STUDY GUIDE

The Klondike RagThis uproarious Ragtime musical tells the epic story of Canada’s world renownedKlondike gold rush. When the news arrives of the great gold find, down-and-out vaude-villians set off on the grand adventure to Dawson City. After a sea journey toSkagway, where they encounter the infamous Soapy Smith, they meet Sam Steele ofthe N.W.M.P. at the Chilkoot Pass, and the great wild-west showman Arizona CharlieMeadows in Dawson City. They even encounter the “Belle of the Yukon” herself:Klondike Kate. Sort of.

Though they don’t find the gold they seek, they do discover riches of another kind:friendship, adventure, and the resourcefulness to overcome huge obstacles.

During the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Palace Grand Theatre in DawsonCity, Mr. Desnoyers “tickled the ivories” as “The Rag-Time Kid”. During that samesummer, he accompanied a quartet of tap-dancers at Diamond Tooth Gerties. Theseexperiences inspired the creation of this musical. For the performance, Mr. Desnoyersis wearing the top hat of Fran Dowie, arguably B.C.’s best known vaudevillian whosestar is on the sidewalk beside Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre. The late Mr. Dowiepresented vaudeville shows in Dawson City and Barkerville for nearly 25 years.

About the Play

The Flim-Flam BrothersThe Klondike Rag features The Flim-Flam Brothers, the greatest vaudeville act theworld has never known. From the community halls of Horsefly, B.C. to the outlyingmining shacks of Chicken, Alaska, the Flim-Flams shared the stage with strong men,contortionists, and occasional livestock. The Brothers certainly made their mark inshow business history, but alas, using invisible ink. Perhaps this is why history failedthem but they also failed history, and math as well.

Thrust onto the stage at an early age when their parents found a stagecoach thatwould take them, the Flim-Flams spent their career searching for a venue that couldaccomodate their unique approach to performing. They never quite found thatvenue. Their signature corny songs, pathetic patter, and tendency to argue onstagehelped distinguish them from other more professional, successful, and polished songand dance teams, but this strong identity also worked against them as theatre ownerstired of cleaning the vegetables that inevitably littered the stage after shows.

The Flim-Flams may have lacked talent, inspiration, or even common sense, but theymore than made up for it with foolhardiness, tenacity and artlessness.

The Klondike RagTable of Contents

1. Historical Impact, Stories of the Grand Adventure

2. The Original Discovery, Dawson City, Chilkoot Pass

3. Skagway, Soapy Smith

4. The N.W.M.P., Sam Steele

5. Ragtime, Scott Joplin

6. Vaudevil le

7. Palace Grande Theatre, Klondike Kate

8. Suggested Activities

9. Writing Projects

About the Canadiana Musical Theatre Company

MAND ATE: to create and perform musical theatre pieces drawn from pivotal events

in Canadian history that nurture a passion and love for Canadian heritage

Trekking across Western Canada, the Canadiana Musical Theatre Company has

performed over two thousand shows for students, teachers, and parents. From

Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, musicians and actors

take on various roles of key figures from the past; acting, singing, and dancing

the stories that changed the course of history. Previous shows include The

Birth of B.C., The Birth of the C.P.R., and The Blackfoot and the Redcoats.

Written by three-time Jessie Nominee, Allen Desnoyers, these plays bring his-

tory to life for students and teachers alike.

CANADIANA MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY - canadianamusical.comP.O. Box 39050 , Point Grey R.P.O. Vancouver B.C. V6R 4P1

ph: 604 940-2979 fax: 604 648 9260

Historical Impact

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When the treasure ship Excelsior sailed into San Francisco bay in July of 1897 with 2tons of Yukon gold, mass hysteria erupted. The telegraph relayed the news instanta-neously across the globe igniting the imaginations of a hundred thousand souls whoset out on the quest across sea, land, mountains, lakes and rivers to pursue thedream of untold riches. Born during a great worldwide depression in the 1890’s, theKlondike Gold Rush was a pivotal event that brought a young Canada to the immedi-ate attention of the world as never before.

Of the tens of thousands who actually made it to Dawson City, only a handful foundfortunes. But along a one mile stretch of the gold diggings on Bonanza Creek, therewere 30 claims that each brought in over a million dollars worth of gold.

