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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY,JANUARY 21, 1976, PAGE 3 40 YEARS ON STAGE Bert Heaver involved in all aspects of theatre by BRIAN WINTER, Staff Writer "There's an indefinable magic about being on a stage", says Whitby's Bert Heaver, who has been involved in almost every aspect of the theatre for 40 years. "The words of 'There's No Business Like Show Business', sum -it up best. Lt is bringing some light and happiness into people's lives that is the spur. We all have just a little bit of ham in all of us", lie says. Mr. Heaver was born in London, England, and wrote and directed his first play at the age of 12 for a school anniversary celebration. Dur- ing his youth he continued to write, direct and act in plays both at school and in the Boy Scouts. During the terrifying bombing of London in-1940, Mr. Heaver, at the age of 16, came up with the idea of entertaining the people who had to spend their nights in air raid -shelters. "I played the harmonica and sang, and put on variety shows", he says. "It was a real morale booster and took people's minds away from the noise of gun fire and bombs falling". Mr. Heaver's shows-,were "informal, spontaneous things", with sing-songs, monologues and musical numbers put on before about 200 people. One night a bomb fell and rubble blocked the entrance to the air raid shelter where he was perform- ing, but Mr. Heaver got a sing-song going while the people were waiting to be rescued. Ever since he was 12, Mr. Heaver entered talent com- petitions, and won many. This enabled him to work as a semi-professional entertain- er, providing stage acts between movies at London cinemas. His usual act was vocal impressions of popular radio and screen stars of the day. During the Second World War, while in Sicily, he met the famous entertainer George Formby, whom he had often mimicked in his own act. From 1941 to 1946, Mr. Heaver served in the Royal Marines, where he and the regimental padre were in charge of organizing troee concerts. In these shows he wrote sketches and mimicked everyone from AI Jolson (which he still can do) to some of the Peter Sellers characters. On the long trip by ship to the ' Middle East, he relieved the monotony of troop ship life with his concerts, using a stack of life rafts as astage. After the war, Mr. Heaver became an electrical appren- tice and joined the dramatic society at the company he worked for. He found that although he has done plenty of acting, he enjoys directing the most "because it's more of creating a thing to faith- fully interpret the author". During the Festival of Britain in 1951, Mr. Heaver was part of a professional Shakespearean company which performed Twelfth Night on a two-week tour. Twenty years ago, Mr. Heaver considered that the opportunities for the future looked brighter in Canada and settled for a year in Richmond Hill. In 1957, he got a job with the Ontario Department of Public Works and moved toWhitby. "I fell in love with Whitby, and I still think it's the greatest town", he says. Since coming to Whitby, Mr. Heaver has been one of the leading figures in the theatrical life of the town, and is as active today as he was when he jôined the former Whitby Theatre Guild. Mrs. Joan Hill, who is still involved in theatre, got Mr. Heaver interested in joining the Whitby Theatre Guild, when he was- asked to take part in a play with only three weeks to go before the performance, because one of the actors was sick. "We used to present plays in the drafty old town hall", recalls Mr. Heaver. "We had to go around in winter before the audience came in and plug holes in the windows with newspapers". In theatre, one must always expect the unexpected, and Mr. Heaver remembers one time when the Whitby Theatre Guild found itself in a rather difficult situation. It was a cold winter night in 1959, wlien t'he group was presenting a play called Worm's Eye View, at the old town hall. The play required some air force uniforms, and although a local cadet squad- ron lad promised to loan the company some, they.had not arrived by curtain time. Mr. Heaver recalls that he had to drive to Oshawa through snow and traffic jams to get the uniforms, while the faithful audience waited an hour and a half for the show to begin. The uniforms turned out to be too small for most of the actors, and the pants came up to their knees, "but the audience were kind enough not to comment". says Mr. Heaver. After the town hall was torn down in 1960, the Whitby Theatre Guild presented its plays in church halls and school auditoriums, and was influential in persuading the town council to renovate the old country court house for use as a theatre. Mr. Heaver and Peter O'Shaughnessy of the Theatre Guild worked with Ted Sims and Ron Hawkins of the Centennial project committee to refit the court room of what is now the Centennial Building into a theatre. DuPont supplied the curtains, and B and R Transport brought nearly 200 movie theatre seats to Whitby from a theatre being demolished in Hamilton to furnish the auditorium. Mr. Heaver took charge of wiring and lighting for the new theatre. The first play in the Centennial Building theatre was Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. Since that time, the Theatre Guild became known as Theatre One, and now Mr. Heaver is public relations director for its successor the Whitby Theatre Company. Mr. Heaver's work in recent years has expanded to include actine' as master of ceremonies for the County Town Singers' shows, the County Town Carnival Queen Contest and the Carnival variety show and talent showcase. In 1973, Mr. Heaver was "That's not in the script", says Bert Heaver, Whitby's long-time theatre personality, as he looks at a poster on one of the sets in the Centennial Building Theatre. Mr. Heaver has spent 40 years in theatrical work, doing everything from acting to writing, producing, directing and stage managing. His current projects are the Whitby Theatre Company's musical revue, and the County Town Carnival variety show. Free Press Photo asked to produce and direct a variety show for the County Town Carnival in honor of the Homeconing Year, and worked in co-operation with the County Town Singers and the Whitby Brass Band to present a Homecoming Waltz written by Julien Beecroft and his daughter Jane, as the highlight of the evening. The show was to be held outdoors, but the threat of bad weather forced it into the Henry Street High School auditorium.- "The hall was jam-packed to the walls, contravening every fire regu- lation", says-Mr. Heaver. In 1974 and 1975 he pro- duced and directed the variety show at the Iroquois Park arena, and last year combined it with the County Town Carnival Queen contest. This year he plans to hold auditions for another carnival variety show. More than 2,000 people have attended each of the past two shows. Last year Mr. Heaver initiated a musical revue for the Whitby Theatre Company, which gave the company standing room only for the first time, and cleared it of several outstanding debts. "It was overwhelming", says Mr. Heaver. "We lad to put out extra seats and turn people away at the door". Plans are soon to be under way , for another musical revue at the Centennial Building in April, entitled "Just For Variety". Mr. Heaver has assisted Fairview Lodge in setting up entertaininent nights, and was master of ceremonies for a Christmas show at the Durham Centre for the Developmentally handicapped last month. He and his wife are founding members of the County Town Singers, and his wife, -son and daughter are all involved in theatre. "Whitby has a lot to offer artistically", says Mr. Heaver. It is through the efforts of Mr. Heaver in directing, and producing the Carnival and Whitby Theatre Company variety shows, in addition .to numerous plays, that local talent is being put to use. LUNCHEON. TILL 2 P.m. SPECdLEERYDilY . ........ ------ $..14..9... One of Bert Hî!eaver's recent activities has been acting as master of ceremonies at the annual County Town Carnival Queen contest. Here he is seen announcing the namehof the 1975 contest at Iroquois ýPark arena last summer. The girl with ber hands over her face at centre isthe surprîsed a-id delighted winner, Sbaron 'Zice, Brooklin. Free Press Pboto OVER 100 LOCATIONS IN ONTARIO-SEE YOUR PHONE BOOK FOR THE ONE.NEAREST YOU.