April is the cruelest month, according to T. S. Eliot, but he didn't know that April would one day be honored with the title of National Poetry Month. Since Small Town is located not too far from the birthplace of James Whitcomb Riley, it seems like a logical time to take another look at the Hoosier Poet's writings and his contributions to American literature. At the turn of the last century, he was America's favorite poet, but for some years now his writings have been reviled by university cognoscenti.
Riley, James Whitcomb (7 Oct. 1849-22 July 1916), poet, was born in Greenfield, Indiana, the son of Reuben Alexander Riley, an attorney, and Elizabeth Marine.
Few boys have had a happier childhood than young Bud. There was excitement on all sides for this lively, bright, impressionable young lad. Boredom was never a problem. At hand was a primitive forest with all its mysteries, as well as creek bottoms, country roads, and farm lands. He was surrounded by chums who knew where the best swimming and fishing holes were and who shared in the treasured joys of childhood. The community was busy and growing, and thousands streamed westward in front of the Riley home seeking gold and new land. Young Riley was quick to note the odd and unusual. His keen mind retained in detail all aspects of his childhood.
His poems celebrate everyday life and everyday people and the everyday glories of a beautiful place. Riley said, "I will sing of black haws, mayapples, and pennyroyal; of hazel thickets, sycamores, and shellbark hickories in the pathless woods."
At the turn of the century Riley was probably the most popular poet in the United States. Mark Twain said of Riley's work, "This is art--and fine and beautiful, and only a master can compass it";
Donald
C. Manlove. "Riley, James
Whitcomb"
http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01384.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Copyright © 2000 American Council of Learned Societies.
Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
To celebrate the country's bicentennial (1976), the team of Firari and Myers, with a lot of help from their friends, produced an original musical based on Riley's poetry and certain events in his life. Space will not allow printing the entire script, but two reviews will suggest how the play was received by the audiences--not cruelly, but fondly.
"Uncle Jamesie' is nostalgia,
By Marian Nixon, Citizen Special Writer
a rare poetical performance
Nostalgia is for the Bicentennial. Firari's "Uncle Jamesie" IS nostalgia. Generations reared on Out to Old Aunt Mary's, Raggedy Man, Orphan Annie, Prayer Perfect were no less enchanted with the goblins, singing and poetry at Culver Academies' Eppley Auditorium Sept. 20, 26, than contemporary 3 - 93-year-olds in the two large audiences.
From overture Macdonald's-Hanley's "Back Home Again in Indiana" to "I Want To Be A Soldier" (The Boy Patriot), the production sparkled with rinkely-tinkely Riley from "A Long Time Ago" (music director, Bob Kamrow; piano, Marjorie Chadwick; base, Wally Helber; drums, Steve Shiner). The one-hour whimsy would be perfect for TV. It could be a best-seller tape. Rarely has poetry been so integral to a score.
Costumes created by Virginia Thomas, Peg Lewis, Dorie Black and other mothers of the 10-voice children's chorus were faithful reproductions of illustrations from originals at Lilly Library, University of Indiana, located at Bloomington.
"Louella Laney, Where ARE You?" echoed mistily from memory to all who ever heard mother calling at dusk (technical effects; Jeff Nagle, Karl Hamann, Jeff Jenkins, Terri Faul). Sets by Brian Myers; Lewis Kopp portrayed "Behind the Hen House," porch and (slide projected) 19th century house preserved still, Lockerbie Street, Indianapolis.
"We Must Get Home Again" theme was movingly presented by Elkhart musicians Dan and Jan Myers, as Riley and Libby. Both bespoke enduring values: non-phoniness (Old Man Whiskery), loyalty (newsboy Sean Deery and Michael Black as Elmer Brown "awfulest boy in this-here town"), compassion ("Why Is My Little Girl So Sad Tonight?" and the heart-tugging "There, Little Girl, Don't Cry").
"How Many of My Selves Are Dead?" brushed ideas lurking beneath rollicking-frolicking Riley.
Audiences applauded "Tentoleena" when the chorus asked Riley not to leave. He pledged to stay with those who made room for him in their hearts.
