# Merrill Denison

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Canadian playwright (1893–1975)

Merrill Denison Born (1893-06-23)23 June 1893 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Died 12 June 1975(1975-06-12) (aged 81) San Diego, California, U.S. Occupation Playwright Nationality Canadian Alma mater University of Toronto Period 1921–1967 Spouse Muriel Goggin ​ ​ (m. 1926; died 1954)​ Relatives Flora MacDonald Denison (mother)

**Merrill Denison** (23 June 1893 — 13 June 1975) was a Canadian playwright.[1] He created many dramas which were broadcast during the early days of radio, and was the art director of [Hart House Theatre](/source/Hart_House_Theatre), Toronto, Ontario.

## Early life

Denison was born in Detroit and raised in [Ontario](/source/Ontario),[2] the son of Canadian author, dressmaker, theosophist, Whitmanite, and feminist [Flora MacDonald (Merrill) Denison](/source/Flora_MacDonald_Denison) and American garment salesman Howard Denison.[3][4] He studied architecture at Columbia University, then at the [Ecole des Beaux Arts](/source/Ecole_des_Beaux_Arts) in Paris and finally at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto).[5]

## Career

Instead of making a career as an architect, Denison began working as the art director of Hart House Theatre in Toronto in 1921.[6] In 1926 he married [Jessie Muriel Goggin](/source/Muriel_Denison). Denison soon began to write comedies, some of which were conceived at his summer home in what would later become [Bon Echo](/source/Bon_Echo_Provincial_Park) and performed in the Tweed Playhouse in [Tweed](/source/Tweed%2C_Ontario), Ontario.

*The Romance of Canada*, a series of historical plays written by Denison, were broadcast as [radio dramas](/source/Radio_drama) in 1931 and 1932 by CNRV.[7] During the decades that followed, he lived and worked in the United States, working on radio plays.[6]

Increasingly interested in business history, during the 1950s and 1960s Denison wrote several histories of Canadian corporations, including *Harvest Triumphant: The Story of Massey-Harris* and *The People's Power: the History of Ontario Hydro (1960)*.[8]

## Later life and death

Muriel Denison died in 1954; Merrill Denison subsequently remarried and lived in Canada, with homes in [Montreal](/source/Montreal) and eastern Ontario.[6] In 1959, he donated his family property to the Province of Ontario for development into [Bon Echo Provincial Park](/source/Bon_Echo_Provincial_Park).[9] Denison died in [San Diego](/source/San_Diego) in 1975.[6]

## Plays

- *The Unheroic North: Four Canadian Plays* (1923) - *Brothers in Arms, the Weather Breeder, From Their Own Place,* and *Marsh Hay.*[9]

- *Henry Hudson and other plays: Six Plays for the Microphone* (1931) from the 'Romance of Canada' series of radio broadcasts

- *The Raid on Grand Pre* (1931) from the 'Romance of Canada' series of radio broadcasts

- *America in action: twelve one-act plays for young people, dealing with freedom and democracy.* (1941) - *The U.S. vs. Susan B. Anthony,* and *Haven of the Spirit.*

## Books and papers

- *The educational program* (1935) - a discussion of facts and techniques in educational broadcasting

- *An American father talks to his son* (1939)

- *Klondike Mike: An Alaskan Odyssey* (1943)

- *Prodigy at sixty* (1943)

- *Canada, our dominion neighbor* (1944)

- *Harvest Triumphant: the Story of Massey-Harris* (1949)

- *Bristles and brushes: A footnote to the story of American war production* (1949)

- *The Barley and the Stream: the Molson story* (1955)

- *The power to go: the Story of the Automotive Industry* (1956)

- *The People's Power: the History of Ontario Hydro* (1960)

- *Canada's first bank: A History of the Bank of Montreal* (1966–67) (in two volumes)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Atkey2006_1-0)** Mel Atkey. *[Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre](https://books.google.com/books?id=VBlRWQLsLFsC&pg=PA45)*. Dundurn; 30 October 2006. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4597-2120-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4597-2120-3). p. 45–.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-MacDonald1972_2-0)** Dick MacDonald. *[The Media Game](https://books.google.com/books?id=N80HAQAAIAAJ)*. Content; 1972. p. 11.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [*Dictionary of Canadian Biography*: MERRILL, FLORA MacDonald (Denison)](http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/merrill_flora_macdonald_15E.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [*That Inferiority Complex: An Address by Merrill Denison, F.R.S.A.*](http://speeches.empireclub.org/62586/data?n=1)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Campbell2000_5-0)** John Campbell. *[The Mazinaw Experience: Bon Echo and Beyond](https://books.google.com/books?id=xzuXmPEa1EUC&pg=PA93)*. Dundurn; 15 July 2000. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-55488-337-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55488-337-0). p. 93–.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CTE_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CTE_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-CTE_6-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-CTE_6-3) ["Denison, Merrill"](https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Denison%2C%20Merrill). *Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia*. Retrieved 27 November 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-New2002_7-0)** William H. New. *[Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada](https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkh2vJ_9GpEC&pg=PA306)*. University of Toronto Press; 2002. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8020-0761-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8020-0761-2). p. 306, 930.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-SwiftStewart2004_8-0)** *[Hydro: The Decline and Fall of Ontario's Electric Empire](https://books.google.com/books?id=6CV_wVkmTacC&pg=PR9)*. Between The Lines; 2004. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-896357-88-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-896357-88-1). p. 9–.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Sugars2015_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Sugars2015_9-1) Cynthia Sugars. *[The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature](https://books.google.com/books?id=T4rwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT571)*. Oxford University Press; 1 December 2015. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-049400-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-049400-1). p. 571–.

## External links

- [Denison's profile](http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Merrill%20Denison) at [Athabasca University](/source/Athabasca_University)'s *Canadian Theatre Encyclopaedia*

- [Merrill Denison entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia](http://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/merrill-denison/)

- ["The “Mugwump” Canadian: A Tribute to Merrill Denison"](http://www.countryroadshastings.ca/featured-articles-seed/2016/1/21/the-mugwump-canadian-a-tribute-to-merrill-denison). *Country Roads Hastings*. By Barry Penhale

- [Merrill Denison fonds](http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=105485&lang=eng) at [Library and Archives Canada](/source/Library_and_Archives_Canada)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Merrill Denison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_Denison) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_Denison?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.