Book description
The Marks Brothers may well have been the most remarkable theatrical
family in Canadian history. A phenomenon on the vaudeville circuit,
the seven brothers left the farm and took to the boards and the
footlights throughout the latter part of the 19th century and into the
1920s. The brothers from Christie Lake, near Perth in Eastern Ontario,
played to an estimated eight million Canadians, as well as to sizeable
audiences in the United States. Their road shows, largely melodramas
and comedy, kept audiences crying, booing, laughing and cheering until
movies sounded the death knell for touring repertory companies.
The publication of The Canadian Kings of Repertoire brings back for
one more curtain call the seven Marks boys, top hats, diamond rings
and all. Joining them in a farewell performance are their glamorous
leading ladies and a superb cast of supporting players. So clear the
aisles and up with the curtain. It's showtime once more.
