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Nobody really knows what happened to theater magnate Ambrose Small.
Katie Daubs talks about her book The Missing Millionaire at London Central Library on Tuesday 4th October 2022. The book, about the mysterious disappearance of theater owner Ambrose Small, is the basis of a play which opens October 18 at the Grand Theater in London, once one of Small’s estates. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
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Nobody really knows what happened to theater magnate Ambrose Small.
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And for Toronto journalist and author Katie Daubs, all the drama surrounding the businessman is one of the reasons the mystery surrounding his disappearance is still resonating with people – even more than 100 years after he was last seen alive.
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“Ambrose Small has never been found to this day,” said Daubs, author of The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed With Finding Him.
“There were a lot of interesting theories and tight choices, but we never had an opportunity to point and say, ‘That’s what happened to Ambrose Small,’ and I think that’s why this story remains fascinating is.”
Daubs was in London on Tuesday to give a talk at the Central Library on her 2019 book. It was used as source material for the Grand Theatre’s new play Grand Ghosts which opens on 18 October.
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Small, whose dubious business practices earned him more than one enemy, was a wealthy man who owned a chain of Ontario theaters that included London’s Grand, believed to be Small’s favorite property.
Ambrose Small, owner of London’s Grand Theater and a number of other theatres, went missing in 1919. His disappearance has led to a new play opening at the Grand on October 18.
He disappeared on December 2, 1919, the day after he sold his chain to Montreal-based Trans-Canada Theaters Ltd for $1.75 million in what Daubs called Small’s “biggest deal of his life.”
The last person to see Small alive was London lawyer Edward Flock, who helped Small complete the sale in Toronto, a deal that took place after Small’s wife Theresa found out about one of Small’s alleged multiple love affairs.
“It’s kind of a phase that’s happening right now: There’s this longtime love affair, there’s this angry wife who doesn’t want to be screwed by a husband who hasn’t done anything but fool around for a very long time,” Daubs said.
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And “when he disappeared, it was immediately a sensational story because people had heard rumors and knew he had many enemies,” she added.
The intrigue surrounding Small’s disappearance is portrayed in Grand Ghosts, written by playwright Trina Davies. It tells the story through the eyes of ghosts that haunt the Grand and come together to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Small.
The play also draws on the stories told by actors and staff at the Richmond Street venue over the decades of eerie noises and strange occurrences and sightings in the theater, all attributed to the ghost of Small.
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![Ambrose Klein.]()
The Legend of the Ghostly Grand Theater highlights the next season just introduced
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![The Grand Theatre's Artistic Director Dennis Garnhum sits on the balcony of the Richmond Street Theater in London. (file photo)]()
New grand theater play focusing on ghosts, the mystery of Ambrose Small
The play “is fairly accurate in its portrayal of the story as it happened, but then of course it adds a more theatrical flair,” said Breanne Ritchie, the Grand’s education manager.
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“The show is very light and comedic, but it does i.eI have into the true story.”
Production on the play began back in 2019 and was announced on the anniversary of Small’s disappearance.
Small’s association with the Grand is one of the reasons it made sense for the local theater house to put the show together, Ritchie said.
“To have that close connection to the Grand, it’s just a story that needs to be told,” she said.
“And I think timewise it’s a really great way to invite people back to The Grand.”
Grand Ghosts runs from October 18th to November 5th. Visit www.grandtheatre.com for more information.
jjuha@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/JuhaatLFPress
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