It’s Show Time - 1961

For the crafts, I guided the kids through the making of thousands of plaster-of-paris aluminum-pie-plate-mold picture thingies, pig banks made from bleach bottles, and other horrors. I despised these projects. They weren’t creative and did not teach much of anything.

Because I could hold a ruler, and pen or brush with some degree of steadiness, I was the one conscripted to make such things as signs and honor plaques. These too, I detested.

Just drawing or painting, was more engaging for the kids, and more likely to encourage some degree of skill, as well as appreciation for their own creations.

The camp musicals, however, were another story. These let the kids shine. They were mostly variety type shows — patterned after the Ed Sullivan show — which was patterned after vaudeville.

Typical between-song banter:

“Say, Hambone, who is buried at Grant’s Tomb?”
“I don’t know, Sparky. Who is buried at Grant’s Tomb?”
“Why a dead man, of course. Yuk, yuk, yuk.”
        [Foot stomps and noise makers rattled.]

However, on the level of “show and tell,” the kids often came through with amazing performances.

I remember the younger Kassoff sister evoking a very sweet feeling when she sang “Russian Lullaby” while lovingly holding a doll in her arms.

Which child sang “My Man” so effectively? (The Fanny Brice song from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, later done by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.)

For the shows, Andrea Elburger, Fran Rosenthal, or Paul (last name?) played the piano accompaniments. However, one of the most outstanding performers was sung a capella.

Mitchell Schecter was a tough, short, 11-year old with a foggy voice. I assigned him to sing a solo, “Goodbye Cruel World (I’m off to join the Circus).”

This sort of song — a lament for a lost love — could have come off as silly because of his age and tough kid demeanor. Further, the song had a tricky key change on the refrain line, “Step right up, and take a look at a fool.”

If he didn’t work hard on the meaning and feeling of the song, it would be a disaster.

To make some drama, I suggested he come on stage in plain clothes, put on a clown shirt, and apply clown grease paint to his face after the song started. By the end of the song, he was dressed and painted, and looked like a very sad clown.

He was so focused on the intent and emotion of the song that he blew the house away. To this day, I remember the power of his concentration, feeling, and delivery.

To wild, thunderous applause, he then bowed, and walked off stage. As he passed by me he said off-handedly: “No applause, just money.”

— Tall Timber Tales —       Stories             Tall Timber Tales - An introduction by Demian             My Dad - by Demian             An Exhausting Winter’s Tale - by Demian             Summer Camp Emergency - by Demian             Tall Timber Drama - by Demian             Thanks for the Plaque - by Jay Leites             Indifference to Poison Ivy - by Bob Solomon             A Boy Called Jacob - by Peter Berkrot             The View from Far Right Field - by Peter Berkrot             Tall Timber Alumni - Notes from the campers       Photos             Tall Timber Summer Camp Kids - A photo gallery by Demian             Jack’s Kids - A photo gallery by Jack Ritterman             Tall Timber All-Camp Mug Shots - Photos of the entire camp             Tall Timber Group Mug Shots - Photos of individual groups