Barrie Historical Newspaper Archive

Barrie Examiner, 23 Mar 1979, p. 24

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day responsible lifestyle was man named Doyle Pallister Hotel Booze ran out cats and 19 Daniel Street in the New Year It is traditional on New Years Eve to bid farewell to the old year and welcome in the new Most of us have fun doing it but not everyone Take Dr William Pratt of Smith Falls Ontario for example The good doctor ended up getting into all sorts of trouble on New Years Eve It all began way back in 1933 Dr Pratt lived at 19 Daniel Street with his housekeeper Eva McLean The medic was big man who had burned the candle at both ends most of his life Now at the ripe old age of 72 he was firmly addicted to both alcohol and morphine hadnt been kind to her made do with quart of booze each tragedy it still crossed Br Eva whose sixty odd years The unlikely pair led drunken hazy existence with the doctor sobering up only long enough to take care of few pa tients At least long enough to keep little food and lot of drink on the table The home on Daniel Street suffered from neglect Both Pratt and Eva had an aversion to picking anything up If food fell on the floor it stayed there not for little while but forever To add to the unsanitary conditions they kept about fifteen cats around the place The filth com bined with the cats drope and booze contributed to their ir THe weird couples one friend and drinking companion who ran barbershop at the It seemed only reasonable to Dr Pratt that he Eva and Doyle commence celebrating the New Year on Dec It wasnt that joyous an affair Dr Pratt somewhat under the weather remained in bed Doyle sat on the edge of the bed Between them they knocked off couple of bottles of gin Eva contributed to the festivities by staggering into the room every fifteen minutes or so with an empty glass When the booze ran out the unholy trio slept Sometime later Doyle awoke and departed from the doctor Eva the Saturday December 30 dawned cold and crisp By noon Doyle showed up with bittle and the tipsy trio of friends drank until 530 pm when Doyle suddenly realized that they were running out of booze This may not appear to be calamity of the class of the San Francisco earthquake of the sinking of the Titanic but to those with the big ranks right up there Dr Pratt desperately called cab and presto he returned with two fresh bottles of gin to welcome thirst it Around 830 pm Eva dropped down to the CPR station for bit to eat She bought ham sandwich for herself and returned with couple of packs of cigarettes for the men At oclock Doyle bid farewell was dead drunk He said good night to the doctor who ap peared to be half asleep then he went home About 1230 am on the morning on Dec 31 neighbor of the doctors Ellison Bradley was awakened by knock on his door There stood Dr Pratt half dressed shouting in coherently about fire and not being to find Eva Bradley threw some clothing on Accompanied by his son be rushed over to 19 Daniel St The house was full of smoke He rushed up the stairs and found Eva stretched out at the top of the stairs Despite being thrust into the midst of adleys mind that Dr Pratt to Eva whom he later swore On Jan the Provincial Police at Ottawa received an anonymous call informing them that Eva had not met with The caller suggested that she had been an accident murdered The informer had no way of knowing that the police were already suspicious An autopsy performed on Evas body revealed large bruise on the top of her skull which had ob viously been caused by vicious blow inflicted before death There was also some suspicion that Eva had been drugged after receiving the blow Struck blow As result of their investigation the police felt sure that Eva had been struck by blow by Dr Pratt rendering her unconscious They surmised that the doctor had drugged his housekeeper and placed her on his bed He then set the mat tress on fire In his drunken stupor he figured that Eva was dead and carried her to the top of the stairs The doctor claimed that he had passed out in another room and the Eva must hav drunk and accidently set the fi dropped on his bed while re couldnt have searched too extensively for Eva Here she lay where only blind man would have any difficulty seeing her Dr Pratt may have suffered from other physical ailments but he did have 2020 vision Horriny burned Eva was horribly burned and barely alive Bradley sum monend the fire department who were on the scene in matter of minutes He then traced the origin of the smoke to Dr Pratts bed which was still smouldering The firemen quickly extinguished the fire and threw the mattress out the window Eva lived for few hours just long enough to curse The police turned up other interesting facts about the doc tor They found diary which revealed he had been arguing With his housekeeper for months and wanted