come from distinguished relatives of his. His deceit is discovered and forgiven. Price, 50c. Royalty, $5. French The No 'Count Boy by Paul Green. 2 m. 2 w. Interior. An exquisite comedy of a dreamy negro boy who almost succeeds in persuading a young girl to leave her fiance and wander over the earth with him. An outstanding negro play. In The Lord's Will. French. $2.00. Royalty, $5 Pink and Patches by Margaret Bland. 1 m. 3 w. Exterior. An amusing and touching folk comedy. A little mountain girl longs for a pink dress. When a "summer" woman brings her a present it turns out to be another patched brown dress. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Lonesome-Like by Harold Brighouse. 2 m. 2 w. Interior. A soft-hearted young man, rejected by a young woman, adopts old Sarah Ormerod as his mother in order to save her from the workhouse. French. 50c. Royalty, $5 Sire De Maletroit's Door by Mary R. Davidson, dramatized from Stevenson's story. 4m. 1w. Interior. Period, 1429. The dramatic story of the happy outcome of Sire de Maletroit's cruelty in forcing his niece to marry makes an excellent play. Baker. 35c. No royalty Marse Covington by George Ade. 5 m. Interior. Marse Covington, an impoverished aristocrat, is saved the disgrace of being put out of a gambling house by a faithful negro servant. Delightful characterizations. French. 50c. Royalty, $5 The Bishop's Candlesticks by McKinnel. 3 m. 2 The Wings by Josephine Preston Peabody. 3 m. 1 w. Interior. English, 700 A. D. A delicately written poetic drama of a young priest whose hatred of women is softened through the mercy of a woman whom he wished to separate from the king. French. 35c. Royalty, $5 The Yellow Triangle by George W. Sutton Jr. 6 m. 1 w. Interior. An effective play showing the revenge of an African servant on a cruel and worthless white man. Tropical atmosphere. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 The Cajun by Ada Jack Carver. 4 m. 2 w. Interior. About 1900. A tense drama in which the First Cousin Law brings tragedy to a young girl who belongs to the "cajuns" who are thought to be the lost Arcadians, living in Louisiana. Difficult dialogue. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Trifles by Susan Glaspell. 3 m. 2 w. Interior. A tragedy in which neither the deed nor the persons concerned appear. A slain canary and a broken bird cage tell the whole story of a woman driven to murder by cruelty and neglect to two women friends who come to put the house in order. Baker. 50c. Royalty, $10 The Eldest by Edna Ferber. 3 m. 3 w. Interior. A drama of middle-class life in which a lover returns after fifteen years only to fall in love with his former sweetheart's younger sister. Appleton. 50c. Royalty The House With The Twisty Windows by Mary Pakington. 4 m. 3 w. Interior. Russia during the "Red Terror." An Irishman allows himself to be executed in place of his cousin, an enemy of the prevailing government. Excellent drama. French. 30c. Royalty, $5 Release by Edward H. Smith. 5 m. Interior. Four jailed burglars, one a murderer, but all implicated, throw a coin to determine which one shall sacrifice himself for the others. Thrilling action; startling climax. Remington. 40c. Royalty, $10 The Under Dog by Robert Middlemass. 3 m. 2 w. Interior. A young wife unwittingly helps her husband's murderer to escape. Excellent characterization. Longmans, Green. 50c. Royalty, $10 Judge Lynch by J. W. Roger, Jr., 2 m. 2 w. Exterior. A powerful play concerned with the lynching of an innocent negro. Remarkably effective ending. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Plumes by Georgia Douglas Johnson. 1 m. 3 w. Interior. Negro play. The tragic story of a DRAMA TOURNEY negro woman who spends money, saved for her child's funeral, for an operation which proves unsuccessful and there is nothing left for the elaborate burial she had planned. French 30c. Royalty, $5 Joe by Jane Dransfield. 3 m. 3 w. Interior. A Hudson Valley play. A fine, strong drama dealing with a mother's love for her idiot son. One of the new plays adaptable for tournament use. French. 35c. Royalty, $10 Ile by Eugene O'Neill. 5 m. 1 w. Interior. Loneliness drives the wife of the captain of a sailing vessel to madness. Grim, powerful drama and fine characterization. In The Moon of the Caribbees. Modern Library. 95c. Royalty, $15 A Minuet by Parker. 2 m. 1 w. Interior. A costume drama in verse. Period of French Revolution. The marquis and marquise, long estranged, meet on the eve of his execution. Tragedy done with a charming touch. Price, 50c. Royalty, $10. French The Valiant by Middlemass and Hall. 5 m. 1 w. Interior. A young murderer goes to his death without revealing his identity to his sister whom he has not seen in years. Powerful drama. Price, 50c. Royalty, $10. Longmans Green The Last Of The Lowries by Green. 