IT'S ALL MAKE BELIEVE: - OKLAHOMA chautauqua

The Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa in association with the Oklahoma Humanities Council presents
It’s all make belIeve:

Good evening, and welcome to the 2011 Oklahoma Chautauqua, It’s All Make Believe: Hollywood’s Golden Age. The Arts &
Humanities Council of Tulsa in association with the Oklahoma Humanities Council is pleased to bring you the finest in living
history re-enactors, providing life-long learning to the residents of three communities in Oklahoma – Enid, Lawton, and Tulsa!
This year, we celebrate two milestone anniversaries: The 20th Anniversary of Chautauqua, and the 50th Anniversary of the Arts
& Humanities Council of Tulsa! Some of you Chautauqua veterans have been with us for all twenty years – and we thank you!
We are especially pleased to be able to provide this program free of charge, thanks to major support from the Oklahoma
Humanities Council and our presenting sponsor, The Mervin Bovaird Foundation. We also wish to thank the additional sponsors
listed on the back of this program.
Special thanks to OSU-Tulsa and its president, Howard Barnett, for providing this wonderful event space. And to Williams for
printing this year’s Brochure.
I would also like to acknowledge our Chautauqua Committee co-chaired by Kim Smith and Ron Nick, as well as our Chautauqua
Coordinator, Angela Fox, who, together, work diligently to make this the best living history program in the State of Oklahoma!
We are dedicating this year’s Oklahoma Chautauqua in memory of Dr. Gary Gray, publisher,
historian, actor, and author, renowned for his historically accurate portrayals of nine of America’s
greatest citizens. Gary last appeared on our stage in 2008, with a brilliant portrayal of Senator
Barry Goldwater. Often referred to as “Mr. President” because of his portrayals of George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Gary was an excellent scholar
and a good friend to the Oklahoma Chautauqua.We will miss him greatly!
We know that you will enjoy your time with us this year as we celebrate the ups and downs
and the ins and outs of Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s. Thank you for your continued
patronage. We look forward to seeing you again next year!
Warm regards,
Ken Busby
Executive Director & CEO
Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa
Dr. Gary Gray as
Senator Barry Goldwater

sponsors
In its 20th continuous year, the Oklahoma Chautauqua is a program
of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. Major funding is provided
in part by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Additional
support for this program is provided by the following: Oklahoma State
University – Tulsa, The Mervin Bovaird Foundation, The Judith & Jean
Pape Adams Charitable Foundation, Williams, and the Downtown
Double Tree Hotel.
MeMorials, honorariuMs,
and other endowMent
contributions May
be Made payable to:
The Arts & Humanities
Council of Tulsa
2210 South Main Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74114
The 2011 Oklahoma Chautauqua is funded in part by the Oklahoma Humanities Council
(OHC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings,
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily
represent those of OHC, NEH or the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa.
chautauqua
coMMittee
MeMbers 2010-2011
Ron Nick, co-chair
Kim Smith, co-chair
Vicki Adams
Victoria Bartlett
Harry Dandelles
Julie Evans
Nancy Feldman
Gini Fox
Mary Anne Lewis
Patty McNeer
Marilyn Mitchell
Linda Morrissey
Sandy Moore
David Pettyjohn
Paula Settoon
Edith Wilson
Martin Wing
Ken Busby, Executive Director, AHCT
Angela Fox, Oklahoma Chautauqua Coordinator
_____________________________
Layout/Design by Judy Webb
Photographs by John Fancher

tuesday, June 7
D.W. Griffith portrayed by Dr. Doug Mishler Page 4
wednesday, June 8
Louella Parsons portrayed by Karen Vuranch Page 8
thursday, June 9
Paul Robeson portrayed by Joseph Bundy Page 12
Friday, June 10
W.C. Fields portrayed by Hank Finken Page 16
saturday, June 11
Walt Disney portrayed by Dr. William Worley Page 20

d.w. griffith
portrayed by
dr. doug Mishler
4

d. w. griFFith:
the Man who invented cineMa
by doug a. Mishler
David Wark Griffith is truly one of the giants of American Film.
Between 1908 and 1946 he wrote 208 films, acted in 43, produced
63, and directed a monumental 535. His career stretched from
the creation of eight minute narrative film thru the development
of sound films and cinematic features that ran to three hours. The
techniques he created and refined helped transform the shoddy
little peep-show business into the world’s most significant art
form. While his career is the history of American cinema, his
life demonstrates the early 20th century’s powerful contending
cultural forces of tradition and modernism.
Griffith’s Hollywood future would have been
incomprehensible to him when he was born in
1875 in Oldham County, Kentucky. His father
was a nere-do-well who in 1850 went to the
California goldfields and made a fortune
of $24,000 in one year only to gamble it
away the next year. At age 42 his father
joined the Confederacy, fought with
“Fighting Joe Wheeler,” was wounded
at Shiloh, and escorted Jefferson Davis
in his flight after Appomattox. Even
though he was as aloof and distant
from his children as he was his wife (DW
could never recall seeing his parents
embrace or kiss), his father was almost
a mythical figure to young David. He read
Shakespeare aloud and told magical stories
of romance, chivalry, heroism, and the glory of
southern Victorian culture. These stories shaped
David’s life and film career.
Young David had little money and received little education but
loved to read and he quickly fell in love with the imaginary world
of theater. His first role at age 16 was as the dunce in the corner of
a schoolroom. Twenty year old “Lawrence” Griffith left Kentucky
with a travelling theatrical group and by age 24 was living
in New York flophouses filled with rats and other out of work
actors. In 1904 he toured across the nation playing a mediocre
and overdone Abe Lincoln, yet met Linda Arvidison who became
his wife. In 1907, at age 32 and desperate for money, the not so
young Lawrence Griffith held his nose and took a part in his first
film, the overheated melodrama Rescued from the Eagles Nest.
While Lawrence felt films were trash and not art like theater,
his experience being directed by the inventive Edwin Porter
piqued his interest in not just a steady paycheck but
in telling stories. In 1908 he became Biograph’s
second director and released his first film The
Adventures of Dollie. His career was launched
and for $50 he churned out 2 films a week
for the next few years. With each new
film he became more insightful in telling
stories of ever increasing complexity
and emotion.
Now calling himself “DW,” Griffith was
a powerful presence from the start.
He minutely directed his actors and
demanded perfection, yet he quickly
created a close cadre of actors who
worshipped him. He was always enigmatic;
a gracious southern gentleman mostly, but
a man tough enough to punch out extras and
even stars who challenged him directly. He famously
worked himself and everyone else 16 hours a day, 6 days a
week, and often was so wrapped up he forgot everyone’s lunch
and dinner. Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Mary Pickford, John Ford,
W.C. Fields, Raoul Walsh, Walter Huston, and Mac Sennett all got
their start with DW.
D.W. Griffith, 1875-1948: Griffith was born in rural Kentucky to Jacob “Roaring Jake” Griffith, a Confederate Army colonel and Civil
War hero. He grew up with his father’s romantic war stories and melodramatic nineteenth century literature that were to eventually
mold his black-and-white view of human existence and history. In 1897, Griffith set out to pursue a career both acting and writing
for the theater but for the most part was unsuccessful. Reluctantly, he agreed to act in the new motion picture medium for Edwin
S. Porter at the Edison Company. Griffith was eventually offered a job at the financially struggling American Mutoscope & Biograph
where he directed over 450 short films, experimenting with the story-telling techniques he would later perfect in his epic The Birth of
a Nation (1915). Griffith and his personal cinematographer G.W. Bitzer collaborated to create and perfect such cinematic devices as
the flashback, the iris shot, the mask, and crosscutting. In the years following Birth, Griffith never again saw the same monumental
success, and, in 1931, his increasing failures forced his retirement. Though hailed for his vision in narrative film-making, he was similarly
criticized for his blatant racism. Griffith died in Los Angeles in 1948, one of the most dichotomous figures in film history.

