By: Rénald Fortier
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
“Like our ancestors the Normans, let us drink cider!” A brief overview of the history of Christin Limitée, a Québec soft drink producer which lasted for more than a century, under various names, Part 2
An advertisement from J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, promoting its champagne cider. Anon., “J. Christin & Company Limited.” Le Devoir, 12 April 1928, 4.
Did you celebrate the championship won in 1927 by the softball team of soft drink producer J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, my reading friend? Did you celebrate too much? The history of that firm is so fascinating that it will get you back on your feet in two shakes of a lamb’s tail or, as we say in French, en deux coups de cuillère à pot. Let us get started.
Would you like to see an advertisement of our firm from that era? […] Wunderbar! Why not three? There were so many after all.
An advertisement from J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, promoting its Imperial Dry Ginger Ale. Anon., “J. Christin & Company Limited.” La Patrie, 16 June 1928, 14.
An advertisement from J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, promoting its champagne cider. Anon., “J. Christin & Company Limited.” Le Devoir, 13 December 1928, 6.
An advertisement from J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the firm. Anon., “J. Christin & Company Limited.” Le Petit Journal, 31 August 1930, 11.
Before I forget, here is the brand image which was on all of those advertisements. Felinophiles should probably look away while they move on to the rest of this peroration.
Reproduction of the brand image of J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec. Anon., “–.” La Presse, 25 August 1930, 21.
By the time the August 1930 advertisement appeared in the weekly Le Petit Journal of Montréal, the good people of that city no longer felt like laughing. The Great Depression was beginning to hit harder and harder. People were looking for ways to forget the darkness around them.
As you might have expected, the 75th anniversary of J. Christin & Compagnie did not go unnoticed. The important Montréal daily La Presse published a lavishly illustrated 2-page article on that firm in an August 1930 issue.
Said article contained a list of the many products on sale at that time. Here is its content: Apple Nectar, Cerise Phosphatée, Cidre de Pommes, Cidre Mousseux Spécial, Cidre Régulier, Cream Soda, Dandy Ginger Ale, Dry Ginger Ale, Eau Gazéifiée, Eau Minérale Vienna, Fraise, Framboise, Ginger Ale Régulier, Ginger Beer, Grape Soda, Iron Brew, Kola, Limonade, Mixed Tonic, Orangeade and Sarsaparilla.
By the way, Iron Brew or Ironbrew was a soft drink of American origin (1889?). Sarsaparilla, for its part, was another beverage of American origin (1820s? 1810s??), made from the dried bark of the root of a vine, the eponymously-named sarsaparilla / Honduran sarsaparilla / Jamaican sarsaparilla, or birch oil, depending on availability or taste. Bon appétit tout le monde!
Would you like to see several photographs of the tooling and installations of J. Christin & Compagnie as it celebrated its 75th anniversary, reader friend? And yes, you are right, this question was indeed purely rhetorical. You are going to get them whether you like it or not.
The bottling machine of J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec. Anon., “Soixante-quinze années de progrès.” La Presse, 25 August 1930, 21.
The laboratory of J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, directed by Georges Pelletier, one of the sons of the firm’s president, J. Albert Pelletier. Anon., “Soixante-quinze années de progrès.” La Presse, 25 August 1930, 21.
In 1935, a Montréal daily less well known than La Presse, L’Illustration, published 3 one-page articles in 3 issues published in July, during the 80th anniversary of J. Christin & Compagnie. Yours truly wonders how an 80th birthday could be interesting. It might have been a disguised infomercial. With the Great Depression hitting hard, any publicity was good publicity.
Indeed, the Montréal radio station CHLP, owned by a third Montréal daily, La Patrie, itself owned by La Presse, broadcasted a program called J.C. Christin & Cie for several weeks, on Mondays and Tuesdays in May and June 1936, I think.
Hoping to increase its turnover, J. Christin & Compagnie became, in November 1937, the exclusive distributor for the Montréal region of the products of La Brasserie Champlain Limitée of Québec, Québec, a brewery whose porter was well known in Québec, yes the province, and a firm mentioned in a July 2022 issue of our stupendous and tremendous blog / bulletin / thingee.
Yours truly wonders if J. Christin & Compagnie was going through somewhat difficult times at that time. You see, Montréal businessman / trader Albert Hudon, yes, yes, the Hudon mentioned in the first part of this article, seemed to take over in November 1938. In fact, the firm seemed to be reorganised at that time.
A reading of the daily newspapers published a few years later makes me think that the president of the firm before the transfer of powers, J. Albert Pelletier, was then feeling the early effects of the illness which would take him away in November 1944, at the age of 67.
No doubt hoping to increase its turnover, the new management of J. Christin & Compagnie undertook in May 1939 to sponsor not one but two radio programs broadcasted by CHLP.
Le Nectar du Matin appeared to be a morning music show broadcasted Monday to Friday between May 1939 and February 1940, I think.
Les aventures de deux célibataires, on the other hand, was a weekly radio serial launched in June 1938 which in October became a daily program broadcasted from Monday to Friday, always in the evening of course. The last episode of that radio serial aired at some point in the summer of April 1939.
