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This could be a full linked open date URI or an internal identifier"}],"FileFormat":[{"label":"File Format","value":"application\/pdf","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format","classmap":"edm:WebResource","property":"dc:format"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format","explain":"A Dublin Core Elements Property; The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource.; Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the list of Internet Media Types [MIME]."}],"FullText":[{"label":"Full Text","value":" The UBC Players' Club: The Early History\nOral History - Transcript (UBC AT 1241)\nLaurenda Daniells\nHarry Warren\nSydney Risk\nBea Wood\nMuriel MacDougall\nDorothy Somerset\nJ.V. Clyne\nBetty Clyne\nKenneth Caple\nAvis Pumphrey\nMildred Caple\nGordon Letson\nGertrude Letson\nInterview recorded December 2, 1984 Laurenda\nDaniells\nIt is Sunday, December 2nd, 1984.1 have with me, at the home of Jack and Betty\nClyne, a group of Players' Club alumni who will be talking about the history of the\nClub from the years 1916 to 1926. The first voice you will hear is that of the late\nProfessor F.G.C. Wood, known to all as Freddie.\nFrederic\nWood\nEarly days of the Players' Club. Five weeks after UBC opened on September 30, 1915,\nthe Players' Club was formed. It was first suggested in an upper-year class in English\ndrama and seemed a good form of recreation for some 379 enrolled in that war-time\nperiod. 40 comprised the membership and on February 18th the first performance was\nstaged at the Avenue Theatre on the Georgia Viaduct corner of Main Street. Fanny and\nthe Servant Problem, a light comedy by the popular Jerome K. Jerome, with a cast of\n23 and with the entire faculty of 27 as guests in the boxes, was warmly received by a\nfull house. The reviews were enthusiastic, though one critic mistook two figures after\nthe players' names as indicative of their age and remarked that the leading man, a\nmember of the senior class, played with a fine dignity and a surprising mellowness for\na boy of sixteen years. The next morning, President Wesbrook suggested a repeat\nperformance after examinations to be followed by one in Victoria and in New\nWestminster. In this way the tour was born and the proceeds of all performances\ndonated to the University Red Cross Society and to the recreational activities of the\nUBC section of the 196th Western University Battalion spending that summer in tents\non the Fairview campus before going overseas. In the next four years the club was able\nto earn over $6000 for various patriotic purposes. In 1920, the inclusion of Nanaimo,\nKamloops and three Okanagan towns increased the number of performances to ten.\nTwo years later the Kootenays were invaded and by 1931, the last year under the\nfounder's direction, the Spring play, Noel Coward's The Young Idea, achieved the\nrecord number of twenty-five performances. During this period, the club appeared in\nsome twenty-seven towns and cities, including five on Vancouver Island and others as\nfar east as Revelstoke and Fernie. In many communities, these visits were the only\nchance many people had to see a production acted by others than members of a local\norganization. As plays by Barrie, Wilde, Pinero, A. A. Milne and two by Shaw as well\nas two by eminent Spanish dramatists were among those presented, the Varsity actors\nwere a welcome change. Local organizations such as Kiwanis clubs, chapters of the\nIODE, women's church auxiliaries and other groups were most helpful as sponsors,\nsharing in the proceeds of the performances. These contacts resulted in a growing\ninterest in the University and introduced the actors to sections of their province\nhitherto unfamiliar to them.\nVery occasionally the play met with objection. In one Kootenay town where the Club\nwas always most cordially received, an editorial appeared in the weekly paper. The\nplay was Shaw's Pygmalion and the long denunciation is summed up in the following\nexcerpt: \"such a production might be excusable in a third or a fourth class Bowery\ntheatre, but to have the guttersnipe language of lower London flaunted from the stage\nin the name of art by a group of University players passeth understanding.\"\t\nL. Daniells\nThat was the voice of the late Frederic Wood. The next speaker is our chairman,\nProfessor Harry Warren.\t\nHarry Warren\nOne of the objectives of the UBC Alumni Association is to ensure that the history of\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History our University is recorded, preserved and communicated for the benefit of alumni,\nfaculty and students. To this end it was decided to put on record a few of the many\nachievements of those faculty and students who were the pioneers of our university.\nTo begin this task was taken on by a committee named the Fairview Committee,\ndrawn from the classes of 16 to 1926, the '26 class being the first to graduate from\nPoint Grey. One of the many projects undertaken by the Fairview Committee was the\nreintroduction of the Arts '20 Relay Race which was highly successful both in\nachieving memories of the past and drawing favourable attention to the University.\nIncidentally, 7 teams ran in the first race, last one was 180 entrants and 170 teams\nfinished. From the Fairview Committee emerged the Heritage Committee admitted\nwith a much broader mandate and charged with dealing separately with later periods of\nthe University's history. One of the more notable achievements of the University in its\nearly days was the success of the Players' Club under the inspirational guidance of the\nlate Professor F.G.C. Wood. He has told you in his own words how it all began. As\nyou have just heard, it was under the inspiration and guidance of Professor F.G.C.\nWood, Freddie behind his back and to his large number of friends, that the Players'\nClub of the University of British Columbia came into being. Freddie, with the help of\na chosen few, chose the plays that were to be shown in Vancouver and in some\ntwenty-five to thirty centres in our province, selected each cast, performed the role of\ndirector, producer, and, in effect, acted as business manager. Membership in the\nPlayers' Club was by competition. The try-outs were an ordeal. Many tried out but\nonly sixty were chosen to become members of the Players' Club in each year. Not only\nwas the Players' Club self-supporting, but thanks to the masterly managing of Freddie,\nit was, even in its early years, able to contribute many thousands of dollars to worthy\ncharities. Of the twenty or so survivors of that early era, we have been able to make\ncontact with a dozen, and it is from some of these that you will now be hearing, either\nin person or in proxy. Now turning over to the stage manager, Sydney Risk.\nSydney Risk\nThank you. We are now going to hear reports on the first eleven Spring Plays, from\n1916 to 1926 inclusive. Comments were invited from members of the casts of these\nplays and we've received comments from several members who were in the plays. The\nfirst play was 1916, \"Fanny and the Servant Problem\", and we received comments\nfrom Jessie Todhunter-Foot and Connie Highmore Adams. The second play was\n\"Merely Mary Ann\", comments received from Helena Bodie Whitmore and also\nConnie Highmore; 1918, \"Alice Sit-By-The-Fire\", again Connie Adams; 1919, \"The\nImportance of Being Earnest\", Connie Adams again, and also Doro Adams from\nwhom we did not receive comments but a little later Jack Clyne is going to speak of\nDoro and 1920, \"Greenstockings\". Now as none of these ladies can be present today, I\nam calling upon Bea Wood to read their comments for us.