With his love of realism and innovation, DW’s actors and
cameramen were imperiled at almost every turn. He pushed
the technical envelope being the first to bury a camera (and
cameraman), first to film from a moving car, first to hang a
camera (and cameraman) off a cliff and even drop buildings
around the camera – (and cameraman). His actors had live bullets
fired at them and some were nearly blown apart. He once had
his favorite actor Lillian Gish run across a half-frozen river--she
nearly both drowned and froze to death shooting one scene for
10 hours in a blizzard. Yet his cast and crew respected his genius
as he invented or perfected (not always sure which) close-ups,
fades, cross cuts, parallel shots, insert shots, split screen, nonlinear
story lines, mid-range shots, iris dissolves, as well as soft
focus (originally done with a coffee can taped around the lens).
His films grew increasingly complex and he radically demanded
that they be shot on location and out of doors. In 1910
he took the first film crew to Los Angeles for the
summer and gave birth to Hollywood. He
was credited with producing the first
major western film in 1910 and the
first gangster film in 1912. With
Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks
and Charlie Chaplin he created
United Artists studios. Yet
his greatest successes were
two towering films still
considered all time classics.
In 1914 he helmed the first
feature length film – the
first blockbuster – a film still
considered the benchmark of
early cinema and arguably the
most infamous film of all time,
The Birth of a Nation. BON was so
successful Lillian Gish noted, “We
lost track of all the money it made.”
Yet BON also fostered a firestorm of
criticism about Griffith’s “racism.” Stung,
DW responded to his critics with yet another
monumental film, Intolerance [1917], the first
film to have four stories run concurrently.
By 1920, DW was widely hailed as “the” cinematic genius
and praised as the man who made film into art. Yet almost
simultaneously Griffith’s art and life started to come unraveled.
His bitter separation from his wife was only one of the struggles
he faced. He was a terrible businessman, and though he made
a great deal of money (he made over $700,000 from BON in
1915 alone) he also spent a great deal on his films and a failed
production company. Though he never spent money on himself
save for hats to protect him from the sun (he believed the sun
would make him go bald), his brother and others squandered his
money while he lived in hotels and ate at lunch-counters—when
he remembered to eat that is.
Yet the worst challenge facing DW was that despite some truly
6

great films after 1917 such
as the racially sensitive
Broken Blossoms [1919] and
Orphans of the Storm [1920]
his stories were increasingly
seen as old fashioned. His
father’s Victorian ideals never
went away, so while his genius
was in modern realistic films, he
loved to do more syrupy Victorian
melodramas. By the 1920s, his genius
was clearly trapped in the past and he could
not adapt. He invented no new techniques
and the hip modern world of flappers and liberal
values was an anathema to him. He made one decent sound film
Abraham Lincoln (1930) but The Struggle (1931) about alcoholism
was widely panned and avoided. By 1932 few wished to hear his
archaic moral lessons and his career was over.
The rejection of his work drove DW to the bottle and he would
end his life a lonely alcoholic living in a hotel in Los Angeles. He
died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1948 at age 73, as ignored in his
last years as he was celebrated in his golden years.
Charlie Chaplin, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and Orson Welles
all spoke of Griffith as “The teacher of us all.” Due to his artistic
achievements, from 1953 to 1998 the Director’s Guild of America
named their highest award after Griffith. Yet as was typical of
Griffith’s life and legacy, due to the continuing furor over BON,
in 1999 DW’s name was dropped from the title of what became
known as a “Lifetime Achievement award.”
D.W. Griffith’s life followed a remarkable path from the son of
an ex-confederate Colonel in small town Kentucky, to the artistic
giant of the American cultural industry.
works cited
D.W. Griffith’s the Birth of a Nation: A History of the Most Controversial
Motion Picture of All Time, Melvyn Stokes, Oxford University Press, 2008
D.W. Griffith: An American Life, Richard Schikel, Limelight Editions 2004
Stagestruck Filmmaker: D. W. Griffith and the American Theatre (Studies
Theatre Hist & Culture), David Mayer, University Of Iowa Press; 2009
D.W. Griffith: His Life and Work, Robert Henderson, Oxford University
Press, 1972
Adventures with D. W. Griffith, Karl Brown, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux,
New York, 1973
Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me, Lillian Gish Englewood
Cliffs, N. J. : Prentice-Hall, 1969
about dr. doug Mishler: In the last fifteen years Doug has brought “history to life” in well over one thousand presentations. In
addition to his latest character D. W. Griffith and his first P. T. Barnum, Doug has presented Theodore Roosevelt, Ernie Pyle, General
Stonewall Jackson and 11 other historical figures. The voices in his head keep him busy but when he is not on the road with the boys
he finds time to direct and act in theatrical plays, as well as teaching American history at the University of Nevada. He has garnered
a national reputation as one of the finest first-person performers. Like his idol Theodore, Doug believes there is still plenty of time to
grow up and get a “real job”- but later!

