Article

Only Twenty Years Ago

April 1934 Charlie Griffith ' 15
Article
Only Twenty Years Ago
April 1934 Charlie Griffith ' 15

Birth of Lambs & The Arts

BOBBY BURLEN'S LETTER to Bill McCarter in the January ALUMNI MAGAZINE invites further reminiscences of the era of Walt Wanger's theatrical successes. An old "mem" book, dug out of the attic, yields some pleasant history.

Early 1913 . . . . the men associated with show production organize "The Lambs." The Dartmouth ran the initial list:

1913 "General" Willson

1914 John Burleigh Henry Koelsch "Kid" Claeys "Ted" Marriner Dwight Conn E. T. Papson "Wag" Green George Henry Tilton Alexander J. M. Tuck

1915 Chan Harwood "Hap" Leonard "Gov" Jordan Johnny Mullin Jimmie Killeen Don Page Dave Kinne Walt Wanger John Woolverton

1916 Bruce Bundy Bobby Burlen Bill Costello

Faculty Fred Emery Craven Laycock Homer Eaton Keyes "Doc" Licklider Rival organization .... The Wolves . . . . membership list missing from the records of this correspondent!

Carnival show 1914 tremendous success .... "The Misleading Lady" Charles Goddard '02, a co-author .... Jimmie Killeen's high comedy as a lunatic believing himself to be "Bonaparte" .... Broadway performances by the Dartmouth cast .... photographed with Laurette Taylor who was making her great run with "Peg-o'-My-Heart."

Prom Show 1914 Walt introduces a Ziegfeld run-way to Hanover .... "TaTa-Tango" written around Morgan Shuster's sojourn to Persia as financial adviser to the Shah .... Kalenderian '14 was a sheik .... George Tilton was "Morgan Warner," Treasurer General of Persia .... Fred Child '15 was Captain Tarkington of the Russian Gendarmerie endowed with opulent vocal attainments .... "Kid" Claeys was the Russian envoy, Poklewskii-Kosvitch .... The Japanese Prince "who held the key to the plot of the play" was Takanaga Mitsui '15, of The House of Mitsui .... Don Richmond as Mile. Cleo Delza of the Comedie Franchise .... "Gov" Jordan as Wallace Hart, President of the American Cinema Trust with his fascinating daughter, "Don" Page .... And the arch fiend of the play (of all persons as we "retrospect") Fung Fu, the opium prince of China, Donald Aldrich (D.D., Rector of the Church of the Ascension, New York) .... Alec Dean (now Associate Professor of Play Production at Yale) as Panthea, the Lilac of the Teheran .... The book written by the latter in collaboration with Beardsley Ruml (through whom as the newly appointed Treasurer of R. H. Macy's, New York, Dartmouth men may or may not be able to open charge accounts!) .... Joe Beer drilled the Persian Army, and what an army! .... Bill Costello and Dave Kinne wrote the lyrics .... Of course Fred Child's singing was memorable .... if you know George Tilton's voice you will recognize the appropriateness of the title of his "patter" song, "I Can Sing in Any Flat" .... Excellent score by Ray Wilkinson and Bruce Bundy .... orchestra ably directed by Doc Carlton.

On June 23rd, 1914, Robinson Hall was dedicated .... "The Little Theatre" provided both with foyer and reception room How best to utilize this club room to its fullest possibilities to conform with the ideal of the donor,—the wider cultivation of interest on the campus in drama, literature, the pictorial and plastic arts, and music? .... Nov. 10, 1914, "The Little Theatre" officially inaugurated with two plays, "Blood Dark" and "The Burden of Life."

Early 1915. The Dartmouth publishes the names of 28 members of the faculty and 37 members of the junior and senior classes as the initial membership of "The Arts" . . . . "Pop" Byers, the Associated Press Magnate and special feature writer, defined the purpose of "The Arts" in a "special" to a Boston paper: "to stimulate an interestamong the undergraduates in developingan appreciation for, and a working technique in, drama, literature, music, and art." 1915 .... "The Green Room" becomes the center for entertaining visiting celebrities .... Dr. loyokichi Iyenaga . . . . John Kendrick Bangs, who reported his son's famous retort to the question as to whether his father had run for the office of Mayor of Yonkers, "No, papa walked." . . . . Professor C. T. Winchester, Dean of American critics, Professor of English at Wesleyan and authority on "the Lake Poets" .... Dr. Samuel McChord Crothers, genial essayist and minister of the Unitarian Church opposite the Harvard yard .... William Howard Taft . . . . Hans Ebell, the pianist .... Vachel Lindsay, the poet .... and twenty other impressive names in the guest book.

Woodhull Adams exhibits sketches made around Hanover (and presents the pictures still hanging in "The Arts") .. . . Sketches from the front line trenches. (The reverse of the "mem-book" clipping carries the news of this incredibly distant era, SOISSONS NOW CHIEF GOAL OF GERMAN ARMY—Crack Prussian troops massing for a new drive at Allies to gain a noticeable success before the celebration of the Kaiser's birthday next week.) Thus, January, 1915!

The year closed May 25th (The "Lusitania" disaster ringing in our ears) witli a banquet at the Inn .... "Gov" Jordan speaks impressively on "The Arts—Its Growth and Possibilities" .... Homier Eaton Keyes, "The Arts and College Life" . . . . Readings by Bobby Burlen (including "Behind that Tree, You Boob") . . . . "The Field of the Arts" by Professor John K. Lord. An auspicious closing for a beginning year.

The Dartmouth reports—"The skepticism which greeted The Arts as a probable successor to the gentle but dawdling inanity of The Lambs has no further place."

O temporal O Mores!

Charlie Griffith 'l5.

Kippy Tuck '14 and Is McDaniel '13 * Further conspirators in the Sextet from "Lucia." Prom Show, 1913.

Victor Studio Skit, 1913Prom Show Parker Margeson '14 and Dick Barlow '14, two of the singers in the "rendering" of the Sextet from "Lucia."

Bill Slater '14andFred Child '15 The two tenors in the Lucia Sextet. Prom Show, 1913.