\nBea Wood\nThe first leading lady was Jessie Todhunter Taintor-Foote. She played Fanny in\n\"Fanny and the Servant Problem\", and all she says is: \"I wrote in a scene in \"Fanny\nand the Servant Problem\" at the request of Frederic Wood and I made a painted poster\nof the play.\" Now the second as you have heard, it was Mrs. Cecil Adams, Connie\nHighmore, who was in four Spring plays. She says: \"I was a charter member of the\nPlayers' Club and remember attending the first meeting that Freddie Wood called in\nthe Fall of 1915 for any students who might be interested in a dramatic society. I was a\nmember of the cast of four Spring plays and president in my senior year. In that\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History capacity I wrote an article for the \"Theatre Magazine\", published in New York, which\nappeared in the December 1918 issue. The title of the article is 'Dramatics at the\nUniversity of British Columbia\". I wonder if that article is in the archives of the\nPlayers' Club history? One of the funniest things I remember was of the dress rehearsal\nof \"Alice Sit-By-The-Fire\" when the player acting Steve Rollo, I think his name was\nJames Ellard, who was supposed to say, 'I am utterly puzzled' burst out with 'I am\nputterly uzzled'. The next leading lady was Helena Bodie, Arts '18, who played Mary\nAnn in \"Merely Mary Ann\" in 1917. \"I remember the character Mary Ann. She\nworked for a nice young man who called her Marian. The play was presented in the\nEmpress theatre downtown. We went on tour to Victoria. Freddie was the manager and\ndirector. At the end of the play there were bouquets, one in particular from an\nAmerican admirer who was a year ahead of me at UBC. I walked over the Fairview\nBridge with him when he took me out.\" \"Re: Freddie Wood\", she says, \"we all liked\nhim so much.\"\nSydney Risk\nThe next three Spring plays, 1921, 22 and 23. 1921, \"Sweet Lavender\", and we have\npresent Muriel Evans MacDougall and Jack Clyne. I will ask them to occupy seats up\nhere please. \"Mr. Pirn Passes By\" in 1922, Betty will you please come forward as well.\nNeil McCallum and Georgina McKinnon, who are not with us, and Harry Warren and\nBea Wood will read their comments for us. The 1923 Spring play was \"You Never\nCan Tell\" again with Jack Clyne, Betty Somerset Clyne, Bea Wood and Neil\nMcCallum. Will you please lead off Muriel with your comments.\nMuriel\nMacDougall\n\"Sweet Lavender\". We had a high good time, went on tour with \"Sweet Lavender\" and\nI do remember one happening though I know there were many more\u2014Kirsteen\nLeveson had the part of Mrs. Gilfillian, I think that's right, and in one performance\nspent most of act two scurrying around, clutching her stomach. It turned out that her\nskirt had come undone at the back and she had to hold it up as well as she could, and\nshe did a good job, it just looked a little odd. (laughter)\nDorothy\nSomerset\nWeren't there a lot of other people in that play-weren't there a lot of other people in\nthat cast that you two can talk about. Jack, who were you?\nJ.V. Clyne\nI was Mr. Maw. I was a lawyer, an English solicitor. Art Lord was in it and then of\ncourse Lacey Fisher and the chap, the hero, Garrett Livingston, and you were sweet\nLavender.\nM.\nMacDougall\nYes, I was.\nJ.V. Clyne\nAnd I thought you were sweet all the time and I still do. (laughter) We had a lot of fun\nwith that play.\nM.\nMacDougall\nYeah, we did.\nS. Risk\nJack, could you carry on? You were also in \"Mr. Pirn\" and you were in \"You Can\nNever Tell\", so as you are here\u2014\nJ.V. Clyne\nYou want me to talk about what one? - any of them?\nS. Risk\nWe prefer 1922 with \"Mr. Pirn\".\nJ.V. Clyne\n\"Mr. Pirn\". Neil McCallum was in that and then in \"You Never Can Tell\". I think it\nwas in \"You Never Can Tell\" that we arrived in Nelson and, uh, was it \"You Never\nCan Tell\" or was it \"Mr. Pirn\"? (\"Mr. Pirn\", I think) Well, in any event, Wells Coates,\nBob Hunter and Neil McCallum and I went out on an advertising basis. We arrived in\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History Nelson the night before the play was to go on and found that there were practically no\nseats sold, which we found rather embarrassing. So the next morning we decided that\nwe would carry a sign around the town advertising the play, which we did, and we\ncarried it in line~I had to go first because they said I was the leading man and we uh,\neventually, when we played that night the house was full. That's one of the chief things\nI remember about \"Mr. Pirn.\" But I think you had some story to tell, Betty, about \"You\nNever Can Tell\".\nD. Somerset\nThere are many more stories to tell about \"Mr. Pirn\". This is a story that Betty and\nJack both choose not to remember but they - Betty told it to me and I could not have\ninvented it. Kirsteen was in the cast. She was your aunt wasn't she?\nJ.V. Clyne\nYes.\nD. Somerset\nYour favourite aunt (yes). And Kirsteen and Betty shared a double bed. Freddie used\nto put the boys, the young men, on one floor and the girls on another floor. Right? He\ndidn't like them mixing.\nBetty Clyne\nYou are wrong. It was Bea Wood and me.\nD. Somerset\nNo, no, no\u2014it's another story\u2014I'm not telling the same story you think of. That's\nanother play, \"Mr. Pirn Passes By\" (laughter) I knew I'd have a family fight. But\nanyway (laughter) the gentlemen in the party conveyed to you and Kirsteen that it was\njust ridiculous, this segregation of the sexes. Then they intimated that after the show\nwas over they would call upon Kirsteen and Betty. So this is the picture that Betty\ndescribed to me. She denies it and Jack denies it, but I couldn't have invented it. Here\nwere the two girls in bed, and a discrete knock on the door, and up came three men,\nJack Clyne, Wells Coates and maybe it was Bob Hunter. And Bob Hunter and Wells\nhad coats or dressing gowns, I've forgotten which, but Betty described Jack as coming\nup with a blanket over him in Indian fashion. The two girls lay flat in bed with their\nblankets up to their chins, and the men came in. They all tried to be very debonaire,\nyou know, sophisticated. And Betty said, \"It was not at all successful.\" (laughter). The\ngentlemen felt rather sheepish and persiflage was not possible under the tension of the\nmoment. The visit was quite brief, (laughter) So that I remember. It was told to me. I\ncouldn't have invented it (laughter murmurs) Harry has a letter about \"Pirn\" too.\nJ.V. Clyne\nBut I want to point out though that when we were on all those tours we always had a\nchaperone.\nVoice\nMrs. Suttie (laughter) Madame Suttie.\nJ.V. Clyne\nYou are quite wrong, Dorothy, about the question of the males being against the\nsegregation. I was all in favour of the segregation (laughter).\nS. Risk\nBetty, Betty Clyne, you were in....\nD. Somerset\nWait a minute, we haven't heard ...\nS. Risk\nNo, it's coming up. But I think that Betty should now have a chance possibly to give\nher version of these stories we've been hearing. Betty, you were in \"Mr. Pirn Passes\nBy\". You were in \"You Never Can Tell\" and you were in \"The World and His Wife\".\nNow, could we hear your comments please?