Changing tastes – 1950s – early 1960s

Black and white photograph looking down at a paved street lined with people watching a trailer, decorated as a parade float the sides of which are trimmed with cedar boughs. At the front of the trailer is seated a musical band of about 15 persons being conducted by a man standing facing them, with his back to about 8 people seated at the back of the float.

Carter Music Store float in the Ladysmith Parade, 1954.

Black and white photograph of three smiling seated adult musicians, two men and a woman, with instruments.

Jack Atkinson (Drums), Raymond Burrard (Violin), and Florence Ferguson (Piano) played in Ladysmith in the 1950s.

In the 1950s, going to dances was a BIG thing. After all, it was the start of Rock and Roll. Ladysmith kids would sneak out to the Pygmy Pavilion in Nanaimo, which had a seven-piece house orchestra, but at times also featured guest artists, including no less than Louis Armstrong! Meanwhile, small groups of relatively mature musicians, sometimes composed of family members such as the Fergusons and the Carters, played foxtrots and waltzes at local Ladysmith venues.

Birth of Rock and Roll

However, times they were a-changing! The period 1950s-1960s saw a transition from dancing ‘with’ your partner to dancing ‘at’ your partner. Younger musicians formed bands playing a different style of instruments and music. It was the birth of rock and roll.

The Teen Town movement came to Ladysmith. Centred on the wants and needs of young adults, the glue that held the movement together was community service and music. Especially the music. It was the dances that encouraged many of the teens to join; they were held as often as possible, often two or three a month, frequently at the Native Sons and Daughters Hall (now the Eagles Hall).

Teen Town dances were supervised, and there was a strict code of conduct – no drinking, no smoking, no profanity, and none of the other things…. Despite these restrictions, they were popular and provided a venue for local bands to perfect their skills playing the developing rock ‘n roll music.

The Saints (captions available in FR and EN). Enjoy this video with a transcript (EN).

Colour photograph of five clean shaven young musicians with short haircuts wearing white long-sleeved shirts, bolo ties and red trousers standing on a stage playing trumpet, saxophone, acoustic guitar, drums and piano.

The Saints performing in 1958.

Black and white photograph of five short haired young male musicians with instruments dressed identically in open collared white shirts, white trousers and white shoes.

The Hearlinveaux Band played at Teen Town events in Ladysmith in the late 1950s /early 1960s.

Ladysmith’s own Bob De Clark’s ‘The Saints’ and George Noskys’s ‘Road Runners’, along with other local garage bands such as the ‘Rebels’ out of Port Alberni, were great attractions.

Clark’s ‘The Saints’ was much more rock ‘n roll, featuring acoustic guitar, saxophone, trumpet, piano and drums.

The Hearlinveaux Band featured a curious mix of instruments which included a xylophone and trombone as well as the “normal” saxophone, violin and piano.

The dances were also a platform for local singers such as Carol La Fleur and Glenda Battie to strut their stuff.

Many of these local bands played not only in Ladysmith but were also in demand by other Teen Town clubs all over Vancouver Island. A band could earn good money at these dances while keeping the “kids” happy dancing to some of their favourite tunes.

Broken Lives Twist and Shout