Older half of MacLean and MacLean duo took free speech fight
to Supreme Court
George-Carlin-with-a-guitar brothers released seven
shock-humour albums, sold out concerts and wrote the theme
to a raunchy British sitcom, all the while being hounded by
the police
GAY ABBATE
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 20, 2008
Blair MacLean was a visual artist, a musician and an
instructor who loved teaching children how to draw and how
to play musical instruments. He was also a foul-mouthed
singer and comedian who, with his brother Gary, achieved the
distinction of being the first Canadians to be prosecuted
for talking dirty on stage.
As half of the entertainment team MacLean and MacLean, he
played the 12-string guitar. Gary played the banjo. The two
were famous for their raunchy and often scatological
language, and entertained millions around the world with
their ribald comic parody of popular songs.
Their language also made them famous in legal circles. They
were arrested twice but persevered in defending their right
to free speech, a cause that took them all the way to the
Supreme Court of Canada. Their fight - reminiscent of the
struggles of American comics Lenny Bruce and George Carlin -
helped open the door for today's comedians to use off-colour
language freely on stage and on late-night television, said
Mr. MacLean's wife, Marcia.
For 26 years, the MacLean brothers pushed the envelope with
their style of comedy. They placed ads in newspapers and
posted signs outside venues where they performed, to warn
audiences that some people might find their language
offensive. Perhaps that titillated people into attending,
because wherever they played - big cities or small towns -
their shows always sold out.
MacLean and MacLean produced seven albums of adult-oriented
material and were nominated for a Juno. Their album, Toilet
Rock, was a live recording but the others, such as Go To
Hell, were either studio recordings or a combination, as was
Bitter Reality.
Some of their more respectable song titles include Flipper,
Doggie Vom and Diary Of A Jealous Boyfriend. Their theme
song (and one of their most popular) was Fuck Ya, their
retitled version of the tune Ja Da. Another audience
favourite was I've Seen Pubic Hair, sung to I've Been
Everywhere.
MacLean and MacLean crisscrossed Canada, playing more than
150 shows a year. They also performed in the United States,
England and Europe. They became famous by word-of-mouth,
without the benefit of radio airplay of their recordings, as
their language was deemed unfit for the airwaves.
In real life, Blair MacLean was nothing like his alter ego.
"He was a very nice man and a wonderful friend to everyone,"
said Al Simmons, a Winnipeg-based children's entertainer.
Mr. Simmons, an old friend and loyal fan from the early days
of MacLean and MacLean, said the foul language was all an
act. The two entertainers performed together at a Winnipeg
comedy club in late 2007. By that time, Blair MacLean was on
his own - his brother, Gary, had died in 2001.
The third of four children, Blair MacLean was raised in
Glace Bay, N.S. His father, Kenny, was a coal miner; his
mother, Ermie, was a florist. Like all Cape Breton families,
music and singing were an important part of life and a
favourite pastime for the MacLeans. It was not surprising,
therefore, that their son loved to sing from an early age
and learned harmony by singing with his siblings. His sense
of humour and desire to make people laugh also demonstrated
itself early in his life. His humour was part of his makeup
and of the culture into which he was born, said his wife,
Marcia. "Humour is a natural part of being a Cape Bretoner."
As a teen, Blair helped the family by working a variety of
jobs, including picking mushrooms and berries, babysitting
and bagging groceries. His jobs did not detract from his
studies. He was an excellent student, graduating from St.
Michael's High School in Glace Bay at the top of his class.
With few employment opportunities in the area where he
lived, other than the mines or steel plants - neither of
which appealed to him - Blair followed his older brother,
Bob, into the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1960. He was sent
to the RCAF training base in Gimli, Man., and it wasn't long
before his superiors discovered his latent artistic talents
and had him trained as a commercial artist. One of his big
jobs was to help put together a training manual that fighter
pilots used after being selected to join the Snowbirds, the
famous aerobatic flying team. Although Mr. MacLean himself
never learned to fly, the manual helped pilots learn how to
safely operate their aircraft.
