GLIMPSES of how Canada worked: a writer's memoir.

34. About magazines

THE SIMPLICITY OF MONTREAL '_  WAS CHARMING. That is a strange word to use for a magazine, but I like things that are simple -- straightforward, easy to understand the first time I encounter them. I like people who are that way, too. 

The inside front cover of Montreal '6_ had the masthead, some credits and an index. In the eighth issue the right-hand page began carrying a small black-and-white photo of Mayor Jean Drapeau and a brief message from him with an English translation. Here's part of the first, in the December 1964 issue:

"The assignment of making Montreal known to the world is well underway. Circulation now exceeds 75,000 copies, distributed in the most influential circles of 95 countries.... The hundreds of letters received each month since the first edition last May contain highly-prized words of congratulation and show clearly the mushrooming interest in our city throughout the world....

"Montreal '65 will move beyond Montreal '64. It is the result of a co-operation which is perhaps unique in municipal annals, joining in effort government departments and agencies, business enterprises, representatives of foreign nations in Ottawa and Montreal, as well as our ambassadors and consuls in every corner of the world. Their generous assistance permitted the magazine to be created and to be circulated more quickly."

How right he was! The creativity, co-operation, collaboration, generosity, joy...the total 'feeling' leading up to the fair was like nothing I had encountered before. Only years later did I learn by chance that some Expo 67 participants did behave like ordinary human beings after all: Jealous, greedy, self-serving. However, in my time I felt the project was a kind of paradise with perfect people loving their work and graciously sharing successes.

At one point, driving around the construction sites on St. Helen's and Notre Dame Islands, with Charlie's Montreal Police press pass to prove we had reason to be there, we found the Helene de Champlain restaurant. Montreal owned it and carefully maintained its beautiful gardens overlooking the St. Lawrence River. When it wasn't being used to entertain VIPs it was open to the public, year round. The walk from the parking lot through pine woods was relaxing, the dining room never crowded, the food excellent and inexpensive. Best of all, the staff was not rushed and obviously enjoyed their work. We went as often as possible. 

Yet in those halcyon days I had my first really unpleasant experience as a freelance writer.

In our new neighbourhood, Snowdon, I noticed very modern stained glass windows in a new French church, St. Antonin's, and stopped at the rectory to ask about them. French stained glass master Gabriel Loire had created and assembled them in Chartres, then shipped them to Montreal for installation by expert John Carstens of Duvernay, Quebec. I felt they deserved a national audience, and wrote a query letter about them to the features editor of Weekend magazine. It was a supplement launched by The Montreal Star  in 1951 and inserted every Saturday into about 40 dailies across the country. 

My query letter was answered promptly with a form rejection letter, so I just did a short piece for The Challenge, illustrated by a black and white photo I took.*

I knew that Weekend  took six weeks moving a story from assignment to publication. Six weeks after its rejection reached me it carried a major feature about St-Antonin's windows, with a couple of large colour shots.

It took me a few days to calm down. I had thrown out the rejection and forgotten who signed it, but to this day I remember the name of the writer (who merely followed his boss's instructions, so I wasn't angry at him).

Charlie and others convinced me that I had sent Weekend's editor too many details. They said a good query is short and sells an idea without giving away key points that make life easy for a plagiarist. Sample query letters online today are incredibly wordy, and oh so cute, playful, even seductive. Come OFF it!! No editor has the patience to read bumpf, or the time.