Discussions

The name of Mrs. Bertrand echoed through the Brandon entertainment world during the Roaring Twenties. As a young lady in Regina, she was a gold medallist in elocution.  
 
She played the piano well enough to be engaged by the Winnipeg Piano Company on Portage Avenue as their house Pianist playing the tunes of the day.  
 
This was the time when no home was complete without a piano an instrument was as important then as a Television is today.  
 
Miss Mabel Elizabeth Cumming was the daughter of a Regina lawyer, come Judge. She was not only a well brought up young lady, but she was also highly decorative.  
 
Born in Peterborough, Ontario of Scottish extraction on 14th May 1883 Miss Cumming had presence but she was no fragile English Rose. She stood taller than the average man, and carried herself like Royalty. She had a gracious manner with fashion flair.  
 
It was little wonder that Mr. W. L. Bertrand, who had a Parisian Grandmother, a father who was a St. Lawrence boatman of Prescott Ontario, and the father of three sons, was entranced with the vision sounding out tunes from the early Broadway musicals, (1920’s).  
 
Before her marriage to Mr. Bertrand, Miss Mabel, Elizabeth Cumming had applied for employment where she could use her speaking skills. One application was the Orpheum Theatre on Fort Street.  
 
The management auditioned her and gave her billing on stage prior to the screening of The Miracle Man, 1932 a popular film of the day.  
 
History has it that her recitation was full of pathos, and reduced persons in the audience to tears. She was invited to tour the Canadian circuit, but she declined the offer preferring to accept the more appealing contract for life of Mr. William Ligui Bertrand.  
 
Mr. Billy Bertrand and Mr. A. P. Jeffery operated a tobacconist shop at 905 Rosser Avenue. The store became a Social Centre, since it dispensed ice cream, afternoon tea and candies.  
 
Mrs. B stayed home and looked after the children, Gordon, Virginia, Rod, Mary and Art. The children were strongly influenced by their mother. Rod the eldest still a citizen of Brandon played the violin.  
 
Gordon had the “Brains” of the family, and had played the fiddle with impressive skill at aged ten, but he went to Chicago, and became an expert in the advertising business writing catalogues for the big emporiums.  
 
Virginia became a ‘Reciter’ and in Los Angeles she acted professionally in Mr. David Belasko’s Theatre for several seasons.  
 
Mrs. Mabel Elizabeth Bertrand worshipped and taught Sunday school at St. Mary’s Church while her husband worshipped at St. Augustine’s Church.  
 
Mrs B became a community asset in organizing plays and concerts. She knew what the public liked in plays. She chose plays that were old fashioned, corny, funny, and had plenty of sentiment.  
 
Among the titles she produced were “the Patsy”, “Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch”, and a mysterious unknown called “The Hoodoo”.  
 
Sadly, Mrs. Bertrand died December 17, 1952 at the age of 69 years, Mr. Billy Bertrand: her husband was born in 1865, and died at 95 years of age on July 20th 1960.  
 
They are both interned in the Brandon Municipal Cemetery.  
 
Source: Daly House Museum Archives.