Memorable Manitobans: Corliss Powers Walker (1853-1942)

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Corliss Powers Walker
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Theatre manager.

Born at Poultney, Vermont on 19 September 1853, he moved to Winnipeg in 1897 as a theatrical impresario. He began with the Bijou Theatre as part of his Red River Valley Theatre Circuit, which was connected with a New York syndicate and possessed several touring theatres in North Dakota. Walker’s venues made it possible for him to bring touring companies to Winnipeg and the adjacent United States for major runs. He developed the Walker Theatre (1906) in conjunction with Montreal architect Howard Colton Stone. For some time it was managed by William B. Lawrence. Husband of Harriet A. Walker, he was a member of the Carleton Club. He died at Winnipeg on 24 September 1942 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Walker Theatre (364 Smith Street, Winnipeg)

On Stage: Theatre and Theatres in Early Winnipeg by James B. Hartman
Manitoba History, Number 43, Spring/Summer 2002

Events in Manitoba History: Winnipeg Theatre Fire (23 December 1926)

“C. P. Walker and the Business of Theatre: Merchandizing Entertainment in a Continental Context” by Reg Skene in The Political Economy of Manitoba, edited by James Silver and Jeremy Hull (1990), 128-50.

Curtain Time by Ruth Walker Harvey (1949).

Sources:

The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

“C. P. Walker, pioneer theatrical impresario of west, dies at 89,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 December 1942. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9, page 122]

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 May 2018

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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