louella parsons
portrayed by
karen vuranch
8

louella parsons:
First lady oF hollywood
by karen vuranch
Someone once said of Louella Parsons, “Maybe she’s just a nice
lady that got caught up in a dirty business.” “Yes,” came the reply,
“except she invented the dirty business.” This dirty business is
the Hollywood gossip columnist and Louella was the first. At the
height of her career, her gossip column was syndicated in 1,200
newspapers worldwide, with 40 million readers daily. But, surely,
gossip has been a part of social conscious as long as there has been
society. Louella herself often said, “How would we know about
Antony and Cleopatra if historians hadn’t gossiped
about them?” History books are chock full of
court intrigues and clandestine affairs, and
you can be sure these incidents were
the talk of the courts. So what exactly
is Louella Parson’s contribution to
the world of gossip?
Louella’s future in journalism
was evident even in childhood.
In her autobiography, she
tells of the first story she
published at the age of ten.
But, more interesting was
the way it came to print.
The local newspaper editor
said it was “nice” and maybe
he would publish someday,
suggesting that after she was
dead, the story would live on. A
few days later she had an accident
climbing a hayloft. When the editor
came to visit her, she staged a “deathbed
scene that would do credit to Bette Davis.”
(The Gay Illiterate, p.8). Louella goes on to say,
“Later I was to know the thrill of a scoop …. But, never
have I experienced a deeper, more abiding glow of satisfaction
than in my first by-line for The Flower Girl of New York.”
As a young woman, Louella worked for the newspaper in her
hometown of Dixon, Illinois, The Dixon Star. She even covered
a murder trial, a story that the Chicago papers picked up and ran
with her by-line. According to her biographer, Samantha Barbas,
Louella wanted a career in journalism. But in the early 1900s, it
was nearly impossible for women. Barbas states that in 1900,
only seven percent of journalists were women and, with the
exception of women like Nellie Bly, most did not make it past the
women’s pages.
But, Louella’s other interest allowed her to leapfrog into
journalism. Movies were a fledgling industry in the early 20th
century and Louella was mesmerized by early “flicker” pictures.
She moved to Chicago in 1910, after a disastrous first marriage,
and began writing scripts and submitting them. One of those
scripts, based on that murder trial she covered as a
young woman, caught the attention of Essanay,
one of the early studios. Not only did they
buy the script, they offered Louella a job
as a script writer.
Although film evolved into a major
industry, the early Nickelodeons
initially appealed to the
working class. It was not a
business that was particularly
important by social standards
-- immigrants and women had
no trouble finding work in
the film business. Of course,
many of those immigrants
go on to fabulous studio
careers with names like Zuckor,
Selznick and Mayer. But in the
early years, according the National
Women’s History Museum, there
were many opportunities for women,
both on screen and off. Many studios had
female directors and writers. Louella worked
for Essanay as both script writer and purchasing
scripts that were submitted. For three years she lived and
breathed the movies, associating with many of the great stars of
the future including Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson.
But, infants soon learn to walk and the movie industry toddled
towards its future success. According to Louella, Essanay was shortsighted,
thinking that the industry would not change and persisted
in making short, one-reel films, even though other studios moved
to longer and more complicated scripts. Finally, Essanay was
headed for bankruptcy and Louella needed another job.
LoueLLa Parsons, 1881-1972: Smarmy-tongued Hollywood gossip columnist of the 40s and 50s who was often in imbroglios with
not only her subjects but her professional rivals as well.

