by Dave Clements
Dale McIntosh helps bring book to light of day
She was mostly loved, sometimes feared, but always respected by Victoria's arts community. And with the help of a UVic Arts in Education professor, her perspective on the development of this city's arts hit bookstores this winter.
Arts Beat, The Arts in Victoria is the late newspaper arts columnist Audrey Johnson's chronicle of the growth of the arts in Victoria. Both autobiographical and documentary, the book reflects how Johnson used her unique placement in Victoria's arts scene to record its changes.
"She had an interesting vantage point because as a columnist, she was inside the community and yet outside of it," says Arts in Education professor Dr. Dale McIntosh, the book's editor. "She knew all the important characters, but she was able to view all the developments from the outside."
Johnson's career as arts critic at the Victoria Times and Times-Colonist spanned six decades. From 1936 to 1987, she witnessed the maturation of the city's key artistic people and institutions.
"Unquestionably there is no place like the desk of a newspaper arts columnist from which to observe what winds stirred among the trees and by whom they were channeled," she writes in the epilogue to the book.
This position enabled her to cull personal experiences with such local characters as Colin Graham, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria's first curator, and Canadian actress Glynis Leyshon - long before her national reputation.
The bulk of the book is devoted to Johnson's perspective on the development of such Victoria institutions as the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Pacific Opera Victoria and the Belfry Theatre.
Particularly gripping is her account of the formation of UVic's Phoenix Theatre. She documents the good, the bad and the lean times for theatre on campus, from the early 1960s Campus Players productions in Q Hut, to the opening of the $4.8 million academic theatre building in 1981.
Johnson recalls one humorous incident from the early 1970s, when a director tried to deny her entrance to a play because of her unfavorable review of a previous production. After the confrontation, she went on to see the play anyway, and she even gave it a good review.
When Johnson died in August 1993, these memoirs were about 80 per cent completed. To ensure that her experience was not lost, Maurice, Johnson's husband, sought an editor to sort out her files.
University archivist Chris Petter recommended McIntosh for the job, because of his extensive writings on Victoria's arts history. Maurice Johnson retained McIntosh for the job in January 1994. McIntosh accepted the job, as he was on study leave. He initially expected a minor time commitment, but the hours were long. He completed the project in August 1994.
Audrey claimed to have an infallible memory, and usually it was, McIntosh explains. But after finding at least one error-in-fact, he decided to check every chapter for errors. A desire to edit without affecting Audrey's unique style also prolonged completion.
McIntosh calls the project "an engaging experience" during which he learned a lot about Victoria's performing arts throughout this century. He gives credit to Johnson's first-person narration and plentiful anecdotes.
"As a historical document, it will be extremely valuable, because she lived everything in the book," he says. "It's an engaging story because she was so passionate about this city and the arts in it."
Artsbeat, The Arts in Victoria, is now available in most local bookstores, including the UVic bookstore, for $29.95.
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