Let's Do It!

Let’s Do It!

A fresh snow blankets the last of the fallen leaves. Ironically, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas plays softly on the radio in my kitchen, and as Bing Crosby croons, I am reminded of how when I was a child, my house (as is true of my own house today) was always filled with music. Both of my parents were musicians: my mom, a singer; my dad, a trumpeter. During World War II my dad played with Kay Kyser and his Orchestra.

“He was the first of the big band leaders--before Dorsey, before Goodman, there was Kay--who I might add, was also the first to do military touring,” said my dad. “He needed another trumpeter. I was just lucky,” he added as humbly as any son of a fruit and vegetable truck farmer would.

When my dad returned home after the war, he continued to play with a band--weekends mostly. My mom happily joined him--she loved to sing, and sing she did--all the time. She sang at the piano, in the shower, while she was doing dishes, when she dusted, when she drove me to school--but most particularly, she liked to sing at Christmas time.

Weekends, they’d both get dressed up in clothes that literally sparkled, packed up their instruments and sheet music and headed out to play whatever gig their Band Leader Red Peters had lined up for that night. I’d watch my mom putting on her bright red lipstick, blot her lips with a tissue, before kissing me goodnight, and think to myself, how magical it all seemed. I still remember the way she looked: auburn hair swept off her face like her favorite singer Peggy Lee, the lingering smell of her perfume--Lanvin’s My Sin, which she’d dab on both wrists and at the back of her neck. Finally, I remember the image of that big red kiss left behind on the single white tissue that I’d retrieve from her dresser and save. Still, what I remember most clearly is the music--their favorites, those Big Band American Jazz Standards from the thirties and forties.

On Sundays, the morning after their gigs, all their musician friends would come for brunch--likely not having slept for more than a few hours. My mother would fix pancakes and eggs, fritattas and hash browns and rich, black coffee brewed with eggshells. We children were to be seen and not heard, but that was fine with us as long as we could listen as they all talked and argued, laughed and yes, played--sometimes long past dark when my mom would finally send them all packing. Sundays were filled with music: Begin the Beguine, Night and Day, Shine on Harvest Moon, Moonlight Serenade, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby. Anything Goes, Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love, Cheek to Cheek, A Tisket, A Tasket, Carelessly…and so many more.

I’m certain that’s why I’ve chosen to direct Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story again this year (performed this Friday, December 12th at 7:30 and Saturday, December 13th at 2:00 p.m. in the Mount Vernon District Auditorium). Set in the late thirties, early forties--and featuring a local cast of nearly thirty and technical staff of another dozen students ages five to nearly seventy-five--it brings me back to a time in my own house, a time filled with music. For those of you who may still be unfamiliar, A Christmas Story, is based upon Jean Shepherd’s In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, in which he recalls growing up during the late thirties and early forties in his hometown of Hohman, Indiana.

Cast members in this year’s production include: Ed Hill, Amy White, Ray Leeper, Jan Moore, Jim White, Hannah Ganzel, Craig Wilson, Corey Brannaman, Tom Bush, Kai Walberg, David Taylor, Luke Moran, Sam Moore, John Butz, Brenna Mills, Molly Fox, Theresa Gruber-Miller, Jackson Brus, Isabelle Light, Sophie Fox, Jasmine Turnquist-Wernimont, Sammy Murray, Cate Morgan, Kate Liberko, Nick Silva, Tyler Kranig, Jasper Rood and Atticus Rood. Additional featured musical performers include: Jenna Smith, Grace Moran and Anna Butz in a tribute to the Boswell Sisters and Tin Pan Alley. Technical Interns include: Zak Moran, Seamus Taylor, Cece Sullivan, Darrow Center, Lyndsey Wycoff, Tim Gruber-Miller, Hannah Ganzel, Alex Bradbury and Caitlyn Mills.

