Four Generations, One Theatre

Saturday, I sat in the performance space of the Birmingham Children's Theatre, which my mother helped to found, to watch my nephew and two great-nieces perform in the Birmingham Ballet's Hansel and Gretel. 

I thought then of my brief time working there, and of the long time my mother was associated with it in its re-founding, and of the third and fourth generations in my family performing there. How pleased my parents would have been to see their grandson and great-granddaughters carrying on a family tradition.

Today, looking for some information about my mother's volunteer work in the 1950s, I happened upon several valuable resources. The Junior League of Birmingham history says this:

"Cultural education remained an important focus of the JLB, and in November 1940, its Children’s Theater project was re-established after a hiatus of some years. The 'JLB Theater of the Air' began with a series of half-hour radio broadcasts based on dramatic readings of classical literature. Featured titles included The House of Seven Gables, Little Women and Silas Marner. The committee presented marionette shows of 'The Three Bears' and 'The Three Little Pigs'. To promote interest in reading, the JLB also sponsored 'Books Bring Adventure', a series of children’s stories adapted for radio. The JLB Shop sponsored rotating art exhibits featuring local and national artists, works by soldiers and an exhibit from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that featured works by John Singer-Sargent and George Bellows.

"The Junior Programs art series for school-age children began in 1948. With a giraffe mascot named 'JuPe', the Junior Programs brought ballet, music, theater and puppet shows to thousands of Birmingham’s children. Season tickets were sold as a subscription series. Additionally, civic groups purchased many of the tickets and distributed them to children free of charge. Performances were given by local and national art concerns and in some cases, by JLB committees. A performance of 'Peter Rabbit' by the Puppet Committee was seen by over 7,700 children. Other titles in the series, which included several performances per year, were the opera 'Hansel and Gretel', the ballets 'Puss in Boots' and 'Copellia' and the play 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'. The program became so popular that the JLB had to limit ticket sales due to space availability. In 1954, the Junior Programs Children’s Conference took place in Birmingham. Two years later, during JLB year 1956-57, the Junior Programs transitioned to a community project strongly supported by the general public with the JLB maintaining an active volunteer committee."

My mother and her friends wrote those marionette and puppet shows, made the stage and puppets/marionettes, and performed the plays. They stored all the materials in our attic, and my friends and I created our own shows with their materials.

My fondest memories of the Junior Programs performances involve my father as JuPe the Giraffe, whose job it was to teach theatre manners to the children in the audience. He wore a costume Mother made for him: a fantastic long-necked papier-mache head of papier-mache, striped jacket, and splotched pants and shoes. Until twenty minutes ago, I thought I'd never see him again as JuPe, and then I found this on the Bhamwiki.

I give it a standing ovation.