Eveline’s Senior Year: Grandma Was in a Play After All

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Kathy Morales

I shared a photo of my grandmother Eveline Coates’ high school graduating class in Mystic, Iowa a few weeks (now months!) ago. Along with the photo and her diploma, a couple of other mementos were saved. One is the program for the Junior-Senior Banquet in honor of the graduating Seniors. It was interesting to see how World War I seemed to be the overarching theme of the festivities. I decided to take a deeper look at what her life may have been like during the 1917-1918 school year. There was a lot going on, a war and the beginning of an influenza pandemic to name the two biggies. The list of related posts is getting long, so I’ll link them at the bottom.

I was in the middle of writing what I knew was the next post in this series. I was doing a little newspaper research for that post when I found something at about 11:00 Saturday night (the day I had hoped to post it!), not for the post I was writing, but something I needed for the previous post.

Sometimes search terms bring us what we are looking for. Sometimes we use all the search terms we can think of in all possible configurations and spellings, with and without quotations marks … and come up empty. As I read this information that arrived too late, I sat back in my chair, no amusement on my face. Now? Really? I needed you weeks ago.

My previous post was about my grandmother and the Mystic High School Senior Class Play. I wrote things like:

And who played the parts of Alec Fraser, a young author married to Edna.
Charles Ramsey, a friend of the family, who is responsible for “Jim.”
and James Barry, friend of Charles, who is willing to do a lot for Vivian?
If only Eveline lived in Centerville, the county seat, rather than Mystic. The newspaper listed all of the students and the parts they played in the Centerville senior class play and many more details for other senior events as well.

I was unable to find any details about Senior Class night, which occurred the night before commencement. I can only guess that it was a party atmosphere to celebrate their last night together as classmates.

Trying to finish the post I was working on, I searched for the name Lodwick, the surname of one of Eveline’s classmates, who was mentioned in the Junior-Senior Reception program.

Page 5 of Semi Weekly Iowegian,published in Centerville, Iowa on Monday, April 22nd, 1918

And there it was – the names of the students and what parts they played. Unfortunately, I still can’t identify any of the students in the class photo except for Alice Tingle, who would one day be Eveline’s sister-in-law.

But look at the last paragraph in the clipping: “The other Seniors will present ‘Georgia’s Wedding Gown’ or ‘Who’s to Inherit?’ on class night.” So … those who didn’t have a part in the Senior Class Play “Why Not Jim?” would not be left out completely. But which play did they perform? And could I find a copy of the play or at least some information about it? I found a reference to the play “Who’s to Inherit?” on the internet, but I could never find “Georgia’s Wedding Gown.”

I went back to the local newspaper again, trying several search terms. What finally worked? “Gown”. And there it was.

Page 4 of Semi Weekly Iowegian,published in Centerville, Iowa on Monday, April 29th, 1918

“Georgianna” had been misspelled as “Georgia” in the first article. Ah well. I found it.

So grandma Eveline played the part of Madge Gilliard in the play “Georgianna’s Wedding Gown.” The play, by author Bell Bayless, is described in a 1914 booksellers newsletter as “a farce in two acts” and the publisher as “Dick & Fitz,” which I eventually learned was Dick & Fitzgerald.

I was about to give up locating a copy of the play when I finally found it by searching the name of the character Grandma played, Madge Gilliard. I almost wish I hadn’t. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

In this series, I’ve written about The Red Cross, smallpox, coal mining, food conservation, immigration, the draft, Eveline’s family, and more. One thing I did not delve into was race. The “gift” of locating the play Grandma was in compels me to acknowledge this influence on Grandma’s life as well.

The first hint of where this might lead was finding a Wikipedia entry about the publishing company, Dick and Fitzgerald.

Eric Lott cites them as one of the leading publishers circa 1850 of songbooks (typically just lyrics, not melodies) of the popular blackface minstrel songs of the time, which he characterizes as “little lyric volumes of mass-produced racist caricature.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_%26_Fitzgerald

Sigh.

There were not many black families in Appanoose County at the time and I read somewhere along the way that a number of them had been recruited from Missouri or other parts south to work in the coal mines. What the men who moved their families to Appanoose County did not know until they showed up for work was that they had been recruited and hired as strikebreakers. Scabs. They did not receive a warm welcome.

In one class photo of Eveline in elementary school, there is one black girl in the picture of about thirty children.

