The venerable Vancouver theatre manager Ivor Frederick Wilson "Ivan" Ackery was born in Bristol, England on October 30, 1899. He immigrated to Vancouver to join his widowed mother in 1914, promptly enlisting in the Canadian Army and serving in France. He returned and found a job as a theatre usher in Calgary in 1921, then gained his first manager's job for Famous Players in Vancouver in 1923. He was promoted to manage the Orpheum Theatre in 1935, retaining that position until the end of 1969. He was famous for knowing the famous. His associations with stardom resulted in a memoir entitled Fifty Years on Theatre Row (Hancock House, 1980).

[BCBW 2004] "Film"

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Fifty Years on Theatre Row