The extremely poor and the extremely rich mingled side by side on a patch of frozenswamp that was Dawson City. At the height of the rush, more than thirty thousandpeople survived the trek to Dawson only to find that most of the claims were alreadystaked. Still, they were witnesses to an exciting and unforgettable spectacle as peoplefound fortunes overnight and gambled them away just as quickly.

During this era, Ragtime music was becoming all the rage thanks to composers likeScott Joplin. Ragtime flowed out of the newly formed dance halls at Dawson City,where colorful characters with names like Swiftwater Bill, Diamond Tooth Gertie, andCalamity Jane strode larger than life.

The Klondike Gold Rush was just the kind of romantic adventure that begged to beimmortalized in poems, stories, stage, and screen.

Journalists wrote fascinating eye-witness accounts of the great gold rush for maga-zines back home. Among them was Tappen Adney who wrote eyewitness accounts forHarper’s magazine throughout 1898 and eventually published “The KlondikeStampede” a book about his experiences, .

Authors like Jack London and Robert Service, who both lived in Dawson City, pub-lished imaginative tellings of Northern adventures. The story would eventually betold in a 1925 film by the great comic master himself, Charlie Chaplin in “The GoldRush”. James Mitchener wrote a fictional account of the gold rush in a book called“Journey”, and Canada’s favorite historian, Pierre Berton, wrote his own account of thegold rush and of Dawson City, the town where he spent his childhood.

In late 1950’s Mr. Berton made a documentary with the National Film Board called“City of Gold” that was nominated for an Academy Award.

Stories of the grand adventure

On August 16, 1896 Yukon-area Natives Skookum Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie,along with George Carmack found gold in Rabbit Creek,near the confluence of theYukon and Klondike rivers. The creek was promptly renamed Bonanza Creek, andmany of the locals started staking claims. Gold was literally found all over the place,and most of these early stakeholders (who became known as the "Klondike Kings")became wealthy. It is estimated that over one billion dollars worth of gold was found,adjusted to late 20th century standards.

Since the Yukon was so remote, word of this find spread relatively slowly for almost ayear.

The Original Discovery

Dawson CityThough fortunes were to be found in the ground, it’s said that more fortunes weremade in Dawson by entrepreneurs selling goods and services to the miners. Fromsaloons and supply outfits, to hotels and restaurants, there were many opportunities toextract gold from miners. Many women found their riches running dance halls andscores of entertainers travelled to the north to demonstrate their skill before a “reward-ing” audience.

With the influx of the 30,000 who made it to Dawson, the city temporarily became thelargest city north of San Francisco and west of Winnipeg. This “Paris of the North”was no longer a tent city, but a bona-fide city, with more amenities than one mightimagine. Dawson had fire hydrants on the streets, telephone service, running waterand steam heat. and was the first city in western Canada to have electric lights. Onsale in Dawson’s streets were French champagnes, oysters, the latest Paris fashions,porcelain, parasols, lacquer work and imported delicacies.

The growth of Dawson was largely responsible for the creation of the Yukon Territoryas a new Canadian Province on June 13, 1898.

Chilkoot PassPerhaps the most famous image of all toillustrate the harships of the journey toKlondike was the image of miners climbing athirty-five degree slope. This was theChiilkoot Pass where they carried, instages, 2000 pounds of supplies. Withoutthe supplies which were a year’s provision,the mounties wouldn’t let the would-be mineracross the border. During one harsh winter,an avalanche buried the “tent-city” at thebottom of the slope, burying and killingseven miners.

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Skagway

Very soon after Skagway’s beginnings, JeffersonRandolph “Soapy” Smith arrived at the tent city. Hequickly set himself up in business with the proprietor of alocal saloon and set out to take over the camp's under-world. Calling himself, “The boss of this merry-go-round”,he surrounded himself with a gang of bandits who wereveterans from other gold rushes. The miners were insuch a hurry to get onto the trail that the job of the conman was all too easy. And all the while his menfleeced the victims, Soapy Smith presented himself withan aura of respectability, dressing up as the marshall ofthe parade during fourth of July celebrations or dolingout generous gifts to the poor.

