1903

A January letter from Gink Ford (5147 Oakwood Ave., La Canada, Calif. 91011) reports that he is well, and also indicates that at the age of 92 he still has a lively interest in Dartmouth and the world in general. His fondest hope is to see Dartmouth again and to take in another London theatre season.

The theatre was Gink's life, and a notable career it was, extending from the years right after Dartmouth, when he was company manager for Shakesperean actress Viola Allen coast to coast, to his retirement in 1963. Along the way he was manager for the Shuberts, Fritz Leiber, Lionel Barrymore, and Katherine Cornell; concert manager for Elsie Janis, John Charles Thomas, and Metropolitan star Gigli; tour manager for The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo for 19 seasons; a playwright, and author of These Were Actors, about his mother's family, the celebrated Chapmans and Drakes of England, who came to this country to make their names in the American theatre.

His wife Helen Ford, the musical comedy and operetta star, still shares Gink's theatre interests. In 1924 she was the star of Richard Rodgers' first full-length musical comedy, Dearest Enemy, which had a long run at New York's Knickerbocker Theatre. Gink's father and uncle operated the famous Ford's Theatre in Washington where Lincoln was shot. When it was restored and reopened in 1968, Gink came East to be a guest of honor.