Her experience as a script writer landed her back in the field of
journalism, working for The Chicago Herald, writing a column,
How to Write Photo Plays. Eventually this column was so
successful that she also published a book on how to write scripts
for the movies. Louella is self-deprecating about her book in her
autobiography, but she was proud that it was the first of its kind
published and even prouder that it was used for many years as a
textbook by the University of Chicago.
It was while she was working at The Herald that she came up with
an idea – why not write a column about movie stars? The public
seemed fascinated with the burgeoning industry and they were
especially interested in what the stars were like off-screen. Thus,
the first ever movie gossip column was born. Furthermore, she
pioneered a new journalistic style – chatty and informal – just
a respectable, middle-class mother, talking as “one of us girls.”
(Barbas,48.)
The rest, as they say, is history. After working for the Chicago
paper, she moved to New York to work for The Morning Telegraph
and then a Hearst newspaper, The American. Her association
with newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst spanned several
decades and her loyalty to The Chief was well-known. But her job
was always the same – to hobnob with the stars, writing about
the movies and stars of the day.
Louella has been accused many times of not being
a good writer and she, herself, made fun of
the fact that she dangled her participles and
split her infinitives. But for the 51 years she
was in the business, she was a good reporter.
She was a passionate supporter of both the
10
movie industry and the field of journalism. In 1922, she was one
of the founding members of the prestigious New York Newspaper
Women’s club and went on to serve as President (Barbas, 68). This
organization, still in existence, was created with a feminist aim
and pressured newspapers to hire more women in areas other
than the society pages. In fact, Louella participated in several
organizations that promoted equality for women and promoted
women’s issues throughout her life.
But, how does Louella’s journalistic career differ from the
maddening paparazzi of today? Well, for one thing, the studios
and the stars gladly provided Louella with the news that was
the fodder of her column. A mention in her column or on her
radio show was publicity gold. In fact, she was the original “spin
doctor,” often reporting facts in such a way that the star retained
credibility and empathy from their fans. It is not until the rise of
tabloid journalism that gossip news changed from the doting and
affectionate style of Louella to the aggressive reporting of Rupert
Murdoch or Geraldo Rivera, according to Jeannette Walls in her
recent book, Dish.
The other aspect that makes Louella different from contemporary
gossip reporters is that she was fiercely proud of Hollywood
and its people and hotly defended the movies. She opposed
censorship, speaking out against any limitations; she was filled
with patriotic pride of the role of Hollywood in World War
II and, as she would say, got “fighting mad” when
anyone accused Hollywood of not advancing the
war effort. In general, she was protective of the
movie industry and as staunch an advocate of
anything to do with the movies as a mother
with a large brood of children.
It is true that Louella Parsons wielded
extraordinary power in Hollywood -- she had the
clout to “make ‘em or break ‘em.” Those who did
not acquiesce to her and “share” their news often
found their career floundering. In fact, by the late
1940s, she was so powerful that the studios established
another gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper, to compete with
Louella. The feud between these two is legendary. But, despite
the competition, Louella retained her power in Hollywood.
But, this power was significantly kinder and gentler than those
who cover Tinsel Town today. The business that Louella Parsons
pioneered has gone on to receive a great deal of criticism from
both the stars they stalk and the readers who protest. Even though
it was proven that the auto accident that killed Princess Di was
not caused by paparazzi, but by a drunk driver, most persist in
blaming the media (Walls, 328). The business created by Louella
has changed today and the outcry against the excessive prying
of contemporary journalists continues. Louella might not even
approve of how the business had changed. After all, this was her
town and her business. And, she never let you forget it.

gossip about the gossip writer
Louella just might be the proverbial “pot that calls the kettle
black.” Her own love life would have raised a few eyebrows but
she kept much of it a secret. She married young to the debonair
John Parsons. Two years later he left her for his secretary,
leaving her with their infant daughter, and Louella
moved to Chicago. In 1918, he enlisted but never
saw any WWI action, dying of the flu before
reaching Europe (Barbas, p. 33). Louella
claimed that she “arrived in Chicago as
a young war widow” even though she
went there in 1910, eight years before
John died, and their divorce was final
in 1911. In her autobiography, Louella
waxed poetic about the romantic
letters of reconciliation he sent from
a battlefield hospital. Since he never
made it to the battlefield, one can only
assume that these letters were a public
“spin” on a personal tragedy.
At least John Parsons gets mentioned. Her
second husband, Jack McCaffrey, is glided over
and forgotten. McCaffrey was a steamboat captain
who piloted ships on the Mississippi (Barbas, 41). He was
good-natured and had an excellent reputation as a captain. But
the marriage was doomed. Although they genuinely loved each
other, they were very different. He was quiet and unambitious
and had little interest in the movies, thinking they were frivolous
(Barbas, 43). The movies were not only Louella’s livelihood, but
something she found endlessly fascinating. They drifted apart
after several years of marriage. But it took almost a decade to
pass before Louella finally filed for divorce.
Louella’s next romance continued her unlucky streak in love. After
moving to New York, Louella fell in love with a charming Irishman and
powerful labor leader, Peter Brady. But, Brady was already married
and, as a Catholic, unable to divorce. She acknowledges their nineyear
affair in her autobiography, not giving his name. Brady would
die tragically in a plane crash, a year after their affair was over.
Love eventually smiled upon Louella when she met Dr. Harry Martin.
In fact, she was on her way East by train to meet Peter Brady when
she met Harry. Louella was immediately captivated by his warmth
and humor and it appears he was equally taken with Louella. At
the end of the trip, Martin showed her a telegram he was going to
send to a friend. The telegram said that Martin intended to marry
her. 18 months later, they were married.
Harry was the love of Louella’s life, although
their marriage could be tempestuous. And
both would imbibe a little too much on
occasion. Once, at a party where Harry
had passed out from drinking too much,
Louella said, “Don’t wake him. He has
to operate in the morning.” On another
occasion, according to her biographer,
Harry had too much to drink and dove
head first into a swimming pool. He
actually broke his neck, but using his
medical knowledge, he held his head in
place until he made it to a hospital.
Louella Parsons was known as the most
powerful woman in Hollywood. Her column could
make or break the career of a star. But her gossip
expertise made her uncomfortably aware of how personal
stories could spread and she made sure that what the public knew
– was what she wanted them to know.
works cited
Barbas, Samantha. The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella
Parsons. University of California Press: Berkeley, 2006.
Eel, George. Hedda and Louella, Warner: NY, 1973.
National Women’s History Museum, Internet article: Women in Early Film.
Parsons, Louella O. Tell It To Louella. G.P. Putnam’s Sons:NY, 1961.
Parsons, Louella O. The Gay Illiterate. Garden City Publishing Co.: NY, 1944.
Walls, Jeanette. Dish: How Gossip Became the News and the News
Became Just Another Show. HarperCollins: NY, 2001.
Willis, Gary. Rome’s Gossip Columnist: When the First Century Poet
Martial Turned His Stylus on You, You Got the Point. The American
Scholar, July 16, 2010
about karen vuranch: Karen Vuranch is a storyteller, actress, historian and writer. Using solid historical research, she creates
characters that bring history to life. She has toured internationally with Coal Camp Memories. Based on oral history, it chronicles a woman’s
experience in the Appalachian coal fields. Homefront is a play based on oral history she collected about women in World War II. Karen also
recreates historical figures: author Pearl Buck; labor organizer Mother Jones; humanitarian Clara Barton, and Indian captive Mary Draper
Ingles. Grace O’Malley, a 16th century Irish pirate and Wild West outlaw Belle Starr, the First Lady of Food, Julia Child. Karen has served as
an Adjunct Faculty at Concord University for the past 18 years, teaching Theatre, Speech and Appalachian Studies.

