Collection RC0400 - Repertory theatre collection

The collection consists of three small scrapbooks, each titled “Milestones”. The collector wrote a table of contents in the front of each scrapbook, listing the dates of performance, the title of the play and the theatre where the performance took place. There is one letter from Fred Jacob to Mrs. Doolittle dated 14 Feb. 1924.

Jacob was the musical and dramatic critic for the Toronto Mail and Empire. He was also a playwright – his plays were collected and published as One Third of the Bill in1925. He died in 1928 at the age of 46 – his obituary in Saturday Night (43, 9 June, p. 6) was written by Hector Charlesworth. His letter concerns Mrs. Doolittle’s performance in Jacob’s play, “Autumn Blooming” performed by the Arts and Letter Club Players. Mrs. Doolittle may be Anne Carew, an English actress who settled in Toronto.

She appears in every play in this collection. This may be her collection or more likely, someone collected it for her. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and tear-sheets from Saturday Night (mainly reviews), programmes, ticket stubs, autographs and photographs. Most of the items have been pasted into the scrapbooks but some remain loose. There is one photograph postcard of a troupe on stage with “Merry Makers” written on a drum in their midst.

An article on Vaughan Glaser and his career has been printed off the web by archival staff and is located with the collection.