Presenting himself as a “businessman” and the ruler ofSkagway while taking advantage of the innocent, Soapy Smith presents a striking con-trast to his Canadian counterpart Sam Steele - a strong man of another kind who dealtwith miners in a distinctively firm but fair manner.

If a fortune-seeker was lucky to survive the open ocean trek north, he had to forgethrough through a mountain pass that separated Alaska on the U.S. side from theYukon on the Canadian side. Alaska had two places to dock: Dyea and Skagway. Ifhis ship docked at Dyea Harbour with its endless tidal flats, a miner faced the prospectof sudden tidal surges that would submerge and carry away all of his 2000 pounds ofprovisions before he was able to carry them to safety. The other alternative was dock-ing at Skagway.

In the first couple of years of the gold rush, the city of Skagway was the type of frontiertown seen in western movies. It had makeshift buildings with false fronts, gamblinghalls, saloons, dance halls and bandits.

Mounted police officer Sam Steele described it as follows:

Soapy Smith

“Might was right; murder, robbery, and petty theft were common occurrences.Shots were exchanged on the streets in broad daylight. At night the crash ofbands, shouts of “Murder!”, cries for help, mingled with the cracked voices ofthe singers in the variety halls; and the wily “box rushers” (variety actresses)cheated the tenderfeet... in the White Pass above the town the shell gameexpert plied his trade, and occasionally some poor fellow was found lying life -less on his sled where he had sat down to rest, the powder marks on his backand his pockets inside out. Neither law nor order prevailed, honest persons hadno protection from the gang of rascals who plied their nefarious trade."

The N.W.M.P.

Sam Steele

In 1894 the N.W.M.P., which had established small posts in the Yukon, were the first toalert the Canadian government to the strike at Bonanza Creek near Dawson City.Since the boundary line with Alaska was still in dispute, and fearing the kind of out-break of lawlessness that accompanied the California Gold Rush decades before, theCanadian government determined to avoid mayhem. The N.W.M.P. were ordered toestablish border posts at the peaks of both the White and Chilkoot passes. Log cabinswere erected at the top of each pass to serve as a customhouse and officers’ quarters.The Mounties collected custom duties, confiscated handguns, and arrested men whomistreated their pack animals.

Superintendent Sam Steele was determined tokeep Soapy Smith and his type of corruptionout of Canadian territory. No stranger toaction, he had helped rid the west of whiskytraders, policed the construction of theCanadian Pacific Railway, and averted warbetween natives and white settlers in BritishColumbia.

Steele arrived in mid-February “to maintainorder on the Canadian side of the trail of ’98.”No guns were allowed into Canada, so whiledisorder and violence ruled supreme atSkagway Soapy Smith’s gang of hoodlumsand desperadoes were met at the border byWinchester rifles and Canadian law.

But even while he ruled with an iron fist,Steele was known to write personal letters tothe families of those who died in the territoryand to lend his own money to men down ontheir luck. Unlike Soapy Smith, he helped thedisadvantaged rather than taking advantage of them.

In September of 1998, he visited Dawson city. Mostly American in population,Dawson’s saloons and gambling dens operated freely, some run by members of SoapySmith’s old gang. With a force of only 13 men, Steele cleaned up the town dealingswiftly with those who disturbed the public order, and even fined people who choppedwood on Sunday, the Lord’s day.

When Steele tried to leave quietly in September 1899, the prospectors, gamblers, rag-time piano-players, and dancehall girls of Dawson poured down to the wharf to giveSteele "such an ovation and send-off as no man has ever received from the Klondikegold-seekers," in the words of a local newspaper. They cheered Sam Steele until hissteamboat was out of sight.

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Ragtime

Scott Joplin

Ragtime is a form of syncopated march-like music that came into being in the 1890’sand was popular until the 1920’s. Usually played onpiano, it is characterized by a regular Oom Pah OomPah pattern of bass notes and chords played by the lefthand while the right hand plays syncopated or offbeatmelodies.

It’s evolution was gradual and drew from other styles ofmusic, notably “The Cakewalk”. You can hear strongsimilarities to Ragtime music in “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” byDebussy, though it was written a continent away.

