George Di Carlo, paintings on Prince Edward Island

COURTESY OF SUSAN SAUNDERSON

Finding four paintings by George Di Carlo, the majority of which were painted on Prince Edward Island, began a search for information about Di Carlo and his career as a painter.

An obituary from 2007 confirms that the career of George Di Carlo (1926-2007) had been based in Montreal and that he had family members in Toronto.

Obituary George Di Carlo. Age eighty-one, after a debilitating stroke, died May 14 at the Montreal General Hospital. Montreal has lost a gentle, delightfully joyous, free-spirited, immensely talented artist, whose love for great Renaissance art informed so much of his work. He was a muralist, and decorative master, whose work graces the homes of many grateful residents in Montreal, London, and New York. His clients included the Ritz Carleton, Queen Elizabeth and Chateau Frontenac hotels. A step inside the Globe Building - 1350 Sherbrooke Street West - reveals a floor to ceiling masterpiece, an inspired depiction of the signs of he zodiac, rendered in marquetry, unlike anything to be seen anywhere on the planet outside of Italy - a Montreal treasure. George will be missed by adoring members of his family in Toronto, and his many Montreal friends who were privileged to spend time in the company of a supremely modest, angelic clown, when laughter reined supreme. His family and friends wish to thank the Royal Victoria Emergency, and the kind staff on the 14th floor of the Montreal General Hospital. Contributions to the Stroke and Heart Foundation, the Royal Victoria Hospital Foundation, and the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, would be appreciated by the family. There will be no funeral service: a memorial event is being planned to take place soon in Montreal.

Published in The Gazette, Montreal from May 16 to May 19, 2007.

George Di Carlo became a family friend of Flora & Keith Rogers in Charlottetown and when the family opened a new transmission tower in North River for their radio station, CFCY which was billed as The Friendly Voice of the Maritimes, George provided a painting of the new transmission facilities during a summer visit. The painting of the towers was inherited by their son William Keith Rogers (1921-2019) and his wife Laurette Boissoneault, who were longtime Montreal residents.

George's interest in both Zen Buddhism and the Baháʼí faith would have made him a comfortable visitor in the Roger's household in Charlottetown as Flora Rogers maintained contact and supported members of the fledgling Baháʼí community on PEI as it was becoming established. She was a member of Trinity United Church in Charlottetown, with a strong interest in personal spiritual growth. Baháʼí teachings note the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. 

Four painting owned by the Rogers family include:

George Di Carlo - At McGeana Farm Vernon Bridge PEI
The identification of farm name is still tentative based on unclear writing.
 

George Di Carlo - Rocky Point Wharf, Charlottetown, PEI 

George Di Carlo - 1950 CFCY New Towers, North River PEI

George Di Carlo - 1951
Location is not identified but shows reddish soil
and a waterfront scene suggesting coastal activity. 

An article on his career was published July 8, 2007 by The Gazette in Montreal

An accomplished artist who worked for love, not money

‘ He was basically a happy man who carried his happiness with him’ said a friend

• Montreal Gazette
• 8 Jul 2007
• ALAN HUSTAK THE GAZETTE

George di Carlo was an accomplished muralist and painter responsible for the lavish interior decor of a number of hotels and restaurants across Canada, including the Queen Elizabeth Hotel as well as the Royal Suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal, the Hotel Vancouver and the Banff Springs Hotel.

He was 80 when he died in the Montreal General Hospital May 14, following a stroke.

“He had a fascination with mythological creatures and all the imagery that goes with it. He was influenced by the Italian renaissance and an expert at trompe l’oeil,” said Robert Verrall, a NFB filmmaker and friend who studied art with di Carlo.

“He was proud of his murals and of his chinoisorie. He was basically a happy man who carried his happiness with him. When he walked into a room, people brightened.

“He might have been much more commercially successful, but his modesty kept him poor.”

George di Carlo, the youngest of eight children in an Italian immigrant’s family was born in Belleville, Ont., June 29, 1926. His father worked for the Canadian National Railway. His brothers were all trained as tool and die makers, but di Carlo chose to attend the Ontario College of Art where he was awarded the Governor-General’s medal for general proficiency in 1946. He studied fresco painting in New York and in 1948 was commissioned to decorate a house in Westmount.

He lived in Japan for several years and studied Zen Buddhism and B’Hai. In the 1970s he lived in Europe where he started executing large scale works for interiors of hotels and restaurants as well as the homes of the rich and famous. He spent a year decorating the walls and ceilings of a London mansion for Lady Baille, the U.S.-born heiress who restored Leeds Castle in England, and decorated a New York apartment for Versace, the acclaimed fashion designer. His most lucrative commission was for a royal palace in Saudi Arabia.

