EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, December
12, 1957 Vol. C650
LOCAL
NEWS
A CHRISTMAS CAROL OPENS IN
EAST FAREWELL
East Farewell - Some people in East Farewell feel the Christmas
season is not officially started until the town tradition of Charles Dickens ‘A
Christmas Carol’
opens at the Playhouse. This is the sixth year that
the play has been produced and performed in East Farewell Playhouse. The play
opened on Saturday night to a sold out crowd and will run through January 6th
with performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights with a matinee on
Saturday afternoon. Playhouse producer, Jed Bernstein, has once again taken the
tradition path and presenting the play but this year the lead role of Scrooge
is being played by top movie star James Mason. Leo G Carroll, the much beloved
Scrooge from all previous productions was unable to play the role this year due
to conflicting engagements. Carroll defined the role in the East Farewell
production and Mason knew the bar was set very high. In the opening show he
rose to the level and many say he surpassed it. The gruff, miserly and
downright mean character, well known to everyone who has read the story, was
brought to life by Mason and with wonderful makeup and beautiful costume design
he was able to bring the character into the minds and hearts of the audience.
Once again this year the role of Belle was played by local Natalie Mallard and in a
surprising change she also played the role of Mrs. Cratchit. Two completely
different characters but in the first show she was able to pull off the
character change seamlessly. Other locals filled out the cast with Randle Cross
reprising his role as the humble but loving Bob Cratchit and last year’s
surprise star little Billy O’Brian who is now 13 once again played Tiny Tim.
This year the three ghosts were played by the same person, Douglas Beaufort. As
the ghost of Christmas past he was thin, wiry and agile, bounding around the
stage with great ease showing Scrooge scenes from his past but as the ghost of
Christmas present he came on stage as over-sized, jovial spirit who portrayed a
genuine joy for the moment and as the spirit of Christmas future he reverted to
the thin side but was completely covered with a gray hooded cape and what
appeared to be a black mask totally obscuring his face. He was truly
disconcerting and very convincing.
The East Farewell
Playhouse has gained a reputation for the wonderful sets and scenes they have
produced for this play. Owners Rick and Julie Davidson have continued with
their hard work and fundraising for the Playhouse. This year with the expert
guidance from Bernstein they have been able to produce a full slate of very
entertaining shows. Rick Davidson even mentioned in an off-the-cuff comment
that they may even make a profit this year. Local support for the Playhouse has
been very strong since its opening seven years ago and out of town and support
has been steadily growing thanks to a strong advertising campaign developed by
Julie Davidson. This year’s show is sold out in advance for many shows. This is
not unusual, but tickets remain because the Davidson’s have always held back a
few tickets for each show so people showing up on show night at the box office
are able to enjoy the show. Everyone in town makes sure they have at least one
ticket to the show if not several. As usual this is a show not to be missed.
Ghost of
Christmas Present and Scrooge 1957
SPORTS
COUGARS CLAW BEARS IN OPENER
East Farewell – The 1957-58 Cougars basketball team started
their season on Friday night with a convincing win over the Central Bears, 40-32.
This year’s Cougars have a new look having lost highly visible and locally
loved seniors, center Wilson Watson and forwards Tom O’Hare and Billy Reilly.
The new team has only two seniors, center Dave McGill and returning guard
Fergal Conner. McGill played last year as backup to Watson. Filling out the
starting five this are forwards Don Tasker and Joey Mitchell and point guard
Bobby Fox all juniors. This is not a new team. All the starting five were on
the team last year and saw a good bit of action. This team has played together
as the squad that would scrimmage last year’s starters during practice, so they
are familiar with each other. They started the season with a very strong game
and looked sure of themselves and communicated well on the court.
The game
started with the first tip off for both centers, McGill for the Cougars and
Dunlap for the Bears. Both boys jumped too soon and came down before the ball
was tipped with Dunlap swatting the ball standing flat on the floor. Not a
rules violation, just an awkward start. The Bears took advantage of the miscue
and guard Don Francis grabbed the ball and raced down the court for a quick
score. The Cougars then took over and went on a 12-4 run and took a 23-18 lead
into halftime. The Bears made a run early in the second half and were able to
take a brief lead 28-26 by employing a well run press and double teaming
McGill. The Cougars were able to make adjustments and forwards Tasker and
Mitchell were able to step up and make critical baskets and calmly break the
press enough that the Bears called it off. By the end of the second half the
Cougars had regained control and were ahead, 38-32 with only one minute left.
Cougars coach, Charles Wilson, started to clear the bench to give the younger
players, all sophomores, a chance to play.
Walter
Ferguson, Mack MacKensie, Robby O’Shea played very strong defense but were only
able to score once brining the final score to 40-32, Cougars.
Next week’s game is at home against
the Corning Devils. The Devils are one of the teams that that have been picked
to be a contender for the league championship. The game begins at 4:15, Friday
in the Regional High Gymnasium.
NATIONAL NEWS
MID-EAST REASONABLY STABLE – IKE TO GO TO
NATO SUMMIT – SUBWAY STRIKE IN NYC
UN Secretary General
Dag Hammarskjold came home from a seven-day mission to the Middle East, confident that the
Arab-Israeli armistice is "reasonably stable”.
President Eisenhower
is going to Paris for the NATO summit conference as his doctors pronounce his
condition as good.
The
second subway strike in 18 months hits New York City and
causes thousands commuters to scramble for alternate means of getting to and
from work.
Many, many
thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
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