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Chronology Continued
[1757
- 1884] [1885 - 1891] [1892
- 1899]
[1900 - 1905] [1906
- 1908] [1909] [1910]
[1911] [1912]
[1913] [1914]
[1915] [1916]
[1917] [1918]
[1919] [1920]
[1921] [1922]
[1923] [1924]
[1925] [1926]
[1927] [1928]
[1929] [1930]
[1931] [1932]
[1933] [1934]
[1935] [1936]
[1937] [1938]
[1939] [1940]
[1941] [1942]
[1943] [1944]
[1945] [1946]
[1947] [1948]
[1949] [1950]
[1951] [1952]
[1953] [1954]
[1955] [1956]
[1957] [1958]
[1959] [1960]
[1961] [1962]
[1963] [1964]
[1965]
[1966] [1967]
[1968]
[1969] [1970]
[1971] [1972]
[1973] [1974]
[1975] [1976]
[1977] [1978]
[1979] [1980]
[1981] [1982]
[1983] [1984]
[1985] [1986]
[1987] [1988]
[1989] [1990]
[1991] [1992]
[1993] [1994]
1952
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You'll note that this year includes events listed under "Also
in . . ." These are events for which we don't have a specific
date. If YOU know the
specific date of an event shown there, please
notify us . . . and cite the source! Many thanks!
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January 25 At 8:30 p.m. CBR 1130 moved to
690 on the dial and changed its call letters to CBU. See this
site.
January The great American bass Paul Robeson
had performed at the Orpheum February 7, 1946, and 3,000 fans in
the sold-out theatre kept him coming back for more and more. But
a hint of troubles ahead could be seen in the Sun’s
warm review by Stanley Bligh. Bligh wrote of that 1946 concert:
“In addition to his great success in the artistic field, the
eminent Negro has won an outstanding place in the world by his firm
stand on the question of racial equality, his knowledge of languages,
international economics and his wide sympathy for the oppressed
peoples of the whole globe.”
That sympathy would get him into trouble.
Robeson’s knowledge of languages was impressive.
Besides his native English, he spoke Hebrew, Chinese, Norwegian
and Spanish. That came from his extensive travels . . . which included
trips to Russia. In an interview, Robeson had told the Sun: “I
deeply believe Russia is now the world’s most positive force
for good, if we will help her.”
It was 1952, and the cold war had the US in a deep
freeze. Robeson’s opinions, and his favorable view of the Communist
Party (although he was never a member), resulted in a refusal by
the U.S. to allow him to return to Vancouver for another concert
in January, 1952. He was stopped at Blaine. Local unions organized
a free outdoor concert at the Peace Arch, and it attracted 25,000
people on the Canadian side, 5,000 on the U.S. side.
Robeson is now back in favor. The U.S. has issued
a postage stamp to honor him.
See this
site.
February 1, 2 Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars
appeared in the auditorium of Kitsilano High School.
February 6 King George VI, aged just 56, died,
and his daughter Elizabeth, 25, became Queen. She heard of his death
while on a holiday in Kenya with her husband, Prince Philip. Vancouver
and the rest of the British Commonwealth mourned the passing of
the King. A 21-gun salute was fired at Brockton Point February 7
to mark the succession to the throne of Elizabeth II. Her coronation
would occur June 2, 1953.
John Nicholson of the Old Cambrians Society was in
Kenya in 1952 and took a candid shot (right) of the Princess as
she was driven by. Prince Philip is next to her, but obscured. (The
King was still alive when this photo was taken.) Our thanks to Mr.
Nicholson for permission to reproduce his photograph. For a charming
reminiscence by him, see this
site.
February 11 Alan Twigg, founder of BC Bookworld,
was born. See this
site.
February 12 Tolls were removed from Pattullo
Bridge.
March 13 Susan Mendelson was born in Toronto.
Few kitchens in B.C. lack a cookbook by Susan Mendelson. There are
now eight in print. The first, Mama Never Cooked Like This,
sold 7,000 copies on its first day. See this
site.
March 24 Actor Nicholas Campbell was born
in Toronto. He plays (superbly) the title character, coroner Dominic
Da Vinci, on CBC-TV’s Da Vinci’s Inquest, the best
show to come out of Vancouver television in years. See this
site.
April 4 Vancouver got its first taste of 3-D
movie making with a really bad movie set in Africa and called Bwana
Devil, starring Robert Stack. Look out for that lion!
April 11-19 Duke Ellington played a gig at
the Palomar Supper Club in Vancouver. See this
site.
April 23 In her column in The Vancouver
Sun, Penny Wise told of a visiting American who complained he
couldn't find any restaurant in Vancouver that served something
called a Caesar salad. Penny wrote that she'd never heard of it.
