Item #897
Valley Players Theater Troupe, Mountain Park, Holyoke MA - Dramatic Record and Photo Albums (2), 1941-55/1953-55, Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time)
Unique two-volume set, documenting the history of an important theatrical group that operated in mid-century Western Massachusetts. The Valley Players performed in the ‘Mountain Park’ Amusement Park, which operated in Holyoke from the 1890s for nearly a full century. At present, the grounds are occasionally used to host midsummer musical performances, and the memory of the Park survives with the relocation of its merry-go-round to downtown Holyoke.
The Players themselves were founded in 1941 and played summer stock annually for 22 years, through the 1962 season, as the resident troupe of the Mountain Park Casino Playhouse. By the time it ceased operating, the company had performed for roughly one million attendees. The actors were enormously talented and enjoyed terrific rapport, generally rehearsing one or two others while performing any given play. These albums showcase many of their productions with one or more images and brief typewritten captions and are absolutely essential for a true picture of their repertoire and core membership.
An extensive history of the company can be found at the website of the Holyoke Library, which in 1993 held an exhibit on the players, and hosted a reunion.
These are not ‘live-in-action’ snapshots, but rather tableaux taken during dress rehearsals, probably to an empty house, and used for record-keeping and possibly distributed to newspapers for publicity shots - some say “Please Return” on the back of the photo - or placed in the lobby of the casino.
One point of literary interest is the involvement of Madeleine L’Engle, famous as an author of young-adult novels, who got her start as an actress, and met her husband on the New York stage. At this point she had published several novels but would not become a household name until some time after the company folded (her most famous book appearing during its last season). Her husband, whom she met on the New York stage, also features in some of the productions listed herein.
Hal Holbrook was also involved with the company, perhaps got his start there in fact, but is not featured in any of the photographs (although his wife Ruby is pictured in a 1956 production) and he departed to develop, in the late 1950s, his long-running one-man show as Mark Twain, which would bring him great fame; he would return to Holyoke on numerous occasions to perform in person in various venues.
As for the photo albums themselves - a general overview to begin, and then a detailed breakdown of contents and condition of each:
Overleaves uniformly blank. Most typewritten captions are present but most have fallen off their original location (the tape was not very adhesive, and 60-80 years have passed since the assemblage of these albums). The captions list the year, title in all caps, and represented cast members. I have not looked at the back of every photo, but the many that I have are all identified to the play and dated.
Volume I
Red, faded, generic crown-and-diamond pattern in gold stamping on cover: lace binding good, all pages present and attached, with minor chipping and small edge tears, nothing major. 1 photo missing (inside front cover), p. 5 has two chunks missing, p. 6, one.
12 1/2” x 14 1/2” x 1”. 20 leaves/40 pages, brittle, thick newsprint-type pulp, heavy browning. Pages 10” x 14”. Photos generally in good shape, with some creasing to a few; all 8 x 10 glossies. The first few leaves are more extensively worn/torn, but relatively minor damage overall.
This first volume illuminates the following productions (listed are cast members in each photo):
1955 - The Bishop Misbehaves - Virginia Low, Robert Colson, Howard Ledge
(This was attached to the inside front cover, out of chronology, and is the only photo missing from the set, though the caption listing the title and players is still present; a picture from this same production can be found towards the end of Volume II; the other possibility is that a different photo has gone missing, and the caption missing from Volume II has slipped into the front of Volume I; or, the photo was initially placed here and was then transferred to Volume II, sans caption)
1941 - One Sunday Morning - (1 image):
Joseph Foley, and two uncredited actors
1942 - Three Men on a Horse - (2 images):
John McQuade, Lauren Gilbert, Joseph Foley, Jackson Perkins
Willard Dashiell, Joseph Foley
1945 - Tomorrow the World (1 image):
Hugh Franklin (Madeleine L’Engle’s husband), and two uncredited actors
1946 - Hope for the Best - (1 image):
2 actors, unknown (caption lost, but title listed on the rear of the photograph)
1949 - Apple of His Eye - (1 image):
Anne Pitoniak, Robert Emhardt, John O’Connor
1949 - Fresh Fields - (2 images):
Madeleine L’Engle (famous author), Jean Guild, Ruth Elliott
Madeleine L’Engle, Miriam Stovall, Edward Fuller
1950 - Light Up the Sky - (1 image):
Caption lost, four actors unidentified (probably Jean Guild, backbone of the company, and Ruth Elliott; with two men)
1950 - The Winslow Boy - (1 image):
Hugh Franklin and one other unidentified actor
1950 - The Damask Cheek - (2 images):
Hildegarde Halliday, Ruth Elliott, Jean Guild
Jean Guild, Miriam Stovall, Ralph Longley (?), Marian Hatfield, Henry Garrard (?) (question marks in the original caption)
1951 - Good Housekeeping - (1 image):
Nancy Wells, Louie Midget, Joyce Van Patten
1951 - The Fatal Weakness - (2 images):
Jean Guild, Louie Mudgett, Nancy Wells, John O’Connor
Jean Guild and unknown actor (caption lost)
1951 - The Joyous Season - (1 image):
Bertram Tanswell, Louie Mudgett, Jean Guild, Ann Dowling
1951 - The Man - (1 image):
William Dodds (?), Pamela Simpson, Gaylord Mason
1952 - Glad Tidings - (1 image):
Tyler Carpenter, Jackson Perkins
1952 - Second Threshold - (1 image):
John O’Connor, Nancy Wells
1952 - The Luck of Caesar - (1 image):
Jean Guild, Stanley Greene, Nancy Wells
1953 - Nina - (1 image):
Three actors, unknown (caption lost; year and title of production listed on back of photo)
Volume II
Herringbone cloth covers, decent condition, some wear on edges and at corners; lace binding intact, not loose; “Scrapbook” stamped in gold, very good condition; album 12” x 14” x 1”; 40 leaves/80 pages; as with Volume I, one b&w photo per leaf, each an 8” x 10” glossy; pages 10 1/2” x 13 1/2”
Browning thick newsprint, very brittle, more so than the first: first page detached, first dozen pages chipped, progressively less so (most pages have some degree of chipping and some have minor closed tears); 1 leaf blank but inside rear cover utilized, thus 40 images; numerous captions missing (originally taped in quite poorly); a few pages loosed from one hole of binding, but not both; pages must be turned with extreme care, slowly and never all the way
Cast members for each photo are listed.