There are no black teens in the 1918 Senior Class photo. Eveline wrote an autobiography as a school assignment when she was about sixteen. In it she wrote:

After spending four years of delightful work and play here, I started on my way to the Central Ward. The children there were strangers to me and there were so many that for some time I was afraid to try any pranks and when I got over this feeling, I was told that I was old enough to act like a lady. Well I did, for it wasn’t but a few days later, when with some of the other girls I found myself in a big quarrel with some colored girls. That afternoon the professor for some reason or other kept coming into the room and it was with a sigh of relief that we marched out of school that night without even a scolding.

Grandma did not share details of what the quarrel was about.

Back to the play …

The setting of the play is the home of Madge Gilliard, a young, single woman of about 20. Her parents are out of town. Georgianna is a servant in the home. The time of the play is noted as “the present,” and since the play was written in 1914, this production in 1918 was representative of the present.

Costumes, characteristics of the characters, props needed, and stage directions.

The gist of the play is that Georgianna hopes to marry her beau right away, but doesn’t have a white gown to wear. She took her aunt’s funeral shroud, but it was eaten by a calf when she set it out to dry. At Madge’s house, she takes a white dress and hat out of the closet while she is cleaning and wants to buy them from Madge, but Madge does not want to part with them. Madge and her guests decide to make a wedding gown for Georgianna.

Nice enough story.

But the play features racist caricatures and language and the black characters speak in distorted Black language. The lines for Grandma’s character include “that” word as well as others.

I have questions.
Who chose this play rather than Who’s to Inherit?, the other play considered? That play has no black characters or racial stereotypes.
Did the students vote?
Did the teacher in charge select it?
Did students think it would be a test of their acting chops to play characters unlike themselves?
Did anyone have reservations about anything in the play?
Did the students perform in blackface?

I can guess, but obviously can’t answer any of my questions. I can only point to the popularity of minstrel shows and entertainment of this nature at the time. The frequent carnivals that came to Appanoose County usually included a minstrel show. I remember finding a newspaper clipping several years ago about a minstrel show performed at church – the Methodist Church – if I remember correctly. And by 1920, the KKK was gaining a foothold in Appanoose County. The editor of the Centerville newspaper apparently put up quite a fight with them.

Under Jesse Beck, The Iowegian waged a fierce — and ultimately successful — fight against the Ku Klux Klan in southern Iowa, where the KKK had gained a foothold that modern Iowans would find astonishing. The paper editorialized against the KKK on its front page and faced reprisals from Klan supporters, Mills told us.
https://www.carrollspaper.com/opinion/centerville-iowegian-newspaper-that-fought-kkk-in-1920s-goes-down-to-coronavirus-in-2020/article_e5856890-9920-11ea-b44b-7fbd1fe848b7.html

I have struggled to find words to close this post, but none that seem fitting have come to me. I was sad and disheartened to read the play and to imagine Eveline and her classmates performing in it and being entertained by it … for Senior Class Night, no less.

As for Eveline, her interactions with people of color were limited by the part of the country where she grew up and lived out her life. I never heard her speak the words that she apparently delivered in the play and I never heard her disparage anyone because of the color of their skin or ethnicity. But just as patriotism, frugality, and service were heavy in the air in 1918, so was racism. Young Eveline lived and breathed an environment that unquestionably influenced her and her classmates. As we all do.

I wish I could ask Grandma about that play.

Maybe I don’t know how to finish this post because it is an unfinished story. I wish we could say that our racist past is all in the past, but we know it is not. The past remains with us – sometimes blatantly obvious, but often unrecognized, unacknowledged, and exerting more influence than we are willing to recognize.

A series of search terms to tell a simple story delivered a hit.

This is my very late response to Sepia Saturday for October 22.

Eveline’s Senior Year: Senior Class Play

Posted on September 17, 2022 by Kathy Morales

The week before commencement was a busy one for Eveline. The Junior-Senior Reception (which I am skipping over for the time-being) was Friday evening, May 10th. Two days after the reception was the Baccalaureate Sermon, followed by the class play on Tuesday, class night on Thursday, and commencement on Friday. Before and during this week, the seniors rehearsed the play and practiced for commencement. I’ll bet there was shopping too – as students planned what to wear to the reception, class night, and for the graduation ceremony. In the class photo, all of the students are wearing caps and gowns, but the girls, especially, might have worn a new dress underneath. And what about final exams? Were the seniors also applying for jobs or college or working to learn a trade? Doing extra chores in the absence of an older brother drafted to military service? As it is today, the end of the school year was a busy time for the graduating seniors of Mystic and for their families.

Mystic High School Graduation Invitation, Class of 1918,
Mystic, Iowa

Performing a class play before graduation is not something that we did when I graduated from high school, nor when my children graduated, but it seems to have been a common practice at the time.

