Grampa Mike's early life was marked by his work on the IH farm machinery assembly line in Chicago before World War I. He later opened a candy store in Chatham, Ontario, where he met the beautiful Rosamund Moore, who would become his wife, affectionately known as "Grandma Rosie". Together, they had three sons.
Mike's passion for the entertainment industry led him to follow in the footsteps of his countrymen, Spyros Skouras and Alexander Pantages, and he went on to build a handful of theatres, including Sarnia's original Imperial, which had 800 seats and was half the size of Toronto's Pantages Theatre, now known as the Canon Theatre. Unfortunately, the Imperial was destroyed by a triple tornado in 1953.
On the other hand, My Great Uncle Jack Logan managed the Capital Vaudeville Theatre in London, Ontario, which was also demolished, this time by a wrecking ball. However, the Sarnia Imperial lives on as a community auditorium at the former Famous Players/Paramount Capital, near the library and museum, and our 19th Century gabled brick house on Queen Street, where public grade-school classes integrated Native children from Kettle Point, Ipperwash, Walpole Island, and other First Nations.
I attended school at Sarnia's Collegiate Institute, where I was classmates with novelist Marian Engle and veteran news-anchor Tony Parsons. I always knew I was destined for the stage after my high-school idol, Soupy Sales, drove 60 miles from WXYZ Detroit to emcee a talent show. Soupy Sales was the hippest, funniest man alive in 1954, making us laugh with his zany antics akin to Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey, both of whom I've worked with on films.
The Soup was also a hipster blues and jazz aficionado, hosting a wild Monday to Friday midnight "Soupy's On" variety show featuring stars like Dizzy Gillespie, Al Hibler, and T-Bone Walker, sandwiched between his hilarious comedy sketches like "Gaylord the Mississippi Gambler on the SS Kielbasa" featuring Flash Gordon and the Polka Chips.
