1895- Star Theater and Rev. Boville

     

                A week after a public meeting protesting immorality in some of Hamilton’s theatres, Reverend R. G. Boville, of the James Street Baptist Church, created a sensation when he secretly attended a performance at the Star Theatre.

Rev. Boville, not wishing to be recognized, wore a disguise:

        “His make-up was that of a well-to-do businessman out for a lark. He wore a black, fedora hat, and an ordinary suit of clothes, with a mourning coat and, carelessly hung over his shoulder, a tweed ulster. Having a walk more characteristic of a businessman than of a preacher, he was not taken by the management of the Star for a clergyman, nor would he have been by anyone who did not know him.”¹

            ¹ Herald. May 19 1895

        “Seated in a box  near the passageway leading from the stage to the dressing rooms, Rev. Boville and a reporter from the Herald who accompanied him, were the objects of some flirtation from the lady performers:

        “The fair soubrettes in coming from their dressing room, looked in with knowing glances and smiled, but little did they imagine they were looking into ministerial eyes, and smiling into a clerical face … the hearts of the occupants of the box, on several occasions, leaped into their mouths as the actresses tripped off the stage, and getting directly in front of the door of the box, proceeded to do one of their lightning change tricks – changing their attire in a moment from perhaps a ragged dress to a costume of glistening tights.”

        The first act on the bill that evening was a singer named Carrie Scott who was described as a pretty brunette “with a wicked, knowing twinkle in her eyes. Dressed in a red satin costume which only came down to her knees, Carrie Smith inspired the Herald to write about her as follows:

        “Her legs were encased in stockings to match her dress, and were so plump and regular and graceful that the sight of them would have made the heart of an artist glad.”

        Another act that night featured the Bowery Girl, a tough character from the slums whose songs were filled with sly double entendres. The finale of the evening’s entertainment was a display of juggling and acrobatic skills by a group of pretty young ladies dressed in tights.

        After the show, Reverend Boville was asked to give his opinions regarding the evening’s entertainment:

        “In the performance, there were parts which were vulgar and obscene, and calculated to have an injurious effect on young men, and more particularly on the boys, twelve or thirteen years old who were permitted to frequent the place. There were many of the remarks and jokes which had a certain degree of ambiguity about them, but the audience seemed to take all the evil possible out of them.”

        The following Sunday, an immense congregation filled the James Street Baptist Church to hear Rev. Boville’s sermon on his experiences at the Star:

        “It has been a matter of common talk that the stage of this theater was fast exceeding the bounds of decency, and men who make no profession of religion have spoke to me about the depraving spectacles and especially of the fact that boys of all ages were admitted and treated to a mixture of Tony Pastor’s vulgarity and Bowery obscenity. My own impression from an experience of two hours is, that apart from some dancing and juggling scenes, the show was totally unfit to be tolerated or forgiven and that, if Hamilton City Council has any self-respect, it will stop it.

        “In the name of humanity, let young men be no longer admitted to the place to be trained to sing vulgar Bowery songs, be familiarized with coarseness and indecency and, afterwards still lower, to drink beer in the boxes with local dudes.

        “The problem of such a theater is that there is an audience outside that have appetites for it. What is to be done? Elevate, refine and regenerate by the gospel.”

    The investigative preacher followed up his visit to the Star Theater with a well-attended sermon delivered at the James Street Baptish Church :

“The announcement that Rev. R. G. Boville would preach on ‘Our Local Theatres’ attracted a large congregation to James Street Baptist Church last evening.

“ ‘For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness’ (Matt. Ill, 15) was the text.

“In commencing his sermon, the preacher laid down the broad proposition that the influence of social order had a great deal to do with the development of character. If society, according to Webster, was to have liberty, it must be at the price of eternal vigilance. It should not be forgotten that schools were not the only educators nor all that influence. Saloons, pool rooms and even places of amusement had their influence, particularly on the young. Turning a little from the subject, Rev. Mr. Boville took occasion to warn the young men in the congregation against betting in any shape or form, telling them to beware of the temptations of this nature that would assail them during the coming horse races.