The most famous ragtime piece of all is “The Maple LeafRag” by Scott Joplin which was published in 1899 andmay well have been played in Dawson City, perhaps by“The Ragtime Kid”, who was known to have played thesaloons during the gold rush.

Scott Joplin was the most sophisticated and taste-ful ragtime composer of the Ragtime era. As a per-son, he was intelligent, well-mannered and well-spoken. He was extremely quiet, serious and mod-est, referring to himself as “King of RagtimeWriters,” perhaps because he knew of other moreadept piano players.

Born about mid-1867 into a musical family, Scottplayed violin, piano and sang as he grew up. Laterhe joined or formed various quartets and othermusical groups and travelled around the midwest tosing.

By 1898 Joplin had sold six pieces for the piano, ofwhich one, Original Rags was a ragtime piece. In1899, Joplin sold his most famous piece, Maple

Leaf Rag to a music publisher John Stark & Son. By 1909, approximately a half-millioncopies had been sold, a rate that was to continue for the next two decades.

After moving to St. Louis in 1901, Joplin collaborated with Scott Hayden on SunflowerSlow Drag and also published his own pieces: Peacherine Rag, and The EasyWinners. Elite Syncopations, The Entertainer, and The Ragtime Dance were publishedin 1902, and in 1907, after Joplin moved to New York City, he published Pine AppleRag, Solace, and Euphonic Sounds. These are just a few of many other ragtime jew-els from his prodigious output.

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Vaudeville

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Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini, the Marx Brothers, JudyGarland, Fred Astaire, Edger Bergen & CharlieMcCarthy – the list is endless, but their common rootswere Vaudeville (or in the case of Chaplin, Music Hall,the English counterpart upon which vaudeville wasmodeled).

THE popular entertainment during the latter half of the19th century, it reached its pinnacle during the Ragtimeera before being gradually replaced by silent movies,talkies, radio and finally, television where Ed Sullivanbroadcast the final echoes of that beloved phenome-non.

At its best, it was popular entertainment for the massesthat relied on any combination of wit, daring, ingenuity,dexterity, originality, novelty, showmanship, musician-ship, or one upmanship. Dancers, acrobats, comedysingers, mimics, dramatic actors, storytellers, mimes,magicians, strong men, ventriloquists, clowns and ani-mal acts – upwards of 35 performers on a bill switchedacts in rapid succession.

Performers were met with great affection by loyal audiences returning year after year to see well-loved routines often tailored for particular towns or cities. Appealing to people of all classes andcultures, vaudevillians forged a unique relationship with their audience. The sheer variety ofentertainers guaranteed that “if you didn’t like this act, you’ll love the next one!” Taking their workseriously, but never taking themselves too seriously, their goal was to delight, move, amuse, orenlighten their audience with a childlike playfulness and infinite creativity.

During the Klondike Gold Rush, various entertainers arrived to entertain the throngs of miners,but the largest of all was the Savoy Theatrical Company. Before heading North, the companyassembled for rehearsals at the new Savoy Theatre that had opened the year before onVictoria’s Government street,: 173 dancers, singers, actors, actresses, jugglers, comedians,backup people, and a huge ragtime orchestra. They landed at the Dawson wharf in the Spring of1900, arriving on the first river boat after the ice broke on the Yukon River.

They first performed at the Palace Grande Theatre which Arizona Charlie Meadows described asthe largest vaudeville house west of Chicago. Their promotional material read:

The Savoy Theatrical Company Proudly Presents a Refined and Moral Entertainment Consistingof Amazing and Edifying Offerings in Thrilling Scenes from Our Astounding Repertoire,Interpreted by Matchless Artists of Our Internationally Acclaimed Company. Thrills and Fun ForAll. Elevating and Entertaining. Gentlemen, Please Be Seated!

Charles Chaplin

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The Palace Grand Theatre

Klondike KateLike many others who came to the Klondike hoping to escape impoverishing condi-tions, Kate Rockwell joined the Savoy the-atrical company that rehearsed in Victoria,B.C. on her way to the Yukon.

