Saturday, December 20, 2014

12/15/1955

EAST FAREWELL NEWS


Thursday, December 15, 1955 Vol. C778


LOCAL NEWS


‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’ CHARMS EAST FAREWELL


East Farewell- The Christmas tradition of the presentation of Dickens’s classic “A Christmas Carol” opened last week to a sold out crowd and has enjoyed a sell out every night and expected to continue to pack the house until closing January 2nd. The play is being presented for the third year and has attained a bit of magical holiday status in town. This year is special due to the return Leo G Carroll as Scrooge. He is reprising his lead role that he first played two years ago in the first presentation. The audience loved him as he growled, scolded, cried and in the end laughed with joy. The entire cast was superb taking the audience off on a wonderful trip through the beloved tale. This year again playing the role of Belle is East Farewell’s own Natalie Mallard and has grown in the role she has played for all three years. The East Farewell Playhouse staged an exquisite set and the scenes were very authentic. The final show tops off another spectacular season for the Playhouse and its main producer Jed Bernstein. Owners Rick and Julie Davidson have worked extremely hard to continue upgrading the Playhouse and building the ever increasing support member base.

The show itself was a straightforward interpretation of the story. Carroll plays an excellent Scrooge, gruff and callous at the start and through reflection and self-evaluation becoming a kind, giving and even boisterous member of the town. Other members of the cast do an admirable job with Fred Marshall playing a humble but proud Bob Cratchit again. 14 year old Billy Grahmn plays Tiny Tim and is endearing. The other cast members due a superb job with one special note, Thomas Durance, reprises the Ghost of Christmas Present and brings a smile to your face with his off the cuff, seemingly improvised humor. Everyone has fun in this family event but the audience seems to have the most fun. Don’t miss this show.

Scrooge & the Spirit of Christmas Present


SPORTS


BEARS GROWL AND SWIPE AT COUGARS IN OPENER


East Farewell- The Cougars basketball season started last week with loss to a very strong Central Bears team, 40-44. The Bears caught the Cougars by surprise by showing a very steady offense and a rigid defense. Last year the Bears finished next to last in the league standings and the Cougars were not expecting the vastly improved Bears who obviously worked very hard and if this game was any indication, the Bears will be contenders for the league crown. The Cougars on the other hand who are defending league champs looked like they were playing one step behind most of the game. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Cougars seemed to get on track. They had trailed the Bears the entire game except for briefly at the end of the first half.
            The game started with a surprise from the Bears by showing up with what amounted to two centers, Donny Doyle and Frank Williams, both over 6’7”. This completely threw off the Cougars defense whose only player over 6’5” is center, Wilson Watson. The Cougars struggled in the first half to contain the ‘Twin Towers’ as Cougars point guard, Timmy Green, cynically named Doyle and Williams. “Those guys were unstoppable in the first half, we were working as hard as we could just to keep up with them. We started to figure them out towards the end of the first half but they played a very good game,” said Cougars coach, Charles Wilson, “They are going to be a force this season, we will have to figure out something to do about them.”
            The Bears were able to rattle off ten unanswered points before the Cougars were able to get on the board. The Cougars answered with six straight but the tone had been set and it wasn’t until two minutes remaining in the first half were the Cougars able to take a slim two point lead. In the second half the Bears regained the lead to stay at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Cougars did display flashes of last year’s championship play but the ‘Twin Towers’ were too much for them. The Cougars face another difficult opponent next week when they take on the Corning Devils in Corning. The game begins at 4:30 in the Corning High gymnasium.


 NATIONAL NEWS


BIG LINEUP FOR NBC RADIO ON NEW YEARS – DIDDLEY ON ED SULLIVAN – CHESS LAUNCHES NEW LABLE – FREED BRANCHES OUT


For New Year’s Eve - NBC radio’s “Monitor” will spotlight remote pick-ups by the Billy Taylor Trio from London House in Chicago; Jerry Gray at the Moulin Rouge, Hollywood; Tex Beneke at the Statler Hotel, New York; Duke Ellington at the Blue Note in Chicago; Sarah Vaughan at Birdland in New York; Les Brown at the Hollywood Palladium, Bobby Troup at the Huntington Sheraton, Pasadena (CA) and Stan Kenton at Zardies in Los Angeles.

Bo Diddley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show this week. Ed wanted Diddley to perform “16 Tons” but what came out was “Bo Diddley.” They had to rehearse over and over again, because Diddley didn’t know diddley about the song. Ed and crew got the surprise of their lives when it came to the actual live airing.  When asked to comment, the singer said, “Man, maybe that was ’16 Tons’ on those (cue) cards, but all I saw was ‘Bo Diddley.”

DJ Murray Kaufman has been busy the last few summers staging open-air shows (featuring top recording stars) at Palisades Park. Last year, Kaufman of WMCA New York drew some 125,000 when he emceed Eddie Fisher and Sammy Davis Jr. at Palisades Amusement Park. His fan club now numbers 108,000. He’s involved in a cut-rate record store at the park, where hit singles will sell for 55 cents. Singles wholesale for 54 cents, and the other penny will go for operating the store, located at Palisades Park.

Rhythm and Blues label Chess-Checker launches a label for pop. “Marterry” will feature artists heard on the firm’s established labels as well as new artists. The move was made because R&B hits such as Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene” have crossed over into pop.

WINS DJ Alan Freed is branching out into the nightclub and movie fields next year. He’s scheduled to take his own 18-piece band into Birdland in February.  Freed will front and play trombone on the bill which will also feature Sam The Man Taylor and Al Sears.




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