paul robeson
portrayed by
Joseph bundy
12

paul robeson and the
golden age oF hollywood:
in vogue and taboo
by Joseph bundy
The year 1898 was a precarious time for a little African-American
boy christened Paul Leroy Robeson to be born, was it a time of
promise? As a mother and father looked down on the crib of their
new born infant they may have felt that for their new baby the
lyrics from a song by James Weldon Johnson summed up prospects
of the baby’s future: “Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening
rod felt in the days when hopes unborn had died.” In
1860 William Drew Robeson escaped slavery in
North Carolina to freedom in Chester County,
Pennsylvania. His successful flight liberated
him from human bondage and gave him
access to educational opportunities
that had previously been denied. In
North Carolina the laws forbade
him from getting an education. But
in Chester County, Pennsylvania
he was able to attend Lincoln
University, a school established
for African American males
by the Presbyterian Church.
Following the Union victory in the
Civil War and the constitutional
amendments that granted African
Americans equal protection under
law and citizenship it seemed that
the future for William Drew Robeson
and his children would be brighter.
However, by the time his youngest son,
Paul, was born the winds of justice and equal
opportunity had shifted away. Two years earlier the United
States Supreme Court affirmed the legality of racial segregation
and a caste system was in place that treated African Americans
as second class citizens. But Paul possessed the intelligence,
physique, talent, an ambition that enabled him to soar beyond
the status quo and achieve his lofty goals.
As a young child he possessed a personality that endeared him
to people.
His mother died in a tragic accident when Paul was five years old
both the black and white community treated the motherless child
with benevolent care. In 1907 the family moved to Westfield,
New Jersey. Robeson said after the family moved he
still grieved for his mother; “I must have felt the
sorrows of a motherless child but what I
remember most from my youngest days
was an abiding sense of comfort and
security.” Yet, even at that young age,
Paul believed “he was aware of
that subtle difference between my
complete belonging to the Negro
community and my qualified
acceptance (however admiring)
by the white community.” The
child’s charm made him in vogue
to the dominant community but
his race made him taboo.
When the family moved to
Somerville, New Jersey, Paul
attended the all black (Colored)
Jamison school where he excelled.
In 1912 he entered Somerville High
School. The student body had two hundred
students but only a dozen black children.
He and Winston Douglass were the only black
students in his class of forty. But being a minority did not
hinder him. He was the best scholar in his class and one of the
school’s most popular students. He was the star athlete on the
football, basketball and baseball team. And he was a better that
average tennis player. His beautiful bass/baritone voice anchored
the school choir and he had the speaking voice of an outstanding
PauL robeson, 1898-1976: Paul Robeson was a preacher’s child and son of a former slave. He was an African American born in
Princeton, New Jersey in 1898. This was a time when racial prejudice permeated the entire nation. But he was able to overcome
whatever obstacles he confronted and he became star athlete, a noted concert singer, and an internationally renowned stage and film
actor. As a stage actor he was a favorite of America’s greatest playwright Eugene O’Neill and won international acclaim for his portrayal
of Shakespeare‘s “Othello.” As a film actor his credits include “Sander’s of The River,” “The Emperor Jones” and The Hollywood classic,
“Showboat.” Although he overcame many obstacles, they did leave some psychological scars that pushed him to the political left.
Because he embraced communism and the politics of the Soviet Union he became a victim of McCarthyism. He was black listed as a
performer and his passport was revoked.

14
elocutionist. Paul played leading roles in a number of school
plays. He had many friends. It was in vogue to be a pal of the
multi-talented Paul Robeson. Yet, he never visited the homes
of his white classmates and they never came to his house. He
stayed away from school dances, picnics, and other activities
since it was taboo to be with a “Negro” in a social setting.
New Jersey held a competitive exam for high school students
whereby they would compete to win a four year scholarship
to Rutgers University. The first half of the exam was completed
during junior year, and the second half in June of his senior
year. Paul did not learn about the competition until he was a
senior, and had to take both exams during the senior June exam.
Despite taking the two part exam in one setting he won the
scholarship. This accomplishment gave Paul great confidence,
and he reflected on winning the scholarship under such adverse
conditions by saying: “equality may be denied but I knew that I
was not inferior.”
Upon entering Rutgers University Paul tried out for the football
team. He was the first black player to do so. In the first scrimmage
some of the players tried to discourage him by playing dirty. To
the football squad Paul was taboo. Rutgers had never had a
black player and they were not willing to accept one now. He
left the practice with a broken nose. But there was no “quit”
in him. And to his coach, George Sanford, Paul was in vogue.
Sanford new Robeson was an outstanding high school player
and he was glad to have him on the Rutgers team. The
coach made it clear that racist behavior toward
the black player would not be tolerated. As
a result Paul Robeson made the team and
became an All-American defensive end.
After graduation he moved to New York
to attend Law School at Columbia.
While studying law he maintained
his interest in drama. He was cast in
an amateur production of Simon the
Cyrenne. Ideologically it was a great
role for him. Paul felt that black actors
and actresses were only allowed to be
portrayed as taboo caricatures, but Simon
was a dignified role, and bore the cross for
Jesus Christ. Mary Hoyt Wiborg, a young New
York socialite and aspiring playwright learned
of Paul’s good reviews in the role. Therefore, she
gave him the lead role in a new play, Taboo. It was his
first professional acting job. In the play, superstitious plantation
slaves blame a mute child for a drought that is ruining the crop.
Robeson plays the role of the hero who makes it rain. He is in
vogue as a leading man. But his role is taboo in that he must to
rely on African superstition and voodoo to save the child and
village by making it rain.
Taboo launched Paul’s career as a leading man on the stage
and screen. Most of his films were made in Europe because he

