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The Assassination of Alderman Alderman, Toronto, 1972
In the summer of 1972, FitzMore Theatre, composed of James FitzGerald, Michael FitzGerald and James Morden (1951-1979), created a satirical vignette of the assassination of Alderman Alderman, a fictional, populist candidate campaigning for mayor of Toronto during a Western Hospital workers’ strike. Shot on location at Glenn Gould Park (aka Peter Pan Park) and Upper Canada College, the Super 8 footage, alas, has not aged well. Apologies to our hero, Stanley Kubrick.
Monty Python Conquers Toronto, June 1973
When our gaggle of Monty Python fanatics met the still largely unknown comedy troupe arriving at Pearson Airport in Toronto in June 1973, the first stop on their first North American tour, they were suitably alarmed by our rendition of “We’re Lumberjacks and We’re OK.”
Approaching Eric Idle — “Attack me with fresh fruit!” — I extended a banana and a magic marker and he signed it: “To Andy Warhole, love Eric Idle.”
“Janet Ewart FitzGerald, 1918-2006: A Life Remembered”, produced by Shelagh FitzGerald, written by James FitzGerald, narrated by Michael FitzGerald
“The Second Hundred Years”, a tribute to the silent film era at the Revue Cinema, Toronto, by Graham Mills and James FitzGerald, 2018
Author James FitzGerald credits group psychotherapy with unblocking him as a writer, June 2019
RECOMMENDED BLOGS AND WEBSITES
RECOMMENDED READING (click here)
Lament For Rosedale
Review of Don Gillmor’s novel, “Mount Pleasant”, Literary Review of Canada, May 2013
“What Is This, the Canadian Inquisition?”, Toronto Life, April 1999
Profile of Toronto pub trivia league
Tower of Power, Toronto Life, May 1999
Profile of Upper Canada College clock tower
McLunatic Asylum, Toronto Life, July 1999
Profile of Marshall McLuhan’s coach house
Mental Block, Toronto Life, December 1999
Profile of 999 Queen Street Lunatic Asylum (CAMH)
Faulty Tower, Toronto Life, February 2000
Profile of Rochdale College
House of Repute, Toronto Life, May 2000
Profile of The York Club
Gardiner Expressway East 1955-2001, Toronto Life, 2001
Sand Castle, Toronto Life, July 2003
Profile of the Balmy Beach Club
Soul Survivor, Toronto Life, October 2003
Profile of One Spadina Crescent
Catching Jane Eyre in the Rye: The magical day when J.D. Salinger met Charlotte Bronte and spawned a literary hybrid
May, 1968
Well, if you really want to know about it, my crummy life started out pretty depressing, being an orphan and all. I was living at my Aunt's house, who was a real bitch, along with her bratty kids, who just used to beat the hell out of me because I wasn't too big a kid then. The only reason they didn't kick me into the street was my uncle, or some guy who wanted me taken care of, just before he kicked off, so I ain't complainin' too much. READ THE FULL ESSAY
The Aging of Aquarius: Peace and Polygrip at Woodstock 50
The Hamilton Spectator, August 28, 1998
Woodstock, New York, August 15, 2019: The 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Peace Festival passed quietly into history last weekend after nearly one million baby boomers, most in their 60s and 70s, shuffled and teetered onto Max Yasgur's famous farmer's field, reclined in endless, neat rows of expensive lawn chairs, and listened distractedly to the mythic popular music that has defined the largest generation in history. Police reported no cardiac arrests. READ FULL ARTICLE
Searching For the Fountain of Youth
Queen's University Alumni Review, September/October 1998
When Michael Rose, a brilliant 16-year old biology freshman, arrived at Queen's University from Toronto in September 1971, some of us who met him were struck by his rare mix of character traits, uncommon even at an elite university: insatiable intellectual curiosity, rock-solid self-confidence often mistaken for arrogance, and the will power to make his high career ambitions come true. Here was a dynamic young man -- actually, a boy prodigy -- who was clearly determined to push back boundaries wherever he went. READ FULL ARTICLE
Hey Kids, What Time Is It? Globe and Mail, May 4, 2010
My mother ushers me into the womb-like alcove of our Toronto home. A wooden cabinet with swinging doors faces me at eye level; a screen of dreamy, black and white images flickers below a metallic V of rabbit ears. At first I take the smooth glass screen to be a mirror, but I do not see myself. READ FULL ARTICLE