New Britain herald., 1916-10-06

ven, on Saturday, October 21, will bt " matic spectacle which has occupied six months in preparation. In the final thrOes of scheme and execution
 this lively Connecticut college towr has been stirred into ferment of eX-
 citement. Tagging up the loose ends and putting the finishing touches to a threatening production hitherto un- precedented in size and investiture, is no simple task. The costumes for the
 5000 performers, representing every category of New Haven society, are nearly completed. Squads of carpen- ters are daily employed with the more mechanical features of the production, and electricians decorators, local mer- chants and organizations of all kinds are adding their bit.
 The great Yale pageant Is to mark the climax of the Yale-New Haven bi-centennial in festive celebration of the union of college and city. All ar engagements have been made by a committee of Yale officers and grad uates appointed by the Yale corpora tion and by cooperating municipal committee appointed by the mayor of the city of New Haven. Both city and university are sharing in the financial responsibilities necessary to such a big . undertaking and the executive com- mittees of both factions are in con- stant touch and agreement.
 A Strictly Community Venture. One unique feature of the undertak- ing is the rather astonishing fact that all materials for the production have been purchased exclusively in New Haven. In this particular the Pageant will provide a remarkable sample Of community enterprise and co-opera- tion. Every society and organization included in the spectacle has merged its own interests in the interest of the big object. A large item in the list of materials is included under the head of properties" which range from gaudy Indian shields and arrows to elaborate horsedrawn filters and miniature bridges. The property de- partment is in charge of Prof James Randall Crawford, him. self an authority on pageantry, and one who endeavors to be most accu- rate as to design and detail even in the smallest accessory needed. The shields which will be carried by the Quinnipiac Indians, for example, al- though there are over two hundred of them, have no two alike and are in 'scribed with the original fantastic h. dian insignia.
 To facilitate the handling of the huge army of actors MT. Dennis Cleugh, stage manager, is training a special squad of boy scouts who will act as aides-de-camp, and work from a central headquarters tent on the aft >ernoon of the performance, running with messages, helping to marshall the various groups that they will be at their entrances at the right mo- ment, and making themselves gener- ally useful. The scheme for insur- ing the proper manouvering of this record cast is a marvel of efficiency. With MT. Markoe as the commander in-chief, there are at least five hun dred subordinate officers under his command, the high-generals of the various episodes, the sub-lieutenants of the many divisions of the episodes. and under them the captains of the groups and corps. It is all worked out on a mathematical basis, everv- thing plotted out on huge charts that are hung in the Pageant office. Thus IL will be practically impossible for anything to go wrong
 Performers From All Classes.
 The multitude of performers talk ing part in the Pageant is made up Of volunteers from the University and City of New Haven, and from many cities in Connecticut and other near py states. Churches and religious socletles' traternal orders, the colle- [giate alumni, the New Haven schools the Boy Scouts, and Campfire Girls military companies of New York and Connecticut, patriotic orders. the Equal Franchise League and the An tl-Sutfrage societies, the police and 1lre departments, Sunshine societies labor, organizations and every class and department in the university have 'tontributed to the stupendous total of actors who will step out upon the green surface of the Yale Bowl and i've over again the picturesque and stirring episodes in the history o1 Yale and of the nation.
 TO make 5000 costumes is no small task, especially when supervised bv one busy little woman. In the upper Hoors or the Pageant House in New Haven thousands of yards of ex- quistte silks and satins, rich laces and oriental brocades, Spanish man. tillas and rare Indian cashmeres. along with ribbons, linens cotetons and every conceivable auxiliary of the couturier's art have been magical ly and beautifully transformed into an historic record of the dress of two centuries, varying in form and com plexity from the ornate vesture of kings and DrinCeSScS, to tha sinonIe erocks of children; and ranging in price from 35 cents to any number of dollars To be ready by the 21st of October it was necessary for the ten or twelve attendants with their humming sewing machines and flying needles, to turn out in the neighbor- hnnd nf GNn a