Show girls backstage, ca. 1940.

L to R: interviewees Olga Spencer Foderingham, Tina Brereton, and Bernice Jordan.

Night life flourished in Montreal throughout the Prohibition era (1920-33) and for decades afterwards. Attracting hordes of tourists that created a market for countless after-dark satisfactions in the city’s hundreds of bars, cafes, restaurants and supper clubs, competition between touring entertainers and local acts was fierce at times, especially for black women who were routinely denied prominent performing jobs in theatres and nightclubs. Depending on the establishment, women faced multiple challenges in their occupations, ranging from long working hours, various forms of abuse from their bosses, unwanted harassment from male patrons, and more.

But the old saying that “the show must go on” was as true then as it always has been, and it certainly did go on in “The City of a Hundred Steeples” during those years. Determined show girls displayed their talents in floorshows, on stage, and at times even off-stage, accepting invitations to join single men at their tables for conversation and a drink as part of their job description. The prolonged and strenuous late-night hours of dance, song and curtain calls seldom deterred Montreal show girls from pursuing their essential quest: providing support for their families and for themselves.