• 4 O I V STARLIGHT MUSICALS presents _%s VN / -^ INDIANAPOLIS THEATRE ASSOCIATION, INC. INDIANA STATE FAIR GROUNDS INDIANAPOLIS cat^ INDIANAPOLIS THEATRE ASSOCIATION, INC. CLAYPOOL HOTEL • TELEPHONE RILEY 5417 INDIANAPOLIS, IND. OFFICERS Summer, 1951 MELVIN T. ROSS President and Gen. Manager Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public HENRY HOLT Anyplace, Indiana 1st Vice-President H. T. PRITCHARD Dear Mr. and Mrs. Public: 2nd Vice-President CHARLES HEDLEY This is in answer to your letters of last season—the thousands of letters which expressed your Vice-Pres. and Producer L. G. GORDNER enjoyment of the entertainment you saw here at the Fair Grounds. Recording Secretary WILLIAM J. SCHUMACHER Any innovation in the entertainment business, especially if it involves a series of attractions, Corresponding Secretary takes thought, perseverance, time and money to become sufficiently well-established to bring the J. S. ROGAN Treasurer attractions which you, the public, deserve. DIRECTORS This is our most ambitious season to date. We believe that in our series this year we have chosen the cream of the crop as far as musical attractions are concerned. And the widened scope Fred Ayres Donald R. Barneclo of our plans has been made possible by your increased enthusiasm and patronage — for which we Noble Biddinger thank you. •J. M. Bloch William H. Book Almost every city our size in the middle west has a series of summer attractions which has Cecil M. Byrne lived, and grown, because the public wanted it. We, too, shall continue to grow and prosper by Joseph E. Cain giving you the type and calibre of entertainment which has kept you coming back year after year. Monsignor Henry F. Dugan John Goll A brief resume of summer entertainment in Indianapolis—which has also been designed Mrs. J. A. Goodman Morris Goodman to bring pleasure to the entire state—may prove of some interest to you. L. G. Gordner •Charles Hedley A comparatively small group of civic-minded men and women in Indianapolis has been work­ *Mrs. Karolyn Holloway ing for years to stabilize summer theatre here. Henry Holt John I. Kautz Beginning in 1944, when Charles Hedley produced Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in Gar­ *Claude Koontz field Park, shows of this type have been presented every summer. Mr. Hedley, Producer of Starlight •George A. Kuhn Musicals, has been one of the prime motivators of this movement from its very inception. Gustav F. Lohss W..I. Longsworth "Off season" entertainment went from Garfield Park to the more commodious quarters of Charles J. Lynn the Fair Grounds, then spread to two seasons in Butler Bowl (in 1947 and 1948) and returned here Murray H. Morris E. B. Newill to the Fair Grounds in 1949. Kurt Pantzer *H. T. Pritchard During the seasons of 1949 and 1950, and again this year, an almost unbelievable spirit of J. S. Rogan co-operation was manifested among local Craft Unions, Performers, Management and Businessmen, •Melvin T. Ross who joined forces on a co-operative basis to insure summer entertainment. William J. Schumacher Charles Stadfeldt The continuance of this magnificent attitude, coupled with the annual growth of attendance Harry V. Wade at these shows, makes the outlook for success brighter than it has ever been before. Guy A. Wainwright A. E. Wilhoite Mrs. Herman C. Wolff We pledge you our best efforts, now and in the future, to present the highest calibre of entertainment in every Starlight Musicals series. * Executive Committee Sincerely yours, MELVIN T. ROSS President, Indianapolis Theatre Association, Inc. General Manager, Starlight Musicals THE STORY OF a ANNIE GET YOUR GUN" Back in the 1890*s, the greatest attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was Frank Butler, champion sharpshooter. In Cincinnati, however, he unexpectedly meets his Waterloo in the person of Annie Oakley, a backwoods girl from Darke County, whose shooting prowess is incredible, even though hitherto she has used it only to shoot wild game to feed her family or to sell to strangers. In a contest with Frank, staged on the grounds of a summer hotel, she beats him when he misses one shot but at the same time falls hopelessly in love with him. To be near him, she accepts a job as Frank's assistant in Buffalo Bill's show and as time goes on, Frank is won by Annie's devotion and decides to make her his partner. While playing in Saint Paul, Buffalo Bill finds that he is going broke, and to make matters worse, his rival, Pawnee Bill, is playing in Min­ neapolis. To counteract Pawnee's rumored signing of the famous Indian warrior, Sitting Bull, as a special attraction, Buffalo Bill, together with his manager, Charlie Davenport, persuades Annie to