How does one go about creating a career in the theater?  My brother Don’s experiences might prove to be instructive.  We grew up in the southeastern town of Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Just over the border is the resort town of Jackson, Wyoming known locally as Jackson Hole.  In the 1950’s, a resourceful woman named Paula Jeffrey with a flair for promotion arrived in Jackson and convinced a local couple that their defunct bowling alley was perfect for a playhouse.  The Pink Garter Theater specializing in melodramas came to life in this western town where wooden boardwalks, cowboy bars, and even an elk horn trellis, locals claimed was once used for hangings, drew tourist by the score.  Our mother, always on the lookout for opportunities, saw an ad for performers in our local paper.  Don, who had studied dance and acting for several years, fit the bill.  We all piled into the 1958 Cadillac and drove the two hours over the Jackson Pass for his audition.  Funny that I remember him spilling coffee over himself in the car but it must have relieved his nerves because he was hired.

That season he played all the slaves in their production of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.  In one memorable scene, the seated audience was a substitute for the raging ice filled river as my brother climber overhead on suspended bars.  Two other productions,  “Fillies Busters”, a western version of “The Taming of the Shrew”, and the wonderful “HMS Pinafore” by Gilbert and Sullivan completed the season.

Within a few years, Don was the theater’s director.  There was a format to how things were done at the Pink Garter Theater.  Actors in costume would go by buggy to the town square for an early evening re-enactment of a stagecoach robbery.  The robbers would be apprehended and when given the choice of being hanged or shooting it out, always chose the latter.  The assembled tourists then were told about the theater’s show and that night patrons would arrive to be seated by the actors.

When the old fashioned curtain was raised, you would watch a musical and then after an intermission there would be a sing-a-long ending with one lucky female audience member brought on stage to receive a pink garter on her leg.

Following a tradition that went back to the 1800’s, a series of oleos (individual variety acts) would conclude the evening.  You might see an actor in Victorian costume doing “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” and then suddenly in the middle of the song change quickly to Elvis to finish the number.

You can still see all this being done at my brother’s own theater, “Sweet Fanny Adam’s Theater” in Gatlingburg Tennessee.  This is their 34th year and still going strong.

(Picture features my sister-in-law Pat MacPherson who performed with my brother for over 30 years.)

Tags: Jackson Hole, Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.