Ever pick up a dusty book or piece of antique that you thought to be unimportant, only to discover its inherent value? That's how naughty history can be sometimes. There's never a dull moment when one rediscovers pieces of history. I can just imagine how Italian humanists felt just before they nurtured the Renaissance in Europe when they rediscovered classical knowledge.
Canadians are not generally regarded as a people attached to their heritage, so the opportunity to dust off pieces of Canadian history is there for us to discover. Indeed, we have seen this with the Heritage Series vignettes aired on television, highlighting Canadian historical achievements and contributions.
I recently stumbled upon one of those lost relics of Canada I never knew existed; which surprised me since I do take an active interest in this country's past. Reading about Canadian history has introduced me to the innovative spirit of Canadians through the years. In the realm of Hollywood, Canadians were rugged individualists who roamed the continent giving unique Canadian imprints to the North American film experience.
What was supposed to be a night researching Buster Keaton led to the discovery of several Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood. While going through the list of Canadian names on various web sites dedicated to the silent film era, the one thing that caught my attention was how this presence and influence seemed disproportionate to Canada's tiny population, which grew from 7 million in 1910 to 10 million in 1930. It was like discovering a long lost relative.
Some quotes from The Grove Book of Hollywood anthology edited by Christopher Silvester helps to put things in historical perspective. Dancer and choreographer Agnes DeMille (niece of Cecil B. DeMille) once said "Hollywood was merely a country town, like many in the East, with palms instead of maples and chestnuts. The hills, though steep, were plain colored. The people were just ordinary." She even described how there were still cowboys who, "kept largely to themselves."
British actress Constance Collier added, "Hollywood was still a village, with farms that had not yet been built over, and the surly farmers were furious at the advent of the picture folk." In a similar vein, screenwriter Lenore Coffee wrote "In 1919 Hollywood was a village. Hollywood Boulevard could have been any Main Street in America."
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