The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-04-02


cast rehearsal was held Ian. 10, 1882 and then
Jan. % the Mask and Wig club formed
"lArline' was not scheduled for public saze I'M.
ta June T. period OF some months. II WAS a
warm June night when the new club made lis
initial bow. The production relatively
speaking, very dreary affair in spite OF four
months OF vcXing preparations. Captain Kidd
L. s. NJ" tlSS0) was staged in nine weeks, and
could have been perfected in seven.
.
In 1890 McMichac wrote burlesoue called
''.nc l5rigandrcss." With the assistance OF Neil
son tho play was revised and appropriately
named ben franklin" 1t was presented upon
the evenings Of May and 10. 1890. at the South
Broad Street theatre, and repeated in June In
1891 double bill was presented. ben Frank
lin was revived the evenings OF March 81
and April |. The theatre was then closed for
uress rehearsal. and "Mss Columbia" graced
the boards and was immensely successful In
,,,2 the club inauguratcd its present policy
"Mr and Mrs. Cleopatra distinctly com
pIcte production. The scenery, costumes. ETC..
were for the occasion. and the burcsque was
produced in all thirteen times, and survived the
gruesomc numher. ''Mr. and Mrs. Cleopatra
bowed to the hest audiences in Philadelphia for
six performances. beginning April 49, II was
then played at New IIovcn, Conn. at New York,
Washington and Baltimore The following year.
memorable year. Both graduates and under
graduates were in the Yankee League"
compilation by McMichae Nerrick and Nelson
/, was the banner year in the clubs history. The
total receipts for the week beginning April ? at
the Chestnut Street Opera house, aggregated
$4,000
.ue year OF 1894 was made memorable by the
b'rlesque. king Arthur" and the purchase OF
the clubs quaint quarters uown on Ounce street
,.ng Arthur" by Nelson, was produced Easter
week at the South Broad and two nights in
Baltimore and one in Washington. "Kenilworth'
in 1895, was an original burlesquc by McMiclael
and original music by Ed d. Beale who has
waved the baton for the club since 1855 ''Ken-
ilworth' about the handsomest production
ever placed on the amateur stage The actual
cost was nearly $1,000, and the entire show was
a stage picture from start to finish. ''No Cen
tleman Of France came in 1896, splendid piece
of work by McMchael in compilation with Bar.
clay W. Warbuton. This production was taken
10 New Haven and Boston and scored ire.
mendo,s hit Edward A. Paulton. OF "Erminie"
farne wrote every Little Red Riding Hood for
the club In 1897. This was the first and last
professional production. The club came to its
tenth anniversary in 1898 A double bill was
given. The first termed "rhe Investigating
Committee" curtain raiser preceding the reG'i-
lar amateur p'lTeSque cAlTdSdEdHZd' iHS Iiouse
That Jack Built" The curtain raiser was ex'
tremely sad 1t may have been a lack OF prcps.
ration or NJ talent, or both The under.gradu'
a,es production brought forth better balanced
cast than any previous production had known.
In 1899 Captain Kidd. Y. s. NJ" was staged
in splendid style. and financially was the best
thing that the club had done since 1893, and
claims the distinction oi being produced profess
sionally. "Mr Aguinado, OF Manila" in 1900,
4 tha rlh urp'
birthday. William Ernst, jr., wrote the book
Now The Mask and Wig club has reached its
thirteenth birthday. For twelve seasons plays
have been staged and written, with one eScep'
ton BY club members. and supervised in all
departments by amateur talent. The 1901 bur-
lcsa,ie is "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep written by
Thomas b. Donaldson, None but undergraduates
of the University OF Pennsylvania in good stand
ing participate the annual productions. Until
last November, when a radical change in the
bylaws was made, the club had elected less than
siSty members in eleven years From that small
g1oup OF sixty and Less, some few remarkably
clever, the most superb and pnrcst amateur bur
lesques in America have emanated. What o'her
proup of amateurs dare risk 5000 bur
rsaue to run for one week. eight or nine per-
formances. at most? What collegiate dramatic
club in America, or in any other county, Iss
u
creditable work for ito college or university?
Not only that but the men who have been proini'
nently identified with the club, and formidable
list Of them, too, both on the stage and of, are
as well known to the undergraduate world as are
the foremost players upon any OF tho Varsity
athletic teams.
The history OF the Mask and Wig club Is IN
dssolubly linked with Pennsylvania What II
nJs done financially Tor the Varsity athletic
teams before they first began to assert themselves
and needed financial encouragement is well known
10 the older men and closed chapter with them.
What il has done to encourage healthy, un'
dcr2rsiuate field for advertisement and possible
benefit is all apparent. The club has thrown
open ts doors and entertained other universities
and men OF the legitimate stage and public
wall Of life in its own peculiar but fitting
naIner. II has entertained Nat Goodwin, Rich
ard Mansfield, Henry Dxey, John Drew, Josef
Holman, and prominent statesmen and jurisis.
Best OF all. it has developed men who worked
with purpose in view, not only to better an
amateur dramatic organization. but to cultivate
good fellowship and an atmosphere OF loyalty and
respect for an Alma Mater II has developed
men, and the delightful annual buricsques stand
today as the result OF thirteen years Of honest
work.