest-star roles on television, and some fascinating movie credits – the most recent being Ratatouille.
It’s interesting to note that this play was performed 55 years ago in Stratford during the inaugural season under the big tent – with the great Alec Guinness as the King and Irene Worth as Helena. Even more interesting is the fact that Martha Henry played Helena in 1977 as did Fiona Reid in 1982, and now both woman are appearing in the same play again, taking the mothers’ roles. Stratford also presented All’s Well That Ends Well as recently as 2002, with the late William Hutt as the King.
Both Martha Henry and Fiona Reid are excellent as the contrasting mothers. Henry demonstrates her disappointment in Bertram, but somehow gets the message across that he is still her son and she still loves him. Reid, as the poor widow, adds humour when she quickly jumps to take part in a scheme, once it involves money for her.
Vlaskalic as the lovelorn Helena is interesting and does well with the part as it is written. Unfortunately, it is difficult to understand why she wants to marry the pompous Bertram. Oster, as Diana, delivers a fascinating riddle explaining how the “bait & switch” scheme to capture Bertram worked. Unfortunately, Oster is not able to put the necessary enthusiasm into her description.
Jeff Lillico plays the whiney, snobbish Bertram very well. But the contrived ending gets in the way, and it’s hard to believe Bertram could ever love Helena. This is probably more the fault of a missing element in the plot.
The play is saved by comic relief in a hilarious sub-plot. The haughty Bertram has a friend, Parolles, (Juan Chioran) who is even more pretentious. Parolles is a terrible braggart, but the other young lords know he is really a coward. They set him up, pretending that they are the enemy army, capturing him and blindfolding him, just to listen to him capitulate and tell lies. They fake a foreign language and speaking in gibberish, have an interpreter (Randy Hughson) talk to him. They have great fun with the language and actions while Parolles wears the blindfold.
Humour is also added by Lavache (Tom Rooney), a clown-like figure who hangs around the Countess’ home. He slouches about in contrast to Bertram’s and Parolles’ snobbery. Yet he also puts on airs, sitting on the Countess’ sofa with his feet up.
With an interesting, seasoned cast, and a few humourous scenes, the evening was well worthwhile. Unfortunately, we can’t ask Shakespeare just how we are to reconcile the class-consciousness and his lack of a believable conclusion, with the fact that this is supposed to be a comedy. But maybe, Shakespeare meant it to a “problem play”.
All’s Well That Ends Well continues at the Festival Theatre, Stratford until August 23. For tickets, call the box office at 1-800-567-1600 or check www.stratfordshakespearefestival.ca.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Remembering the Regiers - one year later

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

Today, we remember the deaths of Bill and Helene Regier in their home one year ago. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of these community leaders, who are dearly missed.
When we asked one of the Regiers’ sons what we should do for the one-year anniversary, we were told last year’s special edition of the Grand Bend Strip was the most fitting tribute. If you have not read our national award winning report, it is available online:
August 1, 2007 edition.

The man accused of murdering the Regiers, Jesse Norman Imeson, faces trial this winter.

A step in the right direction

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

No one can deny the fact that the arts are an important part of our community. All you have to do is look at this issue of the Grand Bend Strip to see the creativity of the people who live in our community. From musicians to actors, dancers to cardboard boat builders, you can’t hide from the interesting ways people spend their spare time.
That’s why it’s such a joy to see an expansion at the River Road building home to the River Road Gallery and now Sunset Arts and the Grand Bend Art Centre. It’s been a long time coming, and the leadership of people like Teresa Marie and Milford Purdy are what we need more of in this community. Not to say other people aren’t stepping up; I see other artists and arts supporters on a regular basis taking leadership roles in community projects and organizations. It’s just nice to see a building that houses the arts almost quadruple in size (the River Road Gallery expanded this year, too).
The Art Centre et al are symbolic of the change that can and needs to happen in this community. If you support such change, show it by becoming a member of the Art Centre, shopping at Sunset Arts or the River Road Gallery, buying tickets to the Playhouse, or simply attending one of the many cultural events hosted in this town year-round. You can’t make this place better sitting in your house watching television. And why would you stay home when there’s so much to entertain you just steps away?

