Lost Treasure Found: Donald Duck’s Tribute to Vancouver’s Press Club
Imagine a time when a stiff drink was hard to come by, and journalists needed a secret hideaway to unwind. Back in 1933, that’s exactly why some savvy Vancouver reporters banded together to form the very first Vancouver Press Club, a private watering hole for the city’s “ink-stained wretches.” Fast forward to 1958, as the club approached its 25th anniversary, Michael Dean of The Province newspaper decided to aim high: he wrote to none other than cartoon legend Walt Disney himself, hoping for a special anniversary note.
Incredibly, his bold move paid off! Disney—or at least an artist from his renowned company—responded with a truly unique piece of memorabilia. “Congratulations! 25th anniversary Vancouver Press Club,” the message read, positioned above an adorable sketch of Donald Duck tickling the ivories, accompanied by his mischievous nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie playing a standup bass and flute. What made it even more special? The illustration was hand-colored and signed, “Me Too, Walt Disney.”
A Wall of Cartoon Royalty
This charming illustration found its place of honor, framed and mounted on a wall inside the club at 595 Beatty St. It joined a collection of other congratulatory illustrations from beloved cartoonists of the era, including Blondie (by Chic Young), Archie (by Bob Montana), and Hi and Lois (by Mort Walker and Dik Browne). These cartoons regularly appeared in The Province or Vancouver Sun. Dean’s connection to the companies that syndicated these popular cartoons likely explains how his ambitious request reached the right hands.
The End of an Era, The Beginning of a Hunt
Fast forward again to December 30, 1970. The original Vancouver Press Club closed its doors for good, and its fixtures went up for auction. Among the items, antique dealer Uno Langmann shrewdly purchased the entire collection of cartoons as one lot for just $75. “They were all screwed into the wall, you know, with two screws for each (artwork),” he recalls.
Langmann has carefully preserved these unique cartoons for more than half a century. However, as he approaches his 90th birthday on September 6, he feels it’s time to find them a new permanent home. He has already generously donated 20,000 photos from his vast collection to UBC, and now he’s actively seeking the perfect institution for these precious cartoons. “I held them back, because somebody had obviously made the trouble to contact all the cartoonists,” he explains. “I don’t care if they went to a new press club, but this should be together.”
Alas, a physical press club no longer exists in Vancouver; the last one, located on Granville and West 6th, closed in 1999. The city once had a Newsman’s Club in the basement of the Hotel Georgia, but that too is long gone. Even the more recent Media Club by the CBC shut its doors in 2017.
From “Newspaper Row” to Nicotine-Stained Walls
The original Press Club first opened its doors on March 17, 1933, coinciding with St. Patrick’s Day. While the 1934 city directory (published by The Vancouver Sun) doesn’t list a “Press Club,” it does feature a “Newspaper Club of B.C.,” which was likely its original name.
The Newspaper Club’s address was 119 West Pender, suite 525, located on the top floor of the Shelly building. This was an ideal spot for local reporters and editors, as Pender Street was known as “newspaper row” during that era. The Vancouver Sun operated a few doors down at 125 West Pender, The Province’s printing press was at 189 West Pender, and the city’s third paper, the News-Herald, was located at 414 West Pender.
In 1937, a fire at The Sun’s Pender location forced it to relocate to the iconic Sun Tower at 500 Beatty. Both The Sun and The Province eventually moved out of downtown to the new Pacific Press building at 2250 Granville in 1965. This relocation likely contributed to the slow decline of the Press Club on Beatty Street, which, by all accounts, sounded a bit rough around the edges. Old customer Vern Bethel vividly recalls its “shaggy rug walls that were filled with nicotine” from decades of smokers.
The Mystery of Fraser Wilson’s Art
Despite its somewhat dingy interior, the club housed some truly remarkable memorabilia, including 13 large “oil painted” cartoons by Fraser Wilson. Wilson, a former Sun artist and passionate trade unionist, had been controversially fired during the tumultuous Province newspaper strike of 1946.
Today, Wilson is celebrated for his epic 85-foot-long mural at the Maritime Labour Centre, a powerful depiction of Vancouver’s working waterfront and B.C.’s resource industries around 1947. However, in a December 31, 1970, story, Sun reporter Lorraine Shore described Wilson’s paintings at the Press Club as more modest, illustrating “scenes of junior reporters peering through keyholes and photographers snapping pictures of shapely blonds.” Shore reported that these Wilson paintings were all purchased by Bob Henry of Van-Kam Freightways, costing between $45 and $100 each. Their current whereabouts, sadly, remain unknown. One can only hope that these fascinating pieces of Vancouver’s journalistic and artistic history will also resurface someday.