While at Gimli, he met Anne Mihalik, a Saskatchewan girl who
worked on the base. In 1965, they got married and were soon
expecting a baby. It was then that he decided the time was
right to leave the RCAF. Impending parenthood was only part
of his reason for leaving. While at the base, he had learned
to play the guitar and, with two buddies, formed a
folk-singing trio that won an amateur talent contest. After
that, the trio began performing in and around Winnipeg, and
met with some success. Encouraged, Mr. MacLean decided to
take a shot at a career in music. Needing a day job to
support his family while he launched his new career, he and
a friend started a Winnipeg art-design company. On the side,
he also developed a keen interest in oil painting.
By the late sixties, the trio had become a quintet called
the Vicious Circle, and had moved into rock 'n' roll.
Another member was Mr. MacLean's young brother, Gary. Also a
musician, he had been performing in Cape Breton when he got
a call to come and join the group in Winnipeg. The brothers
soon realized that audiences sat up and took notice when
they put some comedy into the act. In 1972, they decided to
take their music in a totally different direction and formed
a new act called MacLean and MacLean.
Their lyrics and subject matter broke taboos, however, and
it wasn't long before the duo felt a backlash. It first
happened in Swift Current, Sask. MacLean and MacLean was
opening for Lighthouse on the rock group's cross-country
tour when someone with influence in the town took exception
to the act and raised such a ruckus that the brothers were
forced to abandon the itinerary.
Things were little better in Ontario. In October, 1974, the
Liquor Licensing Board of Ontario informed all licensed
bars, pubs and clubs in the province that their licenses
would be suspended if they hired MacLean and MacLean to
perform. An LCBO inspector had seen a show in London, Ont.,
considered it obscene, and promptly informed the board.
The decree meant the brothers were virtually banned from
working in Ontario. They went to court to seek an injunction
to stop the board from threatening the licence-holders,
arguing the LCBO did not have censorship powers. Meanwhile,
they were out of work - at least in Ontario.
Finally, in July, 1975, the court agreed and MacLean and
MacLean were again free to play in the province.
Worse was yet to come, however. In 1977, the brothers were
arrested after a concert at the Water Tower Inn in Sault
Ste. Marie, Ont. Police charged them with committing an
immoral act by using obscene language. As it turned out,
they were acquitted on a technicality. However, the matter
was far from over. The Ontario Crown Attorney successfully
appealed and three years later, they were found guilty at a
second trial.
Although convicted, they were given an absolute dismissal, a
legal provision that, according to their defence attorney,
Clayton Ruby, allowed a judge to convict a defendant but
left them without criminal records.
Mr. Ruby said at the time that the section of the criminal
code dealing with immoral performances had been frequently
used against strippers, but he believed it was the first
time someone had been charged for his choice of language in
a performance.
It was still not the end of the story. The brothers decided
it was their turn to challenge a ruling. The Ontario Court
of Appeal overturned the conviction, saying that the
intention of the off-colour theatrical act must be
considered in judging whether a performance was immoral. The
appellate court ruled that the four-letter words were part
of the duo's earthy social satire.
Even then, Ontario refused to accept the decision and turned
to the country's highest court. In 1982, the Supreme Court
of Canada refused to hear the Crown's appeal, leaving the
acquittal to stand. Blair and Gary were relieved that the
lengthy and costly legal fight was finally over.
Trouble was still rearing its head, though. While the Sault
St. Marie case was dragging through the legal system, the
brothers had again been charged with immoral behaviour -
this time in Winnipeg. They had performed at the Pantages
Playhouse Theatre on Market Avenue and faced charges over
their use of language. What saved them from another lengthy
trial process was the fact that the theatre itself had also
been charged for permitting the performance. The Winnipeg
police had laid the charges without considering the fact
that the theatre was owned by the city of Winnipeg.
After that, the long arm of the law mostly withdrew and the
brothers, and their audiences, were left to their own bawdy
devices.
