The seeds of irreverent humour that inspired the likes of Wayne and Shuster and Monty Python were sown in the trenches of the First World War, and The Dumbells—concert parties made up of fighting soldiers—were central to this process. Soldiers of Song tells their story. Lucky soldiers who could sing a song, perform a skit, or pass as a “lady,” were taken from the line and put onstage for the benefit of their soldier-audiences. The intent was to bolster morale and thereby help soldiers survive the war. The Dumbells’ popularity was not limited to troop shows along the trenches. The group also managed a run in London’s West End and became the first ever Canadian production to score a hit on Broadway. Touring Canada for some twelve years after the war, the Dumbells became a household name and made more than twenty-five audio recordings. If nationhood was won on the crest of Vimy Ridge, it was the Dumbells who provided the country with its earliest soundtrack. Pioneers of sketch comedy, the Dumbells are as important to the history of Canadian theatre as they are to the cultural history of early-twentieth-century Canada.

A resume of the teachings and proceedings of the Rose Cross College during its session in October, 1916, on the 400th anniversary of the founding of the order. the Imperialistic Council & Venerable Order of the Magi, its instructions and the Official D.

Rose Mary Venn-Brown served in the First World War as an administrator with the British and the Australian Red Cross and the YWCA. She was the only woman to do so and, although she was not the only civilian Australian woman to serve in France, she was the last to leave in 1919. She did not proclaim herself a feminist or social reformer, but her work changed the lives of the men she served, and she played her part in the changing role of women in our world. This is her remarkable story - a story which gives a new insight into life on the battlefields during the Great War.