\nB. Clyne\nWell \"Mr. Pirn Passes By\" was the first tour I think, that I went on. It was a grand\nmarvellous time for young people. Spring, sun shining, flowers out, the Okanagan\nlakes, and it was quite a wonderful occasion - and a boat that went down the middle of\nthe lakes, and I had an onion for lunch every day I remember (laughter). It was really\ngreat fun and a great pleasure for students. It was a great privilege really to be on these\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History tours, and things changed when the car took us on instead of the boat which was such\nfun. But I don't know what other incident to tell you of. What other incident Jack?\nJ.V. Clyne\nWell, you remember the startling incident in Penticton.\nD. Somerset\nThat's the next play.\nJ.V. Clyne\nWhat play is Betty talking about?\nVoice\n\"Mr. Pirn\".\nJ.V. Clyne\nShe's talking about \"Mr. Pirn\".\nD. Somerset\nBut the incident you had in mind occurred in the next production (Clyne: oh yes) \"You\nNever Can Tell\", (voice: \"You Never Can Tell\", right) You have a letter to read don't\nyou, Bea?\nB. Wood\nYes, yes. Georgina Elson, uh, Georgina Mackinnon Elson, (voices: Pete Mackinnon,\nthat's what we called her) who was in \"Mr. Pirn\". She says, \"I had played the wife in\nthe Christmas plays in Eugene O'Neill's one-act play \"He\". It was such a success I\nthink Freddie rewarded me by letting me be in the Spring Play. Although it was 62\nyears ago I remember my entrance greeting to \"Mr. Pirn\". \"I'm Dinah, not Diana,\nDinah with a H\". The Spring tours from Victoria to Nelson must have helped sell the\nUniversity. Look at it now. I can't resist adding that our tour was enlivened by a\nnoticeable rivalry for the attention of the leading lady, then Betty Somerset.\" (laughter)\nS. Risk\nBea, you were in \"You Never Can Tell\", so would you like to read your own\ncomments with regard to that play, please.\nB. Wood\nYes, I played Mrs. Clandon, the mother. One of my most vivid memories of tour was\nin the dining car when Freddie would allot us each one dollar for a meal. Anything\nextra one had to pay out of one's own pocket. In those days we were all very\ncircumspect and called one another Miss and Mr. However, it was \"Freddie\" behind\nhis back. Eloise Angell, who had more nerve than the rest of us put together, would\ncall out the length of the dining car: \"Uncle Freddie, I can't get a proper meal for a\ndollar\". Whereupon all eyes were turned upon the cruel uncle who was starving his\nmiserable niece, (laughter)\nWood\nS. Risk\nNow Jack has already referred to Neil McCallum who was in \"Mr. Pirn Passes By\"\nand \"You Never Can Tell\". Neil McCallum responded to our request with a very\ninteresting letter. As he's not here I shall ask Harry Warren to read that letter to us\nplease.\nH. Warren\nWell, I think the whole letter is a little long, but there are one or two parts that I think\ndeserve to be quoted. He writes, \"I remember the delightful trips on the old C.P.R.\nsternwheelers on the Okanagan, Arrow and Kootenay Lakes, especially the overnight\ntrip from Kootenay Landing to Nelson. I can remember dear Mrs. Suttie who was so\nkind and helpful to us all.\" What he didn't say was that men had a great crush on Mrs.\nSuttie because she ate like a bird, and any of us who were lucky enough to sit at her\ntable could have part of her meal as well as their own and thereby carry on through the\ntrip. Another thing that I think some of you will be amused, \"I remember at a party\nafter the show in Cranbrook Freddie telling the hostess that when we played Creston\nsome of the cast had to be billeted out as the hotel was not fit to stay in. Having lived\nin that country as a boy, I was able to tell him, much to his chagrin, that the owner of\nthe hotel in Creston was the brother of our Cranbrook hostess (laughter voices: thank\nyou Harry. Isn't there more to that Harry?)\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History H. Warren\nWell it's a long letter but I think these are the (voice: oh go ahead and read it) \u2014 well\nthere is a little bit. \"A funny thing happened to me on the way to the incinerator. I was\nabout to burn a lot of old stuff, including an old photo album when your letter arrived\nin the mail. So I salvaged a few snapshots which I thought might be of interest to you\nunless you already have copies of these in the archives. I have many fond memories of\nthe Spring tours of '22 and '23 but I seem to remember more about \"Mr. Pirn\" tour than\nabout \"You Never Can Tell\", perhaps because the cast was much smaller, but in any\ncase I think we had more fun.\" And as a little addition to what has just been said \u2014 \"I\ncan remember Freddie standing at the door of the dining car on the train telling each of\nus as we entered for lunch 'not more than 25c'.\" Someone has just said a dollar.\nJ.V. Clyne\nOh a dollar was for dinner.\nH. Warren\nYes, 25. \"I remember an impromptu concert we put on for the patients at Tranquille on\nthe afternoon of the night we played Kamloops. Jack Clyne and I did a Mr. Galagher\nand Mr. Shean skit which was bloody awful\", (laughter) I think that's it.\nS. Risk\nNow Jack, you have some comments. I think you'd like to refer to Doro Adams. Doro\nwas a distinguished leading lady in the Players' Club. She played in \"The Importance\nof Being Earnest\" in 1919 and in \"Greenstockings\" in 1920. We have not received any\ncomments from her personally, but I think that Jack may bring her to mind for us.\nJ.V. Clyne\nOf course Doro went on to have a very distinguished theatrical career. But, all I think I\nmentioned was that I was sorry that we didn't hear from her, but I did see her two years\nago in Los Angeles at a meeting of the alumni in Los Angeles, the UBC Alumni. We\nwent down there to spread the good word. In those days, I was Chancellor, and we had\na very very pleasant party at the house, I think, of the Canadian consul. And Doro was\nthere and was in very good spirits and looking extremely well and I am sorry she is not\nhere this afternoon.\nS. Risk\nThank you Jack.\nD. Somerset\nMay I just interpose here for a minute. Talking about Doro and \"Sweet Lavender\", it\nmakes me think of some of the other women in the cast\u2014Kirsteen, Doro, Marjorie\nAgnew, you Muriel\u2014was there any other woman? And do you remember Bruce\nFraser? (voices: that was in \"Sweet Lavender\", yes - and Kirby - all these names - but I\nthink particularly of those women, the four women.\nS. Risk\nNow this brings us to our short intermission, (voices)\nD. Somerset\nWe haven't heard Betty's story and Bea's have we? Betty should start it and Bea finish\nit.\nB. Clyne\nWell in Penticton we were tired out. We'd had a long week, performing late at night\nand so on, and we went to bed and uh (voices: who's \"we\"?) Bea and I. Bea got on the\ninside of the bed and I was on the outside of the bed and we went right off to sleep\u2014we\nwere exhausted really\u2014and I woke up and it was such a strange feeling of being\nwakened and couldn't understand it, and looked down to the end of the bed to the\nwindow to see if it was morning, but it wasn't, it was black. So then I thought, that's\nqueer and I looked up at the transom into the face of a young man about this far from\nthe bed, and so I screamed, but not without grabbing Bea you see. So I grabbed her\nand Bea came to and in a contralto scream she said, \"is he coming or going?\"\n(laughter) and a door opened across the way and it was Mr. Patullo. By this time our\nfriend had disappeared and Eloise Angell, who was in the room next door, had come in\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History to take charge of things. There was a cigarette butt on the floor so she picked that up as\nsignificant, and then she went out into the hall, and next door to us was a little corridor\nwith a bathroom and the other thing. There was no light on anywhere but the door was\nlocked, and so this was of grave concern. By this time, the night watchman came\naround and we told him all this, and he went up and got the landlady who was running\nthe hotel, somewhat under the influence of liquor.\nJ. V. Clyne\nThe landlady was under the influence.\nB. Clyne\nOf liquor... so she came down and heard our story and, which we told, the fact that the\nman had on a khaki coat and a checked cap. We were very indignant about the whole\nthing, and she went next door and found the chappie in the toilet or the bathroom and\nshe brought him in and he stood in the doorway, well he looked just a young man and,\nwell, we never did really find out anything about that. But meanwhile Mr. Pattullo\nwho was in the room across the hall...\nJ.V. Clyne\nThis is Duff Pattullo, the premier?\nB. Clyne\nYes, the premier.\nB. Wood\nYes, there was a liberal convention on.\nB. Clyne\nOh, that's it and he opened his door just a little to hear all this, you see, well the next\nday word went round that hotel that if you had a checked coat and a khaki cap - don't\nwear it! (laughter)\nS. Risk\nBea, you were in this cast, have you anything to add to this story?\nB. Wood\nWell all I can say is they got after me at the end because all I did was leap out of bed\nand say \"My God, where is he?\" (laughter)\nD. Somerset\nSomerset I would like to ask, did you two ladies feel that the gentlemen in your party\nwere really concerned for you? Did they - were they gallant? Next day did they try to\nfollow it up and protect your honour or ...\nB. Clyne\nWe were not on the same floor because Freddie didn't think it was wise to put the\nwomen on the same floor. No, we didn't feel they were sufficiently concerned and to\nthis day \u2014 Jack what did you do? Anything about it?\nJ.V. Clyne\nWe went round and looked for somebody with a checked cap and we couldn't find one.\nAnd of course, Freddie was quite right in putting the men and women on different\nfloors because the men had to be protected, (laughter)\nD. Somerset\nI want to ask a question here and I'm going to put Sydney on the spot. Penticton, the\nIncola Hotel, fascinates me because so many things have happened there\u2014the near\nrape of you two\u2014(laughter) and the other story you were telling. Now Sydney, (when\nhe was director of the Players' Club, he went on tour, I don't know with which play)\nyou were the director of the club and in charge of it, and you were up at the Incola\nHotel and some of your cast, men cast, went swimming in the buff. Do you remember\nthat story?\nS. Risk\nYes. (voices: Are you going to tell it? That belongs to another generation doesn't it? I\nknow it does but) that was much later Dorothy, the Spring play, \"Alibi\", of 1933 and\nit's quite true. Certain members, I won't mention their names, did go in the buff in the\nlake and certain other members of the cast thought it a good idea to just take their\nclothes which were left on the beach\u2014which they did, and there was consternation,\nsome screaming and yelling going on, and the upshot of it all was the three gentlemen\nin the lake had to come out and they braved it, in the nude. They dashed through the\nlobby of the Incola to the amazement of the desk clerk and other guests who were\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History there, and up to their rooms. I had to put up with a rather severe lecture from the\nassistant manager the next day about the behaviour of certain members of the cast.\nThat's that story.\nD. Somerset\nIt's the Penticton link that fascinates me.\nB. Clyne\nI wonder if that's all the stories? There is the story of Bea up in Fernie. We weren't too\nfond of Fernie. The bedspreads weren't clean but the sheets were, but in any case, we\nwere having lunch and Bea was trying to get some ketchup out of this bottle, and\nsomebody asked for something, and the landlady said \"oh, well we're out of that,\" and\nBea said \"you will never be out of too much ketchup\". They were mad and didn't ever\nwant us to come back there.\nD. Somerset\nDidn't they complain to Freddie?\nB. Wood\n(Voice: Yes) Oh yes, the proprietor of the restaurant said that he would not go to the\nPlayers' Club again, he would not see another performance, (voice: So that was that)\nAnd the next day I got a lecture from Mr. Clyne and Mr. McCallum for my bad\nbehaviour, (mutters, laughter)\nJ.V. Clyne\nThat's right.\nS. Risk\nNow if we have no further comments in these particular plays we'll take a short break\nif you would like to stretch your legs ...\n(Later) Now we come to the last three Spring plays on our program for this afternoon.\n1924, \"The World and His Wife\"; 1925, \"You and I\", 1926, \"Pygmalion\". Now, we've\nreceived a number of comments on these plays. I would like to ask Kenneth, would\nyou come forward please, take your seat up here, and Avis, also and Mildred\n(murmurs). Now in \"The World and His Wife\"\u2014Kenneth Caple and Avis Pumphrey\nand Betty Somerset\u2014you should be up here too dearest. Another chair required,\n(voices: this way Betty. It's a moving situation). Kenneth, you were also in \"The\nWorld and His Wife\" and \"You and I\" and you have some comments of your own to\nmake. I'd like you to lead off with them please.\nKenneth\nCaple\nWell, the Spring plays at the University were something rather special ... Of course, I\nwas an agricultural student and we were over on Broadway which was four or five\nblocks from the University and the students of the University were considered\noutsiders, and when we got into the play it was sort of surprising\u2014why would they\nbring an agricultural student into something cultural. I tried out, I was in the Spring\nplay, at least the Christmas play of 1921, \"The Maker of Dreams\", in which I was a\nPierrot and then when I tried again for a Spring play in 1924, Freddie who was a most\ndistinguished and gentle fellow who told you the facts of life, but he did it gently, and\nhe said, \"we'll take you on as an understudy because you might be useful, you never\nknow\". So I travelled all over the province with the Spring tour in 1924. The only\nthing that I did in the way of a cultural contribution was I was a voice off-stage. The\nother times I carried the ladies' baggage, was charming to the young ladies, at least I\nthink, that was my biased opinion, and moved scenery, got up first in the morning to\nmake sure that things were done, went to bed last at night still making sure that\neverything was under control. And Freddie, distinguished gentlemen that he was,\ndidn't ever praise me but he gently patted me on the back and said: \"keep going Caple,\nkeep going\" (laughter) So then in 1925 I got a part in the play which was to me very\nexciting because I was the young lover, and some of my friends in agriculture said\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 10\n\"Hell, Caple, you don't know anything about love, why did they choose you?\" But\nanyway it was a delightful experience and when we traveled all over the province and\nplayed in, I don't remember now, 25 or 26 towns, Freddie made us feel very much that\nwe were representing the University of British Columbia and while he never said this,\nhe made us feel that, \"you know, many of these people don't know what the University\nis, so you have to portray to them the possibilities of a University.