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Swinging and shaking at Rosemount Boys' Club

Broadcast Date: Sept. 25, 1956

Will rock and roll music save or spoil the teens of Montreal? The Kinsmen's Rosemount Boys' Club recently introduced rock and roll dance sessions to its recreational program to boost membership. Boys' Club director Alfred Williamson answers dubious critics who fear that listening to this type of music inevitably leads to wild behaviour. With great sincerity, Williamson offers an earnest defense of the "modern craze" of rock music, in this CBC Radio report.

Swinging and shaking at Rosemount Boys' Club

• During the postwar housing boom, Montreal's Rosemount suburb (now called Rosemont) flourished. The 12,000 children and teens in the district had few social outlets and Rosemount quickly developed a reputation for juvenile delinquency. The Kinsmen Club of Montreal established the Boys' Club in 1949 as a recreational centre for the young boys in the neighbourhood.

• In 1957, members paid 50 cents per year for access to the club's 21 educational programs, 11 physical activities, and seven social groups.
• The club also offered teens a job placement service in partnership with nearby industrial firms.

• A 1957 Globe and Mail article praised the work of the Rosemount Boys' Club, hailing it as being at the forefront in boys club work in Canada. Club director Alfred Williamson explained that the club: "provides very necessary recognition for our youth. That is what most of them are looking for although they don't realize it. That is why, if they had no club, they would force that recognition by outrageous behaviour." (Globe and Mail, Jan. 30, 1957)

• The first boys' club, then named the Every Day Club, was established in 1900 in Saint John, N.B. The club provided a safe place to play for disadvantaged young children.
• In 1929, the Boys' Club Federation of Canada was created to direct the national club co-ordination. In 1974, the federation was renamed Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.

• As of 2005, the 101 clubs in Canada served approximately 150,000 children and teens.
• "Rock and roll n; (also rock 'n' roll) popular dance-music originating in the 1950s with a heavy beat and often a blues element." – The Canadian Oxford English Dictionary

When Elvis Presley performed at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in April 1957, reporter Bill Beatty noted, "And for a solid 40 minutes, Elvis wiggled, twisted, convulsed… Every so often the crowd of hypnotized youth sprang from their seats and started to move toward Elvis in his shimmering suit of gold. And at such times the police turned on the lights and got them back in their seats." Listen to the entire clip here.

Swinging and shaking at Rosemount Boys' Club

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC News Roundup

Broadcast Date: Sept. 25, 1956

Guest(s): Alfred Williamson

Host: Harry Mannis
Reporter: Harry Etheridge

Duration: 2:05

Song excerpt: "Rock a Beatin' Boogie" by Bill Haley, Myers Music Inc.

Last updated:
Sept. 24, 2009