I had hoped that this work was a French-language radio version of Curios: Some Strange Adventures of Two Bachelors, a collection of 7 short stories published in 1898 by a renowned author of detective novels from Victorian England, Richard Bernard Heldmann, better known by his pen name, Richard Marsh. The stories in question were alternately narrated by 2 rival bachelor collectors of strange and sometimes dangerous objects, Mr. Pugh and Mr. Tress, who were both the best friends and worst enemies in the world, a tiny bit like Leonard Horatio “Bones” McCoy and S’Chn T’Gai Spock. (Hello, SB, EG and EP!)
I was out to lunch.
Les aventures de deux célibataires was in fact a humorous radio serial, apparently pretty popular, whose “heroes” were Séraphin Beauséjour and Théodule Beauparlant, two unlucky hardened bachelors and long-time friends who lived in the village of Sainte-Anastasie.
One is entitled to wonder if the residents of the parish of Sainte-Anastasie, near Lyster, Québec, laughed as much as everyone else, but back to Les aventures de deux célibataires.
Three important characters from the radio serial Les aventures de deux célibataires in March 1939. From left to right, Séraphin Beauséjour, played by Claude Sutton, Théodule Beauparlant, played by Ernest Guimond, and their friend Anatole Marcassin, played by Gérard Tremblay. Anon., “‘Les Deux Célibataires’ à CHLP.” Radiomonde, 1 March 1939, 5.
The author of that radio serial was a certain Jean Bart, pronounced Barr, not Bartt. In fact, that person was none other than Ernest Guimond, a renowned Québec actor / playwright / screenwriter / writer. And yes, Guimond played the role of Beauparlant.
It should be noted that the actor who played the role of Beauséjour, Claude Sutton, was the artistic director of CHLP, but now back to our soft drinks.
Charles Auguste Gascon. Anon., “Une industrie de chez-nous – Christin Limitée.” Le Mouvement ouvrier, 1948. (Montréal: Éditions de la L.O.C., 1948), 183.
A Montréal merchant and industrialist, the president of the Association des épiciers détaillants de Montréal in fact, Charles Auguste Gascon, acquired J. Christin & Compagnie at the beginning of August 1939.
While the new president intended to maintain the production of the firm’s big sellers, he nevertheless wished to launch the production of at least one new product, a sparkling nectar, a drink made from apple concentrate which was becoming increasingly popular.
The truth was that Gascon thought big. He purchased modern tooling in order to increase production. According to the new owner, the old management could only respond to 40% of the orders which came in, and this despite the fact that the production capacity of J. Christin & Compagnie was close, it was said, to 100 000 bottles per day
Indeed, J. Christin & Company inaugurated with great fanfare an ultra-modern bottling unit in July 1940. And was customary at that time, the parish priest of the neighborhood parish of the roman catholic church, the Sainte-Marguerite-Marie parish, Father Joseph Arthur Berthiaume, blessed the facilities. And here is proof…
The blessing of the new bottling unit of J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée de Montréal, Québec, by Father Joseph Arthur Berthiaume. The president of the firm, Charles Auguste Gascon, stands next to him, on the right of the photograph. Anon., “Brillante inauguration d’une nouvelle unité d’embouteillage Christin.” La Patrie, 16 July 1940, 20.
There were then 5 000 or so priests as well as 50 000 members of religious congregations, both women and men (nuns, monks and friars), of the roman catholic church in Québec for a population of 2 825 000 or so baptised people. Those folks (1 person in 50 or so!) were omnipresent in Québec.
By way of comparison, there were 2 400 or so priests as well as 6 750 or so members of religious congregations in Québec in 2024 for 6 000 000 or so baptised people (1 person in 665 or so), but I digress.
At the risk of deeply irritating you, yours truly nevertheless wishes to digress a little longer. Would you believe that Gascon and his spouse, Marie Rose Gascon, née Dubuc, were the parents of the Québec actors (cinema, television and theater) Jean Gascon and Gabriel Gascon and of the Québec cinematographer / documentary filmmaker Gilles Gascon?
Another phase of J. Christin & Company’s radio activities began in February 1940 when it formed an alliance with the Montréal radio station CBF of the Société Radio-Canada, the Canadian state radiobroadcaster mentioned numerous times in our blog / bulletin / thingee, and this since September 2018.
J. Christin & Compagnie sponsored Le restaurant d’en face, a weekly radio serial presented in the evening created by the great actor / director / host / poet / screenwriter and great pioneer of Québec radio Guy Mauffette, as well as the competition associated with it.
Would you believe that, according to advertisements of the firm dating from March 1940, translated here, “representatives of the Christin house visit at the time of the program, ten restaurateurs in Montréal, (a few in the province) and give ONE DOLLAR to anyone caught… drinking a Christin soft drink? »
By the way, that $1 corresponds to about $19.30 in 2024 currency.
A brief but important digression if I may. It was through Mauffette that a young Québec artist appeared on the air for the first time, on the set of Le restaurant d’en face. That Québec actor / author / composer / director / host (radio and television) / performer / poet / screenwriter / songwriter / writer who then performed his first song, Notre sentier, was none other than Joseph Félix Eugène Leclerc. Yes, yes, the one, the only, the unforgettable Félix Leclerc. I kid you not.