\" So on-stage and\noff-stage, we did our duty, we thought we did our duty. It was a great experience and\ngreat fun and we played the play, went after the play to a reception where people in the\ncommunity were very gracious to us, gave us tea and three cookies and a sandwich,\nand then we went home and got to bed, and then got up early in the morning, made\nsure everybody was packed up tight, ran like the devil to whatever the transportation\nwas, went on to the next town, got there, unloaded the stuff, went to the theatre, set up\nthe scenery, looked things over, I think we had a bath, and then we behaved ourselves.\nUsually, they entertained us and gave us a tea and three cookies, and then we went\nback, had supper and Freddie made us be at the theatre at 6:30 to be ready, polished,\nand distinguished\u2014to do a polished and distinguished act\u2014and so it was a marvelous\nexperience, a great team, great fun. We went around the province and to me it was the\nfirst time I had been in many of these communities. We didn't bathe nude, as\nsomebody mentioned earlier, but we did bathe. But altogether, as a student of\nagriculture, mainly horticulture, it was an amazing experience to meet all these cultural\npeople and for a farmer I got a new insight on the other side of Canadian life.\nS. Risk\nThank you Kenneth. Now Avis, you were in these three plays, \"The World and His\nWife\", \"You and I\" and \"Pygmalion\". Now you surely have something you want to\nsay about all that.\nAvis\nPumphrey\nWell, I was only -1 was going to say -1 was only partially in \"The World and His\nWife\". I was only for part of the tour because I had a very exciting part of a maid and I\nthink all I said was \"Dinner is served\" or something like that. My important experience\nwas that I was the Props. I had to check to see that everything that was needed on the\nstage was on the stage. The main thing that I can remember about \"The World and His\nWife\" was going to Britannia Mines. We went by boat and then we got into the ore\nbuckets and were taken at a most precarious angle right up the mountain to the mines.\nThis was very exciting and the men were allowed to go into the mine to see it but it\nwas unlucky to allow women so we weren't allowed in and we felt I still feel badly\nabout that.\nMildred\nCaple\nWhen we came down and were waiting on the dock at Britannia Mines the men of the\ncast played a very sporting and stimulating game\u2014Kick the Can.\nA. Pumphrey\nRight. Right. It showed how cultural they were, (laughter). Yes, yes, that's all I can\nremember about The World and His Wife. I can remember a lot more about You and I.\nI was low comedy, once more a maid but very low comedy, at that time. Wasn't Peter\nPrice, who was the ... wasn't he the leading man?\nA. Pumphrey\n(Voices: Peter Price was in You and I was he not? - Yes). Yes, he was the man of the\nhouse who was the artist, wasn't he? (voices: that's right, yes) and he wanted a cheap\nmodel so he took the maid, which was me (voice: Etta) Etta, thank you, I forgot my\nname, and I was dressed up in a bright red dress, and Peter was to paint me and then\nsomebody, and I think it was you Harry, was a visitor coming to the house who fell for\nthis gorgeous maid thinking she was a visitor too ... and you said \"would I be free...\"\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 11\nH. Warren\nI'm sorry, I was a business man. I didn't make up to Etta.\nA. Pumphrey\nDidn't you? Who did, who did? I can't remember - somebody did. Anyway whoever it\nwas, I beg your pardon Harry\u2014whoever it was said to me, going back in my memory,\n\"are you free at all to come out tonight?\" And with great firmness I said, \"Thursday\nafternoon\". And then there was a\u2014I wish I had the script of the play\u2014then there was a\npart where I was practicing saying golf in a very proper manner \"Goff Goff', etc. in\npreparation to going out with this new boyfriend, (muttering) But I do remember,\ngetting back to this question of meals on the train, I insist that we had to have a\npartner, I don't remember how much money we were allowed but I do recall that we\nhad to have a partner and have the embarrassing business of saying to the steward \"we\nwill have one order of this and two plates\" (laughter) and then if your partner was a\nman he thought that he ought to have the larger half. I do remember that very well, I\nalso remember a ridiculous thing that happened on the train with the You and I tour. It\nwas a rather dull piece of country and we were getting rather tired of talking to each\nother and we were dirty and we were\u2014you know, it was a long way to the next place\nwe stopped. I was reading a magazine and there was an article on palmistry. So I\nthought, oh I think I'll read this very carefully memorize the whole thing and then I sat\non it in case anybody should find it and I said very innocently, \"By the way, did I ever\ntell you that I know about palmistry\". Everybody sat up with delight. No, they hadn't\nheard that. So I read their palms, and of course by this time I knew each of them very\nvery well and I had a wonderful time. I told them all their faults and all their fine\npoints and I got a reputation that sometimes comes back and hits me now, and I\nhonestly admit I don't know anything whatever about palmistry, but it helped to pass\nthe time.\nS. Risk\nNow, Avis, you were also in \"Pygmalion\". Have you any recollections of that?\nA. Pumphrey\nWell, I went from the ridiculous to the sublime in \"Pygmalion\" because I was no\nlonger a maid. I was Clara Eynsford-Hill and very very proper. And I recall a famous\nor infamous newspaper editorial about one production of \"Pygmalion\", in which the\nmain character? (voice: Liza) After Liza came out with one of her, you know, \"not\nbloody likely's\" (voice: not bloody likely) not bloody likely, well I think it was after\nshe had become refained you know (voice: rain in Spain) yes, she had become refained\nand she had been shown off to society, then Clara Eynsford-Hill, this splendid\ncharacter that I was said, \"Oh I think the new small talk is so frightfully funny, don't\nyou think it is, not bloody likely\". It was great fun. And then they wanted to cut it out\nbecause somebody, it must have been that editor, thought that it was not quite nice.\nAnd we all said we would retire from the cast immediately if they cut it out. I think I\nhave run out of things that I remember. Oh I do remember one thing though. I am sure\nyou do Kennie too. The parties after the shows, they were in a church hall or a school\nroom or something. They had chairs all around the outside, and we sat there and\neverybody stared at us and were too shy to speak to us, and we were too shy to speak\nto them as a rule as we ate those three cookies and drank a cup of tea or coffee,\n(laughter) It's dreadful the way they always had the chairs around the (voice: deadly,\nisn't it) Deadly.\nS. Risk\nNow, Betty, you and Mildred were in \"The World and His Wife\", have you any further\nrecollections you want to speak of?\nB. Clyne\nWell, I do remember staying in the hotel in ... (voices: Cranbrook, no Grand Forks)\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 12\nGrand Forks and word got about\u2014well Freddie was informed after we left that they\nregretted to tell him that a pillow was missing and two of his students must have taken\nit. Mildred and I were rooming together and it was from that room the pillow was\nmissing. And it turned out that the pillow was under the middle of the mattress because\nwe couldn't stand the mattress which caved in. (laughter)\nM. Caple\nWe rolled together. We were on the train. We'd gone from Grand Forks in the morning\ndown to Christina Lake - do you remember for a picnic lunch - somebody by the name\nof Kirby (voice: Kirby) was entertaining us at Christina Lake and then we boarded the\ntrain, you know, somewhere out of Grand Forks, and we weren't on the train very long\nwhen Freddie got the telegram. And came down looking like thunder and saying what\nhad Betty and I done taking a pillow. (B. Clyne: I didn't realize it was a telegram) He\ngot a telegram? Yes.\nK. Caple\nI think there's a story that I should tell. In 1925 we were playing somewhere, I forget,\nin the southern part of British Columbia, maybe Cranbrook or somewhere and I\nhappened to be in a scene where I was in the back stage talking to a girl while the main\nactors were in the front of the stage and they were carrying on, and we had to wait till\nour cue came till we came forward, when another actor came in from the back and\njoined our group and told us something. And it so excited us that when my cue came I\ndidn't respond. Now we had played the play twenty-five times but I stood at the back\nand didn't move and then Freddie, who always used to stand at the side of the stage\nwith the cues, said \"step up Caple\" and so I stepped up and went on with the play. And\nthen he said afterwards \"listen Caple, you've played this play twenty-five times now\nwhy did you mess that up?\" Well I said \"sir I don't think I can tell you\" and he said\n\"well, I'd like to know\" and I said \"I'm sorry\". But what happened is this, the girl who\ncame in, she had been given some mail that was held up at the hotel and she opened it\nbackstage. She got the news that Freddie was engaged to Bea Wood (much laughter)\nand she came in to the three of us in the back corner chatting, and said, \"do you know\nwhat, that old man is marrying that beautiful girl, Bea Wood.\" (laughter) whereupon I\nforgot my lines, (voices: Bea Johnson, quite right too).\nA. Pumphrey\nDorothy was talking earlier about the Incola Hotel and I can remember something that\nhappened there which had happened to do with You and 1.1 think we were playing two\nnights there, and to my horror, I got laryngitis in the first performance and I could\nbarely speak in a whisper.\nM. Caple\nIs that the play where you had one line?\nA. Pumphrey\nOh no, no, that was the one where I was low comedy and an artist's model and stuff.\nSo this time a nice doctor came out of the audience afterwards and took me down to\nthe kitchen of the Incola Hotel and got a steamer going and steamed my throat, bless\nhis sweet heart, and then finally got me into bed and the next day I was saved,\n(laughter) and got me in bed ... oh that does sound bad. It was very proper I assure you\n(voice: So as the morals of the young will not be interfered with I think those lines\nshould be eliminated. I think so too)\nA. Pumphrey\nLet's leave them in.\nS. Risk\nAlso in You and I was Bice Caple and our old friend Bea, you will comment, please.\nB. Wood\nBice Clegg Caple Arts 28 was she (voices: Arts 27) played the mother of Kenneth in\n\"You and I\", by Philip Barry. We all know of Bice's present illness and regret she can't\nbe here that to speak for herself and give us some of her inimitable remarks. She was\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 13\none of the bright lights in \"You and I\" and added greatly to the success of the play.\nK. Caple\nThere is a story that I think is amusing. In the play, \"You and I\", I was a young\ntroubador in tights, very smart looking tights, showed my legs off to best advantage,\nand I had a ruffle round my neck and a harp and I was going to go out to a party and\nsing, so I went to kiss my mother goodnight. Bice was my mother in the play, this is\nwhen I first met Bice, and I went to kiss her goodnight and we used to have a little\npeck on the cheek and run you see, and I pecked her on the cheek and she said \"kiss\nme again\". I was a little startled, surprised, so I kissed her again and she said \"you fool,\nkiss me again\" I said \"what's wrong\" she said \"you got that damn banjo in my earring,\nkiss me again\" (laughter). I kept kissing her while she disengaged the banjo from her\nearring and her hairnet and then she said \"bugger off. (laughter)\nD. Somerset\nSydney, before you go to \"Pygmalion\", there is one story for which we should go back\nto \"The World and His Wife\". Betty your story in the Vancouver production...\nB. Clyne\nOh yes, well that was quite fascinating. We were shouting away because it was a great\nexperience for us to try and talk in that theatre after having talked at the University\ntheatre and what's her-name, Alfreda Berkeley was playing opposite me and the two of\nus were having a scene in centre stage and her responses were very slow in coming\nback and I couldn't understand. I would give her the cue again and so on, and finally I\nrealized that she was not well and sort of pushed her up against the arm of the\nchesterfield so that she would have something to lean against and went on, and\nsuddenly a voice, from above, a beautiful voice, came down and it was Rann Kennedy\n(A voice: Matthison) Oh yes, Rann Kennedy and Edith Wynne Matthison. Their box\nwas practically over the stage and he spoke down and he said \"Sit down my dear, sit\ndown\", and he was so calm and nice that I managed to get her round to the chesterfield\nwhere she could sit. Meanwhile that damn Freddie didn't pull down the curtain because\nhe couldn't find the stagehand. I thought she was going to faint right there and so did\nthe audience. However she sat down, recovered and managed to finish the scene.\nD. Somerset\nIf I may speak to that because I was in the audience: here was my sister facing front\nstage a woman who was fainting\u2014her knees were just buckling \u2014 she was leaning\nforward and Betty cruelly would put her hand against her chest and shove her upright\n(laughter) and I thought \"God, Betty\", then she'd sag again and Betty would shove her\nup. Then finally because Rann, Rann Kennedy was the honorary president of the\nPlayers' Club, he saved the day. That gorgeous voice and his white head when you\nlooked up there, (voices: what did you want Betty to do with her?) I don't know what I\nthought but Betty just looked awful, (laughter) Oh Mildred, you have another story,\nyes, about when the stagehands can't be found.\nM. Caple\nOh, well, you see, Avis and I shared the very, very demanding part of maid. I mean if\nyou only have one or two lines it's very important, you make it or lose it you see in just\none or two lines. So anyway along with my bachelor's degree that year I became an\nexpert rummy player because there was a rummy game going\u2014seemed to me you were\nprobably on stage full-time Betty, but there were quite a few in that cast who didn't\nspend all their time on-stage, but I was the key figure in the rummy game, and I kept it\ngoing. So I\u2014anyway I learned that\u2014and Kenneth, I think I was music off-stage too\nbecause I know I had to start a record always and once we didn't get it going\u2014maybe\nwe shared that\u2014and then there were two minor rebellions on that tour. The first one\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 14\noccurred in Kamloops. We got there and found again, as somebody else did in Nelson\nI think, there were no seats sold\u2014very very upsetting, and Freddie very smartly went\nout and either borrowed or rented a truck, an open truck, and insisted that all the males\nin the cast get on the truck and drive around town with a banner, and I know there\nwere grumblings-they thought that as professional actors or something it was beneath\ntheir dignity. And then there was a one-woman rebellion. Somewhere along the line, I\ndon't know, it must have been the shirt that he wore on-stage, but one of the actors,\nPete Palmer, his stage shirt needed laundering and he handed it to Betty to do and\nBetty said she didn't want to wash any man's shirt who had a seventeen size neck,\n(laughter, voices: he was your husband on stage wasn't he...yes I think he was) Jack\nonly wears a fifteen and a half).