City Unique: Montreal Days and Nights in the 1940s and '50s

by William Weintraub

Montreal in the 1940s and '50s was Canada's largest, richest, most vibrant and colourful city. It was, at the end of those prosperous decades, "bursting at the seams," still growing, still far ahead of Toronto. No one then could foresee the rise of Quebec separatism, which would cripple the city, and send it into its long decline.In City Unique, William Weintraub introduces the reader to many of the extraordinary characters who gave Montreal its singular flavour. They include Camillien Houde, the mayor who was interned during the war for advocating treason; Lili St. Cyr, the ultimate striptease artiste, who mesmerized men and boys; Maurice Duplessis, the dictatorial premier who could evict individuals from their homes if he suspected they were communist; Harry Ship, the czar of illegal gambling dens; and Anna Beauchamp, the flamboyant madam who operated a string of at least a dozen brothels.Montreal was a "wide-open town," the vice capital of Canada, where the amply bribed police and politicians connived to resist all attempts at reform. But two crusaders, Pacifique Plante and Jean Drapeau, were determined to clean up the city and Weintraub gives a lively account of their battle with the vice lords.During the era, far-reaching changes took place within the communities that comprised Montreal's three solitudes - the English, the French, and the Jewish - and the author examines their effects. He also describes the city's passionate ideologues, both communist and fascist, their struggles and changing fortunes in the aftermath of the Second World War. He examines, too, the emergence of a generation of novelists, playwrights and poets, including Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Irving Layton and others who set a new standard for Canadian literature.The 1940s and '50s were a unique period, different from everything that came before - the Great Depression, the lingering stuffiness of the Edwardian era - and different from the period that followed - signaled by Quebec's Quiet Revolution. It was a pivotal, momentous time. William Weintraub, writing with indignation and affection, brings the Montreal of his youth vividly, entertainingly and wittily to life in this extraordinary book.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: History

332 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 1996

Reviews

[MH · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively, street-level cultural history of Montreal in the 40s and 50s, a "church-and-nightclub town" that had both a nakedly corrupt, pro-fascist civic and provincial government and a reputation for being wide-open and stylishly decadent. Weintraub moves between the virulently anti-Semitic church and city leaders and the businessmen and club-owners, between the French and English citizens, and between Montreal's rivalries with New York and Toronto and its inferiority complex with these cities - it's a lot, but Weintraub's a clear, engaging writer and he allows a non-Montrealer like me to keep everything straight, whether he's talking about Lili St. Cyr's striptease, Premier Duplessis's heartless power politics, or the frankly reprehensible domination of the French Catholic church.

[Idiosyncratic · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up in Montreal (especially pre-1960), you should read this book. It touches on all areas and groups in the city, and gave me a strong sense of what it was like to be French in a city that was dominated by the often pompous, self-righteous English-speaking minority. (I say that as someone who came from that minority.)The sections on the Jewish population and the Mafia were also rivetting. (I went to school with one of the sons of Harry Ship, the Mafia "gentleman" who made a major contribution to the Mafia portion of the book.Now I know more about what his dad did!)

[Wayne Clark]

This book is one of the best accounts I've ever read about the wide-open city Montreal once was. I've lived here for 49 years and thought I knew a lot about Montreal's history during that amazing era. However, Weintraub's book held lots of surprises for me. Highly recommended.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard of this book when it first came out 20 years ago, and wasn't too interested at the time because I thought it would focus primarily on crime and Montreal's reputation during the 40s and 50s as sin city in Canada. When I finally read it, I found that this focus was a main feature of the book, but that other aspects of Montreal during that time period were highlighted. The day to day life of both the English and French upper and lower classes are covered in some detail. The author being a playwright himself gives extra ink to the drama and literary scene in Montreal in that era, which was less interesting to me. Politics is covered in detail, both in terms of municipal politics and how that intersected with the Duplessis provincial government in Quebec at the time. As a Montrealer whose parents would have been children and teens during the 40s and 50s, I found most of the book relatable and quite interesting. The one glaring omission is the lack of any discussion of the role sports played during that time period, except for a page or two on the Richard Riot in 1954. Overall an interesting book that would be of interest particularly to Montrealers, but also to Canadians in general and anyone interested in North American society in the 40s and 50s.

[Costa Voutsinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book - learned so much about our fair city.

[Rhea Tregebov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came across this 1997 publication in a used bookstore in Montreal's Mile End and ate it up. Beautifully written, funny, wise and prescient, it's a great read.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and informative with a very chatty tone that only rarely swings toward editorialization and score settling, unwelcome in even as salacious a book of history as this.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is fun to see reference to places you have frequented and to read about the history of buildings and institutions you are happy to find out more about. Weintraub covers a lot of territory. I did not care for his writing style at the beginning, but the narration improved with the book and I got really interested in the politics of a time before I was born.