The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1025: Stupid History, the Music Version 1

GlobalNews.ca

October 10, 2024 9:00 am

For some people, history is dry and boring, consisting of nothing but dates and wars and dusty facts about things that don’t have anything to do with life today, And yes, that can be true. But history also helps us understand why things are the way they are: study the past, understand the present, and maybe predict the future—at least to some extent.

But history can also be stupid, and when it is, it can make learning fun. In addition to all the dates and wars and famous people, I think we need to stupid history’s stupid bits. Let me give you an example.

On July 12, 1855, S.B. Howe’s Star Troup Menagerie and Circus pulled into Toronto. Tents were set up in an area called Fair Green on the shore of Lake Ontario. The plan was to spend two days in town entertaining crowds with exotic animals, acrobats, trick riders, and clowns.

But in 1855, circuses were viewed with suspicion. All these itinerant people, living on the margins of society, often included plenty of drunks, gamblers, and sex workers. The threat of violence was always present. It wasn’t uncommon for a night at the circus to be filled with brawls.

Toronto was pretty rough back then, especially when it came to brothels. There were a lot of them. with one of the most popular owned by Mary Ann Armstrong on King Street West.

When the first day of S.B. Howe’s Star Troup Menagerie and Circus concluded, the clowns went to Mary Ann Armstrong’s to blow off steam. That’s when they ran into a bunch of local firefighters. They liked to get into fights/

Details are a bit sketchy, but one of the clowns either knocked off a fireman’s hat or a clown cut in line…whatever the case, a major brawl broke out: clowns vs. firefighters. The clowns won. The firefighters were forced to pull back and retreat.

However, July 12, 1855, was also the day of a big parade by the Orange Order, a group of Irish Protestants celebrating a victory over Irish Catholics back in the 1600s. At the time, a huge majority of Toronto civil servants were both Irish and Orangemen.

Word spread of the clowns kicking the firemen’s asses at the whorehouse. So on the second day of S.B. Howe’s Star Troup Menagerie and Circus, a large, angry crowd gathered at Fair Green.

It wasn’t long before things boiled over. Rocks were thrown, tents were set on fire, and members of the circus ran for their lives. The police were called, but they were mostly Orangemen, too. Instead of trying to stop things, the cops joined in.

It was an insane riot: clowns vs. firefighters. It wasn’t until the Mayor George Allan stepped in—personally, too. He went down to Fair Green to administer some whoop-ass himself—that the great Toronto clown riot of 1855 came to an end.

Isn’t that ridiculous? See why I consider that an example of “stupid history.” If they taught this kind of thing in school, people would have a much greater interest in stories of the past. Such information gives us a deeper understanding of just how messed up humans can be.

We can do this with music, too. I call this episode “Stupid History: The Music Version.”

Songs heard on this show: