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Show Judge George Christensen Reviews History of Early Dramatics in Mt. Pleasant My- dear old Friends and Neighbors Neigh-bors of Mt. Pleasant: Tomorrow it will be seven years since I attended at-tended a meeting of The Historical Pioneer Society, at which time I was invited to speak to you and express a tribute to the Old Home Town and its Pioneers. How. rapidly time flies. As we grow older we have difficulty in keeping up with Old Father Time. Your Society has again honored ms with an Invitation to attend and address this meeting and I am very happy that circumstances have permitted per-mitted me to come and again mingle min-gle with my old friends and new ones on this occasion, the 25th Anniversary An-niversary of your organization. I have been asked to write a paper c n Early Dramatics in Mount Pleasant. Pleas-ant. Some Realistic Acting Personally my memory does iot go back beyond the old Jessen Hall, but I shall never forget some cf the soul-stirring scenes we witnessed there. I recall one almost tragic scene on about my first visit to that famous old Theater, somewhere about 1877, when some fierce looking man probably a cowboy from Robber's Rob-ber's Roost country jumped to his feet and flourishing a pistol started for the stage, shouting to Jim Wi-shaw Wi-shaw (Meyrick) who portrayed the villain of the piece so realistically as to fire the anger of this cowboy, cow-boy, punctuating his remark with a terrific oath, "Lay off or I'll rill you full of lead." Men seized the pistol and tried to quiet the gunman with the assurance that it was Just a play and that the villain didn't mean any harm. The cowboy, shaking shak-ing his disarmed fist at the actor, further exclaimed that "no man can treat a woman like that and live If I know it." I am greatly indebted for information infor-mation with respect to the earlier history of the stage here to letters from Sister Dora Day Johnson, widow wid-ow of John Gustaf Johnson, now 82 years old. but whose memory Is still keen and bright upon these topic;:, one written in March 1924 and another written just ten yean later, February 7, 1934, and to nctes prepared by Sister Hilda Madsen Longsdorff on this early period. Histrionic Artists of the 18G0's Way back in the days of 1860, in the old fort across the street to tht north, in the log meeting house, Wood W. Brandon, John Ivie and his wife Katharine, R. N. (Dolph) Bennett, George Porter, Joseph Smith Day, Henry McKinney, Joseph Jo-seph Gribblel, were some of the his-triorvic his-triorvic artists who enlivened the long winter evenings and entertained entertain-ed the men, women and children of the old fort period. The old log meeting house served as a Theatre, the scenery was largely made up cf wagon covers, quilts, etc. and the costumes were home made, but these heroes and heroines of the stage were not deterred from presenting pre-senting plays ranging from Shakespeare Shakes-peare to the most absurd farces, such as the Merchant of Venice, The Good for Nothing Man, The Limer-ich Limer-ich Boy, Rip Van Winkle, and others. oth-ers. Gradually new actors appeared, C. H. Wheelock, Lucy Wheelock, Stena Tuft and her brothers, Peter and Hans Godfredsen, Stena Bur-rlson, Bur-rlson, Jeremiah Page, John Carter, Duncan and Melvin McArthur, Kate Candland, and others, and the scene was transplanted to the Social So-cial Hall, and in the fall of 1869 and on through 1870, a regularly organized Home Dramatic Company furnished the Scenery by donation of the members and Brother C. C. A. Christensen, of Ephraim, paintfd the pieces, the curtain, the drops the wings, the back curtain, all in real metropolitan style, and new and younger actors and actresses augumented the old force: John Gustaf Johnson, Dora Day Johnson, Conderset Rowe, Lean Rowe, Jim Wishaw, Alice and Laura Day, Jane Tidwell and others made their initial in-itial bows to the audiences and presented pre-sented a fine array of Dramas and Melo Dramas such as Night and Morning, The Rose of Etterlck Vale, Lord Oakburn's Daughters, The Skeleton Witness. The Carpenter of Rouen, Ten Nights in a isar Room. Farces Were Popular The plays were always followed by a farce, and Matrimony, Swiss Swan, The Forest Rose Family Jars and others were given. The next move in the early seventies seven-ties was up to the new Jessen Hall, and the reputation of the Mt. Pleasant Pleas-ant players was such that it attracted attract-ed experienced actors such as Dick (Richard) Westwood of