Mac Turner in a publicity photo in the late 1960s.

W.M. (Mac) Turner

1904–1971

Mac Turner was a prominent dance orchestra leader, pianist and accordionist in Ottawa for over 40 years, more than 30 of them as a member of Local 180.

Mac Turner’s early career was shaped by the social activities that were popular in Ottawa in the 1930s. People gathered for club meetings, public lectures, annual dinners for various organizations and other community events. These often featured community singing (singalongs) and other entertainment, followed by dinner and dancing to live music. Summer and New Year’s dances were also popular.

By at least 1933, Mr. Turner had established his dance orchestra, which at times was augmented to 13 players. His name appeared frequently in the social pages of the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Journal, along with mentions of his performances on piano or accordion or leading his orchestra at community events. In these years, his orchestra performed at the 100 Club, the Lions Club, the Aylmer Aquatic Club, the Rideau Aquatic Club, the Gyro Club, the Château Laurier and for Ottawa’s first Mardi Gras.

In the 1930s, he also gave radio broadcasts for CBO Ottawa and CKCO Ottawa, sometimes as an accordionist but more often under the program name “Mac Turner’s Orchestra.” His group primarily played swing dance music but in later years also performed square dance music as “Mac Turner and His Old Timers.” He and his orchestra also performed in vaudeville-inspired takeoffs for concerts in hospitals.

At the height of its popularity in the 1940s, his dance orchestra had regular engagements at Lakeside Gardens (Britannia Park), the Ottawa Tennis Club, the Red Triangle Club (YMCA), Trafalgar House, the Ottawa Rowing Club, the Britannia Boating Club, the Coliseum and The Hollywood. In the early 1950s, his orchestra sometimes performed as “Mac Turner and his Mellotones.”

He advertised as an accordion teacher in the mid-1940s and was featured on the teaching roster for the Delroy School of Music on Rideau St. in 1950 and 1951.

A highlight of his career was his seven-piece band playing square dance music for Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh at Government House. This was during the royal couple’s five-week tour of Canada in October 1951.

The event was a private square dance party for about 80 guests. The Ottawa Journal reported that the “from the first square called by Tony Griffin, … the Royal couple entered into the swing of things.” It added, “Adept from childhood in the quadrilles and folk dances of Scotland, she was an apt pupil. Mac Turner, leader of the seven-piece band that accompanied the dancing, was a wide-eyed witness of her skill. ‘It was amazing,’ he said. ‘Her Highness was one jump ahead of Mr. Griffin all night. The boys in the band were speechless.’”

Mac Turner was involved with Kiwanis for many years, contributing as a singer, soloist, band leader or master of ceremonies for several of its events. He also performed in hospitals and for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, sometimes with sponsorship from the Music Performance Trust Fund.

In the 1960s, with public tastes changing, Mr. Turner had regular engagements playing the piano and the Hammond organ for dining establishments and hotels, including the Orleans Hotel, the Maple Leaf Hotel, the Alexandra Hotel and the Red Den Lounge of the Grand Hotel. He was performing nightly at La Grillade at the St. Laurent Centre in 1970 a few months before his death.

Kevin James