Timeline
1916
- World's
first successful blood transfusion
-
World War I rages in Europe
- Mexican
Revolution
- Easter
Rising in Ireland
- US
Marines invade Dominican Republic
- Woodrow
Wilson elected president
- Creation
of US National Park Service
The
Shakespearean Pageant of 1916
William
Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer of the
English language. He died at the age of 52 on 23 April, 1616.
Three hundred years later, to the day, the students of Madera
High School celebrated the anniversary of his death with a production
of the comedy, As
You Like It. The Madera Mercury (March 31 1916:4)
called it “the greatest thing yet offered by the local high
school.” The class yearbook described it as, “undoubtedly,
the most elaborate performance our school as ever produced”.
The production
was not just a play, but a “gorgeous pageant”. The
entertainment began with a great procession, heralded by trumpeters,
guards and attendant wood spirits, in which Queen Elizabeth I,
her court, the players, dancers, foresters and “groundlings”
appeared. This was followed by a prelude in which the Master of
the Revels, the Queen, her court, and Shakespeare conversed in
the language of Elizabethan England. A candle-bearing wood sprite
introduced the play, and the performance began. The interludes
were filled with Elizabeth dancing and music of the period, and
Queen Elizabeth presented Shakespeare with a livery
collar as a mark of her esteem during an intermission. The
production closed with the entire cast singing “Heigh
Ho for a husband”.
Mrs.
Mary C. Burch, responsible for organizing much of the production,
was an energetic teacher devoted to her students, and dedicated
to providing a quality education. Her goal in directing As
You Like It was “to reproduce, with historical fidelity,
the social and intellectual life of the period.”
Other
members of the faculty supervised various aspects of the pageant.
Miss Chrystal Hartford was in charge of Queen Elizabeth’s
court.
Miss B. Anderson organized the costumes and dancing.
Mr. Lewis W. Harvey handled the music.
Miss Grace Krafft and Mr. John T. Wasley oversaw the construction
and decoration of the stage.
The cast
involved the entire student body.
Hazel Appling (Queen Elizabeth I)
Rey Merino (William Shakespeare)
William Mickle (Master of the Revels)
Louise Meilike (Wood sprite announcing the Prologue)
Stanley Ford (Duke Senior)
Lucille Gambril (Celia)
Donald Leidig (Orlando)
The
stage was modeled on the Globe Theatre built in London, England
in 1599, and the scenes were “worked out to perfection”.
Around the stage were grouped the ‘groundlings” (the
Elizabethan audience), dressed in the style of the period.
The official
program.
Portrait
photographs from The Purple & White, June 1916.
©
Madera County Library 2007.
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