RMC Newsletter - Winter 2004-2005

Charades at the RMC Picnic
By Judith Maddock Hudson

During the last quarter of the 19th century, the small village of Randolph burgeoned into an active summer community centered about the town’s three major inns. City dwellers from the Northeast and Midwest traveled to spend their vacations in the clear mountain air. The Ravine House, beginning around 1877, attracted a group of energetic hikers who turned their talents to exploring the northern peaks and carving a network of paths that made the high mountains more easily accessible. Hotel guests devoted their days to guided hikes on the high peaks, walks to waterfalls and scenic viewpoints, and wagon or carriage excursions (with elaborate picnics) to more distant attractions, while the less energetic watched the activity from the comfort of the rocking chairs on the front piazza.

Evening was the time for indoor amusements. George N. Cross recreated the delights of the Ravine House parlor (around 1877) in a short article in the 1916 Appalachia. He introduces the early pathmakers (Cook, Peek, the Pychowskas, Edmands and Sargent), who “in the parlor circle,...reported and enlarged upon our works, discussed and named our discoveries.” 1  Mountain adventures were not the only focus; Cross describes Eugene B. Cook as an old man whose antics belied his seemingly elderly and infirm demeanor:

When later in the evening music is called for, the invalid leaps to his feet, crosses the room with two bounds, clears the stairs with three, and returns with a violin. Standing in the middle of the room he played and danced to his own music; then, settling almost to the floor, he leaped and wriggled through the most amazing and difficult contortions, meanwhile the music never failing a note. 2

By the 1890's, Victorian parlor games were played by the guests, particularly:

...informal charades which were the delight of several generations of summer visitors...There were some truly talented amateur actresses and actors, including carefree college presidents and clergymen who laid aside their encumbering dignities and rose to amazing heights of comedy. I can still see the serious Louis Cutter enacting King David dancing before the Ark of the Lord. He was dressed in full Arab costume, secured on a recent trip to the Near East; he already had the large eyes and the black beard; and he could dance! 3

In the early years of the RMC, charades were not yet the centerpiece of the Club’s August picnic. The annual picnics began soon after the Club’s founding in August 1910, developing from Club excursions to distant locations. 4 Louis F. Cutter, writing for George Cross’ 1924 volume, Randolph Old and New, mentions picnics held in at least five easily accessible locations (Cascade Camp, Pine Mountain, Triple Falls, Rollo Fall and Bumpus Basin). The picnic at Rollo Fall was “notable for the beginning of Professor Hinck’s chronicle of ‘Rollo in Randolph,’ ” 5 though it is not clear if this was a story or a dramatic production. Picnics were held at Cascade Camp in September 1912, and August 1913, the only early events for which I have written evidence of both place and date. 6

The first RMC charades seem to have occurred at a “Club camp-fire” on August 27, 1913, 7 held by E. H. Blood on a stage constructed behind his cottage, ‘The Spruces’ (now the Grants’):

A natural slope in the spruce woods was provided with log seats, and a stage with proscenium of birch and spruce trees, with some cut-down trees set to screen the wings. The background of the scene was of tall spruces and a little bark-covered hut with door opening on the stage.
The lighting of the stage was by automobile lamps placed in the rear of the auditorium, with devices for throwing the light to any part of the stage and for varying its color. Invitations had been sent to all families in Randolph, and to all guests at the hotels.
About three hundred and fifty people were there. They found their way to the theater by a path bordered on both sides by strings of Japanese lanterns. 8

The performances on this occasion included dramatic groups from the three hotels: the “Green-enoughs ” from the Ravine House 9 enacted a “fairy play;” the Mountain View people a charade, “Paw-queue-pine;” and the Mt. Crescent House (and nearby cottages) an opera entitled “Laugh-an-grin.”  Today’s three charade groups still follow this early division, with participation determined by the hotel from which summer cottagers once collected their mail: Ravine (Valley), Mountain View (Midlands), or Mt. Crescent (Hill) houses.

Charades were introduced into the picnic sometime in the late teens. This feature, as well as group singing, seems firmly established by around 1920, when the picnic site was moved to Cold Brook, where, “...nearby, a natural amphitheatre, a little withdrawn from the noise of the brook, is available for charades, stories and singing in the afternoon.” 10

Almost all older Randolphians have childhood memories of charades in which their ordinarily sedate parents cavorted in odd costumes. Louise Davis remembers “Uncle Peter” [Percy Bridgman] in his nightshirt, though not what the word had been. Nancy Frueh told us of her father Charles C. Torrey and Roger Hubbard impersonating boxers. Before beginning their charade “match,” both men removed enormous wooden false teeth from their mouths and hung them on the ring’s ropes.

