Jackie Shane Brass Rail

How Vaudeville Broke Toronto Theatre

 The Toronto alternative theatre movement filled a void for homegrown theatre. Yonge Street institutions like the Brass Rail, which opened in 1959, demonstrate how early vaudeville theatre changed Toronto’s theatre scene.

At the beginning of the 20th century, vaudeville was a popular pastime in Toronto. Families would see a variety of acts featuring magic, acrobatics, animals, dance, and much more. Theatres like Shea’s Hippodrome or the Royal Alexandra provided a few basic backdrops for performers, along with full houses.

Before the 1920s, short, silent moving pictures were novelties that were shown between live vaudeville acts. But after the 1920s, public interests flipped. Now, it was the vaudeville acts being pushed between longer feature films. Expensive orchestras, high salaries for vaudeville stars, and the advent of free radio decimated vaudeville theatres in Toronto along with the rest of North America.

The Burlesque Capital of Canada

One offshoot of vaudeville survived the death of the industry. Burlesque acts first emerged as caricatures of drama, literary works, or local news. Early Toronto burlesques lampooned the liquor control board, the TTC, and even Shakespeare.

When audiences proved more interested in the physicality of burlesque, such as a glimpse of a woman’s legs in tights, burlesque became more risqué. Toronto, which boasted several regular burlesque acts, became known as the burlesque capital of Canada. Venues such as the Victory Theatre often stages burlesques, featuring acts of sexual innuendo, coarse jokes, clowning, and near nudity. Toronto-born dancer Maud Allan (1873-1956) incited both moral panic and applause with her “Vision of Salome” dance, performed in nothing but beads and a translucent skirt.

Burlesque performers needed to know how to sing and dance. Their acts poked fun at upper class social standards and genteel femininity. And their dances were often expertly choreographed and rehearsed, featuring elaborate costumes.

By the 1960s, many Toronto venues like the Brass Rail featured live music alongside burlesque and striptease acts, while the Toronto Police’s morality squad ensured that there was no full nudity.

Jackie Shane Has It ‘Any Other Way’

Clubs like the Brass Rail gave a safe stage to gender-nonconforming performers, including the R&B singer who helped define the Toronto Sound: Jackie Shane.

Jackie Shane was born in Nashville Tennessee in 1940. She came out to her mother as transgender at age 13, sang in gospel groups and choirs, and later moved to Canada to get away from the Jim Crow South in the United States.

Shane travelled from Montreal to Toronto in the 1960s with trumpeter Frank Motley and his band, known for his double trumpet routine. Despite rampant racism in Toronto clubs, Jackie packed houses full and considered Toronto her chosen home.

Her cover of “Any Other Way” climbed radio charts in 1963; meanwhile, she performed in venues like the Brass Rail and the Sapphire Tavern, where she recorded a riveting live album in 1967. The lyrics of her songs, sung in a slow and quavering voice, and her monologues about facing questioning looks on Toronto’s streets, make for excellent listening today. 

Jackie Shane is featured on one of two music murals on Yonge Street. In 2023, Heritage Toronto also unveiled a plaque at Richmond and Victoria Streets to honour Shane’s legacy.