Similar to today, the years of the late thirties and early forties in which the play is set were years of worldwide economic crisis and world war. These were the years following the Great Depression, of FDR’s New Deal (introduced years earlier by Al Smith as mayor of New York and expanded in Albany when Smith became Governor of New York), of the victory over the Nazi’s in Europe and our eventual return to a time of economic prosperity and peace. Years of tumult, trial and yes, triumph-- during which there often wasn’t much money for the basics--let alone for any extras--it was a time of sacrifice, of rationing, but it was also a time of hope as well as a time when the Radio, Television, Movie and Music Industries as well as theatre, in particular American Musicals, moved into a Golden Age.

My dad recalled how they’d gather around the radio in the evenings and listen to all the old serial antics of Little Orphan Annie, The Shadow, Buck Rogers, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Superman or his favorite: Amos ‘n Andy. He spoke fondly about the comics--known as the “Zanies”--like Eddie Cantor, Ed Wynn, Jack Pearl and Cliff Hall and Joe Penner. My mom shared how they’d spend all day long at the movie house on Saturdays, watching everything from skits to short cartoons, singing along with the bouncing ball, catching up on the movie tone news clips, enjoying feature films like Wizard of Oz, Drums Along the Mohawk, Gone with the Wind or the “Chiffhanger” serials like Zorro, Flash Gordon, the Spy Smasher, Tiger Woman, Those Little Rascals and yes, The Adventures of Red Ryder and his Red Ryder BB Gun!!

So, it is more than fitting that Odyssey Theatre for the Young of Art and Friends of Mount Vernon Lisbon Community Theatre revive this old chestnut, A Christmas Story during this particular holiday season and our own trying economic times. When too many of our loved ones are serving abroad, when the cupboards are frighteningly bare, when we are worried about what the future holds in terms of energy and economics--we need to come together in hope.

We need to laugh, to cry, to sing along with the bouncing ball, to cheer on the antics of our favorite characters--spend an evening gathered together around the radio or an afternoon laughing at the antics of Little Ralphie as he conspires to get the one thing that will make this the best Christmas EVER--despite his mother’s, his teacher’s and even Santa’s warning that: YOU’LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT, KID, he does not quit dreaming. In spite of it all, more than anything it all rests upon needing (not merely wanting but needing) “An official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time."

So, if the weather outside is frightful, or the job or the to-do list is making you exclaim: You’re Driving Me Crazy, or your response to the question, ‘how are you?’ is answered with, ‘I’m working Night and Day,’ or you’re just hoping for a bit of Love Around the Corner, or a single day of Blue Skies, or perhaps you are in need of a Christmas miracle like a rainshower of Pennies from Heaven to pay those mounting bills, then Will You Remember, that this is My Prayer for you. That you’ll take some time to bring your family, your children, your parents, your grandparents Come Rain or Shine, or sleet or snow, to listen as The Music Goes Round and Round, this Friday, December 12th at 7:30 p.m. or Saturday, December 13th at 2 p.m. to the Mount Vernon District Auditorium to see A Christmas Story, so we might be reminded that there is much to be glad about in the simple act of our coming together as a community. I promise if you do, afterwards you may just be whistling: Heaven, I’m in Heaven…and thinking to yourself: Goody, Goody, or perhaps simply Thanks for the Memory.

Yes, Let’s do it, let’s put on our sparkly party clothes, maybe even some bright red lipstick to celebrate the season, Let’s Fall in Love once again--or perhaps for the first time--with the magic of the season, the magic of the theatre, the magic of making merry, of making music! It’s as simple as following the bouncing ball! And a one and a two and a three! Begin the Beguine!


OF SPECIAL NOTE: Odyssey Theatre for the Young of Art will be collecting new and wrapped toys, clothes, books, games, gift certificates and gift cards for donation to South East Linn Community Center’s Angel Tree program for distribution to families in need during this holiday season! Food items will also be welcomed! Please be generous this year! Happy and Safe Holidays! Questions, call 319-213-0147 or visit our website at www.odysseytheatremv.com