The Senior Class Play was a one-act comedy, “Why Not Jim?” written by Helen F. Bagg. Ms. Bagg seems to have written quite a number of light-hearted plays that were often performed by high school students.

The price of admission was 15 cents and 25 cents. The school principal, Neva Prior went to Centerville to shop the Wednesday before this busy week. Maybe she needed something to wear for commencement, or supplies for one of the events.

Semi Weekly Iowegian, Page 6, Centerville, Iowa
1918 May 9

The play was staged at the Strand Theater in Mystic. I wish I could find an older photo of the outside of the building.

Strand Theater, Mystic, Iowa about 1972, accessed from Facebook

A digital copy of the play Why Not Jim is available from the Internet Archive of the Library of Congress.

We can try to imagine the set on the stage of the Strand Theater.

Probably the Strand Theater, Mystic, Iowa about 1930-1931, accessed from Facebook

The play called for a cast of nine characters.

There were eighteen graduating seniors. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any newspaper accounts or other sources that named who played the characters or how the play was received.

There are three male characters in the play and three boys in Eveline’s graduating class, so I’ll assume each of the male members of the senior class had a part to play. Unfortunately, I have yet to identify anyone in the class photo other than Eveline and Alice Tingle, her future sister-in-law. But I do know their names. The names of the young men are: Art J. McDanolds, David E. Lodwick, and Clarence H. Swanson. But who is who?

And who played the parts of Alec Fraser, a young author married to Edna.
Charles Ramsey, a friend of the family, who is responsible for “Jim.”
and James Barry, friend of Charles, who is willing to do a lot for Vivian?

A description of the costume requirements provides more information about casting the parts.

If I were to take a guess, I’d guess student #1 in the part of Fraser, #2 as Ramsey, and #3 as Barry. But what do I know?

There were only five parts for the fifteen senior girls. Did one of the students fill the role of director or did one of the teachers have that responsibility? There were costumes to prepare, backdrops to paint, doors and windows and a window seat to build, props to gather, tickets and money to handle, the stage to light, make up to apply, and costume changes to help with. It would be fun to know if my grandmother acted in the play or was one of the crew. I would guess she was not an actor, unless that was a side of her personality that I never saw.

If only Eveline lived in Centerville, the county seat, rather than Mystic. The newspaper listed all of the students and the parts they played in the Centerville senior class play and many more details for other senior events as well.

I was unable to find any details about Senior Class night, which occurred the night before commencement. I can only guess that it was a party atmosphere to celebrate their last night together as classmates.

Although I did not match the prompt photo, this is my contribution to Sepia Saturday. Please play along and visit other bloggers who participate: Sepia Saturday.

Eveline’s Senior Year: Gatherings and Gossip

Posted on July 24, 2022 by Kathy Morales

The prompt photo from Sepia Saturday made me think of social gatherings – and gossip. Be forewarned – I’ll be galloping all over the place in this post. I’ve gleaned so many little tidbits from old newspapers and it’s a shame not to use them after all those hours of reading. But I’d also like to finish this series before my hair turns completely gray, so the chase is on!

Like most local newspapers at the time, the papers that served Appanoose County had columns devoted to the comings and goings of the townspeople. Who had callers, who went shopping in another town, who is sick, weddings, funerals … There are mentions of parties and picnics and ice cream socials, and if a researcher is lucky, names are named. Unfortunately, Eveline’s family rarely made mention in the newspaper. I suppose the names that show up frequently belong to the families of professionals, business owners and mine owners – not so much the families of the mine workers.

I did find that one mention of Eveline having a party at the bridge during the summer before her senior year. What might Eveline and her friends have talked about? If the party was just her girl friends, I’d guess cute boys, “mean” teachers, movies and movie stars, who has smallpox, and whose older brother might be called up for duty next. But the newspaper says she entertained her class for the party, so maybe there were some cute boys there to talk to rather than talk about – looking a bit like the smiling young woman in the prompt photo? Eveline had just become an aunt, so she may have bragged about her niece.

A story the young people may have enjoyed involved the day marshal losing his pants.

03 July 1917 Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa

Would a group of teenagers have talked about the scoundrel who fleeced an elderly woman by pretending to be an eye doctor? The news hit the local paper just days before Eveline’s party.

14 Jul 1917 Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa

Did any of them plan to attend the special feature at the Strand Theater about the war in France?

25 Jul 1917 Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa

I wonder what food Eveline served at her party. Sandwiches? Homemade root beer? Apple slices? Cookies? Cake?