The Hincks family was a driving force in early charade productions. They held charades or other theatrical events at their house ‘Uplook,’ 11 using the balcony or performing in front of the Suprisery, a small cabin then located behind the Hincks’ house. Hersh Cross recalls having been a complete flop at a Hincks’ gala when, at age 5 or 6, he couldn’t execute a headstand as part of the event. Caroline Hincks described George Foot Moore’s brother (a minister himself) giving a wonderful parody of a preacher, “He said in a sonorous voice, ‘My text is from the book about dogs: Beware of dogs, beware of little dogs, medium-sized dogs and big dogs. Beware of dogs.’ ” 12

Dramatic productions other than charades were frequent pastimes for Randolph’s cottagers who invented much of their own entertainment. In 1915 at Spur Cabin, Charles Torrey created The Porcupine, A Moral Play in One Act to welcome his niece Mabel, whose family had sent her from England to flee the hardships of World War I. A sneaky weasel claims that he didn’t steal the Torrey family’s meat, but his voracious brood sings, “O, mice and chicks are juicy prey,/ As up and down the ridge we roam;/ But best of all the glorious day/ When papa brings the cutlets home!” The weasels get their just desserts from the Barred Owl, while the Porcupine murmurs, “I always did believe in capital punishment!”

Other productions have included a 1934 production of H. M. S. Pinafore in the Mt. Crescent House barn, starring Eleanor Keach as Josephine, Roger Hubbard as Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., and Bob Hatch as Dick Dead-eye. 13 The performance was Klaus Goetze's idea: he selected the cast, scheduled rehearsals, conducted, and directed the whole operation. His brand-new bride, Erika, was the "orchestra" on the piano. Fred Hubbard’s purchase of a new tape recorder around 1946 led to Thirteen on the Range, A Radio Melodrama by Barbara Wilson, Nancy Frueh, and Fred Hubbard in which Barbara played Miss Upansnoot, a lady from Boston, whose total part consisted of different inflections of the single word “Well...”

In 1964 a version of The Reluctant Dragon was staged in the Alexanders’ barn as a fundraiser for the renovation of Gray Knob. Directed by Nancy Frueh, the play involved most of the children of Randolph so that “their parents would contribute some money,” according to Nancy. St. George’s helmet was passed for donations, and the proceeds somehow got dumped into the punch bowl.

The Midlands’ enactment of “Pie-on-ear,” a charade probably from the late 1920's, was famous. The word was performed in two acts (the first three syllables and then the whole word), and, at the climax of both scenes, Mrs. Page smashed a lemon meringue pie in Percy Bridgman’s face. The Midlands has perfected the slapstick pie scene down through the ages: I remember an early 1970's portrayal set in a fancy restaurant. Klaus Goetze played a particularly demanding, obnoxious diner. At the denouement, Erika Goetze, as the much abused waitress, threw a whipped cream confection in Klaus’ face (a role she played with apparent glee). 14 At the dawn of the twenty-first century (2002), in the opening act of “pie-row-tech-nix,” Bill Knight (judiciously clad in a rain poncho) was plastered with whipped cream by many capering kids.

The early charades were less elaborate insofar as costumes and sets. A photo taken by Guy Shorey at the 1934 picnic (made available by Marian Woodruff) shows nine children (and three dogs) standing in front of the rough bleachers built in the Cold Brook glade. Nancy Frueh recalls that “the Midlands adults said they weren’t going to do a charade that year, and we Midlands kids took on the job ourselves...Our word was “perpetuate,” done in three acts: (1) purr pet (with a cat, maybe the Hubbards’ ‘Purr Box’; (2) chew eight (in which eight of us pulled out sticks of gum, and, directed by our ninth member as conductor, chewed eight times); and the whole word (we went on a hike and discovered a new mountain peak, which we named “NRA” - Never Roosevelt Again because all our parents were staunch Republicans.)”

A Conant family home movie also documents the simpler style of the 1935 charades at Cold Brook honoring the 25th anniversary of the RMC. In the characteristically jerky manner of silent film, we see (but of course cannot hear) the stars of yesteryear (James Conant, Bert Malcolm, Douglas Horton) as they strut upon the stage. Conant plays Gordon Lowe, manning his gas pumps for a parade of vehicles, among which were a classy Mercedes impersonated by Jane Bridgman. An act portraying “reporter,” one of the whole words, is conveyed by a fashionable journalist with elegant hat and very high heels who tries to interview the medical team caring for the Dionne quintuplets.

The relocation of Route 2 in 1965 obliterated the traditional Cold Brook picnic site and amphitheatre. In 1965 the picnic was held in the Donnells’ meadow near the original Hincks house, a site that had not enough slope to create seating that focused on a natural stage. The following year the Horton family invited the RMC to use the hillside adjoining Mossy Glen. Over the years improvements have been made to its terraced seating in an attempt to eliminate erosion of the slope. Inclement weather traditionally led to the postponement of the picnic to “the next good day,” as the wording reads on an early poster. In 1999 the RMC Board decided instead to offer a rain site, the Beringers’ barn, an alternative that was used in 1999, 2003 and 2004.

Traditionally the RMC picnic occured at noon on the Tuesday following the annual business meeting of the Club, which is held in accordance with the By-Laws on the second Saturday of August. The 1952 edition of Randolph Paths even specifies its location, “on the banks of Coldbrook near Coldbrook Lodge.” In 1977, the picnic was moved to the third Saturday in August so that working people could attend.

Although the parlor game of charades is often played in mime, Randolph’s rules seem always to have allowed elaborate scripts as well as ever more fanciful props and scenery. The Midlands, taking advantage of Tim Sappington’s architectural skills, has produced carriages, buildings, gondolas (combining Venice and Wildcat) and ocean liners. The Lusitania sank before our eyes as lifeboats were launched, although most of the action was incidental to the torpedo’s “transsub” portrayal.

Literary allusions abound: scenes from Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, complete with the Chesire cat, dormouse, the Red Queen and playing cards; The Tempest, Oedipus Rex; Biblical or mythological extravaganzas (a Valley specialty). Timely satires of political events have been popular, especially in years of presidential elections or national scandals. There is nearly always reference to some local event -- rising taxes, development schemes, the vandalous acts of bears.

Rare is the year that a charlatan/mountebank has not been present. A role played variously by the likes of Guy Stever, Sr., Bill Muehl, and Jim Baldwin, the quintessential con-man was Phil Scott, whose unctuous voice convinced the unwary that his scheme was legit. Would you buy a “con-do-miniyum” from this guy?

Klaus Goetze has been the most unforgetable charade actor in my memory. From musical roles like Nanki-poo to impersonating himself, asking his chorus to give him a “mini yum,” Klaus was always funny. For me the height of his art was achieved in a non-speaking part, his portrayal of Queen Victoria in 1987. The scene was set with a large appliance box, bearing the legend, “W.C.” A few women in obvious need vied for use of the facility, when an elegant carriage was brought on stage. The Queen, waving and bowing to her loyal subjects, descended, and entered the lavatory. She reemerged, waving and bowing, and was borne away. The word was “loo-brie-quay-shun.”

Come back with me to the Mossy Glen hillside and let’s close with some rounds. “Scotland’s Burning,” “Chairs to Mend,” and “Little Jack Horner” give way to “Dona Nobis Pacem.” We all stand, clasp hands, and sing “Should old acquaintance be forgot...”

Many thanks to Marian Davis Woodruff and Nancy Torrey Frueh for their contributions to this article. I am actively seeking any additional comments, corrections, anecdotal materials, or relevant photographs that my readers might have. Please contact me at 111 Amherst Road, Pelham, MA 01002; (413)256-6950; or by E-mail.

Judith Hudson has been coming to Randolph since the age of four or five. Her parents, the Drs. Stephen and Charlotte Maddock, first visited Randolph in 1923 or 1924 at the invitation of the Cutter family. Active members of the RMC, Judy and her husband Al have served in a variety of RMC jobs, including the presidency. Al is currently the Club’s Archivist, and Judy is working on a history of the RMC.

Footnotes:

1. George Nelson Cross, “Randolph Yesterdays,” Appalachia: 14; 57 (Dec. 1916).

2. Ibid., p. 55.

3. Hazel de Berard, “Memories of Randolph,” Appalachia: 31; 197 (Dec.1956).

4. Arthur Stanley Pease, “Early Trailmakers at Randolph and the Founding of the R.M.C.,” Appalachia: 33; 192 (Dec.1960).

5. Described by Louis F. Cutter in “The Randolph Mountain Club,” in George N. Cross, Randolph Old and New, Boston: Pinkham Press, 1924, p.188.

6. Cutter, op.cit., pp.188-193, quotes letters describing the picnics in great detail.

7. This was a birthday celebration, but I have conflicting evidence if the event was to celebrate the birthday of E. Y. Hincks or that of E. H.Blood himself. Both men were founding members and subsequently officers of the RMC.

8. Cutter, p. 192.

9. Hazel de Berard in “Memories”, p. 197, described this as “a group of Ravine House extroverts who delighted in dressing up and making fools of themselves as pleasantly as possible.”

10. Cutter, p. 192.

11. Subsequently owned by Nelson Smith, the Woodwards, the Donnells, the Finnegans, and again Bill Woodward.

12. “July 13, 1983 - Homer Gregory Talking with Caroline Hincks, Part 1,” transcribed by Gail Scott in Mountain View: 14; 2 (April 2004), p. 3.

13. See the Mountain View: 5:1 (1994).

14. I had always remembered this scene as a whole-word portrayal of “pie-us,” but in checking the Archive’s list of charades find that in 1972 the Hill used that word, not the Midlands. Perhaps it was the second syllable of “amor-fuss” in 1975, or “boo-meringue” in 1981?