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Montreal Standard Time: The Early Journalism of Mavis Gallant
308 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2024
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About the author
Mavis Gallant
89 books256 followersCanadian journalist and fiction writer. In her twenties, Gallant worked as a reporter for the Montreal Standard. She left journalism in 1950 to pursue fiction writing. To that end, always needing autonomy and privacy, she moved to France.
In 1981, Gallant was honoured by her native country and made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to literature. That same year she also received the Governor General's Award for literature for her collection of stories, Home Truths. In 1983-84, she returned to Canada as the University of Toronto's writer-in-residence. In 1991 Queen’s University awarded her an honorary LL.D. In 1993 she was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 1989, Gallant was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, she won the Matt Cohen Prize, and in 2002 the Rea Award for the Short Story. The O. Henry Prize Stories of 2003 was dedicated to her. In 2004, Gallant was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship.
With Alice Munro, Gallant was one of a few Canadian authors whose works regularly appeared in The New Yorker. Many of Gallant’s stories had debuted in the magazine before subsequently being published in a collection.
Although she maintained her Canadian citizenship, Gallant continued to live in Paris, France since the 1950s.
On November 8, 2006, Mavis Gallant received the Prix Athanase-David from the government of her native province of Quebec. She was the first author writing in English to receive this award in its 38 years of existence.
In 1981, Gallant was honoured by her native country and made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to literature. That same year she also received the Governor General's Award for literature for her collection of stories, Home Truths. In 1983-84, she returned to Canada as the University of Toronto's writer-in-residence. In 1991 Queen’s University awarded her an honorary LL.D. In 1993 she was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 1989, Gallant was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, she won the Matt Cohen Prize, and in 2002 the Rea Award for the Short Story. The O. Henry Prize Stories of 2003 was dedicated to her. In 2004, Gallant was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship.
With Alice Munro, Gallant was one of a few Canadian authors whose works regularly appeared in The New Yorker. Many of Gallant’s stories had debuted in the magazine before subsequently being published in a collection.
Although she maintained her Canadian citizenship, Gallant continued to live in Paris, France since the 1950s.
On November 8, 2006, Mavis Gallant received the Prix Athanase-David from the government of her native province of Quebec. She was the first author writing in English to receive this award in its 38 years of existence.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2025
"Radio Finds its Voice. Stage 45, presenting adult drama, has made the listening public and the critics sit up and cheer.
[December 9, 1944]
ONE SUNDAY NIGHT LAST January, bored radio listeners tuning past insistent music and monotonous commercials stopped to hear the announcement of a new series – Stage 44, a report on radio play writing in Canada. Launched with little publicity, the broadcasts continued for twenty-one weeks, and attracted an audience which came to realize that radio had grown up, had something to say, and could say it with authority.
Continued this year, the service has acquired a larger audience, mostly by word of mouth, and far more public and press notice. Due in part to consistent excellence of production, Stage 45 is holding its own through its scripts, which are jolting placid citizens into an awareness of contemporary urgent problems as have few radio programs. The numerals in the program title come from the year; thus it was Stage 44 last season and now Stage 45.
Behind this new adult entertainmnent is CBC supervisor of drama Andrew Allan, who is responsible for both the choice and direction of plays on Stage 45. Without making a fetish of Canadianism, he insists only that any message concerned with a politically or ideologically controversial topic be stated in terms that are honest and important, and says that Canadian writers have managed to do this, putting their points across "without any air of grave discovery."
Despite the fact that the first series, Stage 44, drew over a thousand approving letters from Canadian listeners, and that one of the plays produced last winter, They're All Afraid, won top awards in competition with US entries at the Institute for Education by Radio, Allan refers to the season as "that dreadful year."
Coming to Toronto from Vancouver to take up duties as supervisor of drama, he immediately began organizing time and talent for Stage 44 and found the first steps hectic as he attempted to put into action what is probably the dream of every producer: a series of plays with provocative ideas appealing to as large a listening audience as possible with superb professional production.
Success is more noticeable this year, especially in audience interest and discussion. Naturally, not every script used on Stage 45 is concerned with a controversial topic, nor is every play first rate. According to Alice Frick, Allan's assistant, the biggest problem is dearth of material. Despite the fact that 700 scripts reach the CBC offices every year, between 75 and 80 per cent are rejected as untimely, amateurish, or impossibly bad.
Most submissions are sent in from the West Coast, which also has the greatest listening audience. Scarcely any come from Montreal, and fewest of all from the Maritime provinces.
Another factor affecting the choice of material for Stage 45 is the producer's objection to continual preaching and editorializing. "If you insist on converting the saints every week, you find you lose a great section of the listening audience. An unbalanced program discourages people who listen only to be amused and entertained."
Letters, however, show that serious plays are most popular. "For the first time," wrote one housewife after hearing Mr. Sinclair's Play on Words, "I feel that I am getting some value out of my radio license." Other letters vary from erudite and niggling criticism to the "I have never written a letter to a radio station before this" type.
