Home Contact Information Photo Galleries   • 2000-2009   • 1990-1999   • 1980-1989   • 1970-1979   • 1960-1969   • 1959   • 1958   • 1957   • 1956   • 1955   • 1954   • 1953   • 1952   • 1951   • 1950   • 1949   • 1948   1957 FATHERS’ FOLLIES OF 1957 The Tenth Year: May 10 and 11, 1957 Producer: Bill Watkins Director: Joe Sauers Writer: Larry Clemmons Music: Huff Allen, Art Holt and The Verdugo Woodlands "Pops" Orchestra Pianist: Gladys Allen Choreographer: Beth Allen Poster and Program Art: Al Taliaferro By Jill Benone: By the tenth show, the Youth House was ready to open. Gladys Allen wrote "Hail Verdugo Woodlands" for one of the few (if not the ONLY) elementary school with an Alma Mater! Olive Colegrove, PTA President in 1957, remembered School Superintendent Dr. James Williams standing at the luncheon where it was played, because "one always stands for an Alma Mater". This was the year Principal Ruth Cain retired. A letter from her thanks Follies for "This Is Your Life", which she calls a "masterpiece of fact and farce" for naming her “Honorary Father” and for the elegant and complete painter’s kit – "everything I need except the talent and know-how". There were thirty-nine scenes in Fathers’ Follies that year, with no intermission listed. Some were one or two-man scenes, and were obviously fillers to cover a set change. My father, Jake Colegrove, and ex-mayor Hal Wright were "The Tell and Tell Girls" seated on opposite sides of the stage in front of the curtain. At the end of the skit, they ad-libbed gossip about “Mabel the Blue Stamp Girl” – a reference to the extremely temporary – and. I suspect, imaginary -- career of a lady of the night working Brand Boulevard and rumored to give blue stamps. Wishful thinking. Every scene was still developed separately by the men in it and the show came together the final week. One of the scenes, incidentally, was titled "A Day at the Youth House", and featured Frank Crosetti who supplied the roofing materials, and Hank Myles – I don’t know what he supplied, but I’m willing to bet it was an important part of the construction INTERLUDE THE VERDUGO WOODLANDS DADS’ CLUB YOUTH HOUSE 1728 Canada Boulevard, Glendale, California Dedication and Open House May 26, 1957 The Verdugo Woodlands Dads Club Inc. sponsored, underwrote, and built the Dads’ Club. The men actively solicited donations – cash and kind – for the erection of a building dedicated to the children of the Woodlands The City of Glendale dedicated land to the project. (It would be interesting to discover the specific details of this arrangement.) In the agreement with the City, the land is owned by the city but the building is owned by the Dads’ Club. The Club is responsible for its care and upkeep, as well as maintaining the building and the immediate grounds. In addition to the funds raised by Fathers’ Follies and budgeted by the PTA, the men solicited donations and formed work parties. Every weekend was spent at the Youth House, building and painting. Contractors in the group supplied the roof, the heating/cooling system the paneling, and the plumbing. Every able-bodied man connected with the school swung a hammer, poured cement, or wielded a paintbrush. As the Dedication Plaque on the wall above the fireplace states, it was built and paid for by over two hundred and fifty local families, with help from business firms and several local organizations. It was state-of-the-art for 1957, cement floor and all, and the parents of Verdugo Woodlands were justifiable proud of their efforts. Renovated and redecorated through the years, the Youth House continues to be available to all youth groups within the city, and can be reserved through the Dads’ Club, contacted through the school. In addition to the original users, and building is used for Little League, Babe Herman, and soccer sign-ups, and of course for Fathers’ Follies rehearsals, set construction and painting.