Wall advertisements

June 8, 2009 at 2:29 pm (Achitecture, Advertisements, History, Ottawa)

A while ago, I started a blog about vanished places in Ottawa (so far only two postings but more are in the works!). After photographing the wall advertisment in Westboro for my PhotoHunter submission last week, I decided to branch out and ad one for wall advertising in the area. Unfortunately, I THINK is may not be worth adding a whole blog as these bits of the past are fast disappearing in Ottawa.

As a matter of fact, I went down to photograph one which was revealed after a fire destroyed a well-known Ottawa landmark, the Tommy and Lefebvre store on Bank Street in the Spring. I saw a photo that someone else had taken, on Flickr. However, they are gone already!

I did manage to get one on Saturday afternoon:

G.A. Snider ~ Photographer, circa 1890

I don’t know much about G.A. Snider. There are a number of fonds at the National Archives of Canada which contain examples of his work. His shop was at 134 Bank Street and then at 123. He lived, I believe, on Rideau Terrace, in New Edinburgh. The rest of the photos can be seen here.

and one this morning.

The former Imperial Theatre amid Bank Street construction

The Imperial Theatre, circa 1914

The Imperial Theatre was built in 1914. It closed in 1955 and was eventually reopened as Barrymore’s, a music venue.

Original Imperial Theatre facade with painted wall sign. (circa 1937)

In case you are interested, the theatre was showing “Forty Naughty Girls” with Zazu Pitts (1937) and “Men Are not Gods” with Miriam Hopkins, Gertrude Lawrence, and Rex Harrison (1936).

Interestingly, The Imperial and other Ottawa theatres appear to have ignored the “Lord’s Day Act” as late as 1950 and incurred the wrath of the chairman of the Motion Picture Censorship and Theatres Inspection Branch. He wrote the Ottawa theatre owners:

“the theatres in your city have been used [on Sundays] more than any others in Ontario and in most cases you have ignored our arrangement with the Lord’s Day Alliance of Canada. You are all familiar with the requirements. They are quite simple. You write me for certain forms which are to be completed twenty-one days prior to any performance, and they must be completed in full…From this date should any of your theatres be opened on Sunday for any event, without the necessary forms being completed, I shall ask the Provincial Secretary to deal with the matter”

This one was a smash and grab as I was illegally parked in a dodgy neighbourhood, left the car running while I dashed to the corner, and the parking authority guy was writing a ticket on someone a few feet away. But I managed to get the photos I wanted and not get a ticket or the car stolen!