Soldiers of Song: The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War
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by Jason Wilson
Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario, 2012. 248 pp., illus., $24.95 paperback
The Great War is remembered as a terrible and senseless conflict where a generation was put through the sausage-grinder of stalemate and slaughter. Nine million were killed, including more than sixty thousand Canadians.
The civilian soldiers who formed the ranks of all armies suffered under terrible strain, but they found coping mechanisms in the midst of destruction. Laughter, humour, pranks, and songs helped them to endure.
Meanwhile, behind the lines, concert and theatre groups offered humorous skits and performances to bolster morale. In Soldiers of Song, Jason Wilson has produced a groundbreaking study of these concert parties, with a focus on the most successful of them, the Dumbells.
Wilson, a scholar and two-time Juno Award nominee, has researched deeply to unearth and reconstruct the popular songs, irreverent jokes, and cutting barbs directed against the war effort, generals, and the enemy. His work reminds us that the more than 450,000 civilian soldiers who served overseas came from all professions, including actors, comics, and musicians, and that they too contributed to winning the war.
— Tim Cook (Read bio)
Tim Cook is a member of the Order of Canada and the author of eight history books, including Fight to the Finish: Canadians and the Second World War.