Stratford: 1933 becomes King Whistle by Betty Jo Belton, Stratford-Perth Archives, Published Jun 21, 2019 Beacon Herald
When Stratford Central high school celebrated their centennial in 1979, they gave a gift to the community by inviting “one of our most illustrious graduates," Dr. James Reaney” to write a new play. Originally called Stratford: 1933, the play would explore, in Reaney’s words, “a time when the people of Stratford weren’t just spectators of a parade – they were in the parade.
Students researching this material would get to know their town a lot better and … would also step outside their school and their young lives to see how both school and lives fit into a larger pattern.” In his review of the world premiere of what was by then called King Whistle, Richard Whelan wrote in the Beacon-Herald that it was “a Brechtian showcase with liberal dashes of minstrel tomfoolery and the rhetoric and bunting of a Labour Day parade.”
Central student Mark Verwymeren ( see below) wrote the music and Central students, plus the school marching band, formed the vast majority of the cast. Attendees at the May reunion weekend were invited to come back to see Stratford: 1933 in November at the Avon Theatre.
James Reaney later wrote, “ We visited every classroom (at Stratford Central), we sent home a questionnaire, we held two workshops with 600 students apiece in the gymnatorium; if you’re going to write a play about a community, particularly a Stratford which in 1933 came out on the streets and shouted what it wanted, then you have to persuade the students and teachers to do likewise, to explore the roots of the community in every way possible. … Not a few citizens were horrified at the idea of a play about the 1933 strike. … Why should we stir up old dirt? Why not let sleeping dogs lie? But ever since as a kid of seven I’d actually seen the strikers parading down Ontario Street with a Union Jack at their head, I had wanted to handle this great story … (with its) grim material both frivolously and deeply.” See Flashback A Treasured Reminder of the Stratford Strike of 1933
The original double steam whistle from Kroehler’s furniture factory – not in regular use since 1969 – was used to promote the play. Installed in 1917, it was taken down in 1987 during roof repairs to the factory building. Kroehler’s chief engineer, Irvin Riehl, pointed out that the bronze whistle was originally a single unit but, in the late 1940s, the company decided it could improve the sound by adding a second whistle to harmonize with the first. Soon after it was taken down, it was donated to Stratford-Perth Archives and later transferred to the Stratford-Perth Museum. It is currently on display back at the archives as part of our Parades, Picnics and Power exhibit celebrating the 125th anniversary of Labour Day this year. For more on James Reaney see Caledonia St.
The King Whistle Song from Reaney’s play:
“Now that we’re on strike we hardly know
When to wake up when to go to bed/
King Whistle is dead!
Used to be that, sound asleep a blow –
Giant fingers held to giant mouth –
East Stratford & South –
Bounced you off the bed into your clothes
Pulled your pants on, tucked you shirt in …
Oh King Whistle, sure we miss you
And your orders to come & kiss you.
To wake to rest to eat to do this
To love to die, run, stop, hit, miss.
What we didn’t know was that
Instead of this life of a laboratory rat –
Why – if we stopped working
You pretty soon stopped – whistling.
You are either asleep or dead
And now instead – !
It’s two a.m. and we hear a cry
Not from a whistle but a lady
Pickets for Swifts!
It’s six in the morning & we hear a shout
They’re trying to ship those cabinets out!
Pickets for the Chair!”
Mark Verwymeren
"The Girls at Swifts” from King Whistle,
There was a song called “The Girls at Swifts” from King Whistle, which was used in the dedication of Central’s Gymnatorium to James Reaney. In the show, there was a scene where the girls who worked at Swift’s packing, arrived in the predawn hours to pluck chickens…appearing from the black night into the light, one by one, emerging from the shadows into the triangular light cast by the lampshade over the factory door.
Below is an orchestration created by Mark Peter Verwymeren for the dedication and reenactment of that song. Text and song provided by Mark VerwymerenFB
Click here for Mark Verwymeren bio