“Resuming the theatre question, he said he would be a fool if he said that all theatres failed to either educate or elevate, but it been a matter of common report that the stage of a certain theatre in this city had been used for the presentation of performances that were not fit for young men or boys to witness. As a result of a personal experience of about two hours within the walls of the theatre in question, he had come to the conclusion that , as he saw it, the performance was but ‘ a mixture of Tony Pastor’s vulgarity and Bowery coarseness.,’ and certainly totally unfit for Hamilton. While not desirous of saying anything against the two young men who controlled the theatre, he would sooner, if in their place, earn money by breaking stones for the corporation, than run the Star theatre. For the class of masculinity  and femininity that appeared on the stage of the Star, he had nothing but pity. ‘Nothing can be worse than veiled indecency,’ he continued, ‘and while I don’t want to say anything against the police force, for I believe they do their duty as they are able, they must have been dozing all winter, or else are very innocent to have mistaken the performances at the Star for Shakespearean drama. The relationship between the patrons of the theatre and the players, I take to be similar to those existing between the receiver of stolen goods and the thief. In fact, I think that the men who patronize such performances are on a level with the players. Between the acts, I understand that the actresses lower themselves more than when before the curtain, because they spend the time, off the stage, drinking beer with the dudes in the boxes. (Laughter.) The City Council should not license such a theatre to educate boys and young men in coarseness and vulgarity of the lowest type.

“Yet merely closing such places will not check the evil. In England, they had this same fight to save the young men years ago. The establishment of penny entertainments was the outcome of the crusade against low places of amusement, and I can’t see why the churches or even the Christian Endeavor Societies of the city should not take hold of some such movement and inaugurate a series of cheap entertainments during the winter season that elevate as well as amuse and thus destroy the influence of inferior amusements. The terrible thing about the whole question is the fact that there is an audience such as assembles at the Star that craves for low amusement and enjoys such performances. Sunday School teachers, you want to tell your boys and girls more about the evils of bad company, vulgarity, coarseness, profanity and more about the virtues of refinement honesty and purity, even if you have to tell them less about heaven; more about the dangerous road that leads to hell. Our churches and church services are too much for goody, goody people. The gospel to be preached is one that should strike a man fair and square, and bring him to knowledge of his sin and also inculcate in him a desire to do better. Christ revolted against the superstition of the Pharisees. Christ studied the scriptures when he was but a child, and if there was more Bible teaching in the homes by father as well as mothers, there would be fewer children going wrong. ‘You men who spend six nights of the week in meetings,’ continued Rev. Mr. Boville, ‘should spend a little more time at home talking with your sons on social evils, and you would have less trouble with them when they get to man’s estate. Girls are just as liable to get into trouble as the boys. Only last night I was told that young girls in short dresses may be seen parading the streets, after some entertainments are out, leaning tenderly on the arms of their young men. And such young men! With Thomas Carlyle, I believe tis class of young men should be turned upside down and kept in barrels until they reach the age of twenty-five.’ ”

“The tendency of the age, at least in certain circles, appeared to be forgetfulness of God. He referred to Grant Allen’s recent book, ‘The Woman Who Did,’ which contains a strong plea for the abolition of the marriage ceremony, as advocating a diabolical theory. Coming from such admittedly great minds as Allen’s it meant an attempt to dethrone God. Those who attempted such would fail just as had Oscar Wilde, who had tried to form a new cult and had said that the well-turned epigram was better for the world than a good plain truth. Another source of evil was the spiritualistic craze. Spiritualism the preacher held to be a reversion to the prehuman stage of existence. Attempts to gain information from the spirit world by the moving of tables and having all sorts of instruments strumming at your ears degraded the mind. It was not through such bestiality that God comes to man.

“In conclusion, he again spoke strongly against betting or gambling of any kind, holding that no stable fortune or stable character could be built up on speculation.

“During the evening, solos were sung by Mrs. Campbell and Mr. Geo. Clark, and a male quartette, consisting of Messrs. Clark, Kerruish, Barlow and Dr. Russel sang ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ very effectively.”