her out of the way The diary also revealed that in order to feed his drug habit had had become an abortionist Dr Pratt was arrested and charged with murder In order to keep him functioning he was given large shots of mor phine each day enough to kill an ordinary man His defence attorneys made much of the doctors deteriorating condi tion pleading that if he did actually kill Eva his mind was in such state that he couldnt possibly know what he was dolt mg at anyone who came near her By CAROL FELSENTHAI American Library Assn Tis the season for novels by New York film critics Out the same week are New Yorker critic Penelope Gilliatts The Cutting Edge and New York Times critic Vincent Canbys Unnatural Scenery In his second novel Chicago born Canby writes about growng up rich and wretched in Lake Forest about spending summers in the Virginia Tidewater and winters in Palm Beach about doing time in private penal colonies also known as prep schools Canbys antiheronarrator is Marshall Louis Henderson 50ish misanthropic bachelor physical and emotional paraplegic he fell out of tree at age 17 cracking his spine in two places and heir to pile of blue chips that reproduced themselves as do living organisms From the start Marshalls life has been one long series of rejections His father polo Then she mercifully died For the first few days of 1934 Dr Pratty partook heavily of morphine and liquor so much so that he became an in coherent hulk lurching around his filthy home playing Handsome Tommy plainly prefers his equally blond bland older son Tom cip off the old blockhead Our Father Marshall recalls treated Tom as an extension of himself He called Tom son and me sonny which was what he also called caddies grooms and shoeshine boys When Tom at age 16 blows his brains out with shotgun Marshall then 12 feels excited and then guilty Five years later after his accident he becomes convinced that Tom was somehow responsible for the unbottoned condition of the lower half of my body Having no need or inclination to work Marshall spends most of his time and much of his for tune studying Catharist medieval sect called the Albigenses and translating their ballads Princeton University Press becomes the latest of several publishers to reject his lifes work manuscript entitled Songs of Faint Praise An Introduction Obviously in deference to his age thejury found Dr Pratt not guilty He was immediately charged with ten counts of performing abortions He pleaded guilty to all ten and received sentence of five years in the penitentiary to the Literature of Albigenses Medieval Dualism 10001275AD And then come the cruelest rejectin of all by his livein lover Jackie Gold the sleek sexy streetsmart writer from Queens She finally gets fed up with Marshalls dismissing or ridiculing anyone who lived any time after the 12th century and abandons him for an editor from Esquire magazine that to Marshall represents the most insipid of modern culture When he met Jackie Mar shall recalls she was pretty but only in common sort of way He fancies himself latterday Professor Higgins who can remake the girl whoSe roots are so hopelessly com mon Her parents idea of an enlightening experience he sneers is watching the Today Show in matching Bar caloungers in their Florida con do persuaded Jackie to study French he brags Left to her own decisions she would Film critics publish new books the have devoted herself to contem porary Yiddish poetry Penelope illiatts The Cut ting Edge is about two brothers growing up in separable in learned distracted English household presided over sort of by their father literary scholar and fullfledged eccentric Pro fessor Corbett who did no believe in haste calls his first son Brother delaying the choice of name until the birth three years later of second son who is suitably designated Brother By the time theyre christened the two boys have become as close as twins Early on they agree that Brother Peregrine will do all the talk ing and thinking and Brother Benedickl will take charge of music and mechanics As adults Peregrine becomes an antiestablishment journalist and Benedick an electronic harpsichordist If this sounds rather odd it is but Gilliatts story is also witty and strangely attractive wednesdav IT EVENING 390 NEWS HOLLYWOOD SOUARES CAROL BURNETT AND aIENDs Guolt Tim Conway POLKA DOT DOOR 630 NBC NEWS MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW cas NEWS ABC NEWS NEws In PARTY GAME JEREMY 645 READALONG 655 WRITE 0N 700 DATING GAME CHARLIES ANGELS CROSS WITs MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW TIC TAc DOUGH HOURLONG NEWLYWED GAME ONCE UPON TIME MAN vol of Marco Polo E5 GOOD TIMES PRICE Is RIGHT 730 MATCH GAME NEWLYWED GAME UPPETS SHOW Guast Lynn grave GONG SHOW HEE HAW HONEYS Guests Oak Boy WMAGIC SHADOWS Nicholas NIck Parttlt 308 NEWHART SHOW 800 BROTHERS AND SISTERS Zipper drives