Indeed, Leclerc was at least for a time the solo singer of Le restaurant d’en face, a show which seemed to remain on the air until the end of 1941.
At the time, Leclerc was an illustrious unknown. The right-thinking literary / artistic community of Québec looked down on him throughout the 1940s. Leclerc, it was said, did not make great art, as was done in France. Ironically, the French artistic community was simply enthralled by Leclerc and his songs when he went to Paris, France, in the fall of 1950.
Although he was welcomed as a hero when he returned, in 1953, Leclerc was more appreciated in France than in Québec, a land still in the grip of the Great Darkness, the lead blanket maintained by Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, a very (too?) conservative premier mentioned moult times in our apolitical blog / bulletin / thingee, and this since January 2018.
In October 1940, J. Christin & Compagnie sponsored a brand new daily comedy show broadcasted by the Montréal radio station CHLP. The main character of Pomponette was a young mischievous girl named… Pomponette, played by a very adult Québec actress, Jeanne d’Arc “Zézette” Couet, who made life difficult for her father, played by a well-known Québec actor, Paul Guèvremont.
Pomponette was in fact the Québec counterpart of a very popular American radio character created around 1933. Snooks Higgins, a very young mischievous girl better known as Baby Snooks, was played by a famous American singer / actress (theater and radio), also an adult, Fanny Brice, born Fania Borach.
And yes, my reading friend, the 1968 American biographical film Funny Girl, a very successful and popular feature film which starred the American actress / director (film and television) / producer (film and television) / singer / songwriter Barbara Joan “Barbra” Streisand, was loosely based on Brice’s life and career.
Yours truly unfortunately does not know for how long J. Christin & Compagnie sponsored Pomponette.
In any event, the Montréal radio station CKAC having offered a very attractive offer to Couet, Pomponette became a regular character on the popular daily radio show Variétés métropolitaines in 1941.
Another promotional effort by J. Christin & Compagnie consisted of giving decks of cards to consumers in exchange for soft drink bottle caps. Wartime supply difficulties combined with a request from the federal government put an end to that practice in August 1942.
Indeed, the management of J. Christin & Compagnie did what it could to remain in the good graces of that same government. The following full-page advertisement, published around mid-April 1944 in La Patrie, well illustrated its efforts.
An advertisement from J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée of Montréal, Québec, urging readers of the Montréal daily La Patrie to buy victory bonds. Anon, “J. Christin & Compagnie Limitée.” La Patrie, 15 April 1944, 31.
Do you have a question, my reading friend? The uniform of the brave soldier seemed a tad odd to you? Excellent observation. Said soldier was actually wearing an American uniform. His weapon was a Semi-Automatic Rifle, Caliber 30, M1, in other words the standard semiautomatic rifle of the United States Army during the Second World War, the Garand rifle.
By the way, did you know that this most successful and popular weapon owed its origin to an American firearms designer of Québec origin, Jean Cantius “John” Garand? I kid you not.
In spite of all their efforts, J. Christin & Compagnie and a member of its management, the secretary-treasurer perhaps, Louis Charles Gascon, found themselves in hot water at the end of July 1945.
The firm and this son of the president of the firm were in fact accused of having illegally purchased 13 600 or so kilogrammes (30 000 or so pounds) of granulated sugar without having the necessary rationing coupons in their pockets, sugar being a rationed commodity in Canada at that time, and at a higher price than that established by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board.
J. Christin & Compagnie and Gascon were also accused of having conspired to circumvent the regulations of said board.
The firm Duval Limitée of Montréal and its administrator, A. Toupin, for their part, were accused of having sold said granulated sugar to J. Christin & Compagnie without having the necessary ration coupons in their pockets, and this at a higher price than that established by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board.
The firm Gervais & Frères (Enregistrée? Incorporée?) of Montréal and its founders, Paul and Jean Gervais, finally, were accused of having conspired with J. Christin & Compagnie to circumvent the regulations of said board.
Gervais & Frères and the Gervais brothers were also accused of having sold 3 400 or kilogrammes (7 500 or so pounds) of granulated sugar to Corona Liqueur Company Limited of Verdun, Québec, without having the necessary ration coupons in their pockets, and this at a higher price than that established by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board
All those beautiful people pleaded not guilty during their appearance before judge Édouard Tellier of the Court of Sessions of the Peace, in Montréal.
The trial of J. Christin & Company began around mid-August and ended in early October. J. Christin & Compagnie and Gascon having pleaded guilty, judge Charles E. Guérin of the Court of Sessions of the Peace sentenced them respectively to pay a $1 000 fine and court costs.
Said sum corresponds to approximately $17 200 in 2024 currency, which was not exactly huge.
Yours truly must admit that I do not know how the trials of the other firms and people involved in that fraud affair ended.
And this is how the second part of this article ends, which leaves you a tad unsatisfied, I guess. To find out how the saga which concerns us ended, you will have to go online next week.
Rénald Fortier
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