ejected the image that black actors portrayed in Hollywood.
In a 1939 interview he said “I’m afraid of Hollywood …..
Hollywood can only realize the plantation type of Negro - the
Negro of ‘poor Old Joe; and Swanee Ribber.” However, due to
the good reviews he got in the movie The Emperor Jones, and
his concerts Hollywood producers sought him. Robeson’s most
popular Hollywood role was a recreation of his stage character
‘Jim’ in the film version of Showboat.
When critic Emma Goldman reviewed the stage revival of
Showboat she said Paul’s singing and acting was “magnificent,”
(in vogue) but she did not particularly care for the overall theme,
(taboo). The actor and dancer Bill (Bo Jangles) Robinson said he
saw Showboat twice just to hear Robeson sing. Black Nationalist,
Marcus Garvey, spoke of Robeson’s “in vogue” talent and his
“taboo” roles. In The Black Man magazine, Garvey said he was
using “his genius to appear in pictures and plays that
tend to dishonor, mimic, discredit and abuse the
cultural attainments of the Black race.”
In 1942 Robeson appeared in the
Hollywood film Tales of Manhattan. As
an activist in the labor movement, he
hoped his role would highlight the
plight of the poor sharecropper. But
after the editing of this film he was
disappointed at how his character
was portrayed. The New Amsterdam
Star said “Paul Robeson and Ethel
Waters Let Us Down …Luke (Robeson’s
character) was a simple minded docile
sharecropper.” When the film opened
in Los Angles the Sentinel and Tribune
called for picketing the film and Paul said
if a picket line was organized for the New York
opening he would join. Paul had become so upset
he called a press conference and announced he would
never make another Hollywood film. Oscar winning actor Sidney
Poitier summed up the dilemma Paul Robeson and his fellow
black actor’s faced when he wrote:
“None of that generation of black actors - Robeson, Louise
Beavers, Ethel Waters, Hattie McDaniel, Rochester, and Frank
Wilson - was given anything to play that did not characterize
‘minority roles.’ They were appendages to the other actors, the
white actors. They were almost as scenery. To have them as full-
blooded individuals with the ability to think through their own
problems and chart their own course - American films were not
works cited
into that. Difficult as it is today, it is
nowhere near as difficult as it was for
Robeson.” The talent of Paul Robeson and his
fellow black actors was in vogue but their roles for
the most part were still taboo.
Dubberman, Martin Bauml (1988) Paul Robeson. Alfred A Knopf 1988
Robeson, Paul Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, An Artist Journey
1898-1939. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-24265-9
Robeson, Paul Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist Journey
1940-1976. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-40973-1
Brown, Lloyd (1998) On My Journey Now: The Young Paul Robeson.
Basic Books ISBN 0-8133-31773-3
Boyle, Sheila Tully, and Andrew Bunie (2001) Paul Robeson: The Years
of Promise And Achievement. University of Massachusetts Press
about Joseph bundy: Influential African Americans of the late 19th and 20th centuries come alive through Joseph Bundy’s dramatic
Chautauqua impersonations. He has been active in West Virginia and the mid-Appalachian region for years as an actor, playwright, and
poet. But he is best known for his Chautauqua impersonations of James Weldon Johnson Booker T. Washington, A. Philp Randolph, Jim
Europe, and Major Martin R. Delany. He has presented performances and residences for many organizations in West Virginia, Virginia,
Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Pennsylvania and New York. In 2009 he
portrayed Booker T. Washington for the Enid, OK Winter Chautauqua and Major Delany.

w.c. fields
portrayed by
hank Finken
16

w.c. Fields: not Just another
hollywood pretty Face
by hank Fincken
If you hope to learn the truth about William Claude Fields (1880-
1946) in this year’s Chautauqua, you better be prepared for a lot
of fantasy. Look at his beginnings. A traveling road-show, source
of many youthful dreams of adventure and romance, probably
inspired “Whitey” to become a juggler. As a young professional,
he toured American burlesque houses, Vaudeville stages, and
European music halls — places famous for their tricks, illusions,
and make-believe. Then from 1915-1921, he starred in the
Ziegfeld Follies, with scores of scantily-clad women (male fantasy
in a nutshell), developing the comic routines that would impress
everyone but Ziegfeld.
And most of that was before Hollywood became Hollywood!
In 1900, while touring on the Orpheum Circuit,
the “Eccentric Juggler” brought his new bride,
Harriet Hughes, to Los Angeles, a decade
before the first movie companies arrived. On
a side trip to Pasadena, Fields told “Hattie”
that he would like to own a theatre there or
maybe a grocery store. The climate made
the place perfect to raise a family.
Thirty-one years later, he turned that
fantasy into a reality. Except by that time
he and Hattie had separated, son Claude had
grown up and become a lawyer, and Bill was an
unemployed Broadway star.
The Depression had turned the lights out on his last Broadway
show, Ballyhoo, and a new competitor was threatening the life of
many others. Silent film was developing a voice.
Instead of denouncing the change, Fields embraced it. He
had come a long way from the days when the Silent Humorist
created all his jokes out of cigar boxes, juggling balls, and stoogelike
assistants. The raspy comeback, the one-liner with real or
imagined innuendo, had been part of his routine since the Ziegfeld
days. And sketches too! By 1930, he had sixteen registered at
the library of Congress and another forty in various forms of
development. Fields packed his bags, papers, gags, books, props,
and costumes and headed west, entering the Hollywood Plaza
Hotel like the Prodigal Son home from a naughty vacation. He
arrived with no contracts, no offers, no leads, and no doubts. “If
the west didn’t want me,” Fields later said, “I wanted it.”
He was back in Los Angeles, for the third time.
Fields made his first two films in New York in 1915: The Pool Shark
and His Lordship’s Dilemma. The later is lost, but the former
seems like a training exercise in which pratfalls pass as courtship
and Fields pool skills are replaced by trick photography. Then in
1925, he teamed with director D.W. Griffith to make Sally of the
Sawdust, a film adaptation of Dorothy Donnelly’s Broadway hit,
Poppy, a play which had turned Fields into a Broadway star.
Fields was on his way up; Griffith on his way
out. After three flops, the great director was
desperate for a success. Sally gave it to him
but more because of the story line than his
direction. Fields admired Griffith, but his
role was reduced as the camera focused
on the less talented, always dancing Carol
Dempster, Poppy.
The film still managed to earn Fields
a Paramount contract. After making
four films in New York, he was ordered to
Hollywood, where he starred in four more films
of progressively inferior quality. Fields was one of
those semi-stars, the kind Hollywood big shots never
trust. His suggestions were ignored and the films bombed. When
his contract was not renewed, he returned to Vaudeville in New
York, where he starred Earl Carroll’s Vanities earning a whopping
$5,200 per week. Then the Depression shut him down.
Are you noticing a pattern here? In 1989, George Burns wrote,
“The only thing permanent in show business is insecurity.” I
would call Fields career a roller coaster ride except the thrill of
the ride is in the fall while the thrill of show business is in the
climb to the top. Fields was quite the climber.
By 1930, every American living east of the Rockies and north of San
Francisco saw Hollywood as a dream world – a place where make-
W.C. fieLDs, 1880-1946: He began as a juggler in Burlesque, crafted his humor in Vaudeville, starred in the Ziegfeld Follies and
Broadway from 1915 through 1928, and then found his true voice in the early talkies of the 1930s. Of all the great film stars of the
“Golden Age of Comedy” (including Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton), Fields was the only one to blossom with the advent of sound. He had
a huge cult following in the 1960s and has been recently rediscovered as the most modern of the classic humorists.

