Evening star., 1940-08-04
College Professor With Idea
Directs Water Gate Performers
Deserts Campus During Summer Months
For Born-PIoyhouses and Open Air

Guiding spirit of the troupe of
young professionals who will
bring Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates
of Penzance" to the Water Gate to-
night is college professor with an
idea.
Joseph S. Daltry, founder and
musical director of the Gilbert and
Sullivan company. also happens to
have background of moving about
the world bit.
He keeps the habit of travel sub
merged during the winters he puts
in as head of the department of
music at Wesleyan University.
But when summer comes. Mr.. Dali
try deserts his college campus for
the barn playhouses, the open air
theaters, the trouper's road.
The idea of giving young artists a
chance for professional experience
IN Gilbert and Sullivan was born on
the Wesleyan campus, but Mr. Dali
try traces his love for the lyrical
pair back to the days when his
father, in jovial mood, would tell
the world in song that he was "the
ruler of the Kings Navee."
Has Colorful Experience.
Between his early acquaintance
with Gilbert and Sullivan and the
forming of the Daltry Opera Co.
four years ago, however, lies more
than a normal lifetime of experience.
Mr.. Daltry, born in England, taken
to Australia at the age of six weeks,
has been variously soldier, ranch
line rider on the edge of the Cali
fornia desert, an importer. and the
business manager of San Francisco
newspaper. When he was IL, he
directed a church choir and played
the organ. He still plays The organ,
though his hands were nearly ruined
after the months he put in welding
an axe to clear some so acres of
mesquite.
Music finally claimed him and he
put in year in Munich and another
in London before becoming a mem
ber of the Wesleyan University fac
ulty. From time to time, after that,
the college glee club would perform
Gilbert and Sullivan operattas. Mr..
Daltry could always find few men,
bers of the cast with real talent.
Music Schools Best Source.
That gave him the idea. Surely,
he figured, you could always find one
or two singers with real talent on
any college campus Thirty colleges
were represented the first year of
the experiment. Since then he has
found that the best sources of sup
ply are the music schools. Most of
the members of his cast now are
doing their final polishing off at
music schools and find the summer
work a way of getting professional
stage experience
Their summer begins at WESLEYAN
University, where the girls take over
one fraternity house and the boys
another. They hire their own cook
and run their own kitchen. The
school auditorium is their rehearsal
hall. After three weeks of rehearsal
they're ready to go on the road.
With a station wagon. a bus and
few private cars for the troupe
and truck to carry scenery. they're
on their way. Washington winds
up a summer during which they
have given 20 performances.
Trouble With Romance.
Mr.. Daltry finds more trouble
with romance than with tempera-
ment in his crew of performers. BY
the second week of rehearsal, he
says, the boys and girls are all
paired off, but it's not very per-
manent." There have been mar
riages in the company, which is
always a headache for Mr.. Daltry
because he usually loses a valuable
member of the cast. Sometimes,
though, they stay on. Miriam Bent
ley, who sings the lead in The
Mikado," and Carlton Bentley, tenor
lead in THE Pirates of Penzance," ."
were married only few days before
the first performance the first year
and regarded the summer of singing
and travelling as their honeymoon
AS for temperament, Mr.. Daltry
explains that temperament goes
with success, and these young people
still have their way to make. Also,
he adds, they work too hard-they're
too tired to be temperamental.
Although a college campus ap-
pears to be long way from the
barge at the Water Gate, Mr.. Daltry
claims the former Is just as fever