present a sensational bicycle act in which she speeds in a great circle around a central pole from which swing huge rein­ deer with illuminated spots, shooting these out one by one, always faster and faster. This completely overshadows Frank's act, and furious, he calls off their romance, leaves Buffalo Bill's show and joins forces with Pawnee Bill. Annie's heart is broken, but Sitting Bull is so intrigued with Annie and her act that he adopts her into the tribe as his daughter and also furnishes the necessary funds for the show to go on a tour of Europe. The performances before the European crowned heads are a personal triumph for Annie but the show returns to America broke again and Buffalo Bill decides to effect a merger with Pawnee Bill. This reunites Annie and Frank at a big party given at New York's Hotel Brevoort. Frank falls in love all over again with this new Annie and to prove his love, presents her with his most prized possessions, his three medals inscribed to "the greatest sharpshooter in the world". However, Annie with her own $100,000 collection of medals displayed on her chest, won't admit Frank's superiority and again there is a rift. She challenges him to another shooting match to decide the cham­ pionship, but enroute to the contest, held on Governor's Island, Sitting Bull and Charlie, romanticists at heart, twist the sights on Annie's guns so that she will lose. At first Annie is miserable when she misses her shots, but when Sitting Bull hints at the reason, she finally sees the light and becomes perfectly willing to lose her title and win her love. She joyfully shoots and misses again and again, and so Annie and Frank become partners in the show as well as in romance. Harold Patrick Harold Patrick has played in the nation's operetta centers includ­ ing Detroit, Dallas, Hyannis, Louisville and Miami. During the war years he was occupied with a tour of Japan in a USO production of "The Chocolate Soldier" and later appeared on Broadway in "Robin Hood." He has given two concerts in New York's Town Hall and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada in solo work. Mr. Patrick, who is no stranger to Indianapolis (he has appeared here in previous summer seasons) will sing the rewarding role of Frank Butler in "Annie Get Your Gun." Robert Eektes Robert Eckles, leading comic in the first four Starlight Musicals shows this summer, started his career along an entirely different path. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, he was a concert pianist—a child prodigy—and a pupil of the great Olga Samaroff-Stokowski. He attended the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, Harvard University and the Juilliard School of Music. He is reticent about what caused the change in his career, leaving us to suppose that concertizing wasn't funny enough, but whatever the reason, symphonic music's loss was the stage's gain. Mr. Eckles has had ten years experience on Broadway, on the road and in summer stock, in musicals and in straight drama. He was for many years a leading light in the Gilbert and Sullivan Repertory, playing on Broadway and in four successive coast-to-coast tours, two of which included Indianapolis. He played in "My Romance" with Anne Jeffries and in "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Jose Ferrer, both in New York and on tour. His work in summer stock has included the Paper Mill Playhouse, Louisville, Toronto, Chicago, Newport, Matunuck, Great Neck, Mont- clair and innumerable others. In short, Mr. Eckles has played leading roles in more than forty revivals and original performances of dramatic and musical shows. AYPrtfil 3*#'» w ^iMirwUL nui CL Patti Browne Patti Browne's career is proof of the fact that a person with genu­ ine talent and perseverance need not journey far afield for the kind of musical and dramatic training—and the kind of opportunity—that will lead to the top. They're all available right here at home. A graduate of the Jordan College of Music, Miss Browne's first important role—"Luane" in Victor Herbert's "Sweethearts"—brought her sharply into the focus of public attention in the Starlight Musicals series of 1949. Last season she more than lived up to her earlier promise by sing­ ing (and singing beautifully) the roles of "Princess Margaret" in "The Student Prince" and "Countess Olga" in "The Great Waltz." In all these she proved to have, in addition to a top-calibre voice, a beguiling personality and a well-developed sense of humor. But Miss. Browne had made a name for herself in radio before she ever stepped foot upon a stage in professional roles: she was chosen by tenor James Melton to sing with him on International Harvester's "Harvest of Stars" program.