\nS. Risk\nYes, well, now for \"Pygmalion\". We had comments from several members of that\ncast, Isobel Barton Morrison and Grace Hope Stevenson, neither of whom are present,\nbut we'll ask Bea to read their comments to us.\nB. Wood\nThis is what Isobel Barton Morrison of Arts '26 has to say (voice: She was Liza)\n\"1925-26. This was the year that UBC moved from Fairview to the Point Grey\ncampus. Now the Players' Club had a grand new auditorium for its performances and\nwhat a wonderful stage. For the first act of \"Pygmalion\" we actually had a taxi drive\nforward on the stage to pick up Eliza. Also rain was made to fall. I think Tommy Lee\nwas responsible for a great deal of stage magic. Freddie Wood was our kindly\ndedicated mentor, loved and respected by us all. One of my personal, hilarious\nmemories is of the late D'Arcy Marsh, who played Alfred Doolittle, trying to help me\nacquire a cockney accent.\"\nGrace Hope Stevenson of Arts '27 played Mrs. Eynsford-Hill in \"Pygmalion\". \"Good\nto have a reminder of those halcyon days of the Players' Club. I still have the photos\nsomeone took on the Spring tour with \"Pygmalion\", coming down in a launch from\nBritannia Beach, Avis Pumphrey, D'Arcy Marsh, looking very theatrical, Freddie\nWood, with hat on one side, posing. I remember that by the time we returned to\nVancouver in June 1926 after thirty performances, we felt like professionals, ready to\ntake on and do Seattle or anywhere else on the continent. I have seen \"My Fair Lady\"\nand \"Pygmalion\" since, but none compare with our own version, (laughter)\nS. Risk\nNow another member of the cast was Willoughby Matthews and he has a brief\ncomment here. I will just read it to you. \"The details in my own mind are now almost\ntotally submerged in one glorious memory of wonderful friendships, adventure and\nmild achievement.\" Now another prominent member of the cast Pygmalion was our\nchairman this afternoon, Harry Warren, who is right here and can tell us something\nabout his memories.\nH. Warren\nI think the most interesting thing that I can report was that Freddie was determined to\nhave rain actually on the stage, and I had to design a great canvas trough so when the\nrain came down the cast, after the rain had fallen, we mustered it and carried it off. We\nhad no other way of getting rid of it. The only place that Freddie capitulated was in\nBritannia. The stage was so small that he allowed...we pretended that it was raining.\nFreddie was a very hard task master over that rain business.\nS. Risk\nHarry, were you in charge of producing this rain?\nH. Warren\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 15\nI was in charge of producing rain and at Salmon Arm, when we got there, we found\nthere were no stand pipes anywhere about the theatre. The nearest was two blocks\naway\u2014one block down one way and one block the other way\u2014so we had to get pipes\nfrom the citizens of Salmon Arm \u2014 then we had to time how long it took the water to\nreach the stage \u2014 I put my hand up like this when the rain was to come, and the rain\nwould come through about two minutes later. And then we had to make a signal for\nthe rain to stop, you know\u2014and it was quite exciting\u2014but I can say it was quite an\nawful job because we had to cart this through in a huge crate everywhere we went, I\nthink the baggage people got very disgruntled about it all. (laughter)\nWe had another tragedy, or near-tragedy in \"Pygmalion\". As you know, Peter Price\nwas the leading man and he had beautiful curly hair which the girls loved to put their\nhands through. Peter found this very embarrassing and one of the leading ladies\ninsisted on doing this and Peter, finally, was very naughty, he picked her up, put her on\nthe floor, picked her ankles up and dragged her all round the hotel, she was letting out\nsqueaks and squeals and the rest of us were horribly embarrassed and didn't know what\nto do about it. But no one, none of the women put their hands through his hair any\nmore, that was at Revelstoke. The hotel is now burnt down.\n(Voices: you played Colonel Pickering. Yes, I was Colonel Pickering)\nS. Risk\nNow that brings to a close our formal program and I'm going to turn it back to our\nchairman for winding it up. Harry.\nH. Warren\nWell, I have one or two things that come into mind. Freddie was always the soul of\ntactfulness and I remember I wanted to try out for a part\u2014I suppose it was the part\nKenny got \u2014 and when I went in to Freddie to get the part he looked at me and he said\n\"do you know Miss Buck very well?\" \"No\" I said, \"no, I tried out with her once that's\nabout all.\" \"Well,\" he said, \"perhaps you would be wise to try for another part\". I\nwasn't anxious to be put off so I said \"no, I think I would like to try out for this part\"\nand I took my part and went round the corner. The first line was \"Darling, you haven't\nkissed me yet\" and of course at that time I was just paralyzed with fear. When the try-\nout came up in the old building we were both of us so nervous that I fell flat on my\nface on the steps going up, which I think lost me the part and I think that is why Kenny\nmoved in and took the lead.\nFreddie\u2014I think I got in well with Freddie\u2014I'm not sure. Bea may be able to correct\nthis. But the try-outs\u2014you used to have to pay a dollar to try out and a lot of people\ndidn't pay their dollar if they didn't get in, they just disappeared. And of course, I was\nthe treasurer that year, Alfreda Berkeley was the president. I started a system that they\ndidn't go on for the try-out til they put their dollar in my hot hand, and I think Freddie\nfound this was a very salutory way of collecting the dues for the Players' Club. Freddie\nand I remained great friends ever after.\nD. Somerset\nI'd like to make one comment. Avis, I think it was Avis, or was it you Mildred,\nreferring to the fact that you felt you were professionals. You know that you had been\non the tour, I think it was you Avis, you had been on the tour of so many productions\nand done so well. We've talked about the past here which is what we have come to do,\nwe wanted to, talk about the Players' Club and Freddie in those early years. I would\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 16\nlike to just look at Freddie from the point of view of the future. This is in the twenties\nmostly and then there is the Players' Club in the thirties and the forties, but the theatre\nin Canada, which of course is what Freddie cared about, the theatre above all, it was\ngrowing apace. And then the CBC came along and it had jobs for professional actors,\nand it was obvious that the world of professional theatre was going to come to Canada,\ngoing to come to Vancouver. And I am thinking now of all the hurrah there was over\nthe laying the cornerstone of the new festival theatre in London, in England, do you\nremember? Well, Freddie laid the cornerstone, I am thinking of an actual occasion, of\nthe professional theatre here, from the University's point of view, because it was\nFreddie in 1945, himself, who recommended that there should be credits within the\nEnglish Department for theatre, recognizing the fact that with the Canadian theatre\noffering more and more opportunities for professional theatres that they would need\nthe extra training. So that in a way, that motion that he made to Senate, which was\nseconded by Garnett Sedgewick, was the beginning of the University becoming\ninvolved in professional theatre. That was an important mark I think.