everyone bananas when he stapes Rn apeescnpe and rescues lovable chImpanzoe destined tor fatal research ARTICHOKE Joanna Gian play about very unique Saskatchewan turmtamuy ShortlynttorthoirmnrnaoaMarunrotbaniahod Wattortotho Smokehouse to sleep because of llll IntIdalrty though she accepted hll IIIWI timlto daughter Into her home Now t3 years later the wait of summer quasi torcos pau Diona to the bOIlIna paint Starring PatrICIu Col mand Frank Adumaon 90 rmns EDWARD THE KING Kmq At Last Queen Victoria to dead and thePrInco otWatou II now Edward VII He Is 80 years old Can he handle the VOEDODStDIIIIIGa at being sover 60 mm EIGHTIS ENOUGH wmromaua Playwright feels hes very lucky JACKSONVILLE Fla AP Instant success is great says Peter Baloff whose first play won two major US awards But he doesnt expect to make living in the theatre imme diately His play Barnum and the Mermaid written while he was graduate student at the Uni versity of Florida won the Nor man Lear and David Library awards for outstanding new works Ive been very lucky said Baloff 29 have written one play and received modicum of success Even if nothing else comes of it Im happy and in the meantime can still write But Im not excited about getting into the theatre as way to make my living Ive got an interesting creative job and think can do both write and earn living Baloff is advertising director for Jacksonville company and also creative director in graph ics for another firm In his spare time he iw working on two new plays and collaborating on screenplay WAS ASSIGNMENT His successful Barnum and the Mermaid grew out of an as signment in writing course The threeact comedy is based on the true story of show man PT Barnums promotion of the Fiji Mermaid in his American Museum at New York ity in the 19th century The play took more than five months to write and six more months for rewriting Baloff said At the time was working acting and teaching he said The assignment wasnt fin ished by the end of the term but when the professor saw what had done he urged me to finish it Then he produced it for the Florida Players the stu dent theatre company It won the state and regional American College Theatre Fes tival competition and finally was selected as best in the country ford forbid daughter Jounnto to no her now boytriond run away from homo to be With tho handom youna writer oh level 60 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF WONDER WOMAN HOCKEY Toronot Mpto Loot V8 WI aton Capital INTROSPEC as THE JEFFERSONS An evening out at the disco turns into ovory night tavor when rgo atroichoa ood thi bit too tar MOVIEC MED MUSICAL Call MO Maggy 1953 WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES Tho Dark Secret OtHarvoat Home Stars Betta Davao David Ackroyd CINETVO Purtona Cinema avoc Er manno OImt cinouote Une CortaIn Jour 1969 Vrunetto Del Vita Lidia Suonos 30 335 ALICE 900 DEAR DETECTIVE BrandaVaccaro stars as Sergeant Kate Hudson who Is coiled upontoInvestigatethebiurromurdoraotthroo councilman and school board ottIcIaI Co atura Ron Silver Artoan Dean Snyder emiero hrs CHARLIES ANGELS The Angoia become pompom girls for professional foot ball team when Strange threats are made by tuna who warns against the Ilauntmg of wan Womon 60 mm DUKES OF HAZZARD SECOND CITY 930 WATSON REPORT 13 FOR LOVERS 1000 PROGRAMMING UNANNOUNCED VEGAS Americas most famous model an oxMIu America goes to Las Vegas for fashion layout and becomes the Victim of an extortion plot myotvmg Obscene photos 60 KAz NEWS UPDATE NEWS 1001 BARETTA 1100 In NEWS 96 CBC NEWS CTv NEWS 13 EMPLOYMENT FILE ®MOVIEWESTERN ThoTall Mon1955 11 15 THE REAL STORY 120 NEWS 127 NEWS 1130 THE TONIGHT SHOWHoatJohnny Carson Guests Buddy Hackett MotTIllia Ron man 90 mm WCBS LATE MOVIE THE ROCKFORD FILESFoodmaFronzyRockfordgotnintotrou ble whonho trIou toroturn $5000003totonirorn an Oil company KOJAK Laud 011 Stars SAvlu Dan Frazer MOVIEHISTORICALDRAMA Anastasia 1958 STREET TALK ID OUESTION PERIOD 1145 AMERICAN FILM THEATRE Rhmocorou Zoro Mallet Gene Wilder and KuronBtncksturinEuoonolonoucoatnntalizing tnloolmanandrhmotroodomundcontormny 1150 EMOVlESUSPENSEP Man oator 1973 1200 In MEDICAL CENTER MOVIE DRAMAI gaporoSinga oro1967 210 MOVIE MYSTERY Murder Once Bzrgovod 1971 TOMORROW Host Tom Snyder Guest Philanthropiatw CIomontStono VVIII discuss his theory on posttive thmkmg 60 MARCUS WELBY MD 130 PTL CLUBTALK AND VARIETY ISln THOR HEYERDAHL Tigris Tuesday at 900 new National Geographic production that looks at Thor Heyerdahls last voyage figris through the Persian Cultand the Indian Ocean Film lips from but earlier voyages Kon TIki and the Ra Expedition trace the career of this ontroversial twentieth century explorer Channel Cable TVOntano its your network Inc teteVISiorI sconce ot the Ontario Educational Communicath Authority

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