Success of Home & Garden Tour overwhelms

By Casey Lessard

Bob Putherbough of the Grand Bend and Area Horticultural Society wrote us to tell us of the Home & Garden Tour’s outstanding success, which far exceeded anyone’s expectations.
“We had about 950 people,” he told the Strip. “We thought if we got up to 300, it would be fantastic.
“We had to cut the advanced sales off at 800, and we had to stop day-of sales just after 10 o’clock. We would have overwhelmed the homeowners if we had allowed any more.”
The July 5 tour featured five houses and eight gardens. Lunch was served at the Caddyshack at Grand Cove.
“Everyone is over the top with the numbers we got. We could only serve food to 800.
“I hired a policeman to be there for four hours; we heard on Sunday that a friend saw him just after he arrived, and she said he was like a deer in the headlights. He actually called in two of his buddies and we had three cruisers at times with flashing lights directing people across the street.”
Proceeds from the event go to the horticultural society’s activities maintaining flowerbeds in Grand Bend. One of the underpromoted aspects of the event was the fact that vendors – including artists and garden centres donating portions of their earnings – would be at some of the locations.
“We’ve learned a lot. We had vendors, but people didn’t know to come with money. The vendors did okay, but not nearly as well as they could have done if we had stressed there would be vendors here.”
The society will decide this week whether to run the event again next year. The success of the tour has to be weighed with the small number of volunteers available to help. Stay tuned for future plans.

Love song: Pedro’s Canadian adventure

Local musician and music teacher Pedro Quintana was raised in Cuba and moved to Grand Bend after meeting his wife, Marcy Walker, at the resort where he played piano.
“I came down the elevator and heard this fantastic music in the lobby of the hotel,” Walker says, recalling their first meeting. “My friend and I sat and listened to his music for a while. I went over and asked if he would like a glass of champagne. I thought, he’s not only talented, but he’s pleasant and has manners; he’s not bad to look at either.”
The two met on December 25, were engaged on December 31, and married the next April. They’ve lived in Grand Bend since then, and have faced their share of challenges together.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and had treatment for two years,” Walker says. “Pedro was just phenomenal through that. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
Pedro is now able to do music full-time, teaching and performing locally, including Thursday nights at Hessenland for its Mongolian Grill.

As told to Casey Lessard

I was born in Santa Clara, Cuba. It’s in the centre of the island. We weren’t poor poor; my father was an electrician so he made good money, and my mother was at home. There’s no comparison between what you can afford in Cuba compared to Canada. I don’t remember things being so great that we could buy toys and things. We owned a 1956 Chevrolet, and we used to go once a year to the beach.
We were very much into music; I wanted to pursue music even at a young age. My mom and dad were singers with a group called Lyric, and I remember going to rehearsals with them. There was a lot of music around me growing up. I started taking piano when I was 13. An opportunity came for me where I could go to the National Music School in Havana if I did the seven years of work I would have done in elementary school; I had to do it in two years or I was out. It was quite challenging for me to learn all the subjects, including piano, history, and theory. But I did my examination in Havana and got accepted.
It was a full-time music school, and I finished in 1991 when I was 18. I had to decide whether to go back to Santa Clara and be a teacher, or continue on to university for another five years. The Soviet Union had just collapsed and we didn’t know if the school was still going to be open; if you could picture Cuba at that time, it was a pretty depressing time to be away from home. I decided to go back to Santa Clara, where I taught at an elementary school for two years, and also taught adults.
It was a very rough time economically, and an opportunity came up in Varadero as a pianist in a show, and that was my start. I eventually found more opportunities and became a pianist in a piano bar at the Brisas del Caribe resort. I started taking English lessons and lyrical lessons. I was about 22 at the time.
For a year I lived in Varadero in very poor conditions, paying a very high price for rent in a resort area. I got tired of that, and rented about a half hour away in Matanzas; I had a whole house and paid less than in Varadero.
The resort’s drivers would pick us up at 4 p.m. and drop us off at 4 a.m., six days a week. It was good working at the piano bar because I got a lot of privileges. The food was good, plus drinks, etc. I could talk to tourists and I had a lot of free time to study my English. It was quite boring working 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., six days a week. But in those circumstances, I met my wife, and a big light came into my life.

