The play’s the thing in Huntington

JERRY PERSON

Over the years, the citizens of Huntington Beach have presented some

of the finest plays, and some of our town’s most respected members

have appeared on stage and surprised their audiences with their

performances.

From professional to amateur theater productions, one thing they

have in common is that the actors and backstage crews have put their

heart and soul into trying to please their audiences.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of watching a production of

“The Music Man” at Huntington High that starred a cast of youngsters

18 and under, and I can say they were great. We sometimes forget that

these budding thespians are our friends and neighbors.

This week, we’ll look back 71 years to an evening when some of our

most respected residents trod the boards and supplied some great

belly laughs to boot.

On the evening of March 8, 1934, 35 of our town’s “solid citizens”

got together and produc- ed a series of four one-act plays and, in

the course of that evening, provided the four hundred theatergoers

with a great time.

As the curtain went up, Dr. Lawrence Whittaker and Mrs. George

Gelzer appeared as a husband and wife who are spending their first

night in their new house as man and wife in the production of “The

Theme Song for the Married,” a rollicking farce about the pitfalls of

newly married life. Playing their cynical friend in this production

was Huntington Beach’s Chevrolet dealer, Herbert Hartley, who was

hitting on all six -- cylinders that is.

Getting their share of laughs were Mills Whittaker and Margaret

Colvin. But it was Mrs. Harry Sheue’s baby talk girl next door that

the audience really enjoyed.

In the second play, the minister in the production of “The

Flattering Word” was none other than Huntington Beach Company manager

J. Sherman Denny, playing a theater-hating individual.

William Blossom delighted the audience with his special brand of

talent. Edna Condon, who was the play’s real director, stepped before

the lights and showed the cast she could act too. Playing her

daughter in the play was Martha Porter.

As the curtain opened on the third play of the evening, the

audience saw Dr. Douglas Hough in costume as Seth Parker in a

production of the same name. Playing his wife was Amy Worthy as Ma

Parker and Lawrence Worthy as “the Captain.”

But the highlight of this play was the quartet of rubes -- Alf

Dowty, Lawrence Worthy, Joe Perry and Jim Ranney -- who sang in their

own folksy manner.

Perry’s real life wife, Edith, did a remarkable job playing one of

the neighbors. Many in the audience were surprised at how good a

fiddle player Ralph Turner turned out to be.

Cast as the gruff old man -- and who better to play the part --

was Harry “Cap” Sheue as grandpa.

One of the musical selections in the play was the parting love

song “You Go To Your Church and I’ll Go To Mine,” sung by Amy Worthy

and Dr. Hough.

That last of the four plays that evening presented Glenn Lee as a

prison convict, along with Rev. J.G. Hurst as the prison warden, C.B.

Baldwin as the prison chaplain and Muriel Gillespie as the convict’s

sister in a production of “The Valiant.” The cast did such a good job

that they were asked to repeat it in a county contest in Santa Ana.

“The Flattering Word” was selected as the outstanding play of the

series by the judges. One of the judges that evening was Frances

Smith, the wife of Roy Smith, our town’s mortician.

For every actor on stage, there are many unsung heroes in the

background. In this stage production, Condon directed the show with

the aid of her assistant, Faith Osborne.

Robert Hager handled the publicity for the show, Cap Sheue took

care of the scenery and the lighting was under the control of Herbert

Preston. The stage manager that evening was Lawrence Diekoff and the

stage crew included George Wiedman and Edsel Martin.

As you can see from the above cast of characters, you can never

tell who will be hamming it up in front of the footlights.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.