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Oh, Doctor! and Other Plays

 
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roger.pape
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Joined: 17 Mar 2009
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Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:54 am    Post subject: Oh, Doctor! and Other Plays Reply with quote

During the old days (i.e. the dark ages before television), people in Concordia used to get their entertainment by going to lectures (philosophical, scientific, or comedic) and plays (usually comedies). These were held in several auditoriums around town. Concordia was also on the Chatauqua circuit with shows held in a tent on the St. Paul’s College campus. (See Chatauqua comes to Concordia)

While Secco Brockman’s Opera House on the second floor over the old bank on Main St. was well before my time, I do remember various plays being given by groups like the Lion’s Club and the Walther League, as well as by school classes. These were usually held in the Concordia High School gymnasium or in the auditorium on the second floor of St. Paul’s Elementary School.

The picture posted below was the cast of the play “Charley’s Aunt”, a popular farce back in the early 1900s. But the shows that people seemed to enjoy the most were the black-face minstrels before they became politically incorrect. (Interestingly, Concordia chose to hold a minstrel in their centennial program.) The show I remember most was called “Oh, doctor!”. My father and Otto Brockman played the two servants of the doctor. During the play, they would repeatedly say “Look in de book”, flop done on the floor on their stomachs and flip through a book. People repeated that phrase for a long time after the play was given. In fact, in later years when people came into the lumber yard for a price check, Dad would pull out a catalog and say “Let’s look in de book”.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with minstrels, you can see the script of "Oh, doctor!" on the archive.org website at http://www.archive.org/details/ohdoctorminstrel00newt . While the minstrels included a number of musical pieces, a play such as this was usually the feature of the show.



CharleysAuntPlay.jpg
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Cast of the play "Charley's Aunt"
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CharleysAuntPlay.jpg


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roger.pape
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 414
Location: Liverpool, NY

PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:56 am    Post subject: Look in de book, Andy Reply with quote

Those of you who are Kansas City Chiefs football fans are probably disappointed with the playoff game loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

While watching coach Andy Reid study his play chart during the game, I was waiting for him to flop down on the ground and say "Let's look in de book".

No disrespect intended to Andy and the Chiefs. They had a great season this past year.

P. S. I'm a die-hard, long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan still waiting for them to return to the playoffs and redeem themselves for the infamous "Wide Right" Super Bowl loss in 1991.
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