elieve kisses reality, and wealth is as ordinary as daily chores.
How else do you explain a land that shimmers in sunlight 350 days
a year and where the rules that monitor personal behavior do not
apply? Studio publicists and newspaper columnists encouraged
the idea that the actor and character were one and the same, and
revelry rarely had consequences.
The movies carried audiences to faraway lands where real people,
pretending to be someone else, suffered pretend
problems that needed real solutions. These stories
touched audience’s hearts in ways that actual
experiences rarely do. Actually, the relationship
between Hollywood and the rest of the country
was more complex, more of a love/hate affair;
a Saturday night party with Sunday morning
regrets. Politicians, clergymen, parents, and
concerned citizens demanded restraint.
After the “Fatty” Arbuckle and Wallace Reid
scandals, Postmaster General Will Hays was
asked to organize an institution within the
industry that would set limits, making sure all
movies had a moral tone. In 1930, Hays produced
the Motion Picture Production Code; in 1934, he
gave it some teeth. No movie was released without the
Purity Seal from the Hays Office.
It was an uneasy truce between those who saw humor in
outrage and those who found outrage in humor. Today Fields’
witticism and jabs against authority seem tame, but in the
1930s, the Hays Office saw them as a danger to the moral fabric
of America. The irony is that Fields’ career and the stories he
told often epitomized the American Dream. Fields started poor,
worked hard, and finally—just as he found his greatest success
in the talkies—was told to shut up.
Fields played a tarnished Horatio Alger, a fictional character
as real to 19th century audiences as movie stars were to their
grandchildren in the 1930s. The goals of Alger and the Fields
characters were similar; the road to success as seemingly
impossible. As “the Great McGonigle” in The Old Fashioned Way
(1934), Fields succeeds even as he fails because his self sacrifice
allows his step-daughter to marry into society. The inventor,
Samuel Bisbee, in You’re Telling Me! (1934) will make his fortune
by selling a puncture-proof tire. In It’s a Gift (1934), the henpecked
Everyman, Harold Bissonette, is willing to sacrifice
everything for the chance to grow oranges in California.
What disturbed the Hays Office was not the dream, but the
attitude. With his sarcastic tone that turned mumbles into
philosophical treatises and pretension into belly laughs, Fields’
characters burlesqued sexual mores in International House
(1933), authority figures and sanctimonious relatives in Man
on the Flying Trapeze (1935), the Production Code itself in The
Bank Dick (1940), and the morally astute in My Little Chickadee
(1940). McGonigle even kicked a baby!
18

