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The Impresario

Image of Helen Traubel and Fred Gee
Helen Traubel with Fred Gee on October 7, 1946.
A of M, Celebrity Concert Series fonds 53, C75/1/3

Born in Wales in 1882, Fred Melsom Gee (1882-1947) showed an interest in music early in his life, singing as a choir boy in his hometown of Cardiff. He came to Winnipeg in 1902 and was soon involved in the city's musical scene, starting a teaching position at the Winnipeg College of Music in 1903 and becoming organist with the Westminster United Church the same year. He was also organist for the Winnipeg Oratorio Society during its entire existence, from 1908 to 1928.

Gee first started organizing concerts in 1911, when he and colleague Joseph Tees brought in Kiev-born violinist Mischa Elman to play for a Winnipeg audience. During the next 15 years, Gee continued to organize occasional concerts, but it wasn't until the success of a concert in 1926, featuring Italian singer Amelita Galli-Curci, that he decided to quit his teaching job to become a full-time impresario, thus establishing the Celebrity Concert Series. The first concert series, consisting of seven concerts, was offered in 1927. Concerts were initially held in the Central Congregational Church in Winnipeg. By the end of 1930, concerts were being held in the Playhouse Theatre, and in 1932, the newly-built Winnipeg Auditorium opened its doors to the concert series. Under its auspices, hundreds of world-renowned performers were brought to Winnipeg for public enjoyment. Gee knew many of the musicians and artists personally, and with his contacts, was able to bring to Winnipeg the highest quality musical acts of the time, including the Hollywood star, Nelson Eddy; the world sensation, the Trapp Family Singers; and a young Louis Armstrong. The series annually drew in thousands of Winnipeggers, a remarkable achievement during the depression and war years of the 1930s and 1940s. In 1938, subscription to the concert series was 3,500, making it the largest concert series in North America.

With the success of the company in Winnipeg, Gee expanded the business to other cities across the Canadian West. In 1934, the concert series was offered in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina. By 1947, a second company, Celebrity Concert Series Canada Ltd., had been founded under the direction of Gee's son, Arthur K. Gee, and at its height, it presented concerts in fifteen cities from British Columbia to Lake Superior.

Gee died in Winnipeg on 8 June 1947. He left his sons, Arthur and Edward, in charge of the Celebrity Concert Series. They continued to expand the business for the next two decades, both in Winnipeg and across the prairies. In 1950, Arthur Gee teamed with Gordon Hilker to establish the Western Concert Agency, which presented concerts in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. In 1951, the scope of the series was broadened to include a travelogue series, World Adventure Tours, which carried on after the Celebrity Concert Series closed in 1968.

Find out more… search Celebrity Concert Series in the Keystone Archives Descriptive Database.