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HISTORY
MASQUERADES UNMASKED WRITER’S NOTE: The following is a true(ish) story based on an assortment of newspapers articles, obituaries, and biographies It is not in any way a definitive historical account as I make many assumptions.
Guy Barber appears in many photographs in the Revelstoke Museum & Archives. Many of them are sports pictures, such as the 1891 ski club and the 1909 curling club and the snowshoe club; others show Guy in front of his jewellery store. He also appears in several photographs of local entertainment, such as the 1911 Fireman’s Masquerade Ball. Image courtesy of Revelstoke Museum & Archives
Guy is unmissable in a Who’s Who of Revelstoke’s early days. Image courtesy of Revelstoke Museum & Archives
Part I: Unmasked “The scene was one of fascination, the effect being heightened by the fact that few of the dancers could be recognized behind their masks … Soldiers mingled with oriental beauties, coy peasant girls made eyes at dashing cavaliers and cowboys, while clowns, fairies, mythical goddesses, Scotchmen and Turks, suffragettes and statesmen, took life together as happily as could be.” — Revelstoke Herald-Review
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Revelstoke New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball — December 31, 1896 Dancing started at 9 p.m. sharp. By then the gallery was packed to capacity with masked faces framing a perfectly conditioned dancefloor. The Devil was there along with a Foxy Grandpa and Cupid who stood by a Butcher, Jester, Sailor, Gambler, a couple courtiers, numerous knights, a mix of Spanish, Egyptian and Italian royalty, plus at least three of the four seasons — Winter, Spring, Summer — congregating naturally while Fall was conspicuously absent. It was “the event of the season” according to the HeraldReview, out of which some had used copies to fashion papier-mâché masks. It was one of the most elitist nights in Revelstoke during one of the most elitist ages; anyone who was anyone was there. All the Revy ‘bluebloods’ along with historical heavyweights Anne Boleyn and Madame de Pompadour, mortals and immortals, and local flora Scotch Thistle and Wild Rose. Outfits varied in degrees of today’s standard of racist-ness (Hindoo Prince, Gypsy, Chinese Lady) and at least a few wore blackface and brownface. A few noisey minutes pass as Flirt and Folly compare dance cards and Dutch Peasant whisper-shouts something to the Goddess of Liberty. Scotch Lassie and Western Girl mime with Pierrette and Pierrot. Yellow Primrose fixes Fortune Teller’s feathers, and Miss Columbia holds hands with Viking Chief. Amid it all, nearby Prima Donna and Mother Shipton, speaking mightily with Helen of Troy, somehow always the center of attention, stood a tall, handsome and gregarious local man named Guy Barber, sophisticatedly dressed as a Gentleman of the 21st Century, and waiting like everyone else for the six-instrument orchestra to strike up.
GAY AFFAIRS Newspapers reported on such soirées as the night of December 31, 1896 in great detail, even describing the musical finesse of the Reverend Paton who played flute “with a master hand” and Mr. Coursier “au fait with the cornet” while the organ, violin and concertina “helped swell the chorus.” It raved about the “gay costumes” and the hall’s “very gay” decorations — with ‘gay’ of course meaning something quite different 123 years ago. ‘Gay’ in Guy Barber’s day was fine in the ‘Gay Parisienne’ sense. (GP, by the way, also there.) Such gay affairs made for jollity in the local newspaper; gay or homosexual affairs, however, were an inprisonable offense. This was an age when musicians hit their notes, dancers knew their steps, and people played their parts whether in public or private, knowing that certain social missteps simply would not be tolerated.