Many simply say, "Thank you for something adult, at last."
Allan is rather bitter over the fact that the press in Canada managed to remain indifferent to the series until A Play on Words was reviewed in a New York daily. Under the heading "Canada Shows Us How" the review stated that "radio was grown up last Sunday in Canada," and cautioned American dramas and documentaries to wake up and take note.
Probably the best writing in Canada of this type is being done for Stage 45. Magazine publishers, who seldom handle non-formula fiction, have commented enviously on Allan's parade of names while still themselves clinging to US popular literature.
"Canadian writers," claims Allan, "say more and are less obsessed with the sound of their own words. And what they have to say is usually potent and important."
Even unimpressive scripts, he insists, have a concealed social message. To the listener, however, some of them do not seem to merit the fine and painstaking production he gives to them. Most of the vigorous, provocative writing is done by a very small group: Lister Sinclair, Hugh Kemp, Len Peterson, Harry Boyle, Bernard Braden. [...]
Whatever the quality is that marks good writing, this group has it in common. Allan calls it a combination of compassion, humility, and arrogance. To others, it is sensitivity and sureness of purpose.
Allan has no qualms about producing anything regardless of the ramifications which might follow. The most controversial play to date is Peterson's Maybe in a Thousand Years, which tackled the problem of a Canadian girl married to a Canadian-born Chinese. Determined to put it into production immediately, Allan kept the story dark, releasing only the most ambiguous publicity. It burst like an explosion, leaving a trail of heated discussion and letter writing.
One of the most hopeful and happy signs is the fact that of the volume of mail which poured into the CBC after the performance, only three letters were critical. One rather preciously objected to the use of the word "wench." Another, from below the border, demanded indignantly if this were the Canadian solution to racial prejudice. And in a third, a Canadian Army captain inadvertently signed three furiously incoherent paragraphs "disgustingly yours."
To Allan, writers who carry a torch for racial tolerance have a fairly simple issue. Discrimination based on race is either right or wrong, and from there on only one thing can be written. However, Stage 45 was not designed to be a crusade against every stupidity in our civilization. No one play can solve a problem, and the more vigorous punches are spaced between less important dramas.
The polish which characterizes Stage 45 productions is due to Allan's infinite patience with what appear to be trifling phases of the half-hour show. A fragment of music, a few bars which will be heard for less than three seconds, is discussed with composer Lucio Agostini for twenty minutes. Lines are read and reread until exactly the right inflection is reached.
The actors first see the scripts and find out which part they will take on Saturday morning, the day before the broadcast. Most interesting to the onlooker is the gradual shaping of the play from flat lines and directions to a smooth, casy performance in which the personality of each character has been developed, and, in the case of a mediocre plot, particularly stressed. It is this attention to detail which makes poor plays seem better than they are and gives good plays every break. [...]
Allan is impatient with the widely held idea that Stage 45 is a family compact and that only a certain small group of writers and actors are ever accepted. As far as writing goes, scripts, good scripts, are more than welcome. Where actors are concerned, he does use new people but prefers tried and successful performers like Bernard Brayden, Grace Matthews, Bud Knapp. However, there are no clearly drawn lines.
"Don't forget," he adds, "that while there are only twenty-five people in New York making a full-time living from radio acting, in Toronto, there are fifty."
[December 9, 1944]
ONE SUNDAY NIGHT LAST January, bored radio listeners tuning past insistent music and monotonous commercials stopped to hear the announcement of a new series – Stage 44, a report on radio play writing in Canada. Launched with little publicity, the broadcasts continued for twenty-one weeks, and attracted an audience which came to realize that radio had grown up, had something to say, and could say it with authority.
Continued this year, the service has acquired a larger audience, mostly by word of mouth, and far more public and press notice. Due in part to consistent excellence of production, Stage 45 is holding its own through its scripts, which are jolting placid citizens into an awareness of contemporary urgent problems as have few radio programs. The numerals in the program title come from the year; thus it was Stage 44 last season and now Stage 45.
Behind this new adult entertainmnent is CBC supervisor of drama Andrew Allan, who is responsible for both the choice and direction of plays on Stage 45. Without making a fetish of Canadianism, he insists only that any message concerned with a politically or ideologically controversial topic be stated in terms that are honest and important, and says that Canadian writers have managed to do this, putting their points across "without any air of grave discovery."
Despite the fact that the first series, Stage 44, drew over a thousand approving letters from Canadian listeners, and that one of the plays produced last winter, They're All Afraid, won top awards in competition with US entries at the Institute for Education by Radio, Allan refers to the season as "that dreadful year."
Coming to Toronto from Vancouver to take up duties as supervisor of drama, he immediately began organizing time and talent for Stage 44 and found the first steps hectic as he attempted to put into action what is probably the dream of every producer: a series of plays with provocative ideas appealing to as large a listening audience as possible with superb professional production.