The piano bar
Being a pianist and having a love for music, I was forced to balance my night between piano and karaoke. On nights where people didn’t care for piano, I had to turn on the karaoke machine. One night, Marcy was sitting beside the bar. She had a little tape player and was listening to some nice music. I stopped by her table during a break and said to myself, “Wow! Who is she, listening to this good music and her hair bouncing around?” She certainly paid attention to me and we found something in each other right away.
I sat down and she offered me a drink. She told me about her family, and that her dad had passed away a couple of months before. After that, we decided to meet for dinner. She asked me what my favourite colour was, and I said blue. She went and changed into a blue dress! We had dinner and it was very interesting to talk to her. I was concerned at the beginning about where things were leading, but she treated me well. She treated me not as a Cuban, conscious of our situation, like other tourists do.
Not too long after we met, we were having drinks in a bar on New Year’s Eve 2000. I asked her if she would marry me and she said, “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
After that she went back and forth to Cuba several times and we used to email each other every day. I have several books full of printed emails from day one to the day I arrived here. In April, three months after we were engaged, we got married in a park in Cuba with a few friends; it was a beautiful wedding.

Coming to Canada
I came to Canada in February 2001. Challenge number one was the language: speaking properly, understanding it, and learning how things work here. I’ve always been concerned and aware of the expectation that if you’re a teacher, people expect you to speak properly. Canada has been great because it has given me the opportunity to do anything I want. Here are the doors, you can open any one you want. I had to start from zero, so I had a vision of what I wanted to do and that’s the only thing that kept me going. Eventually people recognize the work you do if you work with love and you’re consistent with what you believe. That’s true of any business.
Canada gave me opportunities to do what I wanted to do. But it could have been awful, too, if I had come here and found that people didn’t believe in what I believe, or that Marcy wasn’t the way she was down there. Fortunately, everything was as I thought it would be.
I really took a risk coming here, but my wife was the big light in my life and believed in me. Today, we’re still fulfilling the dream we started based on our mutual trust and the love of music we share.

Teaching music
When I was working in Cuba, I was always dreaming, and those dreams are what I do now. Down there, there was always a big roadblock that would not allow me to realize my dreams. I used to go inside my own world to be able to survive depression and the lack of freedom. I think that’s the only way I was able to survive.
When I finished school in 1991, I had this dream of teaching, and I found after a while that it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing because I couldn’t make a living at it. That’s why I pursued the piano bar job. Now I’m free to do what I want and I’m respected. I work every day to make sure I do the right things. I know that working hard will eventually pay off.
In Canada, music has to be fun, and people take it as the third or fourth thing they do (after sports, etc.). I can teach anyone who comes how to play piano the right way. There are no short cuts if you want to learn the right way. But I have students who just want to learn a little bit, for example chording. You have to understand what people want you to teach them and focus on that.
I arrange my time based on when students are available. Students come for half an hour or an hour, and I teach individually or duets. I follow the Royal Conservatory curriculum, but some students prefer to just play along and learn some popular stuff.
I work at the Forest United Church, and I see myself playing at church and developing choirs and working with children. I enjoy that and working around the area at restaurants and bars. I work hard at everything I do and I take all the experience I have in popular and jazz to my church, and I’ve gotten a good response.

I see myself in every one of the students who come here. Everyone has something to offer and I take the best they can offer to make them start believing they can do it. You have to be patient and love what you do.