1 m. 3 w. Interior. Rural costumes, 1874. The last of a family of outlaws returns to see his mother and family and kills himself rather than die at the sheriff's hands. In The Lord's Will and Other Plays, $2.10. Royalty, $5. French El Cristo by Larkin. 4 m. 2 w. Interior. The strange customs of a secret sect on the Mexican border are used in this play which colorfully portrays a universal human struggle. Royalty, $10. Price, 50c. French Gloria Mundi by Patricia Brown. 2 m. 4 w. Interior. A masterpiece of grim irony laid in an insane asylum. Shows the courage necessary to face the realities of life. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Melodrama Blood O'Kings by Jane Dransfield. 8 m. Interior. A negro, claiming to be descended from kings, forces his way into a cock fight. As a gesture of contempt, he hurls his winnings into the faces of the white men as he leaves. French. 35c. Royalty, $10 The Last Cache by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay. 8 m. 1 w. Interior. Interior. A British Columbia play 703 the trail. Tense drama of life in the Northwest. French. 50c. Royalty, $5 The Drums of Oude by Austin Strong. 7 b. 1 w. Interior. Costumes 1857, British military. One of the finest melodramas. It is laid in India during a native uprising. Full of atmosphere and high suspense. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Fantasies Aria Da Capo by Edna St. Vincent Millay. 4 m. 1 w. Black and white interior. A tragedy within a Pierrot comedy, showing the futility of war. An original and imaginative fantasy in verse. Appleton. 50c. Royalty, $15 Jazz And Minuet by Ruth Giorloff. 2 m. 3 w. Interior. A love story involving a dream scene of 150 years ago contrasting modern manners with those of the past. Light comedy, fantasy, and, in spots, tense drama. Longmans, Green. 50c. Royalty, $10 Lima Beans by Alfred Kreymborg. 2 m. 1 w. Interior. Pantomime to rhythmical accompaniment of words. A husband and wife quarrel amusingly over the piece de resistance which she has prepared for his dinner. French. 50c. Royalty, $10 Figureheads by Louise Saunders. 3 m. 2 w. Interior. A spoiled princess is wooed by a prince who disguises himself as a fisherman. He manages to show her, in light humorous dialogue, what an exceedingly foolish person she is. In Magic Lanterns. Scribner. $1.50. Royalty, $10 On A Mantel Shelf by Tom Cushing. 2 m. 2 w. Scene, a mantel shelf. A china mandarin, A Dresden lady, a shepherd and an old rag doll settle their difficulties on the one night in the year when they are permitted to come to life. Haylofters. 50c. Royalty, $10 Change in Executives For many years recreation workers have been happy to cooperate with Mrs. Beatrice Ward Nelson, Executive Secretary of the National Conference on State Parks. There has been very close cooperation between the Playground and Recreation Association of America and the National Conference on State Parks. Mrs. Nelson has resigned her position and Herbert Everson of Seattle, Washington, has been elected her succes The invitations for the party may be in the usual form of a "Pat and Mike" joke: Pat-"All joking aside, did yez ever hear of a Shenanigan?" Mike "Sure, then and phat is it?" nin'." .'s Mike "An' even at that, phat is it?" Pat-"Yez better cum ter..... house and find out. Shure they'll change all yer blues to green." In decorating for the party use as much green and as many Irish colors as possible. For example, potatoes may be hollowed out for candle holders. Who's Who in Jokeland. All about the living. room have little figures cut from comic strips of the Sunday papers. Glue them to stiff cardboard, with a piece left on the bottom which can be folded back allowing the figures to stand erect. Each figure should be numbered and a certain time is given the guests in which to recognize and to write the comic's name in the "Green Books" which have been furnished by the hostess. These are made of folded squares of green cardboard with "Who's Who in Jokeland" written on the outside. Practical Jokes. Pass around a basket filled with all sorts of "practical" little objects in it; a hairpin, a safety pin, a needle and thread, a pencil, a cork, and so on, letting each one select something. He must play a "practical joke" on someone during the evening, using the article he has chosen. At the end of the evening, everyone who has not been able to perpetrate a joke must pay a forfeit. Blarney. We all like to hear something nice said about ourselves though it is "Blarney;" so this game is sure to put everyone in a jovial mood. Each man is given a slip of paper with a girl's name written on it. The slips are numbered. A bit of blarney must be written describing the person whose name appears on the slip of paper. The papers are then collected and read off while each person writes down the name of the man or girl who they