Evening star., 1939-04-30
Georgetown Alumni
Will Take Leads
In Pageant
Events in $50 Yeors'
History Of University
Will Be Portrayed

Principal characters figuring in
the $50 years of Georgetown Univer-
sity history will pass in review the
evening Of June 2, when "Sons of
Georgetown" historical pageant in
81 episodes, is presented as a feature
of the university's sesquicentennial
week.
Plans announced yesterday by
Arthur Behrens, author and pro-
ducer of the pageant, include the
participation of score of prominent
Washington alumni in many of the
scenes. These men already have
been assigned their roles and are
ready to begin rehearsals.
Because at least 200 students and
alumni will make up the huge cast
for the pageant, the university had
to abandon the idea of presenting it
in CASTOR Hall, on the campus
grounds. In view of the large at
tendance expected at sesquicenten-
nial events, the auditorium of Gen.
tral High School has been engaged
for the pageant.
In addition to local alumni and
students from the college, the law
school and the foreign service school,
the cast will include a number of
girls from the Georgetown Visitation
Convent and Trinity College. Miss
Grace CollifloWer of Trinity will be
in charge of their rehearsals. A
group of children also is being re-
cruited from Gonzaga High School
and faculty circles.
John F. Crosby, class of 1912, has
the important role of narrator. He
will introduce the pageant before
the curtain rise and weave together
the historical links as it proceeds.
The final episode, in which all the
principal characters pass in review
on the stage. will depict the sesqui-
centennial of 1899.
Presentation Of Charter.
Richmond B. Keech, vice chairman
of the Public Utilities Commission
and an alumnus of the law school,
will be in the first episode. This
depicts him as King James I pre-
senting the charter to Lord Balti-
more authorizing the planting of
colony in the New World. Others
taking part in early scenes are Prof.
AL P. Kane of the law school, who
will be seen as Lord Baltimore;
Larry Downey as Leonard Calvert,
John D. Fitzgerald as Father Car
roll. the founder, and Judge Michael
M. Doyle as Father White, the mis-
sionary.
The first student of Georgetown,
William CASTOR. will be portrayed
by James A. O'Shea, another we'll
known alumnus. Rufus S. Lusk
will be seen as the chief Of the Pts
Getaway Indians, with whom the first
pact of peace was made in 1884.
Benjamin Franklin, with whom
Father Carroll went on a mission
to Canada during the Revolution,
will be portrayed by John S. White.
There will be several Civil War
scenes. one of them showing the
Fighting Goth Irish Regiment of New
York encamped on the college
grounds when President Lincoln
visited them. George H. O'Connor,
veteran Georgetown alumnus who
has sung for years before Presidents
of the United States, will take the
role of Sergt. Casey of the 69th.
Ambrose Durkin will be seen as
Father Mooney, regiment chaplain.
Mr.. Behrens has been at work
since last summer in getting up the
pageant. He is an experienced actor
and nephew of the late Richard
Mantel, famous Shakespearean actor,
IN whose companies he played for
many years. Before coming to
Georgetown Mr. Behrens staged the
Joan de Arc pageant in Philadelphia
under auspices of the American
Catholic Historical Association. His
most recent success at Georgetown,
the Abraham Lincoln play, was
produced by the university's Mask
and Bauble Club.