Murray McLauchlan on the Sam The Record Man sign:
October 1st, 2013
“Sam Sniderman a.k.a. Sam the Record Man was an important figure at a time when the Canadian Music Industry was just getting on its feet. He was a warm guy who always had a big smile and a hearty greeting. But more than that, he was a champion of Canadian music. He thought it was as good as anything else from anywhere else and he put his business where his heart was. He routinely put Canadian artists in the prominent front of store location along with their display materials. He thought that given the proper chance Canadian records could sell as well as British or American records and by golly, they did!
Sam’s big revolving neon record sign dominated the landscape at Yonge and Dundas and was a familiar landmark to all of us in music and a sign that somebody did care. Sam was an iconic guy. He and Ed Mirvish were very much the same kinds of people; both important to the cultural heritage of Toronto.
We’ve become very good at sacrificing heritage on the twin altars of progress and economy and that is a sad thing to me. When I found out that a plan was afoot to remount the old Sam’s sign at the corner of Yonge and Gould on the wall of the new Ryerson building I was happy. Not just because a touchstone was being preserved but also because an important reminder of who we are when we want to be ourselves would still be smiling down on the passersby.
So a deal was struck and a bargain was made and now there is an attempt to unmake it. Well-if I signed a contract to do a show and all the people were there expecting it and I failed to turn up because I thought the gas was too expensive, I would not be warmly spoken of.
Surely if there were technical and restoration challenges in preserving and mounting this iconic artifact, they would have been well understood when the bargain was made. I can see no reasonable grounds for reversing course. Come on folks! Do the right thing!”
Use our campaign tool to stand up for Toronto’s cultural heritage by emailing your city councillor and urging a solution that will ensure the sign is properly restored, maintained and mounted so that it can be enjoyed by the public.