“He was such a magical person. He never liked the idea of using mechanical devices when he worked. He said anyone could use a machine,” his niece, Marie LeBlanc, said.

“He liked being an original, one of a kind. He continuously reminded us that there is only one original.”

He rarely signed his own name to his works, using instead the name of the Greek god Proteus, who changed his shape at will.

The marquetry depicting the signs of the zodiac fashioned from Hawaiian Koa Flex wood in the Globe building at 1350 Sherbrooke St. W. in Montreal is considered one of his masterworks.

One of his patrons, Mike Rosenbloom, described di Carlo as an “incredibly talented, creative and discriminating.

“It took him two years to complete the marquetry,” Rosenbloom added.

“He painted furniture for us, wooden screens, doors, all kinds of things. I tried for years to get him to do paintings to sell, but he wasn’t interested. He did things he wanted to do and if he wasn’t interested in a commission, he wouldn’t do it. Things he liked, often he’d do practically gratis.”

Susan Saunderson, another of di Carlo’s friends, said: “He was one of those artists who lived on an abstract plane.”

“He was courtly, elegant – gentilezza is the word in Italian that best describes him. He was a mischievous angel with a gentle, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, sense of humour.”

Di Carlo also illustrated horoscope calendars for the International Astrological Society.

“He never allowed anyone to watch him work. He was very quick, very good, very generous,” said his long-time friend, Sam Ferstman.

“Sometimes he’d do a painting, and if he liked the customer he wouldn’t charge for his work, even when he didn’t have the money and couldn’t afford to give his paintings away. He could be generous to a fault.”

He had a vast library, enjoyed opera and classical music, and although he owned a television rarely watched anything other than the weather channel.

A memorial service is planned for the fall.

-------------------

With almost no changes, the National Post also published the article on July 10, 2007 with another picture of George di Carlo

Muralist decorated famed hotels and restaurants

JOHN KENNEY / CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

George di Carlo enjoyed creating his Italian Renaissance-inspired murals and paintings so much that he would often refuse to accept payment from customers. “He might have been commercially successful,” one friend said, “but his modesty kept him poor.”

100th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting on PEI - A Talk by Ian Scott

100th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting on PEI

A talk give by Ian Scott at Government House, Charlottetown, PEI

April 14, 2021

The MC for the event was broadcaster Kathy Large,
 a granddaughter of Keith S. Rogers.

Your Honour, Ladies & Gentlemen

It is a great honour to be here today at the location of a ground-breaking event, one century ago; the day when an international broadcast received here, provided proof that the emerging technology of long-range radio transmission had arrived.

The event we are celebrating, we now understand, was the dawn of broadcast media and all that has followed.  

Ian Scott

Betty Rogers Large or her sister Marianne both 2^nd generation broadcasters might ask us at this point to, “Put on your pretenders boys and girls.” And if you will, we can almost imagine the excitement building as the group on March 11, 1921 gather in the Provincial Technical School at the Rena MacLean Memorial Hospital on the Fanningbank estate, with Keith Rogers, their instructor, as they hear that first broadcast come faintly and haltingly, and then as clear as a whistle. Young veterans of the Great War in the prime of their lives, some carrying visible and invisible scars of war, some beginning new jobs as they turn dials on homemade equipment and eventually succeed at tuning in a musical broadcast from similar students at Union College in Schenectady, NY. 

Keith Sinclair Rogers (1892-1954)

A week later – the excitement builds as local dignitaries included the mayor, premier, most of the Provincial Cabinet,  several judges and business owners gather for a repeat performance this time using a gramophone horn so they don’t have to share headphones. Harder to connect this time -- but  with special greetings included for the PEI audience from New York it was a success. That same week, was equally exciting for the Rogers family as they welcomed the arrival of their son, a welcome brother for their two girls.

Wireless already existed in Charlottetown with teenage “hams” like Rogers on Morse code keys from at least 1907. Internationally, wireless Morse code saved 706 passengers from the sinking Titanic in 1912. Dots and dashes out of thin air were amazing enough, but it was a bold discovery that sent sounds through the air across vast distances.

The first scheduled broadcast happened in Pittsburgh the prior year as fledgling stations launched – ones that could even reach an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

For Keith Rogers it began as a young militia member over homemade transmitters at the age of 15. By 17 he was issued a license for a wireless station at the Charlottetown Armoury in 1909, (just across Government Pond.) The same year he worked as wireless operator aboard the icebreaker Minto. At Camp Petawawa, age 19, he and his squad built the first portable wireless equipment for the Canadian Army. Portable meant two horses to carry, and four men to move it.

