Stars Of The Towns

Well worth watching are a series of DVD’s entitled Stars of the Towns-Scenes from around Southwestern Ontario. They are available at the J.J. Talman Regional Collection at the University of Western Ontario or at the Regional Room in the London Public Library.

Rev. Leroy(Roy) Massecar(1918-1986) was a camera buff who went around to some of the small towns in Southwestern Ontario between 1946 and 1949 capturing people on film. He then would return to the town and screen the film in the town hall or community center. The “Stars” of the film would be invited to attend the evening event where copies of the films were sold.

I screened the Dutton film at the public library and was delighted at what I saw. There is no sound and the film is black and white. It really captured post war Dutton of January 1949. Mind you some of the enjoyment for me was that I am of that age(we won’t say what that is!) that I recognized some of the people.
I can certainly say that as far as the buildings are concerned Dutton has not changed all that much. Interestingly, I did not see the McIntyre in the film. Go figure!

To check which towns or villages are included in the series go to http://www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/ , and search ‘Stars of the Towns’ under “series title”.