But she found a recipe for it and shared it with her readers. So
now we can date fairly specifically the arrival on the local scene
of the Caesar. The salad had been known in the States for many years,
but there is a dispute over when and where it originated and who
created it.
May 12 Actor/director/producer Christopher
Gaze was born in Leatherhead, England. He originated and still heads
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, now an annual and much-loved
tradition in Vancouver. Thanks to the efforts of Gaze and his staff,
Bard receives less than one per cent of its income from government
grants. See this
site.
July 15 The present Lumberman’s Arch
is installed at Stanley Park.
July 18 The Vancouver Sun noted that
the Vancouver Tourist Association had no women on its board.
August 1 New Brunswick-born William Andrew
Cecil Bennett became premier of BC. He will serve to September 15,
1972, just over 20 years, making him our longest-serving premier.
August 16 From the Sun “The postman
rings four times daily, and statistically one-and-a-half persons
per minute come into the over-crowded offices at the corner of Georgia
and Seymour which house Vancouver’s Tourist Bureau . . .”
September 4 The UBC Law Building was opened
by Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent.
October 18-21 Sweet, dithery US movie actress
ZaSu Pitts, 58, appeared in Vancouver in The Late Christopher
Bean with the Everyman Theatre. During her visit here, ZaSu
was startled to learn Canada was not a British Colony. The Internet
Movie DataBase lists her in 204 movies.
October 19 The first sod was turned for St
Anselm Anglican Church at Cleveland Way and University Boulevard.
October 20 Vancouver had two notable visitors
today: Governor General Vincent Massey (our first Canadian-born
GG) was in town, and so was singer Jeannette MacDonald, performing
at the Georgia Auditorium.
November 1 First H-Bomb.
November 16 James Inglis Reid died today.
He was 78. His famous high-ceilinged butcher's shop at 559 Granville,
which had opened in 1915, was almost as famous for its signs as
for the special meats and haggis it sold. The most celebrated sign
read: “We hae meat that ye can eat.” The meats included
Ayrshire bacon, Belfast ham, black pudding and oatmeal-coated sausage.
The Scottish-born (Kirkintilloch) Reid had come to Vancouver in
1906, at 32. Another Scot, H. Nelson Menzies, joined him in 1917.
Long service was a constant at Reid's. When the shop closed in December
1986—forced out by Pacific Centre expansion—its manager,
Gordon Wyness, had been there 41 years.
December 6 The official opening of the Frederic
Wood Theatre at UBC. A member of Sydney Risk’s company and
a former student of Dorothy Somerset’s, Joy Coghill directed
Earle Birney’s play Trial of a City (original title:
Damnation of Vancouver) for the official opening. See this
site.
Also in 1952
Fred Amess became Principal of the Vancouver School
of Art.
The Mau Mau rebellion began in Kenya. One observer:
14-year-old Vancouver-born future B.C. politician Gordon Wilson.
A Hollywood movie titled Hurricane Smith starred
two Vancouver-born actors, Yvonne De Carlo and John Ireland.
The West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce was incorporated.
See this
site.
The Greater Vancouver Tourist Association changed
its name to the Vancouver Tourist Association.
Firoz Rasul, Ballard Power Systems chairman emeritus
today, was born in Kenya.
Vancouver city council approved the naming of several
city streets after famous golf courses. That gave us Seigniory,
Leaside, Uplands, Bonnacord, Scarboro, Bonnyvale, Brigadoon and
Bobolink.
1952 Rolls Silver Wraith
[Photo: www.drwtransmission.com]
Continued.....
[1757
- 1884] [1885 - 1891] [1892
- 1899]
[1900 - 1905] [1906
- 1908] [1909] [1910]
[1911] [1912]
[1913] [1914]
[1915] [1916]
[1917] [1918]
[1919] [1920]
[1921] [1922]
[1923] [1924]
[1925] [1926]
[1927] [1928]
[1929] [1930]
[1931] [1932]
[1933] [1934]
[1935] [1936]
[1937] [1938]
[1939] [1940]
[1941] [1942]
[1943] [1944]
[1945] [1946]
[1947] [1948]
[1949] [1950]
[1951] [1952]
[1953] [1954]
[1955] [1956]
[1957] [1958]
[1959] [1960]
[1961] [1962]
[1963] [1964]
[1965]
[1966] [1967]
[1968]
[1969] [1970]
[1971] [1972]
[1973] [1974]
[1975] [1976]
[1977] [1978]
[1979] [1980]
[1981] [1982]
[1983] [1984]
[1985] [1986]
[1987] [1988]
[1989] [1990]
[1991] [1992]
[1993] [1994]
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