By that time the MacLeans had mainly used the music of other
artists but did occasionally write some original songs. One
of them was titled Dolly Parton's Tits. It made the Top 100
chart in Britain and became the theme song of the British
television sitcom Over the Top. The show's producers invited
the brothers to England to perform their song live. Knowing
they were from the Prairies, the producers decorated the
stage with bales of hay and fence posts. The brothers didn't
know quite what to make of the decor. At the same time, the
producers were taken aback that the brothers, with their
long hair and scraggly beards, looked more like hippies than
country folk.
At home, MacLean and MacLean was still in demand. In 1983,
the duo performed at the first Just for Laughs Comedy
Festival in Montreal in 1983. They hosted the first Nasty
Nights at the festival in 1986 and performed there again in
1996.
The 1990s brought major changes to Blair MacLean's life. His
wife died of cancer in 1991 and, on New Year's Eve in 1992,
he married Marcia Demorest, an artist from Saskatchewan who
had been a fan since the days of the Vicious Circle. Six
years later, the MacLean brothers decided they had enough of
touring and went their separate ways. Gary MacLean remained
in Winnipeg and became a broadcaster at radio KY58 where
every afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. he provided banter and
bawdy tales about the music scene during the fifties and
sixties.
Later, after his brother died of throat cancer, Blair
MacLean and his wife returned to Winnipeg to help raise his
three teenage nephews. A caring individual, he had always
had a way with children and took every opportunity to share
his talents with them. He often attended schools where he
would sing with pre-schoolers and let them strum his guitar.
Or he would do art projects with them. He also got a special
kick out of painting children's faces at festivals. "He just
adored children," his wife said. Mr. MacLean was like an
uncle to the children of his friends, teaching them how to
make bread and strawberry jam, Mr. Simmons said. "He was
great with them. He listened to them."
His interest in "grain art" had become his second career in
the early eighties after the Canadian Wheat Board
commissioned him and illustrator Bob Boyson to make a large
art piece using wheat. The work was a gift to Russia for
buying a substantial amount of wheat. When the Wheat Board
saw the completed work, which measured 1.2 metres by almost
2 metres, it asked Mr. MacLean to make an exact replica that
now hangs in its Winnipeg headquarters. The prairie scene
shows a farmer kneeling in a field of wheat, a grain
elevator in the background.
Mr. MacLean developed his unique grain art by laboriously
applying seeds of wheat and other grains such as canola,
flax, barley and rye onto a wooden or Plexiglas background.
The seeds are glued on and, once complete, the piece is
sprayed with varnish to protect and preserve it. No paint is
used. His works, which sell for thousands of dollars, also
hang in Italy, Japan and Paris.
Five years ago, Mr. MacLean's health began to deteriorate.
He lost a toe to diabetes and then his eyesight began to
fail, eventually leaving him legally blind. But the last few
years were also filled with great joy as he became
acquainted with Gillis Cloake, a son he never knew. When Mr.
MacLean was a teenager, his girlfriend had become pregnant
and given the baby up for adoption. Gillis, who lived in
Cape Breton, located his birth mother and learned about his
biological father. He e-mailed Mr. MacLean, they met and
became very close in the short time they had together, his
wife said.
Mr. MacLean recently wrote his memoirs, which he titled Was
It Something We Said? Although it is in draft form, Ms.
MacLean said she hopes to find a publisher and have it
published next year.
To the end, he had remained a champion of the right to
express himself without fear of restriction or the threat of
censorship. His legal battles, she said, had left him
"outraged and infuriated, but motivated to protect their
right to free speech."
BLAIR MacLEAN
Blair Joseph MacLean was born Dec. 2, 1942, in Glace Bay,
N.S. He died Oct. 29, 2008, at Victoria General Hospital in
Winnipeg of a heart attack. He was 65. He is survived by his
wife, Marcia, and by sons Kevin and Gillis. He also leaves
brother Bob, sister Janice and two grandchildren. He was
predeceased by his first wife, Anne, in 1991, and by brother
Gary in 2001.
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