Culver Academies deserve thanks from the community for this unique gift. Both performances were presented free. "Uncle Jamesie" fulfilled the Hoosier poet's credo "There's Always a Song Somewhere."
Uncle Jamesie'll 'git you'
And so will his gobble-uns
by Charlotte Walker
THE PILOT-NEWS, Plymouth, Ind.
Saturday, September 20, 1975
Children's voices singing "Back Home in Indiana" behind a projection of James Whitcomb Riley's old brick house set the tone for the musical play, "Uncle Jamesie," at Culver Academies.
Harvey Firari, director of theatre at the Academies, wrote about the famed Hoosier poet as part of Culver's Bicentennial program and cast it with children for whom the poet wrote so many unforgettable verses.
Last night's was the first performance. It will be done once more, next Friday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Eppley auditorium. There is no admission charge, so load the kids in the car and you go, too.
It is a children's play, but there's a lot in it for the adult who has not forgotten the wonderful rhythm of a rhyme, of jumping rope to a Grunkety-krung! and Chunkety-plung! and boys playing Anty-Anty-Over around an ivy-wispy shed. The Bullfrog Song and Nine Little Goblins, Long Time Ago, Elmer Brown ("awf'lest boy in this-here town"), Lockerbie Street, and other poems, including Riley's love poems to his exasperated, but faithful Libby, are there.
As Uncle Jamesie, whose love of children is returned a hundred-fold, Dan Myers has a nice manner and a beautiful singing voice. The pity was that many of his spoken lines were lost. He is a singer. By next Friday, his well-trained voice will have overcome the problem, and we'll hear Riley's delightful poems in their entirety.
A real high point of the play was the poem, "There! Little Girl: Don't Cry!" set to music by Ward-Stephens and sung by Myers to little Krista Thomas, left behind by the other children in a race. The warmth and tenderness expressed by Myers was magical.
Elmer Brown is played by a feisty twig of a boy, Michael Black, who appears to have not a bit of stage fright. His mimicking of the Ladies of Lockerbie Street (Peg Lewis and Virginia Thomas, both of whose daughters appear in the show), is delightful.
Another of the boys who literally keeps coming between Libby and Jamesie is Claude, played by Sean Deery. He, Jamesie and Libby entertainingly and touchingly sing "The Boy Patriot," marching around a hammock to a wonderful beat.
Libby is portrayed by Jan (Mrs. Dan) Myers, whose voice was made for musical shows. There is no trouble hearing her. The large audience enthusiastically applauded her solos, "Good-by Er Howdy-do" and "There's Ever a Song Somewhere."
In the chorus of children were Becky Banfield, Chris Kline, Scott Banfield, Megan Lewis, Renee Noel, Gwen Thomas, Kelly Shields, Cory Miller, Sarah Baker and Krista Thomas, all of Culver. They took direction well, give spirited and natural performances, sing like children - and are adorable!
Music to Riley's poems was ferreted out of the Lilly Library and others by Firari, and was played last night by a combo directed by Robert Kamrow. Marjorie Chadwick was at the piano, Wally Helber on bass and Steve Shiner on drums. The music added a great deal, but did not overwhelm the singers at the same time.
The most excellent set was also a "star" of the show. Designed by Lewis Kopp and Brian Myers, former and present Academy cadets, the real-looking shed with its torn shingles could be turned to be the side porch and steps of Riley's brick house. In the shed scene, there was even an old, half-moon privy on the backdrop; an old pump and a rail fence completed the scene.
The "goblins" painted on big brown paper sacks were bright and properly scary. Don't tell your kids, but the lights go low and as the children, inside the sacks, dance, the goblin faces glow. Very effective.
A number of other technical effects - voice-overs, lighting etc., were handled by Brian Myers and Jeff Nagle, Karl Hamann and Jeff Jenkins, as well as Terri Faul. Costumes and make-up were by Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Lewis, Dorie Black and other mothers. Gordon Uyttebrouck created Uncle Jamesie's make-up.
For the finale, the cast sings "Up in Tentoleena Land," and the children beg Uncle Jamesie not to leave. "I'll always be with you as long as you make room in your hearts." "We will!" they promise.
Go on, take the kids!