think best fits the description. The one with the greatest number of correct guesses to his or her credit wins the prize. Pig in the Pen. Players stand in groups of three. Two hold hands and form the pen. The third is the pig and stands inside the pen. The odd pig is without a pen. On signal, which may be given by a whistle, all pigs must change pens, the odd pig trying to get a pen in the scramble. The one left out becomes the odd pig and the game starts over. Players forming the pens should change with the pigs occasionally that all may get the chance to be pigs. Bag Tag. Partners are selected and all the couples are seated in a circle. Each man is given a paper bag (balloons are much better), which he blows up and ties with one end of a three-foot piece of string. The other end of the string is tied around his partner's ankle. Two of the couples are then called to the center of the circle, and at a signal each man attempts to step on and burst the bag or balloon belonging to the other couple, and at the same time helps to protect the bag belonging to his own partner. As soon as one bag is burst, the first two couples sit down and two other couples enter the ring. The couples whose bags were not burst the first round later compete against each other, and in the finals the two surviving couples compete. A "Pat" Game. Guests should be provided with paper and pencils with which to answer the following questions as they are read by the hostess. All the answers begin with the letters p-a-t. 1. A conveyance we do not care to ride in (Patrol) 2. One who is loyal to his fatherhood (Patriot) 3. An exclusive privilege granted by law (Patent) 4. A beaten road (Path) 5. A dainty dish (Paté) 6. Not easily provoked (Patient) 7. A quick succession of sounds (Patter) 8. A model (Pattern) 9. Famous singer (Patti) 10. Something a woman dislikes to do (Patch) Irish Spelling. Players are lined up in two equal lines-usual way for spelling contest. Words are given by the leader to be spelled and are spelled in the usual way except that a substitution is made for vowels. a-player holds up right hand o-player points to open mouth u-player points to leader FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY Note: The suggestions offered are taken from material issued by the Departments of Recreation of Reading, Pennsylvania and Pontiac, Michigan. Good Avenin'. In relay formation couples of men and women face the leader. The first man in each line has on a high silk hat. At the given signal, the first couple, hand in hand run to the front of the room where a chair has been placed. The lady seats herself and the gentleman must bow and say "Good Avenin'" then they return to the line and touch off couple two. The second couple repeats, etc. The one finishing first has won the relay. A St. Patrick's Day Party for Children The children of the Memphis playgrounds last year enjoyed a program of recitations and games at their St. Patrick's day party. The recitations to music included "The Low Backed Car." "Tit for Tat," by Lalla Ryckoff and "We're Irish Yet," by W. H. Drummond. The recitations were followed by a program of games. Irish Potato Relay-as usually played. Rhyming Pat. All seated in a circle. Someone in the center tells a story about Pat. Each time he says "Pat" he points at someone in the circle, and that person must give a word rhyming with Pat before the one in the center counts ten. If he fails to do it, he must take the place of the one in the center. 705 The Lakes Killarney. The guests are told they will be taken on an automobile ride to the Lakes of Killarney. There are four large circles drawn on the floor. The whole group marches around in a large circle which runs through each of the four circles. They march to music, following a "Chauffeur" and when the music stops, anyone caught in a circle drops out, as he has fallen in the lake. The Blarney Stone. All sit in a circle. A pretty, smooth pebble is passed to the right for the Blarney Stone. Each one is allowed to hold it for ten seconds while he makes a wish. When the whistle is blown, whoever holds the stone must do what his neighbor on his left tells him to. Winter Sports Play Week in Minneapolis From January 12 to 21, 1929, Minneapolis celebrated its annual winter sports play week, which this year did not take the form of a carnival or spectacle, the whole idea being to interest as large a group as possible in taking part in some of the winter sports. Activities were conducted in every park and playground and the celebration was in every sense of the word city-wide. Winter Sports Week was financed through the advertisements which appeared in the attractive program issued. The total sale of ads amounted to $5,500. Net receipts were about $2,400. Thirty thousand of the programs were printed and the Board of Park Commissioners