THE PRESIDENT SAYS...

by Suzanne Keay

This issue of the Newsletter will introduce a new feature. Please be sure and read the “Kudos Korner.” Without the tireless effort of so many of our members, the Society would not exist, not to mention being such a driving force in the Town of New Castle. We will be acknowledging three individuals who have given of their time and talent to make a real difference. That’s just a drop in the old proverbial bucket, of course. There are hundreds of dedicated people who make us tick so smoothly.

Remember, professionals built the Titanic, but VOLUNTEERS built the Ark! Thank you to ALL of our volunteers. You make us “unsinkable!"

KUDOS KORNER  

Al Hutin for being our Jack of all trades! Former Prez, handyman extraordinaire, you name it, Al’s done it!

Phebe Washburn for caning the chairs. 

Audrey Buttolph for handling the mailings and chairing the Spring Luncheon.

“I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

But still I can do something;

And because I cannot do everything

I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

(Edward Everett Hall)

THE PAST PRESIDENT SAYS…

By Al Hutin

THE WAY WE WERE...WINTER CLOTHES: WHY I DISLIKE WINTER 

I’m not too fond of winter. It may be due to the fact that I’m over forty and don’t indulge in snow sports (unless snow blowing the driveway has become an Olympic event). But I think it has more to do with the heavy clothing I have to wear to stay warm. And that aversion to winter clothes dates back to my elementary school years in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, before polar fleece and Ugg boots were invented, and before geese gave up their down.  

I don’t know if winters were colder then, but our bedrooms certainly were. We had coal fired steam heat, and we slept with the windows open. If Dad didn’t stoke the fire early, before I had to get dressed for school, my clothes were as cold as the outside air. If the heat was coming up and the radiators were getting hot, I’d put my clothes on the radiator to get the chill off. Now, that could be hazardous, because I had to wear one-piece long underwear with metal snaps up the front and a flap in the back for obvious purposes. If the snaps came in contact with the radiator, the effect when they touched my skin certainly woke me in a hurry. Yow! How I hated those long johns, especially when the day came to disrobe in front of my classmates for the annual school physical. And they were always in winter!  

Next came the “uniform” for boys in the lower grades…knickers, high socks, flannel shirts, and sweaters. Knickers…there’s a new word for those of you under fifty. These pants were made of corduroy and had elastic bands around the lower calves so that they would tuck into long cotton stockings, usually in an argyle pattern. When one walked in knickers, they produced a “zip, zip” sound as the corduroy legs rubbed together. Next came the heavy cotton-flannel plaid shirt and a wool sweater, both tucked into the knickers. I was ready to go downstairs for breakfast… and Mom’s inspection.  

Outerwear was the next hurdle. Most boys wore mackinaws…heavy wool felt jackets, again with a plaid design, and an attached hood. Under the hood I wore a wool knit hat or a wool felt cap with earmuffs that folded under the cap or up on the outside. Hand knit mittens with a ribbon attached and running through the jacket sleeves (so they wouldn’t get lost) kept my hands warm…until I threw a few snowballs, and the mittens became sodden and cold.  

Finally came the galoshes…now there’s an onomatopoetic word for you. A galosh was a high, rubber-coated canvas overshoe that buckled up the front. When one walked in galoshes, that’s the sound they made …“galosh, galosh”… as one slogged through the snow and slush. Oh, I almost forgot the wool scarf wrapped around my neck as many times as possible. Ready for school…and only ten pounds heavier than when my feet hit the freezing floor. No wonder each classroom had to have a cloakroom for all the outer clothing we kids wore.

Junior high school brought some relief…no more long johns and knickers, mackinaws and galoshes, or mittens with ribbons. Now I could wear jockey shorts, T-shirts, and long pants (but they were still corduroy), and rubbers over my shoes on snowy days. Only the outer jacket gave me some angst. The other boys wore short ski-type jackets. But Mom insisted my coat keep my kidneys warm, and she had the mistaken idea that my kidneys were located somewhere in my buttocks. Therefore, my coat came halfway down my thighs. It definitely didn’t make a fashion statement. But with its sheepskin lining it was warm…and heavy.

Finally in high school, I was allowed to buy my own clothes…within reason. Ski caps and wool Eisenhower jackets from the Army-Navy store replaced the knit caps and “kidney warmers,” leather gloves instead of mittens, and ski boots on snowy days replaced galoshes. Ski boots then were not what skiers wear today. They were leather lace-ups with heavy soles that didn’t flex, so one clomped around like Frankenstein’s monster. I’m sure they drove the teachers mad, but we thought they were “nitzy.” 

Well, today my winter clothes are lighter and warmer – fleeces, polypropylene, and down. But they’re still too bulky and get in the way when I drive. No wonder I look forward to spring…and golf shirts, shorts, and boat shoes.

THE PLAY’S THE THING

Imagine going to your local summer theater and seeing Margaret Sullavan, Henry Fonda, Mildred Dunnock, Burgess Meredith, Myron McCormick, Ruth Gordon, Lloyd Bridges, Eddie Albert, Vincent Price, Ethel Barrymore, Edmond O’Brien, David Wayne, Joseph Cotton, Van Heflin, Montgomery Clift, Sylvia Sidney, and Keenan Wynn perform. The residents of New Castle were able to do just that, and at off-Broadway prices.

Well, these actors didn’t all appear in one play or in one season, but all were players at the Westchester Playhouse in New Castle between its opening in 1932 and its closing in the 1950’s. The theater was located near the entrance to Lawrence Farms East in the old stable to the Moses Taylor estate, near the Mt. Kisco Country Club clubhouse.

My family attended many of the performances from the opening of the theater in the summer of 1932 to 1940 and saved the playbills so I have the record of many of the performances and the players. In 1930, seats cost from fifty cents in the balcony to $2.00 in the orchestra. Performances were in the evening, but there was a matinee on Friday.

 Perhaps the biggest headliner that first year was Margaret Sullavan, a Broadway actress briefly married to Henry Fonda in 1931, and who went on to take Hollywood by storm the next year. She starred in three productions along with Kent Smith from Bronxville and Anne Seymour, both part of the stock company.

By 1933 the theater must have gained a good reputation because more future stars were in the company. Monty Woolley “the man who came to dinner” was listed as the stage director, and Henry Fonda designed and built all the sets and acted in three plays. Other notables were actors Kent Smith, his second season, Ernest Truax, Henry Hull, and Peggy Wood (later of the TV show “Mama”). I guess the Depression was hurting ticket sales because the prices had dropped to $1.65.

The summer of 1934 saw many more future stars appearing. Henry Fonda returned this season with his name in capital letters and fresh from the Broadway review “ New Faces.” Myron McCormick was there for the season as was a 26-year-old Mildred Natwick. Tom Powers, later a Hollywood contract player, lived in Mount Kisco and played various roles. During the season, Henry Fonda made a quick trip to Hollywood to contract for two pictures with Walter Wanger. One would be his first movie hit, “The Farmer Takes a Wife.” Later in the season he appeared with his ex-wife Margaret Sullavan in the play “Coquette.” And several new faces appeared…Mildred Dunnock, who lived in Chappaqua at times, and Burgess Meredith.

The 1936 season saw the return of now familiar actors and the addition of new talent. The Mildreds, Natwick and Dunnock, were back with Peggy Wood and Tom Powers, ably assisted by George Macready, Eddie Albert, and Lloyd Bridges (“…a resident of Hollywood who has come east to seek his fortune”). And maybe the hit of the season was to be Vincent Price, fresh from playing on Broadway opposite Helen Hayes in “Victoria Regina” and considered “…the most popular young leading man to play under the Tuttle management”).  Day Tuttle was the director of the theater from its inception into the 1940’s.

In 1938, one could see Van Heflin; 18-year-old Montgomery Clift; Hugh Marlowe; Ethel Barrymore, “… the first lady of American theater” who lived in Mamaroneck; 22-year- old Edmond O’Brien “…well on his way to becoming the ‘Hamlet of 1945’”; David Wayne; Sylvia Sidney “…one of the first and most successful actresses to bear transplanting to the screen”;  Joseph Cotton “…direct from…Broadway with the Mercury Theatre (Orson Welles’ theater group) production of ‘Julius Caesar’;” and Sally Rand, the Queen of the fan dancers and star of the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair reprising her Broadway hit “Rain.”  It was about here that I first attended a matinee with my family…it wasn’t to see Sally Rand, I assure you… and all I remember was that it was very hot sitting in the balcony (there was no air conditioning), and a lemonade at intermission cost a shocking ten cents. I think my grandmother sprang for the treat.

The last year for which I have programs was 1940, a year in which Jose Ferrer acted and directed all season, and staged plays for Walter Hampton and Dan Duryea , and acted with Walter Slezak and  Keenan Wynn.

I don’t have much information on the Westchester Playhouse after 1940.  I came upon one program for the 1952 season previewing plays featuring actors like Joseph Wiseman, Arthur Treacher, and the ever loyal and talented Mildred Dunnock. Barton Emmet had replaced Day Tuttle as Director. I assume that the playhouse continued through the forties and into the fifties as a friend worked there until 1956.

While it lasted, the Westchester Playhouse provided area audiences with quality theater featuring famous and soon-to-be famous actors as well as giving talented local residents a chance to play bit parts.  It must have been fun for those who were regular attendees to be able to go to a movie a few years later, see one of these actors, and be able to say, “Why, I saw him at the Westchester Playhouse. I always knew he’d be a star.”

The New Castle Historical Society is planning to do an exhibit on the arts in New Castle.  The Westchester Playhouse will be featured. If you have any information on the activities in the forties and fifties, or perhaps some old programs, please contact the Society at 238-4666. Thanks.