Lillian Marcus

Very little is known about Lillian Marcus. Her name first appears in the November 1947 issue of People’s Songs, the bulletin of an American left-wing music organization. The center spread of the bulletin featured two songs by Marcus and a brief description of her as the “energetic, dynamic director of People’s Songs of Canada”. There is a picture of a young woman playing the accordion. According to the short accompanying notes, Lillian Marcus attended the first Hootenanny organized in Toronto in 1946. After hearing artists including Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of The Weavers, she was inspired to start a Toronto branch of People’s Songs and begin writing her own compositions. She soon acquired the name Hootin’ Lil. People’s Songs brought together politically committed musicians with the goal of creating a left-wing alternative to the dominant pop u lar culture. Using folk music, jazz and Broadway musical styles, People’s Songs laid the foundations of the folk revival of the fifties and sixties. Marcus’ songs, Train of Progress and My Union Man are the earliest published Canadian songs in this genre. No more songs have been found, and aside from greetings sent in 1948 to People’s Songs and in 1953 to Sing Out!, its successor publication, no more was heard of Hootin’ Lil.