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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 76-24,611 HEDGES, R. Alan, 1940- ACTORS UNDER CANVAS: A STUDY OF THE THEATRE OF THE CIRCUIT CHAUTAUQUA, 1910-1933. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1976 Theater Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 4i ACTORS UNDER CANVAS: A STUDY OF THE THEATRE OP THE CIRCUIT CHAUTAUQUA, 1910-1933 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University R. Alan Hedges, B.A., M.A« * * * * * The Ohio State University 1976 Reading Committee: Approved by Donald R, Glancy, Adviser Charles R itter John A. Walker Department of Theatre DEDICATION To My P a r e n t s : My Mother, for instilling in me the confidence and desire to pursue my utmost in education; My Father, for arousing in me an intense interest in the C ircuit Chautauqua I AM WHAT I AM I am the Spirit of Joy. At my coming children rejoice, and men and women are glad. I am the Festival Spirit, I call men, women and children by the healthful magic of music, eloquence and entertain­ ment. They come in throngs, forgetting life ’s cares and monotony, yielding themselves over unto gladness. Thus it comes to pass that human hearts in many hundred towns look forward to ray annual visits as their times of re­ f r e s h i n g . I am the Spirit of Neighborliness. I am a social melting pot. I fuse aggregations of individuals into communities. I ignore and erase lines of division, and bring together in happy fellowship members of all religious faiths, all political parties, all social classes. In this fellow­ ship they come to know each other—to find that the as­ pirations and ideals they had thought peculiar to a few are cherished by many; that movements in which they had thought themselves interested are dear to the hearts of many who merely await a leader’s call before openly avowing their allegiance. I am the Spirit of Earnestness. I bring joy, and I enter­ tain. But I do more. I provoke, outside of partisan or sectarian lim itations, that discussion which is essential to intellectual health and national welfare. I encourage community progressiveness. I inspire ambitions and arouse unselfish purposes. I am not a school but each year be­ cause I touch their lives hundreds of young people deter­ mine to complete their unfinished educations. I am not a church, but I strengthen every moral purpose, and quicken the sense of social responsibility. I am the Spirit of Freedom. Those who speak for me, speak without fear or hindrance the things they believe. Neither creed nor platform fetters their utterances. Their voices seem sometimes contradictory and discordant. Then they are the disharmonies of a great symphony—the symphony of full and perfect liberty, to which we may not attain un­ til all voices are heard and blended. I am the Spirit of Optimism. I believe in better lives, better homes, better towns, better cities, better govern­ ment; in joy, purity, sweetness, beauty. Those who sing or speak for me are minstrels or heralds of good-will and good cheer, I point the way, I am because a group of fon-^ard-looking citizens, whose spirits were like unto mine, have, without hope or pos­ sib ility of monetary reward, brought me into being, I am the Chautauqua, Will you co-operate with me: Copyright, January, 1921, by the Swarthmore Chautauqua Association, ACKNOWLETXÎMENTS I wish first to acknowledge my indebtedness to my father, Robert M. Hedges, who, while an Assistant Archivist in the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, catalogued the university's extensive holdings in Redpath Lyceum and Chautauqua Bureau m aterials, and subsequently convinced me of the value of researching the theatre activities of the circuit Chautauqua, Secondly, I wish to thank my mother, Margaret Hedges, who so w illingly spent many hours editing the manuscript and who offered so many valuable suggestions to me throughout my writing of this work. Next, I must thank the many persons who talked with me, whether in person or through the mails, concerning their memories of Chautauqua, Foremost among those who aided me are William and Genevieve (Tobin) Keighley, who so graciously entertained my wife and me at their New York apartment; Billy Miles, who met with us at his Palisades, New York, home; James and Betty (Peffer) McCracken of Quaker H ill, New York, who generously invited us to a Sunday afternoon visit on the spur of the moment; and Dr, Sam Couch of Canton, Ohio, who sat with me for an entire evening recalling in splendid detail his experiences in various crew capacities for Redpath circuits in the late twenties. Through the m ails, Edward Wright and Mrs. C, Benjamin Franklin provided me with extensive and in­ valuable information that was unavailable elsewhere, Mr, Donald Blaisde11, father of my mentor, Nesbitt Blaisdell, also sent to me several pages of his snapshot album, which contains rare photographs of tents and personalities taken during his Chautauqua days. Others who responded to my inquiries were l'Ire, John Griggs, George Matthews (husband of the late Anna Lauers Matthews, Crawford Peffer’s private secretary), and Raymond DaBoll, Finally, I must give special notice to Thomas Kline of Canton, Ohio, who always found work for me to do and thus enabled me to remain financially solvent during the period of my doctoral studies, and, above all, to his daughter, my wife, Sharman, whose unending patience and steadfast concern continued with me, helping me to focus on my goal throughout the many months of study and w riting. VITA November 29, 19^0 . o . » . Bom, Iowa City, Iowa 1963 ..... ............................................ B.Ao, Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Missouri I 96 I1. M.A., The University of Washington, Seattle, W ashington I 96 I1.-I 9 6 6 ..................................................... Instructor of Speech and Drama, Iowa Wesleyan C o lle g e , Mto P le a s a n t, Iow a 1966-1967 ........................ ..o. Graduate Assistant, Department of Theatre, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 1967-1972 ......................... o............................ Assistant Professor of Speech and Drama, Mount Union College, Alliance, O hio 1972-1974 .............................. 0 0 .... Graduate A ssistant, Department of Dance, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field; Theatre Studies in Dramatic Theory; Professors Donald Glancy and John Morrow Studies in Theatre History: Professors Charles R itter an d A lan Woods Studies in Theatre Production: Professor Russell H a s tin g s TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION » . o . o . o e . » ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................ o . o ........................o v VITA ........... .................... ...... v i i INTRODUCTION................................................ i x C h a p te r I . TRE CIRCUIT CHAUTAUQUA ...................... ...... 1 I I . THE INTRODUCTION OP DRAMA TO CHAUTAUQUA AUDIENCES ................. 25 I I I . FULLY STAGED PLAYS ON THE CIRCUITS ..... ii-6 IV . THE OPERATION OF THE PLAY COMPANIES . 8 l V. TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR THE CIRCUIT COMPANIES . .................... .......... 120 V I. THE CHAUTAUQUA PLAYS ........... I 69 V II. CIRCUIT CHAUTAUQUA'S CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN CULTURE ............. 223 AFTERWORD ................... 2^.3 A p p en d ices A. BEN GREET MATERIALS ............ 2l{.8 B. SAMPLE CONTRACTS .............. 257 C. CAST L I S T S ....................... 268 D. TECHNICAL SUPPORT MATERIALS ........ 282 E . PROPERTY LISTS ................................. 292 F. PLAY LISTS ..... ........................ ...... 301 G. SELECTIONS FROM A SUPERINTENDENT'S HANDBOOK 310 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................. 317 v i i i INTRODUCTION Just prior to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when Republicans of the North were s till waving "the bloody shirt" and members of the "me too" party of Jefferson and Jackson were unsuccessfully devising pro­ grams designed to distinguish them from their opponents, two men of strong faith and long vision began to cultivate an idea that was to have more political influence and stronger social impact on rural America during the ensuing fifty years than either of the major political parties.

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