Springville and later of Fairview, and Judge Larter of Moroni, these skilled Thespians Thes-pians played the heroic parts ana aided in drilling the younger members. mem-bers. Westwood particularly excelled excell-ed in training the voices to speak loud and clearly, and Judge Larter's special gift lay in the casting of the characters. A little later a fine old actor, Philip Hurst, came over from Fairview to help out in several plays. It was then that John Wallis became be-came a pillar of strength to the organization or-ganization by his careful and accurate accur-ate prompting, and many a novice, who found it hard to improvise, escaped es-caped chagrin and embarrasment by hearing the hoarse whisper of Brother Bro-ther John Wallis, when memory of his cues failed him. Alphonzo Wheelock ably assisted Wallis when 'the latter's voice gave out. Stage Manager Was Joseph Wise And in those days there arose also another tower of strength in the person of Joseph Wise, who for many years was the stage manager, and by his skill saved many a performance perform-ance from going on the rocks. How often were we- thrilled and terrified by the thunder and ligthning he conjured up by the aid of gunpowder and a sheet of metal. And I must not omit to mention here the financial finan-cial wizzard of these early times, Niels Madsen, who for a long period was the Company Treasurer and guarded the Company Cash, which consisted principally of wheat, cedar fence posts and vegetables. It was by his uncanny skill in handling these funds that a dividend sometimes some-times mounting as high as 2 ',4 bushels bu-shels of wheat was paid to each member of the troupe at the end of the season. Much more could be written of these old times and the Pioneer veterans of the Thespian art, many of whom I have no doubt failed to mention. Such instances as the reformers who came late havlnp to climb through the window because be-cause there was no outside door to l.ht stage in the Social Hall and the throng was so dense and the aisles were so filled that one could not "ft through; and when Dora Dav Jrhns-on had died in the course of tx.v, p'.ay, she peeked out of a connr f her eye. and v. l"en she saw tt.i Disbcp crying she forerct her ex-i ex-i -tenet- as .1 corpse and opened h'.r 'vs wide, to the coirternation of the audience: or when Annie Wo d-lv d-lv us? Candland took the part of Lit'le Lord Fontleroy. dressed in o black velvet suit with white collars find cuffs, and evoked the exclama-ti-rs from the gir's in the hous". 'Tn't he swell!" "Isn't he cute-" Put time will not permit of further fur-ther digression, there Is so much to be told. Plays Presented in "Copenhagen" This brings us now down to modern mod-ern history, to times within the memory of man now living. Along in the later seventies I was old e-rough e-rough to attend performances in the Jessen Hall, chaperoned by my cousin, Ferdinand Clark. He was, unfortunately, so large that he had to pay 25 cents for a ticket, while I got by for 10 cents. We at once became enthusiatic Theatre fans, end after awhile set up a serious competition and presented plays and farces in private homes down in old Copenhagen (the southwest corner cf town). My parents' home, and other places in the neighborhood were used at first, but we found a large room in the Trauntwein heme cn 5th West which suited our purpose, pur-pose, and there we displayed our histrionic talent to appreciative crowds of youngsters, and occasionally occasion-ally some of the parents graced cu; performances with their presence. Oiir income from these efforts was not sufficient to enable us to purchase pur-chase printed plays, and they would have been too difficult for us to master, mas-ter, so Ferdinand and I wrote the plays we presented, and such masterpieces mas-terpieces as "Robert Bruce, or the Day at Bannockburn," "The Man She Saved," "Redmond, the Outlaw" and the farce, "Tom and Betsy, or Change of Labor" saw the light cl day. Along in the Eighties there seemed seem-ed to be a lull in the activities of the local home talent. That was when John S. Lindsey and his talented tal-ented daughters and their company used to come dewn and present fine plays to us at stated intervals. We now had a good showhouse upstairt in the Co-cp Building, which became be-came known as the Mad:en Hall. Here Lindsey and troupe played "The Sea of Ice," "The Two Orphans," Or-phans," "Richelieu," "The Galley Slave" and other selections which were in great vogue at the time. Later La-ter the Stutz Dramatic