Keith S. Rogers at Camp Petawawa

Rogers like his father worked in the family insurance business and followed his dad as commanding officer of the No. 12  Signalling Unit, a local militia group. WW I saw his young family posted to Halifax, with regular forces as signals officer at Citadel Hill. After surviving the 1917 Halifax Explosion, his wife and two daughters, were sent home while Keith remained in Halifax.

On PEI, Government House was turned over to the war effort, as a convalescent hospital for veterans with construction of the Rena MacLean Memorial Hospital next door for additional beds. As the post-war focus turned from convalescent to rehabilitation, it housed the Provincial Technical School.

Keith Roger at war end, was beginning to see the potential for wireless as a civilian means of communication. An amateur radio operator, with military experience, his skills were soon put to use by the Provincial Technical School at Fanningbank teaching a course on electricity and wireless radio, where he also formed a radio club. It was Friday – as the group turned their dial and located the signal from far away - the broadcast from students at Union College in Schenectady, NY.  Union College campus station, WRUC, exists today - available worldwide, streaming on the internet.

Several months after the 1921 broadcast, Rogers began broadcasting himself locally with announcements and phonograph music. The Charlottetown Radio Association was formed to gain a club license in 1923 so members could broadcast using that license. Walter Burke started broadcasting church services from Trinity Church in Charlottetown on Jan 25th 1925, as the second church in Canada to do so. Rogers was in business selling radio receivers to the public, and wanted to add broadcasting to the operation so in 1925 the first commercial radio license in Eastern Canada was issued to his radio business with the call letters CFCY. He planned for TV broadcasting on PEI, and his family completed that after his death, with CFCY-TV signing on the air on July 1, 1956. His life’s work of connecting people through “the Friendly Voice of the Maritimes” was realized and these stations continue today with Maritime Broadcasting the current owners of CFCY/Q93 and CBC purchasing the television operations.

Broadcasting united Islanders in new ways as they shared the music of Don Messer and his Islanders with all the country. It  relayed educational programs, farm broadcasts, radio drama, music, news and weather (not to mention Hockey Night in Canada), to the region. Long-range forecasts made a huge difference to farmers cutting hay, and were a matter of life or death to fishers hauling traps long before alternatives emerged.

From early church broadcasts to the current level of content available through myriad broadcast and streaming platforms, the Island has been an active participant in a new era that began at Fanningbank, one hundred years ago. 

The Honourable Antoinette Perry
Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island

See CBC coverage including video from the event.

100th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting on PEI - Background Material

100^th Anniversary of Radio Broadcasting on PEI

Background Material

by Ian Scott, March 2021

An international broadcast of music received by a local group in Charlottetown, provided proof that the emerging technology of long-range radio transmission had arrived; it marked the dawn of broadcast media.  

On March 11, 1921 gathered in the Provincial Technical School at the Rena MacLean Memorial Hospital on the Fanningbank estate, with Keith Rogers, their instructor, were a group of students that received a broadcast of concert music. Young veterans of the Great War in the prime of their lives, some carrying the scars of war, some beginning new jobs turned dials and then succeeded at tuning in a musical broadcast from similar students at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

A week later, local dignitaries gathered for a repeat performance, this time with special greetings included for the PEI audience from the New Yorkers.

Wireless already existed in Charlottetown with teenage “hams” like Rogers on Morse code keys from at least 1907. Internationally, wireless Morse code saved 706 passengers from the sinking Titanic in 1912. The discovery that sounds could also be sent across vast distances using radio waves launched a new era of broadcasting.  

The first scheduled broadcast happened in Pittsburgh the prior year as fledgling stations launched – ones that could even reach an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Keith S. Rogers at Camp Petawawa age 19

For Keith Rogers the interest in radio began as a young militia member with Morse code over homemade transmitters at the age of 15. By 17 he was issued a license for a wireless station at the Charlottetown Armoury in 1909, the same year he worked as wireless operator aboard the icebreaker Minto. At Camp Petawawa, age 19, he and his squad built the first portable wireless Morse code equipment for the Canadian Army. Portable meant two horses to carry, and four men to move it.

Keith Sinclair Rogers

Rogers like his father worked in the family insurance business and followed his dad as commanding officer of the No. 12  Signalling Unit, a local militia group. WW I saw his young family posted to Halifax NS, with regular forces as signals officer at Citadel Hill. After surviving the 1917 Halifax Explosion, his wife and two daughters, were sent home while Keith Rogers remained in Halifax.