To learn more about Pedro Quintana’s music program for all ages, visit pedroquintana.ca, email pedromarcy (at) mac.com or call 519-238-2996.

Art Centre a place to share creative ideas

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

“We’ve been talking about it for ten years,” Grand Bend artist Teresa Marie says of the newly launched Grand Bend Art Centre. “I just got tired of listening to my own voice.”
The centre, housed in the same building as the River Road Gallery and the new Sunset Arts gallery on River Road, runs one-day workshops for visual arts lessons and is intended as a home for arts in the community.
“There was a space left open (after renovations by landlord Milford Purdy), and I thought this was as good a place as any for an arts centre. I made a deal with Milford and he let me have the space.”
The room is just enough for about a dozen people to sit and work at tables, although the space could accommodate other activities, such as yoga.
“I want to see it used four or five days a week,” Teresa Marie says. “I want to see at least three or four workshops a week. We have a place to get together, grow and share creative ideas.
“We have a large retirement community here, with not a lot to do. What do you do when it rains? What do you do in the winter? I hope we’ve planted a seed here for anything that’s creative.”
“All of us have a lot of creativity in us,” says Toronto French and Spanish teacher Dorothy Donley, who took one of the centre’s first workshops, “and it’s a way of releasing it and getting satisfaction out of something you’re not used to doing.”
The location is ideal, especially to fit Teresa Marie’s goal to create an arts core.
“It’s gorgeous being here on the river,” workshop attendee Cathy Lawn of Poplar Hill says. “It’s not far for me to come; it might be as far for me to go to London.”
Grand Bend artist Debra Bailey is one of the instructors, and she sees the centre’s long-term potential.
“I see the Arts Centre as a 12-month enterprise, not just for the summer. I think a lot of local people would be more inclined to come starting in September. There’s a good opportunity for teaching, and I think it will help tie the art community together.”
While workshops are the key attraction, memberships are the principal funding source. It costs $50 to join, and members get discounts at area restaurants and art supply stores, as well as discounts on workshops and the River Road Gallery calendar. The centre needs 350 memberships to be fully funded for the year.
“My long-term goal is to get this into the hands of a future arts foundation for Grand Bend. It’s part of a larger plan to get Grand Bend focused in an active direction that’s creative. I hope this will grow into other buildings, that more artists will come here, and that Grand Bend will develop a really strong cultural artists’ community.”
It’s an idea supported locally; among other donors, the Rotary club gave $3000 to support the project.
“This was Teresa Marie’s vision,” says Debra Bailey, “and bless her, she’s accomplished it. There’s been no place to take a workshop in Grand Bend.”

Workshops run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and include:
Saturday, July 26
Plug into your Creativity w/ Suzette Terry
Sunday, July 27
Basic Painting in Oils w/Teresa Marie
Wednesday, July 30
Drawing w/ Teresa Marie
Sunday, August 10
Basic Portraiture in Oils w/ Teresa Marie
Thursday, August 14
Shoot like a Pro! with Mary Lynn Fluter
Friday, August 15
People in Watercolour w/ Mary Abma

Members pay $75 (materials supplied) or $55 (own materials). Non-members pay $80 (materials supplied) or $60 (own materials).
To register or suggest a class, visit the River Road Gallery (River Road, Grand Bend), email grbartcentre@hay.net, or call 519-238-8978 or 519-238-6874.

Lunch and a movie with Jimmy

Every Friday at noon, Jimmy Henry and Craig Coltman meet for lunch at the Pine View Trailer Park clubhouse to have lunch and watch a movie. This is not your typical movie afternoon; Henry is an old-time radio and theatre actor whose memory for movie lines is as impressive for a 78-year-old as it would be for an 18-year-old.
“I’m sure he could block every movie scene-by-scene,” Coltman says of his friend, with whom he has been sharing lunch and a movie for two years. “He can actually get you interested because his passion is contagious. He’ll bring old Fred Astaire musicals, which I would not normally watch at home, but he is so enthralled by the movies that you watch the movie out of one eye and out of the other you can see his lips moving to the words and the songs.”
Henry prepares his audience (Coltman, and sometimes another friend or two) for the show by presenting a prepared monologue describing the film and its highlights.
“He always asks me how long I have, how long can I stay. I say 3, 3:30. He says, Well, which is it? He’s got the times written on the films, so if I say 3:30, he won’t start it until it’s set to end at 3:27, so he gets his full time out of me.”

