Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
Built in the early 1900’s, the Orchard Point Dance Pavilion featured a large open dance floor two stories high in a building about 40 feet wide by 70 feet long. It was located next to the community wharf.
Inside, a set of stairs led up to a balcony overlooking the dance floor and provided access to the outside balcony overlooking the lake.
The Dance Pavilion was demolished in the mid 1950s, and a few years later the Orchard Point Marina was built at this location.
On the postcard, the man closest to the photographer is thought to be Jake Gaudaur, standing in his first Kingfisher boat used for charters. Written by an unknown man named Harold, who was vacationing at the Orchard Point Inn, this card was mailed at Atherley on Aug. 9, 1923 to Mr. Frank Carmichael in Toronto.
Franklin Carmichael, one of the founding members of the Canadian Group of Painters, was born in Orillia in 1890 to Susannah and David Carmichael who was a carriage maker.
As a young man, Franklin took art lessons from Reverend Canon Greene and in his teenage years worked as a carriage striper in his father’s shop.
By the time he reached 20, Carmichael saw art as his mission in life and moved to Toronto in April, 1911 to work for the commercial art firm of Grip Ltd.
There he worked with and shared weekend painting trips with Tom Thomson, Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald.
In 1912 Thomson and Carmichael moved to a rival firm, Rous and Mann, working with Fredrick Varley and later A.J. Casson.
In 1922 Carmichael moved to Sampson-Matthews commercial art firm as head designer.
Mailed to Color Craft at 384 Yonge St. and addressed to Mr. Carmichael (and everybody), Harold describes his visit to Orchard Point with lots of golf, tennis, sailing and baseball, of which he was not in love with. His plan to return to work on Monday indicates he very likely worked as a commercial artist under Carmichael’s direction.