company came occasionally, until the tragic death of Mrs. Stutz from burning. Local Talent Performs Well However, occasionally local talent came together and put on some very creditable show.1;. Some of you will remember "Odds with the Enemy," Ene-my," which was put on under the direction of E. A. Day and Abram Jchnscn. In this performance Ferdinand Ferd-inand Ericksen, Magnus Rolph, Augusta' Au-gusta' Dehlin Ericksen, Aoram John-sen, John-sen, E. A. Day, Ama:a Aldrich, Dr. Allen and others gave some foreshadowing fore-shadowing cf their stage ability. Though I was but a lad then Brother Bro-ther Day insisted cn giving me a part and I personified J. McClure Hcpkinson. Brother Wallis, who took special pains to ccah me, said I had done very well considering my size. Shortly after this the Johnson Ercthers, Mose and Aaron, came to Mt. Pleasant and formed an Elocution Elocu-tion Class wherein they gave us twelve lessons in reading for $75.00 for the let cf us, and they agreed to drill us in a play and take their pay cut of the proceeds of the play. Thus we put on the "Pearl of Savoy" wherein Mbs Edie Dehlin starred in the title rele, and I received my first lesson as a stage lover. Dramatic Association Formed About that time, December 2, 1886, a permanent organization, Mt. Pleasant Plea-sant Dramatic Association, was effected, ef-fected, with M. C. Rolph as manager, man-ager, Ferdinand Ericksen, Assistant Manager, George Christensen, Secretary, Sec-retary, and Joseph Madsen, Treasurer. Treas-urer. Later the Johnson Brothers cooperated co-operated with the local association and put on st;me very creditable plays, which finally culminated in the famous presentation of East Lynne, wherein Charlotte Stormfelt played Lady Isabel and Madam Vine; Rose Reynolds played Barbara Bar-bara Hare; Aaron Johnson played Sir Francis Levisicn, and your humble hum-ble servant tried to portray Archibald Archi-bald Carlyle; and Mrs. Annie Prit-chette Prit-chette Mayben was little Willie, who scared to Heaven before the eyes of the audience; and Ella Wheelock Freston played the unforgettable Aunt Corney. A few years later came Alphonsc j Ethier and his talented sister Pearl, and joined the lecal Dramatic Association Asso-ciation in presenting "Brother a-gainst a-gainst Brother" and one or two o-ther o-ther plays. Then the Movie Come Along Well, after that I moved away for years, and when I returned new hands had taken up the work; the movies began to displace the legitimate stage. But fortunately the speech departments of our schools, from the grades to the Universities, Un-iversities, have undertaken the work cf rehabilitating the Drama, and we have enjoyed many a good P-W wherein the actors were our own children from the schools, and they bid fair to cut do their forebears, which they ought to, considering the better opportunity that they have compared with that affordf.o the Pioneers. However, we have not been entirely en-tirely discarded, occasionally an old timer is heard on the stage as yet. Since we moved to Price your humble hum-ble servant has been called upon to uphold a part in some of the local plays produced in Price. Thus he was Colonel Wright in "Alabama," Uncle John Belden in "Her Husband's Hus-band's Wife," Major Burleigh in "The Girl I Left Behind Me;" and in the play "The Great Idea," with which the fine new Star Theatre at Price was formally opened, he played play-ed James Howard. I must cloe my paper before I tax your patience beyond repair. I beg indulgence for the many names I have of necessity had to omit of those who played their part in thei drama of the period I have tried to , portray. I hope someone else will take up the work where I have left it, that a complete story of the development de-velopment of the Drama in Old Mt.j Pleasant may ultimately be prepar-' ed and recorded. Note: As an addendum to Judge' Christensen's interesting talk as re corded above and given at the Diamond Dia-mond Jubilee celebration here last week, Mrs. Hilda M. Longsdorff mentions men-tions two items of interest. It has been reported, Mrs. Longsdorff Longs-dorff relates, that the only compensation compen-sation ever recived by Mrs. Stena Gctffredsen Tuft for her acting was a quantity of money sufficient to cover the cost of a lamp chimney which she had broken in one of the plays. It is also stated that Mrs. Katharine Kathar-ine Ivie had such spindly legs that she filled her stockings with sawdust saw-dust as a means of making het legs look more "pleasingly plump.- |