As told to Casey Lessard

I was born in Windsor and worked a lot in Detroit. I had some of my training at the Grand Theatre in London. I did 10 weeks of summer stock in 1948. I was 18 and I studied dramatics at Wayne University, and did a lot of theatre work. I had a good singing voice and trained on the Messiah. I worked on the chorus of the old Ford Sunday evening hour. Henry Ford imported all the great concert artists to come to Detroit.
I did a lot of shows, Shakespeare, comedies, burlesque. I was in all kinds of plays. I liked playing the grave diggers in Hamlet. I tried night clubs and that didn’t work, but I liked the old burlesque. Abbott & Costello and the Three Stooges. Up until 1995, I was still doing theatre work. I very much like Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill, but comedy was my forte.
Early on, there were lots of opportunities in shows from Detroit. The Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, Challenge of the Yukon all came from WXYZ radio. Also, there was The Hermit’s Cave, which was a real terrific horror show. It would scare the daylights out of you until you saw the man acting out the sound effects.
I acted on most of the shows; they were on three times a week. A lot of actors were anonymous on those shows. That’s what kept the bread on the table. I also had a lot of walk-on parts in opera and theatre. One time, we did Guys and Dolls, and I had 12 parts but one line. I was on stage for every scene!
I did some of the Soupy Sales (television) shows. I appeared sometimes as a neighbour who complained about “that awful dog.”
I was going to be a great and famous movie star. I worked in theatres and managed them. How many movies I’ve seen I can’t say. I used to know every line, particularly in San Francisco, Top Hat, Wuthering Heights. In fact, those are still among my favourite films.
With the actors’ studio, you could qualify to be a member of the American Film Institute, and I sent in a donation. Carl Reiner was doing Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. He asked members if they would send in their favourite films noir, and I did and got screen credit on the last frame of the film. You can’t miss it.
I recommended Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, Laura. Most of those made it to the film. They also had Edith Head and Miklós Rózsa work on the film, and has they had done most of the original films, it really took on that film noir look.

What are your five favourite movies?
San Francisco, Top Hat, Wuthering Heights, Gone With The Wind, and Singing in the Rain.

Least favourite movie?
The only one I have really strong feelings for is Coming Home with Jane Fonda. My brother was a Vietnam soldier, and she keeps emphasizing that phrase, Vietnam crazy, which is edited out of most of the prints. If I could get it, I probably still would show it.

Nonsensical Labels

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

You really have to pay attention to labels and commercials. Sometimes they don’t make a heck of a lot of sense. I’ve been told, if you can’t pronounce the ingredients, the product more than likely isn’t good for you.
I get a kick out of some of the drug commercials that tell you the produce will solve your health problems, and then they go on to tell you that the side effects of the drug could cause you to have headaches, diarrhea, cramps or nausea, and maybe all of the above. Sure, sign me up for that one!
Here are a few examples of labels that caught my eye:
Label on a box of rat poison – “Warning: may cause cancer in laboratory mice.”
Label on air conditioner – “Avoid dropping air conditioner out of window.”
Label on a cardboard sunshield for a car – “Do not drive with sunshield in place.” Really!
Attached to a portable stroller – “Caution: remove infant before folding for storage.” Oh, please!
I do declare, do these people really think before they put these labels on?
Summer is here at last and so are the bugs, including the pesky mosquitoes. I got bitten several times the other day and I doused myself with vinegar. It’s fast, cheap, and believe me it works. No more itching or stratching. Vinegar also works on a sunburn.
Enjoy the nice weather, stay healthy and happy!

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