History Post-confederation (1867-)
A Night at the Gardens
Class, Gender, and Respectability in 1930s Toronto
- Publisher
- University of Toronto Press
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2023
- Category
- Post-Confederation (1867-), History, Hockey
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781487547165
- Publish Date
- Apr 2023
- List Price
- $24.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781487547028
- Publish Date
- May 2023
- List Price
- $65.00
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781487547080
- Publish Date
- May 2023
- List Price
- $24.95
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Description
When Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens opened in 1931, manager Conn Smythe envisioned an arena that would project an aura of middle-class respectability. In A Night at the Gardens, Russell Field shares how this new arena anticipated spectators by examining varying spectator behaviours, who the spectators were, and what the experience of spectating was like.
Drawing on archival records, the book explores the neighbourhood in which Maple Leaf Gardens was situated, the design of the arena’s interior spaces, and the ways in which the venue was operated in order to appeal to respectable spectators at a particular intersection of class and gender. Oral history interviews with former spectators at Maple Leaf Gardens detail the experience of watching the spectacle that unfolded on the ice during each hockey game.
A Night at the Gardens tells the fascinating story of how one prominent public building became such an important part of Toronto society.
About the author
Russell Field is an associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba. His research explores sport and social justice, with current projects focusing on global sporting events as sites of resistance and protest, as well as the concept of “people’s history.” He is the principal investigator of the SSHRC-funded project A People’s History of Sport in Canada. He is the founder and executive director of the Canadian Sport Film Festival.
Editorial Reviews
“Field succeeds in giving voice to NHL fans of the past; thus, A Night at the Gardens is a welcome addition to earlier works that profiled the spectators who flocked to English soccer matches and American baseball games.”
<em>Urban History Review</em>
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