There were several recipes in the newspaper that summer and I decided to try one. Two that sounded good (because I have a sweet tooth) and easy are a recipe for gingersnaps and spice cake. I decided to bake the cake because it is just too hot to keep opening the oven for cookies. (Day 42 of triple digit temperatures this summer. Ugh!) I even made it without using an electric mixer. I think this cake would have made a fine addition to Eveline’s party, or any social gathering.

The recipe said it is good warm, and it is!

A big event in September was Mystic’s Fall Institute.

1917 Sep 10 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

Although referred to as the fourth annual farmers’ institute, this event was not just of interest to farmers. Thursday was miners’ day, and with notable speakers. It appears that John P. White, although scheduled to attend, was not there. But “Mother” Jones was. That was a surprise to me.

Here is how the day was described in the local newspaper. (I’ve divided the article into sections.)

Mother Jones looks matronly and perhaps motherly in the photo below, taken after a visit to the White House in 1924. She certainly aged well.

Mother Jones and Theo. Roosevelt, Jr. United States, 1924. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/94508005/.

The video below is a reenactment of a speech Mother Jones gave in West Virginia in 1920. Although it is not her speaking, you can get a sense of her fiery style. Mother Jones was 86 in 1917 and gave the speech below in 1920. I didn’t know much about Mother Jones before I started working on this post. She was quite a woman.

Mother Jones’ maiden and given name was Mary Harris – the same name as Eveline’s mother. I wonder if that added even more incentive for the Coates family to hear her speak. The paper reported that the crowd packed the Strand Theater.

Continuing the article about miners’ day:

14 Sep 1917 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

Keota Ladies Band from Keokuk County, Iowa 1916

Even if Eveline wasn’t interested in the speeches, she may have wandered the displays, listened to the band, and watched the parade. I’ll bet people talked about the Fourth Annual Farmers’ Institute for weeks.

In October, local high school girls prepared Christmas bags for soldiers in France. Eveline’s brother John had registered for the draft and was awaiting his call to service. I can imagine that Eveline would be interested in helping with this effort. The assembly of the bags would have necessitated a few gatherings of the girls and they planned to make an additional fifty. I had to look up what kind of fabric cretonne is: a strong cotton or linen cloth used especially for curtains and upholstery.

22 Oct 1917 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

The temperance movement was active in Appanoose County. A plan for a county campaign was made in September. An important part of that plan was to involve all of the churches in the county.

20 Sep 1917 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

Below is a report on one of those church temperance meetings in the nearby community of Cincinnati.

11 Oct 1917 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa (Cincinnati news section)

There was no alcohol in adult Eveline’s home. An aunt told me that my grandfather brought home beer one time and Grandma poured it down the sink. I guess the prohibition movement had a lasting impact on her. As a teenager, what were her thoughts on a woman’s right to vote? We never talked about it, nor do I know if and how regularly she voted. Her parents never became naturalized citizens, so they never voted, but her brothers would be able to vote. The autobiography she wrote when she was sixteen showed me that she had some spunk, a competitive streak, and that she sometimes got a little riled up over perceived injustice. But I can’t know her opinion. I also wonder if and how these issues were talked about in school.

November brought a short-lived walk-out at nine of the mines in Mystic. I didn’t fully research the ins and outs of the wage dispute, but the local union leaders were in talks by mid October. Perhaps Mother Jones set a fire under them. Walk outs and strikes affect everyone in a mining community, so it must have been on many a mind and tongue.

06 Nov 1917 Marshalltown Evening Times, Marshalltown, Iowa

Another political issue that had tongues wagging and letters to the editor being written was enforcement of the “blue laws” that had evidently not been strictly enforced previously.

During the winter months, there was a blizzard that shut things down for a few days – including trains and pay checks. In an effort to save fuel, the Methodist Church offered to host other congregations in their building.

28 Jan 1918 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

The local law enforcement made several raids and arrests for gambling and drunkenness during the spring. All fodder for gossip.

18 Mar 1918 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

I’ll end on a positive note.

11. Feb 1918 Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa

Shortly after graduation, Eveline took a course to be eligible to teach. I’m sure that this commendation gave her a sense of pride in her school and teachers.

Thank you for sticking with me on the hunt for news and gossip. I have more! But not for today.

Abbie and Eveline

Tag Archives: Mystic, Iowa

Eveline’s Senior Year: Grandma Was in a Play After All

Eveline’s Senior Year: Senior Class Play

Eveline’s Senior Year: Gatherings and Gossip