On PEI, Government House was turned over to the war effort, as a convalescent hospital for veterans with construction of the Rena MacLean Memorial Hospital next door for additional beds. As the post-war focus turned from convalescent to rehabilitation, it housed the Provincial Technical School.

Keith Roger at war end, was beginning to see the potential for wireless as a civilian means of communication. An amateur radio operator, with military experience, his skills were soon put to use by the Provincial Technical School at Fanningbank teaching a course on electricity and wireless radio, where he also formed a radio club. It was Friday – as the group turned their dial and located the signal from far away - the broadcast from students at the first college radio station, Union College in Schenectady, NY.  Union College campus station, WRUC, exists today - available worldwide, streaming on the internet.

Several months after the 1921 broadcast, Rogers began broadcasting locally with announcements and phonograph music. The Charlottetown Radio Association was formed to gain a club license in 1923 so members could broadcast using that license. Walter Burke started broadcasting church services from Trinity Church in Charlottetown on Jan 25th 1925, as the second church in Canada to do so. Rogers was in business selling radio receivers to the public, and wanted to add broadcasting to the operation so in 1925 the first commercial radio license in Eastern Canada was issued to his radio business with the call letters CFCY. He planned for TV broadcasting on PEI, and his family completed that after his death, with CFCY-TV signing on July 1, 1956. His life’s work of connecting people through the airwaves of “the Friendly Voice of the Maritimes” was realized and these stations continue today with Maritime Broadcasting the current owners of CFCY/Q93 and CBC purchasing the television operations.

Broadcasting united Islanders in new ways as they shared the music of Don Messer and his Islanders with all the country. It  relayed educational programs, farm broadcasts, radio drama, music, news and weather (not to mention Hockey Night in Canada), to the region. Long-range forecasts made a huge difference to farmers cutting hay, and were a matter of life or death to fishers hauling traps long before alternates emerged.

From early church broadcasts to the current level of content available through myriad broadcast platforms, the Island has been an active participant in a new era that began at Fanningbank, one hundred years ago today. 

Honouring 100 years of broadcasting on PEI at a ceremony held at Government House in 2021

See more about the event with pictures.
See CBC coverage including video from the event.

The Bible Christian Church - from Benjamin Bremner, An Island Scrapbook

From Benjamin Bremner, An Island Scrap Book - Historical and Traditional, published by Irwin Printing, Charlottetown: 1932, page 109

The Bible Christian Church in Prince Edward Island, under the pastorate of the Rev. Francis Metherall.  The latter was appointed by the Conference of the Bible Christian Connection of Cornwall, England, as a missionary to this Island in 1831 and set sail for the scene of his labors in 1832, arriving after a voyage of nearly two months in Bedeque, from whence he journeyed to Winslow Road where he began his labors as a missionary.  

Among the people in this vicinity were the well known families of Ayers, Esserys, Bryentons, McCoubreys, Yeos, Pickards, Holmans, Turners, etc. Mr. Metherall labored earnestly and successfully for many years and established connections in almost all sections of the Island except for Charlottetown. He died June 1875 at the age of 84 years having been 53 years in the ministry. The Charlottetown connections were established in January 1857 with Rev Cephas Barker as its first minister.

The large building on Prince Street nearly opposite Trinity United Church was the home of the congregation and was dedicated in August 1858.  

The following were the Charlottetown ministers up to the time of the Union of the four divisions of the Methodist Church: 

• Revs. Cephas Barker -1856,
• John Chappell -1865, 
• George Webber -1870, 
• William S Pascoe -1870,
• John Harris -1870,
• S H Rice -about 1880.  

(Mr. Pascoe was considered by the townspeople generally as a prince among preachers.  Of course it is well known that the United Church of Canada was not in existence until many years later.)

The Church building was afterwards disposed of and renamed The Lyceum, being thenceforth used as a theatre or for public entertainment, political meetings, ect, the lower front being turned into a grocery conducted by the late Michael Duffy Sr.

Referring to Mr. Duffy I’m reminded of a rather good story concerning him and the late lamented Rev William Dobson DD.  The latter was for some time pastor for the First Methodist Church, living in the parsonage where the Heartz Memorial Hall now stands.  Between Dr. Dobson and Mr. Duffy a very warm friendship existed and many a merry quip passed between the two, for Methodist Minister and a very devout Roman Catholic.  The story tells how Dr. Dobson stepped into Duffys shop one fine morning and asked “Duffy, can you give me a good Protestant turnip?” The other replied “Faith I can” and going to the cellar soon returned with a very horrible specimen, full of hairs, cleavages, and divisions and placing it in front of his reverence said “There ye are” Dr. Dobson responded with “Duffy you had me that time.”!