Inaugural Mummers Theater Program

[Pete]

I received this from our poster securityinfo and wanted to give it it's own thread and do it in a wiki-enabled forum. Since Nostalgia is non-wiki (for lots of reasons) I am putting it here for now.

securityinfo can elaborate further but this is from when the theater very first opened in 1970.

Fun to look at and glad we have it to preserve. The pages are in order staring in the upper right corner of the thumbnails then moving to the right and down.

[Urbanized]

OK, this is fascinating as all hell.

[Pete]

OK, this is fascinating as all hell.

So glad someone appreciates it!

Love stuff like this. Like a little time machine.

[Mel]

Cool find. Pics take you back a bit.

[securityinfo]

So, a little background. My mother is Anne Ault; she was the lead actress of the theater group. I was I guess around 8 going on 9. My memories are of course filtered through a child's eye... but I do remember the exhilaration of the opening of the new Mummers. All of my childhood was spent backstage or in the green room, until the Mummers was closed. I do recall having bake sales and rallys and such in an attempt to raise enough money to fund the operation; but when you rebuff the richest and most powerful man in town, it is unlikely that you will succeed.

Edward Mulhare was the season's "big name". Some of you may remember him as the Captain from the 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' tv show. I don't have much of a memory of him... I did succeed in getting him to give me a couple of autographs :-) . I do remember that on the closing night the rumor was that he would be "handing out gold watches". I think I may have actually gone up to him and asked for mine.

I have many of the playbills from the entire Mummers run, going back into the 1950's. If there is enough interest I might sit down and scan them in for historical preservation (?) .

If anyone has a question they think I might be able to answer, please feel free to ask here, or pm me.

[securityinfo]

Here's the recap of the issues confronting the Mummers, from Mack Scism. I am pretty certain this was the last time the Mummers was ever heard from....

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps57d1a242.jpg

[securityinfo]

And Mack's final pronouncement:

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...psowygagib.jpg

[securityinfo]

This document was I believe produced for the inaugural season, as a guidance/warning to the new staff, including those from much larger environs.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/mummers/img-140709103653.pdf

[ljbab728]

Edward Mulhare was the season's "big name". Some of you may remember him as the Captain from the 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' tv show. I don't have much of a memory of him... I did succeed in getting him to give me a couple of autographs :-) . I do remember that on the closing night the rumor was that he would be "handing out gold watches". I think I may have actually gone up to him and asked for mine.

It's interesting that you mention that. I had totally forgotten that he was the reason for my first visit to the Mummers.

[Urbanized]

This document was I believe produced for the inaugural season, as a guidance/warning to the new staff, including those from much larger environs.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/mummers/img-140709103653.pdf

What a great read!

[Martin]

this is great stuff... thanks for sharing! -M

[Pete]

securityinfo is sending me a ton of older programs that we'll be scanning and sharing.

Really fun to look at this sort of thing and also important to preserve.

[turnpup]

Those old ads are fabulous too!

[Pete]

Those old ads are fabulous too!

If you like those, make sure you look through all of these from 1969:

1969 Ads

[turnpup]

If you like those, make sure you look through all of these from 1969:

1969 Ads

Thanks!

[zookeeper]

Great stuff! Looked at it earlier and didn't have time to write. In fact, I was late to where I was going just for reading this material.
Thank you, securityinfo, just wonderful to have, pass along and share. Thanks to Pete for sharing with us all and helping to forever preserve this material.

Thanks again!

[securityinfo]

I've wanted to do this for some time. Pete, the programs should be in your hands this weekend. Some go back to the mid 1950's, when the theater was actually in a tent.

We lost the Mummers for all intents back in 1972. I have fantastic memories of those days, and am very sorry to see it go.

It has been so long ago that most if not all of the original players and staff of the Mummers have long since passed. I had hoped that perhaps a few had endured.