Success is more noticeable this year, especially in audience interest and discussion. Naturally, not every script used on Stage 45 is concerned with a controversial topic, nor is every play first rate. According to Alice Frick, Allan's assistant, the biggest problem is dearth of material. Despite the fact that 700 scripts reach the CBC offices every year, between 75 and 80 per cent are rejected as untimely, amateurish, or impossibly bad.
Most submissions are sent in from the West Coast, which also has the greatest listening audience. Scarcely any come from Montreal, and fewest of all from the Maritime provinces.
Another factor affecting the choice of material for Stage 45 is the producer's objection to continual preaching and editorializing. "If you insist on converting the saints every week, you find you lose a great section of the listening audience. An unbalanced program discourages people who listen only to be amused and entertained."
Letters, however, show that serious plays are most popular. "For the first time," wrote one housewife after hearing Mr. Sinclair's Play on Words, "I feel that I am getting some value out of my radio license." Other letters vary from erudite and niggling criticism to the "I have never written a letter to a radio station before this" type.
Many simply say, "Thank you for something adult, at last."
Allan is rather bitter over the fact that the press in Canada managed to remain indifferent to the series until A Play on Words was reviewed in a New York daily. Under the heading "Canada Shows Us How" the review stated that "radio was grown up last Sunday in Canada," and cautioned American dramas and documentaries to wake up and take note.
Probably the best writing in Canada of this type is being done for Stage 45. Magazine publishers, who seldom handle non-formula fiction, have commented enviously on Allan's parade of names while still themselves clinging to US popular literature.
"Canadian writers," claims Allan, "say more and are less obsessed with the sound of their own words. And what they have to say is usually potent and important."
Even unimpressive scripts, he insists, have a concealed social message. To the listener, however, some of them do not seem to merit the fine and painstaking production he gives to them. Most of the vigorous, provocative writing is done by a very small group: Lister Sinclair, Hugh Kemp, Len Peterson, Harry Boyle, Bernard Braden. [...]
Whatever the quality is that marks good writing, this group has it in common. Allan calls it a combination of compassion, humility, and arrogance. To others, it is sensitivity and sureness of purpose.
Allan has no qualms about producing anything regardless of the ramifications which might follow. The most controversial play to date is Peterson's Maybe in a Thousand Years, which tackled the problem of a Canadian girl married to a Canadian-born Chinese. Determined to put it into production immediately, Allan kept the story dark, releasing only the most ambiguous publicity. It burst like an explosion, leaving a trail of heated discussion and letter writing.
One of the most hopeful and happy signs is the fact that of the volume of mail which poured into the CBC after the performance, only three letters were critical. One rather preciously objected to the use of the word "wench." Another, from below the border, demanded indignantly if this were the Canadian solution to racial prejudice. And in a third, a Canadian Army captain inadvertently signed three furiously incoherent paragraphs "disgustingly yours."
To Allan, writers who carry a torch for racial tolerance have a fairly simple issue. Discrimination based on race is either right or wrong, and from there on only one thing can be written. However, Stage 45 was not designed to be a crusade against every stupidity in our civilization. No one play can solve a problem, and the more vigorous punches are spaced between less important dramas.
The polish which characterizes Stage 45 productions is due to Allan's infinite patience with what appear to be trifling phases of the half-hour show. A fragment of music, a few bars which will be heard for less than three seconds, is discussed with composer Lucio Agostini for twenty minutes. Lines are read and reread until exactly the right inflection is reached.
The actors first see the scripts and find out which part they will take on Saturday morning, the day before the broadcast. Most interesting to the onlooker is the gradual shaping of the play from flat lines and directions to a smooth, casy performance in which the personality of each character has been developed, and, in the case of a mediocre plot, particularly stressed. It is this attention to detail which makes poor plays seem better than they are and gives good plays every break. [...]
Allan is impatient with the widely held idea that Stage 45 is a family compact and that only a certain small group of writers and actors are ever accepted. As far as writing goes, scripts, good scripts, are more than welcome. Where actors are concerned, he does use new people but prefers tried and successful performers like Bernard Brayden, Grace Matthews, Bud Knapp. However, there are no clearly drawn lines.
"Don't forget," he adds, "that while there are only twenty-five people in New York making a full-time living from radio acting, in Toronto, there are fifty."
January 21, 2025
Her early days as a journalist for the weekly The Montreal Standard. A sharp eye for a good story, well told, no nonsense, ironic. Many of the issues that she wrote about continue to this day.
March 24, 2025
Super interesting time period and lens to view Montreal through
May 27, 2025
A collection of early journalistic writings by Mavis Gallant.
July 5, 2025
Good to see her sharp, witty voice at this stage in her writing. Bill Richardsons' commentary on each essay added a reminder of the context in which she was writing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews