This is the second article in a series on Newmarket’s Teen Town, highlighting the groups you loved listening to and the memories you still hold. You can read the first one here. I asked that you send me your memories and many of you did just that, thank you so very much. This article is dedicated to your responses.
Those of us who grew up in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s will certainly remember the incredible music scene in Toronto. There were so many clubs where a music fan from the "sticks" could get their music fix; clubs mostly in Yorkville and along the Yonge Street strip from Bloor to King streets.
Here is a brief list of music venues back then.
In Yorkville:
- The Riverboat
- The Purple Onion
- The Devil's Den
- El Patio
- The Penny Farthing
- The Mynah Bird
- Chez Monique
- The Embassy Tavern
- Boris's
- The Owl's Nest
- The Flick
On Yonge:
- Le Coq d'Or, with The Hawk's Nest above it
- The Colonial Tavern
- The Sapphire Tavern
- Club Blue Note
- The Zanzibar Tavern
- Club 888, which would become The Rockpile in 1968
As a teen growing up in Newmarket, one did not necessarily need to travel to Toronto for your music fix, all you needed was a quarter (in the beginning) to see a full array of music talent on our very own Teen Town stage at the Old Town Hall. As mentioned in my first article, Newmarket was on the music circuit out of Toronto and many of the bands, early in their careers, would grace our stage, much to our delight.
Thanks to all of you who shared your memories, we will take a step back in time and relive some of the acts and memories that you remember so fondly. You can still send them to me as a third article in this series will focus on the music of that time, so it would be great to get your thoughts.
Charles Beer, along with his twin brother, David, was involved with Teen Town from around 1956-57, through to 1959 while attending Pickering College. It seems that for him, and I suspect many other Pickering Boys, Teen Town afforded a great opportunity for the boarders to connect with Newmarket and particularly with its girls, along with all those college's Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
Charles recalled that Terry Bell and Helen White had reached out to the Pickering community and invited them to join in the fun. His brother was on the executive one year of the operation that was led and sponsored by students, working closely with the town and a couple of the councillors who were supportive but let the teens run the show.
He mentioned the charitable efforts of the group, noting they raised money and supported worthy local causes, including a group who took Christmas presents to the Loyal True Blue and Orange orphanage in Oak Ridges after one December Saturday dance.
The band he recalled most fondly was the late John Georgas playing the honky tonk piano. Several people during my oral history interview series have concurred that John was a musical force with his distinctive playing and his lively patter.
Donna Lloyd told me that while there were so many groups that she loved back then, Little Caesar and the Consuls was her favourite. She remembered seeing them at the Toronto Ski Club about 10 years ago and they were still great...they danced all night.
Ken Sisler was unable to confirm that Bobby Curtola performed locally but as I mentioned in my first article, in a telephone interview with me, he insisted that he played a gig here in Newmarket and it appears that he was a local favourite back then.
Jim Wrightman sent me quite an extensive listing of talent that he enjoyed during his participation between 1964 and 1969. Perhaps you remember these groups that he mentioned:
- David Clayton Thomas and the Shays
- Little Caesar and the Consuls
- Ritchie Knight and the Midnights
- The Mandala (formerly The Five Rogues)
- Grant Smith and the Power
- John Lee and the Checkmates
- The Ugly Ducklings
- Jack London and the Sparrows
- The Counts
- Jackie Shane
- Bobby Kris and the Imperials
- The Emeralds (later called The Suedes from the Newmarket area)
- The Staccatos
The Ike and Tina Turner Review made an appearance it would seem. This was apparently a surprise as they had signed a contract just prior to making it big with Proud Mary but they decided to honour their contract.
Jim also mentioned seeing other acts at local venues like the two high schools and the Compass. He mentioned The Paupers, who played at Newmarket High School and The Big Town Boys and Lighthouse, who played Huron Heights Secondary School. He also mentioned two local bands, The Dark Ages and The Quakers, which delighted me as my cousin, Bryan Luesby, was the drummer with Dark Ages and I grew up listening the magical voice of Mr. Waite practising in my Uncle Jack’s basement. They were my early idols, haha!
Joan Avand remembered attending Teen Town in the early '60s but didn’t remember any live bands. She did remark that she does remember attending a few dances at the plaza, in an upstairs hall above the laundromat that featured live entertainment. She recalled David Clayton Thomas, Glass Tiger (when they were first starting) and perhaps Chubby Checker (she wasn't sure).
In a future article, I want to examine some of the groups who played the other local venues in more detail.
The Emeralds were the house band for Teen Town. Linda and Paul Wright reached out to me following the first article and graciously sent to me information and photographs, which I have included with this article.
The members of The Emeralds included John Hagman, Ron White, Ross Sully, Earl Newhall and Paul Wright, all local lads if I recall correctly.
During my research for a presentation on the history of entertainment in Newmarket in the 1950s and 1960s, I became aware of an up-and-coming Canadian group, Gary and Dave, who were composed of Gary Weeks (born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) and David Lloyd George "Dave" Beckett (born right here in Newmarket). I believe they are best known for their 1973 hit song Could You Ever Love Me Again.
Weeks and Beckett had been friends since grade school in the early 1960s. They played in numerous bands until 1966, when the pair competed in a United Appeal concert and came in fourth out of 500 acts. They began to play the festival circuit, and it appears that early in their career they played as a ‘filler band’ at Teen Town.
As part of your response to my pleas for your memories, I heard from several people about ‘first loves’ both fleeting and long lasting. Teen Town, it would appear, was fertile ground for young romance. Let’s face it, there is nothing like a slow dance to set the mind to romance, is there?
Apparently not all the romances ignited by those nights at Teen Town were forever romances, but it would appear they were deep enough that they still spring to mind all these years later. I have omitted names to protect the innocent, haha.
I remember from an article in the local newspaper just before the reunion that Al Noble and his lovely wife, Sandra Osborne, met at Teen Town and have celebrated well over 50 years together. For them, Teen Town was something special indeed.
From the memories I received over the years, it is quite clear that Teen Town was indeed something special, along with skating at the old Memorial Arena.
I have conducted hundreds of oral history interviews over the years and one of my go-to questions was "Did you ever attend Teen Town dances?" One would often see a light switch on in their eyes and I would be regaled with stories from back then, many unfortunately I could not use in my articles and presentations but now I have had the opportunity to retell them for these articles.
One person commented, "We all knew that it would not always be like this but at that time and place, we knew that we would always have those memories." After all, that is what local history is all about, the memories.
Next weekend, I will look at some of the ways that our local Indigenous peoples contributed to the very existence of our ancestors. I did not have to search too far afield as my own family stories of the Lundys and their kin are sprinkled with stories of how they were dependant on the good graces of the ‘peoples of the lakes’ for their survival.
Sources: Contributions from Charles Beer, Ken Sisler, Jim Wrightman, Donna Lloyd, Ted and Nanette Stankiewicz Parent, Linda Spaulding Middleton and Paul Wright; photos courtesy of Linda Spaulding Middleton and Paul Wright (the Emeralds); The Newmarket Era; the Official Program from the Teen Town Reunion; The Toronto Sound of the '60s by Russ Strathdee.
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod — the History Hound — has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with Newmarket Today, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews
