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NEWS REVIEW
Voi. 16 No. 22
Shakeipearean Festival Section —Ashland Southern Oregon N ew s Review
Thursday, August 4. 1949
Formerly the
Southern Oregc
Miner
10c per Copy
1949 Shakespearean Festival Dates Aug. 2*24
5
Ashland Theatre
Only One of Its
Kind in the World
Wardrobe of English Actor Added to
Shakespearean Dressing Rooms Here
One of the most tangible proofs
of the widespread fam e of the incident. There is no record of
Oregon Shakespearean Festival the parts he played in the fol
It William Shakespeare could
is the m any letters received from lowing years, but he visited the
retu rn to life this m onth and
all parts of the country about the United States, appearing in Old
visit the Souhem Oregon town of
program , some m erely express English comedies, chiefly in the
Ashland, the chances are th at he
ing
interest, and approval, others eastern cities.
would feel as completely at home
expressing a desire to offer more Plays Rip van Winkle
as if he was nt Stratford-on-the
substantial encouragem ent to the
A t the age of fifty he was
Avon some 350 years ago.
venture.
starred
as Rip van W inkle, using
For, in Ashland, he would find
Early this year, Angus Bowmer. Mr. Jefferson’s script, and Mr.
one of the few truly Elizabethan
production director of the Fes Jefferson’s clothes which were
theaters in the w orld—so true a
tival, received this letter from given him by a friend of that
reproduction th at it m ight well
Grosse Point Farms. Michigan:
great actor who also adm ire
be the Old Globe th eater of his
him. U nfortunately these tre a s
"Dear Sir,
day.
ures were destroyed in a G erm an
This
letter
is
w
ritten
in
all
The new Elizabethan theater in
blitz.
good
will.
Some
tim
e
ago
I
Ashland is the realization of a
read an article in the New
Goes To H aym arket
dream of Angus Bowmer, a
Then followed three years at
York
Times
about
the
re
Southern Oregon College profes
m arkable theatre in Ashland,
His Majestys th ea tre w ith H er
sor and student of Shakespeare.
Oregon.
bert Beerholm Tree, after which
The th ea ter has been rebuilt d u r
My
father
was
an
actor
and
he joined C y n i M aude a t the
ing the past th ree years in prep
the H aym arket theatre. A tour
I have in my possession sev
aration for a yearly festival of
through
A ustralia came next
eral
wigs
and
o
ther
useful
Shakespeare’s works, as great as
playing
repertoire.
On returning
things
th
a
t
rt
would
please
any ever presented during his
hom e he accepted an offer from
me to donate to your w ard
lifetime.
F rank Robertson . . . and then
robe departm ent should you
The Oregon
Shakespearean
cam e with him to Am erica in
care to receive them.
Festival, which was started in
1909. Here he rem ained until his
Sincerely yours,,
1935 as a p a rt of A shland's
death, appearing w ith Mr. Man-
Lenora Thom as”
Fourth of Ju ly celebration is
Mr. Bowmer replied th a t the tell, Olga Nethersole, M argaret
taking place for th e th ird tim e
th
eatre
would be most grateful Aiglin and m any others.
since the w ar, this August. It
for the costum e gift, and asked Played Polonius
was revived in 1947, following
In 1919 he became a m em ber
The
Oregon
Shakespearean
Festival's
new
ensigne,
completed
Miss Thomas for inform ation on
six years of w artim e activity. The
of Mr. W alter H am pden’s com
her
fathers
work
as
an
actor.
Hei
this
year,
is
based
on
Shakespeare’s
coat-of-arms,
which
he
in
town of Ashland has been buz
answ ering letter is quoted below pany and m ade a delghtful Po
herited from his mother’s family the Ardens. To this crest
zing w ith activity for months, in
“Allen Thomas was English: lonius, a very drunken Porter, a
was appropriately added a spray o f mountain ash sent by Mrs.
preparation for the festival which
he
was born in the seaport city proud Brabantio, and a most
this year is gaining an in tern at
Rose Robinett, a member of the Board of Directors of the Festival
of
Bristol.
At the age of ten he garrulous grave-digger.
ional scope
Association.
Fifty-three years in the pro
was sent to boarding school at
Five Plays Slated
Clifton b u t being adventuresom e fession fo und'him still eager for
The arrangement o f the design was suggested by Edwin Farmer,
Five of S hakespeare’s plays
he ran aw ay to sea a year la parts; two weeks before his
professor o f the art department at Stanford University, and it
will be presented in their origin
ter, as cabin-boy on a sailing death he w rote: ‘I hope soon to
was executed in a linoleum cut by Standish Mitchell of Palo Alto.
al form, starting August 2 w ith
ship
bound for A ustralia. He play F riar Laurence; the lines
The ensigne will be used on programs, and on various souvenir
"Romeo and Ju lie t.’’
O ther
spent
four years before the mast are most beautiful. I shall enjoy
articles such as envelope seals stickers, etc. to be handled largely
plays to be given include “Rich
before his distressed fam ily were him .’ ”
by local merchants. These souvenirs are expected to be popular
"Allen Thomas Room"
ard II,’’ “M idsum mer N ight’s
able to get him home.
remembrances o f the conjunction of Shakespeare and Ashland.
S tarting this year, the th ea tre ’s
D ream ,” "O thello” and the well
Becomes Actor
known “Tam ing of the Shrew .”
Being quite unfit now for costum e room w ill be know n as
(Continued on page 2)
In all each play will be present
school or college, he was appren
ed several tim es w ith the final perform ance concluding the fest
ticed
to
a
local
photographer,
but
ival on Aug. 24.
was not content to follow that
A n unusual sidelight to the
calling. A chance m eeting with
festival is th e fact th a t w ith the
Mr. Jam es Jacready Chute, m an
Elizabethan theater, the plays
ager of the P rince’e Theatre, led
m ay be presented as Shakespeare
to his being engaged for ‘gen
originally w rote them . Bowmer
eral u tility ’ w ith the stock com
points out th a t through the years
pany, a sm all beginning to a long
Shakespeare's plays have been
career. For here young Allen
rew ritten m any tim es to m eet the
received a thorough grounding
m any changes in th ea ter designs,
in the legitim ate theatre and
u ntil the present day versions
gradually rose to the position of
are a far cry from the originals,
Juvenile lead. He also discovered
a t least as far as the actual stag
th a t he possessed a good baritone
ing is concerned.
voice and a fine sense of com
Idea B om In '35
edy.
The idea for this S hakespear
Joins Opera
ean Festival was horn in the m id
A tour of English opera on the
thirties. w hen Angus Bowmer
C ontinent occupied him next, and
first glim psed the alm ost forgot
on his re tu rn he was chosen bn
ten rem nants of the old Chau-
play Touchstone at the form al op
taqua building standing near the
ening of the then new Shaftes-
entrance to A shland's Lithia
bry theatre, friend Robert Man-
Park.
tell being th e Orlando. On the
CAROL ELLER
In years gone by, the C hauta
first n ight the new ly fashioned
DR. MARGERY BAILEY
ANGUS
BOWMER
uqua building, in rea lty a cem ent
curtain being used refused to go In charge of special dancing d u r
Of Stanford University, who is a w all encompassing nearly an acre, D irector of the Shakespearean up, but the production had a ing the Festival, Miss Eller comes
(Continued on page 3)
member of the Festival faculty.
Festival
m ost successful ru n despite the to Ashland from San Francisco.
By Doyle D. Seely
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