June 1, 1953

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Coronation Special

MUST THE COMMONWEALTH SPLIT UP?

MOMENTARILY forgotten in the ritual and myth of the Coronation, some hard essential questions remain unanswered. Has the Queen’s realm become a fable in its own time? Has the liquidation of the British Commonwealth and the remnants of the Empire — so scornfully rejected less than ten years ago by Winston Churchill already passed the point of no return? Can such a loose-knit sprawling structure possibly endure in a world revolution now surging toward its watershed? To a pragmatist the answers must have a negative and fateful ring. By BRUCE HUTCHISON25 min

Coronation Special

THE STRANGE RITES OF ROYALTY

THE FAMILY IN THE PALACE, fenced in by a forest of taboos as weird as any savage kingdom’s, obeys a tradition of self-sacrifice unto death. Will the historians of the future attribute the great success of the British crown to

Articles

The Met Cashes in in Canada

TO MOST Canadians opera is a word for a noise, or for pretentious culture, or for boredom, or at best for entertainment both foreign and phony. Opera’s most striking defense is that few who accept such definitions have ever seen an opera. In the spring of 1952 when the Metropolitan Opera Company gave four performances in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, an usher who had spent most of his mature years admiring Turk Broda play hockey on Saturday nights and Whipper Billy Watson wrestle on Thursdays observed: “When I heard the opera was coming to the Gardens I figured I was in for the longest week of my life. By JUNE CALLWOOD23 min

Coronation Special

CROCUS AT THE CORONATION

The best-known little town on the prairies, practically steaming with loyalty, decided on a draw to send a representative to see the Queen. And the blind finger of fate tapped the shoulder of — well, it wasn't Mayor MacTaggart By W. O. MITCHELL21 min

Articles

Should Edith Shinder Get Her Baby?

This Brooklyn housewife simply wanted a baby—and she found one in Toronto. But when she tried to take it home she set off a chain reaction of arrests, notoriety and heartbreak and posed an adoption puzzle that’s still unsolved By DOROTHY SANGSTER21 min

Coronation Special

THE GIRL BEHIND THE MASK

The acres of newsprint devoted to making Elizabeth II the most publicized woman of modern times have only covered deeper the real personality of our Queen By PIERRE BERTON20 min

Articles

THE FORGOTTEN IDOL OF THE E

Ned Hanlan, a chunky Toronto Islander, rose above shady promoters and fixers to bring Canada its first world title in the days when baseball was a pup By FERGUS CRONIN17 min

Articles

HOW FX SAVED THE MARITIMES

The unorthodox professors of Saint Francis Xavier left the classroom to teach their people how to beat depression, built the biggest “campus” in the world and started a co-operative revolution that’s spread from Antigonish to Colombo By DAVID MacDONALD17 min

Coronation Special

The Biggest Fancy-Dress Party of All

MORE THAN once in these letters from London I have commented on the strange illogical love of the English for fancy dress. What is more, I mean the English and not the other members of the island tribe. The Scot has only the kilt and the regalia of the Highland costume, the Welshman occasionally dresses up as an ancient bard but the Irishman will have none of it. By Beverley Baxter9 min