Page 6 - 2014octnov

You Know You're Old WHEN... by Rose-Mary Rumbley ou remember shows and revival meetings held in a tent! Yes, this is before air-conditioning, when we sat Yand sweat for entertainment and the message of God. In this article, I will take on entertainment--a show in a tent--as they were called TENT SHOWS. What else? Theatre in Dallas in the 30's and 40's was in a tent. There was no Theatre Center, no Wyly, no HERE AGAIN. It was the anthem of the 30's. Winspear, no nothing. We all went to the MADCAP PLAYERS in a tent on Haskell Avenue. So, what happened to the MADCAP PLAYERS. The program offered hysterical farces of the 30's. Sadly to say, in 1941, it was all over for the troupe. They were fnished. Dallas was becoming In other words, "pure corn." But who cared! It too sophisticated for a tent show, and, besides, the was fun. In the cast, there was the leading man, fre marshal frowned on the whole scene. the leading lady, the dumb blond, the clown and an old lady who played the mother-in-law, or an Neil Fletcher was broke. What to do? Was he old maid aunt, or a zany neighbor. She, with the defeated. NO! clown offered the comedy relief from a plot that He went into his kitchen and found a wiener and was stupid from the very beginning. some corn meal and invented the Corn Dog! This theatrical group, the MADCAP PLAYERS, He opened his frst stand on the Midway, Fair was under the direction of a fne actor, Neil Park, in 1942, and the rest is history. Fletcher, who always played the leading man. His What would the State Fair be without a Fletcher's wife, Minnie, was the dumb blond. Toby Gunn corn dog? He died a millionaire. His sons are played the clown and his wife played the leading keeping the whole operation going. They tried lady. Jessie Adams played the old lady of various freezing the dog and selling it in the stores, but descriptions. that didn't work. We love seeing those dogs Jackie Calwell, a fne musician, played the organ foating in the grease, served in wax paper, so that while we ate pop corn and anxiously waited for the grease drips down our elbows into the mustard the curtain to rise. Minutes before the curtain that is offered with all the germs and bugs that are went up, Jackie played HAPPY DAYS ARE clustered around the dispenser. Who cares? We're HERE AGAIN, and a genuine thrill hovered over eating the best food this side of heaven. ■ the audience. By the way, Franklin Roosevelt was elected with that song--HAPPY DAYS ARE page 4 | www.celebrationmagazine.com