When she first came to Dawson City shewas just another actress until she adoptedthe name “Klondike Kate” and created herfamous flame dance. For this dance shecame on stage wearing an elaborate dresscovered in red sequins and an enormouscape. She took off the cape revealing acane that was attached to more than 200yards of red chiffon. She began leaping andtwirling with the chiffon until she looked likefire dancing around. At the end she woulddramatically drop to the floor. The minersloved it throwing gold and gold dust afterher performances.

Named "The Flame of the Yukon" and “TheBelle of the Yukon”, Klondike Kate traveledall over, doing her dancing routines. She boasted later of wearing $1500 Paris gownsand bracelets of purest gold. It was said she mesmerized the men she entertained.

There were many dance halls, casinos and saloons inDawson City when wild west showman Arizona CharlieMeadows decided to build his own theatre to try to tapinto the flowing riches. However, none could boast ofbeing built from the remains of two steamships! Withgrand style, the theatre boasted three floors of boxedseats; the highest viewing spots reserved for thewealthiest patrons. Dancers, singers, storytellers, andsharp-shooters graced its stages including ArizonaCharlie Meadows himself who could shoot a coin frombetween his wife’s fingers until she quit after he acci-dentally nicked her finger with a stray bullet.

A larger than life impresario, he made a striking host inhis buckskin jacket as he introduced popular perform-ers like Klondike Kate.

1. Choose a Yukon inspired poem by Robert Service and read it to the class.

2. Listen to Ragtime music by Scott Joplin. Can you hear the “Oom-pah” bass with the

melody syncopated above it?

3. You’re a miner interested in traveling to the Klondike to mine for gold— plan the trip,

estimate costs, make lists of what you’ll bring, and set a calendar date to leave and arrive.

4. Read “The Call of the Wild” or “Whit e Fang” by Jack London.

5. Watch the N.F.B. documentary “City of Gold” narrated by Pierre Berton.

6. Read “Journey” by James Mitchener

7. Dress up as a real or invented character from the goldrush: ie. Polar Pete, Calamity

Jane, Soapy Smith etc.

8. Discuss what you’d do with your riches if you found gold in the Yukon.

1. Color in the front page of this study guide.

2. Many of the people in the Klondike had colorful nicknames like Diamond Tooth

Gertie, Klondike Kate, or the Evaporated Kid. If you had a nickname at Dawson City

what would it be?

3. Describe your favourite part of the presentation and create a picture.

4. Watch the silent movie “The Gold Rush” by Charlie Chaplin

5. Listen to Ragtime music or dance along!The Klondike Rag - Pg. 8

Suggested activities

Suggested activities - Younger grades

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Writing Projects

1. The excitement of the Klondike was created by the promise of wealth that went along with a golddiscovery. The Klondike gave people a chance, or so they thought, to get rich. Why did/do peoplewant to get rich? Why was this such an attractive option in 1898? Why did everyone think it wouldwork? And who did get rich? How was money really made? Who failed to get rich, and why? Howdid individuals deal with both excitement and disappointment?

2. Create a diary describing the journey to the Klondike. Include descriptions of the weather, thepeople, the hardships (ie. wild animals or charlatans like Soapy Smith) , and the dreams of whatyou’d do with the gold if you found it. End your diary with either the discovery of gold, or the failureto find it and the decision to return home. How do your friends respond to you when you finallyreturn?

3. There were many dangerous parts of the journey North. From travelling on the sea, to facingdesperados in Skagway, to scaling mountains, to encountering avalanches, to building a raft thatmight capsize on Lake Bennett or the Yukon river, or simply starving to death, which one do youthink would be the hardest challenge? Why?

4. Many famous people wrote about the Klondike in imaginative ways: poems, stories and songs.Create your own imaginative work about the Klondike Gold Rush

5. Imagine you are a journalist reporting on the impact a boatload of 2 tons of gold would have onthe people who witness it. Describe the crowd, the miners who have struck it rich, and what thisdiscovery will do to the people who find out about it.

6. Research and describe the technique for digging gold out of the ground.

7. Write an imaginary letter to someone back home describing Dawson City - the hotels, the mud,the people, the theatres, and how you’re spending your days.