This second volume illustrates the following productions:
1953 - The Velvet Glove - (2 images):
Jean Scuid (? - caption on back of photo unclear), Anne Follmann, John O’Connor
Bertram Tanswell, Anne Follman, John O’Connor
1954 - Time of the Cuckoo - (4 images):
Jean Guild and two unidentified actors (caption lost; one is likely Stephen Pluta)
Howard Ledig, Jacqueline Paige, John O’Connor, Jean Guild
Nancy Wells, Stephen Pluta, Michael Atkin, Jacqueline Paige
Michael Atkin, Howard Ledig, Jacqueline Paige
1954 - Gently Does It - (1 image):
Jean Guild, Si Oakland
1954 - The Moon Is Blue - (2 images):
Edward Fuller, Don Thomas, Stephen Pluta, Nancy Wells
Stephen Pluta, Nancy Wells
1955 - Time Out For Ginger - (1 image):
3 actors, unidentified (caption lost)
1955 - Sabrina Fair - (2 images):
Lynn Katz, Jean Burns, Jean Guild, Jerry Melo
-Blank page-
Jacqueline Paige, Virginia Low, Jean Guild, Terry Melo
Frank Wolff, Howard Ledig, Jerry Melo, Virginia Low
1955 - Reclining Figure - (4 images):
2 actors, unidentified (caption lost - probably Howard Ledig, with one actress)
2 actors, unidentified (caption lost - probably Edward Fuller, with one actor)
Jerry Melo, Howard Ledig
Virginia Low, Stanley Greene, Howard Ledig, John O’Connor
1955 - The First Mrs. Fraser - (3 images):
Jean Guild, Judith Love
John O’Connor, Jean Guild, Mac Gress
Jerry Melo, Virginia Low, Mac Gress, Jean Guild
1955 - Lo and Behold - (3 images):
Ted Tiller, Jacqueline Paige
Judith Love, Mac Gress, Edward Fuller, Virginia Low, Ted Tiller, Jacqueline Paige
Jacqueline Paige, Judith Love, Virginia Low, Mac Gress, Ted Tiller
1955 - The Fourposter -(1 image):
Howard Ledig, Helen Harrelson
1955 - The Bishop Misbehaves - (1 image):
3 actors, unidentified (caption lost) - probably Virginia Low, one other fellow (Robert Colson?), and Howard Ledig
-see notation for inside front cover of Volume I for further details of loose caption-
1955 - The Southwest Corner - (3 images):
2 actors, unidentified (Caption lost, but likely John O’Connor and Jean Guild)
John O’Connor, Jean Guild, Jacqueline Paige
Jacqueline Paige, John O’Connor, Jean Guild
1955 - The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker - (1 image):
Mac Gress, Jean Guild, John O’Connor
1955 - Kind Sir - (2 images):
Judith Love, Howard Ledig (caption lost, but cast listed on reverse)
Howard Ledig, Judith Love
1956 - Three’s a Family - (1 image):
Virginia Low, Ellen Andrews, Norman Twain, John O’Connor, Jacqueline Paige
1956 - The Seven Year Itch - (1 image):
John O’Connor, Constance Simons
1956 - The Rainmaker - (2 images):
Jerry Melo, Virginia Low
Howard Ledig, Virginia Low
1956 - The Solid Gold Cadillac - (2 images):
Molly Hosman, Edward Fuller, San Banham, Howard Ledig, Ted Tiller
Jean Guild
1956 - A Roomful of Roses - (2 images):
Jacqueline Paige, Edward Fuller, Nancy Devlin, Ruby Holbrook, Dickie Nevins
Sarah Hardy, Richard Baublitz, Edward Fuller
1959 - Spider’s Web - (1 image, inside rear cover):
3 actors, unidentified (caption lost).
Price: $500.00