Peak and Decline

From the end of Expo 67 in October 1967 to the spring of 1968, The New Penelope hosted an impressive program of different bands each week. This included Jesse Winchester, The James Cotton Blues Band, Muddy Waters, The Fugs, Ian and Sylvia, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, and Linn County. The schedule even extended to include weekend jazz sessions, stretching into the early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, the club began having financial difficulties that several newspapers started to report on.

We try to bring the best contemporary popular music artists and groups to Montreal, but we don’t get the public support we need. It’s as if people have become very resistant to anything new, and now more than ever is the time for people to show if they want something like the New Penelope. If they want it, let them show it, otherwise we’ll go out of business.

― La Presse, v. 84, no 196, August 22, 1968

A vertical clipping from a newspaper with the title Pour sauver le New Penelope.

La Presse, Aug. 22, 1968

A black and white newspaper advertisement for a concert at the McGill Union Ballroom.

McGill Daily, Oct. 17, 1968

Black and white clipping from a newspaper showing an article with the title Complacency has killed The Pen.

The Gazette, Nov. 9, 1968

For Gary’s inner circle, however, the difficulties were no surprise. They all agree that he always put his passion for music before financial management.

Gary Eisenkraft’s New Penelope on Sherbrooke Street near Bleury is currently in deep financial trouble and that’s unfortunate because it’s the only place in town for rock, blues and folk fans.

― McGill Free Press, September 19, 1968

Society for the Preservation of The New Penelope

Letter to The New Penelope membership owners, August 22, 1968

In June 1968, a group of business people and supporters formed the Society for the Preservation of The New Penelope (SPNP). It was a fundraising committee determined to support The New Penelope, and pay off its debts. Everyone joined the fight! A public membership campaign was launched and aired on CFOX radio, for three weeks. Meanwhile, university newspapers were encouraging audiences to attend more New Penelope shows.

A black and white ticket stub printed on yellow paper, partially torn.

Ticket stub for the “Big Blues” benefit concert at McGill Student Union Ballroom held on October 24, 1968

Black and white newspaper ad advertising a benefit concert for The New Penelope held at the McGill Student Center.

Ad for the “Light Show” benefit concert at McGill Student Union Ballroom held on September 15, 1968

During the Fall of 1968, the SPNP hosted three benefit concerts shown at the McGill Student Union Ballroom featuring such popular bands as John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers from the U.K. and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee from the U.S.

Despite these collective efforts, they were unable to raise the targeted amount of money. The New Penelope had to close its doors, after two short years of operation on Sherbrooke Street. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee officially closed The New Penelope on October 26. Pierre Huet, a New Penelope fan, recounts the unexpected ending of that mythical night:

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “The last show as told by Pierre Huet”.

After he [Gary] locked up The New Penelope on its final night in late 1968, he turned around to find blues’ great Paul Butterfield waiting to walk him home.

― “Gary Eisenkraft,” a tribute written shortly after his passing by Harriet Eisenkraft, Gary’s sister, The Globe and Mail, March 3, 2005

Thus ends this first chapter of Gary’s career, as a music promoter and entrepreneur. It is possible there was not enough interest in the genres of music he presented – folk, blues, avant-garde rock. The audience was not always there in large enough numbers to cover The New Penelope’s expenses. Arguably, a liquor license would have very much helped his clubs’ finances.

Richard King, a childhood friend and employee of Gary, remembers Gary’s untarnishable passion for music through the years, despite the challenges:

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “Richard King reflects on Gary’s career”.

An article spread across one and a third pages of The Montrealer magazine, on the subject of the closing of The New Penelope and featuring a dark black and white image of a reflective-looking Gary Eisenkraft smoking a cigarette.

Article in The Montrealer paying tribute to The New Penelope, December 1968

The closing of The New Penelope was greeted with sadness in the local media, with the magazine The Montrealer declaring that “Montreal will be the poorer for its passing.” However, even though Gary’s clubs were only open for a few short years, the mark they made is clear from the memories that so many people still have to share about them decades later. The New Penelope, after all, was part of the cultural and artistic revolution of the 1960s. Inspired by their experiences in places such as The New Penelope, a whole new generation of young Canadians emerged, helping to make modern Canadian culture what it has become today.

Blues Legends at The New Penelope Credits and Acknowledgements