which was in charge of the week was careful to see that all were distributed, thereby making it a worthwhile medium of advertising for the companies who purchased space. Merchants of the city are so much in sympathy with the program that little difficulty was experienced in selling the advertise ments. The events included skating races of every variety and distance, skiing, yacht racing, snow modeling, the dog derby and many other unusual and thrilling events. April 1st-All Fools' Day-is the jolliest day in the year, dedicated as it is to the art of practical jokes. Of the origin of All Fools' Day, "The Boy's Own Paper" of March, 1879, tells in some detail. All Fools' Day is not by any means a day belonging exclusively to England. Long before it was observed here, the first of April was a day of revelry and license among the ancient Romans, who concluded then their festival of the "Hilaria," a time when great and small masters and men all descended to a level of folly, and for the time being forgot distinctions of rank and position in a common revel. It is pretty generally agreed that this Roman festival was the origin of our All Fools' Day, and if it be so, it is a satisfaction to know we have the approval of so many centuries in our manner of keeping the first of April. Some old writers, however, used to attribute the origin of the custom to another cause. April is proverbially an uncertain month as regards weather. One moment it is fine, another raining; the sun has hardly begun to shine when the clouds come and blacken the sky, and then as suddenly given way in their turn to the sun again. And some people imagine that the first April fools were those who in such weather went out exclaiming, "What a fine day!" and Lo! a shower drenched them to the skin; or lamented the wretched downpour, and behold, the sun came out and laughed in their faces. It was a pretty notion; but considering that the day is kept not in England only, but in India, Italy, Spain and other countries whose climate differs from ours, it is hardly a likely explanation of the matter. There are many different kinds of jokes which in different countries characterize the observance of the 1st of April. In India, the "Huli festival" is kept on that date by the Hindoos, when the favorite amusement is to send people off on false errands, or to keep false appointments. A Hindoo receives a mysterious message, desiring him to meet a certain great personage at such and such a place on the first of April. He travels miles, perhaps leagues, wondering what the great man can want with him, and building castles in the air of all the honors and profit which are in store. Alas! the appointed place is deserted-no one is there, no one ever thought of being there, and the poor Hindoo has his long walk there and back for nothing. This is not at all unlike the way they make April fools in Scotland. "Hunting the gowk" they call it. A simpleton is asked to carry a letter to a place named a mile away, which he does, of course being ignorant of its contents, and duly delivers the missive to the person to whom it is addressed. The latter opening it finds it to contain the following lines: "On the first of April Hunt the gowk another mile." Comprehending from this that there is some fun afoot, he puts on a grave face, and informs the messenger that it will be necessary for him to take the note on to Mr. So and So (another mile farther on), who will doubtless be able to give him an answer to it. The patient "gowk" trudges on, but Mr. So-and-So has the same reply as the other, he must take it on yet another mile. So he goes on, at the end of each mile being sent on one more, till after a few hours of it, he begins to see the fraud, and returns very tired and red in the face, to find all his neighbors assembled at their doors to see "the gowk come home." In Spain they have a somewhat rougher kind of joke. All Fools' Day in Lisbon is celebrated by the throwing about of flour and water till folk who come in for such attentions look as if they had stepped straight out of a paste-pot. In France April fools are called "poissons d'April" -April fish-and there, sometimes, the practical joking which goes on verges on a breach of the laws. In North America the day is kept more like Valentine's Day than All Fools' Day; unless indeed, some people may consider that there's not very much difference between the two. But "merry England," of all lands is the place where the first of April is most observed. We come down to breakfast, and lo! the egg we go to crack is an empty one. The post brings us letters for which there is two-pence to pay, but which contain only blank paper. The boys in the street call out "Hi!" and point frantically to some pretended danger. A friend rushes up with a concerned look. "My dear fellow, there's something on your face." |