Cape Breton's Magazine

10 Years! The Story OF The Cape Breton Summertime Revue From Talks with Stephen MacDonald, Maynard Morrison, Bette MacDonald, Leon Dubinsky, Max MacDonald, and Gerald Taylor With 10 Years of Photos by Warren Gordon from the Revue Archives The Cape Breton Summertime Revue has real roots. As Max MacDonald told us, it's rooted in at least three fundamental developments: The Rotary Shows of the '60s and '70s, The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton Island that grew from Liz and Harry Board- more's teaching at Xavier College, and Fred Tomie's bar and entertainment centre in Whitney Pier. We asked Stephen MacDo? nald whether the Cape Breton Summertime Re? vue started out as a bunch of friends. Stephen: Well of course, we can't talk about The Cape Breton Summertime Revue; we've got to talk about The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton Island. Because the Revue grew out of the Follies. And in some ways it was a bunch of friends. I should interject: I wasn't around. I was in Vancouver. I was one of the people that got a Follies album, 4000 miles away from home, and played it, and cried, and laughed, and--you know. I was a total liv? ing- away Cape Bretoner who was blown away and touched, and totally soppy about it. I mean, people listened to it, and got to? gether with other Cape Bretoners. I think it's all a mat? ter of record that all that stuff (was) mainly spearheaded by Kenzie MacNeil, in terms of the organi? zation of it, and the money and the struc? ture. Steel City Players was, I think, a non-profit society. So, common denomina? tors were: unem? ployed, young, mostly Xavier College--I think those three common denominators ran through it. A lot of (it) a result of stuff that Harry and Liz Boardmore were doing. I don't think the Rise and Follies would have happened without the in? fluence, with? out the envi? ronment that had been creat? ed by Harry and Liz Boardmore, the work they had been doing (with their students at the college). Espe? cially encour? aging people to write and per? form their own stuff through? out the 'yOs Max MacDonald: One of the things that the Boardmores did that really be? came instrumen? tal in every? thing that's followed, whether it's the Rise and Bette MacDonald: "Piper's Lament," 1992 1986 • The Cast of the first Cape Breton Summertime Revue, with Steve Gaetz, Doris Mason, Ralph Dillon, Maynard Morrison, Berkley Lamey, Rita MacNeil, and Max MacDonald Cape Breton's MAGAZINE • Number Sixty-Eight Wreck Cove, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia BOC IHO Publications Mail Registration Number 3014