\nH. Warren\nSydney, I think that we should all of us mention the fact that you, Sydney Risk and\nDorothy Somerset, have carried on what Freddie started, in a marvellous way, and I\nmyself regret that the Players' Club, as such, does not exist today. I, as an engineer,\nKenny as an Aggie, all sorts of uneducated people got some education, and while there\nare some marvellous performances in the theatre today I don't think there are very\nmany engineers or agricultural students, at least as far as I know, performing.\nGordon\nLetson\nMay I speak first dear. I never do anything without your permission, (voice: yes\ndarling) I wish to thank you for the privilege of having been able to sit here and listen.\nIt was very nostalgic at least, and I think it a most important thing to do because\nrecently I have come across two or three things of interest which you cannot now find\nthe history of and there is no one to tell you anything about it. Now you've got it on\nrecord, and you can use that and you are doing an important job. I guess whoever\nstarted it should be congratulated. Apart from that, I've enjoyed myself, but I have\nnothing to contribute. Now, I'll let you speak.\nGertrude\nLetson\nWell, as a matter of fact various things came up, memories particularly Betty, holding\nup Alfreda and talking to her and poor Aifreda's legs, and you say that lovely voice\nthat came again. Also it's just marvelous to have Freddie brought back. He just appears\nthe whole time... we all have special memories of Freddie. Particularly once, Mildred,\nthe Christmas play? (voice: you tell the story dear.) It was a Russian play and I was\nVaravara. You were-I've forgotten who you were, (voice: yes, I've forgotten too, but it\nwas a woman.) It was a very dramatic Russian play (voice: \"The Little Stone House\".)\n\"The Little Stone House\" was the name and I have forgotten what part... (voice: Tubby\nShore was in it and Lloyd Edgar) But who was it whose moustache...(Voice: Lloyd\nEdgar's). He was about to speak and the moustache came off, and I caught Mildred's\neye and she caught mine and the worst happened...uncontrollable, uncontrollabe\ngiggles (Voice: giggles) At that moment I had to go off stage to bring in an axe. I think\nit was, it was a prop anyway, and I had to face Freddie who grew taller and taller and\ntaller and glared down more and more and more and said \"I'll see you on Monday and\nhanded me the axe (voice: where was this?) The Christmas play. It was one of the\nworst moments, but my it was funny Mildred.\nD. Somerset\nJack, you forgot a story, you were a rugby player\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History 17\nJ. Clyne\nI played rugby yes. (Voice: Well, tell your story) Freddie called me one day, the\nSpring play started on Monday, and, (Voice: which one was it-do you remember?)\nwell, I forgot the play I think it was \"Mr. Pirn\" but anyway, yes it was \"Mr. Pirn\", and\nI was playing rugby on Saturday and Freddie said \"you can't play rugby on Saturday\nbecause we are playing at the Avenue starting our show on Monday.\" \"Oh\", I said, \"I\ncan play rugby, don't worry I won't get hurt\". So I said, \"no I'm going to play rugby\"\nAnd then I went back to class and a little later I got a call from President Klinck and I\nwent to his office to see him, and he said, \"my boy, Professor Wood tells me that you\nare playing rugby on Saturday and you are taking the leading part in the play on\nMonday\" and I said \"yes\" he said, \"my boy, you cannot play rugby on Saturday\", and I\ndidn't. There was a certain amount of discipline in (voices: yes, you have to behave\nyourself)\nD. Somerset\nI would like to interject, not interject, I want to add to the tape, so that it may be on\nrecord that all of us concerned with the history of the University and the history of the\nPlayers' Club in particular, these we have mentioned today, are very grateful to\nLaurenda Daniells without whom this would not have been possible. I think that\nshould be on the tape and kept on the tape. (Applause)\nL. Daniels\nThank you very much.    (Voice: May we have a drink?)\nS. Risk\nYes, now, I just want to say that over on the table by the window there are programs,\nPlayers' Club programs and many pictures and you are now free to go and browse\nthrough them and look at them, (murmurs) Yes and Bea's picture too.\nL. Daniels\nI would like to thank Dorothy Somerset, who devoted many hours to producing and\ndirecting this afternoon's session, Sydney Risk, who was our master of ceremonies and\nkept things on track, Harry Warren, who, with the Heritage Committee of the Alumni\nAssociation initiated the project, and especially all the members of the Players' Club\nwho shared your memories with us.\nThe UBC Players' Club; The Early History","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note","classmap":"oc:AnnotationContainer"},"iri":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2009\/08\/skos-reference\/skos.html#note","explain":"Simple Knowledge Organisation System; Notes are used to provide information relating to SKOS concepts. 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There is no restriction on the nature of this information, e.g., it could be plain text, hypertext, or an image; it could be a definition, information about the scope of a concept, editorial information, or any other type of information."}],"Provider":[{"label":"Provider","value":"Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/provider","classmap":"ore:Aggregation","property":"edm:provider"},"iri":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/provider","explain":"A Europeana Data Model Property; The name or identifier of the organization who delivers data directly to an aggregation service (e.g. Europeana)"}],"Publisher":[{"label":"Publisher","value":"[Place of publication unknown] : [Publisher not identified]","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/publisher","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:publisher"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/publisher","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; An entity responsible for making the resource available.; Examples of a Publisher include a person, an organization, or a service."}],"Rights":[{"label":"Rights","value":"Images provided for research and reference use only. 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Archives","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/source","classmap":"oc:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:source"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/source","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; A related resource from which the described resource is derived.; The described resource may be derived from the related resource in whole or in part. Recommended best practice is to identify the related resource by means of a string conforming to a formal identification system."}],"Subject":[{"label":"Subject","value":"University of British Columbia","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/subject","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:subject"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/subject","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; The topic of the resource.; Typically, the subject will be represented using keywords, key phrases, or classification codes. 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