Other Fields characters would stoop to anything in order to
succeed. They embody the famous Fields quip, “A thing worth
having is a thing worth cheating for.” McGonigle, McGargle, and
Larson E. Whipsnade of You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
would lie, scheme, and deceive to keep their circuses afloat,
the humor being in their dastardly incompetence. The censors
fumed, and the audiences howled. These movies were a spiritual
meal ticket for the unemployed, a balm for those depressed by
the Depression. Fields thought the con-artist Wilkins Micawber
(his favorite role) from David Copperfield (1935) was more
honest. His self-serving ramblings reveal more truth than any
politician’s speech.
Sadly, the roller coaster ride eventually came to a stop. In 1942,
Fields starred in Tales of Manhattan, a forgettable collection of
stories about a hand-me-down suit coat. Fields plays Professor
Diogenes Pothlewhistle, who imbibes while giving a temperance
lecture. It’s the old shtick without the old energy, the funny
drunk more drunk than funny. Before the film was released,
Fields’ tale was cut. Paul Roberson, star of a different tale, hated
the film. He felt his role was reduced to a stereotype and would
have preferred it lay on the cutting room floor beside Fields’.
Radio made Fields a national star again but at a price.
He played the role people expected of him, drinking
too much and hating little children, especially the
puppet Charlie McCarthy. If Fields could not
always separate his real self from his fictional
self, please don’t expect me to either. The
true Fields is only an illusion, just as “reality”
is always as temporary as spring. Perception
is truth, and each generation redefines that
truth according to its own self image. If not, the
definitive biography of every great American would
have been completed long ago.
Welcome to my 2011 version of the real W.C. Fields. One of Fields
most famous lines reads, “Life is a funny old thing. A man is lucky
to get out of it alive.” Bravo, Mr. Fields. I’ll drink to that.
w. c. Fields bibliography
and recoMMended reading list
Brownlow, Kevin; The Parade’s Gone By; London; c 1968.
Burns, George; All My Best Friends; G.P Putnam’s Sons; New York; c. 1989.
Curtis, James; W.C. Fields: A Biography; Back Stage Books; New York; c.2004.
Everson, William K.; The Art of W. C. Fields; Bonanza Books; New York c. 1967.
Fields, Ronald; W. C. Fields By Himself; Prentice-Halls, Inc, Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.; c. 1973.
Fields, W.C.; Fields for President; Dodd, Mean, & Company; New York;
c.1939.
Louvish, Simon; Man on the Flying Trapeze, Faber and Faber Limited,
London; c1997.
Mast, Gerald; The Comic Mind; The University of Chicago Press; c.1979.
Monti, Carlotta; W.C. Fields and Me; Warner Books; USA; c.1971.
Taylor, Robert Lewis; W. C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes; Signet Books,
New York; c. 1949 and 1967.
W. C. fields: Comedy Collection; Universal Studios.
W. C. fields: Comedy Collection Volume 2, Universal Studios.
about hank Finken: For more than twenty years, Hank Fincken has toured the U.S. performing his original one-man plays in schools,
parks, libraries, festivals, and universities. His characters include Thomas Edison, Johnny Appleseed, Francisco Pizarro, Christopher
Columbus, Henry Ford, and an 1849er on The California Trail named J. G. Bruff. He added W.C. Fields in 2010. This will be Hank’s fifth
Oklahoma CHAUTAUQUA. He has recently performed in Chautauquas in Ohio, South Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. A prolific
writer, he has authored scores of plays, stories, and essays as well as one book: Three Midwest History Plays and Then Some. Hank has
special permission to recreate the image and likeness of W.C. Fields, granted by W.C. Fields Productions.

walt disney
portrayed by
dr. williaM worley
20

walt disney: innovator in the
golden age oF hollywood
by dr. williaM worley
Walt Disney stands out as very possibly the most influential
individual in shaping American society in the middle third of
the 20th century. Innovating in such aspects of filmmaking
as animation design, sound and color filmmaking, wildlife
photography, and amusement park design, Disney excelled in the
mediums of film, phonographic recording, and television.
From a business perspective, Walt Disney Studio pioneered
and predominated in the area of synergy of cross-promotion of
products as early as the late 1920s when Mickey Mouse became
a multi-media threat. Of course, Disney’s storytelling skills, both
personally and corporately, remain unsurpassed. The term, “the
Disney version” has come to have profound meaning both
positively and negatively.
Walt was born in Chicago, IL in 1901 to a
Canadian-born father and Ohio-born mother
who met in Kansas and married in Florida.
He was the fourth of five children and the
youngest of four sons. His older brother
Roy early became his protector within
the family and later served as his business
partner and confidant. However, within his
family Walt stood out as a creative force
surrounded by parents and siblings who
held more mundane goals.
Walt’s golden period occurred between 1905 and 1910
in Marceline, Missouri where he experienced a childhood
filled with farm animals and elaborate escapades. On one occasion,
he got to ride in a buggy with Buffalo Bill Cody when the latter
brought his Wild West show to town. Another time, he witnessed a
performance of “Peter Pan” by the international stage star, Maude
Adams. This brought him later to perform the lead in “Peter Pan”
himself with Brother Roy pulling the ropes to make him fly.
Walt’s later experience in Kansas City was not so idyllic. Father
Elias Disney was a contract deliveryman for the Kansas City
Star. Thirteen times a week, Walt trudged to the Star office over
two miles away to pick up almost 100 papers to deliver. He saw
none of the money because his father invested his share in an
ill-fated Chicago jelly manufacturing company. Walt never forgot
the dreariness of his existence nor the occasional escapes from
it through his classes and activities at Benton Elementary in
Midtown Kansas City.
After completing one year of high school in Chicago in 1917-
18, Walt joined the Red Cross and drove supply trucks in France
following the end of World War I. Returning to Kansas City
after the War, he began an unsuccessful four-year
effort in animation and live-action filming in his
old hometown. By 1923, he left all his failures
behind to join Brother Roy in Los Angeles.
Walt thus entered, stage left, onto
Hollywood’s Silver Screen just as it was
entering its own Golden Era.
Walt did take some positive things with him
from Kansas City. These included creative
ideas and one pilot film for a combination
live-action/animation short film called “Alice’s
Wonderland.”
It took five years that included occasional success with
the “Alices” and another cartoon character called Oswald the
Rabbit, but by spring 1928, Walt was reduced to a staff of only
a few animators and no cartoon characters because of treachery
by distributors and business associates. Out of that despair,
Walt dredged up thoughts of various mice that had “graced” his
drawing board in Kansas City and performed in his mind over the
WaLt Disney, 1901-1966: Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, IL on December 5, 1901. The family moved to Marceline, Missouri,
when Walt was four. After completing a year of high school in Chicago in 1917, Walt volunteered for abulance service with the Red
Cross. Although arriving in France too late for the War, Walt gained about a year of overseas experience. Upon returning to the U.S.,
Walt chose to live in Kansas City with his veteran brother Roy. During this period he attempted to develop an animation studio and
conceived his first animated-live action short, Alice’s Wonderland. Over the next few years Walt developed several series of animated/
live action and strictly animated series. In 1928, this list came to include Mickey Mouse who became the first sound/animated charcter
in history. Walt produced the first feature-length animated film in the form of Snow White. After World War II, Walt launched a series
of animated/live-action features. In order to realize his dream financially, he made a deal with the fledgling ABC television network.
Without realizing it at the time, Walt helped conclude the Hollywood Golden Era by leading film production companies into the new
technology of television and the new format of Disneyland. Walt passed away on December 15, 1966. Walt won 32 personal Academy
Awards. Walt Disney Productions and its employees won an additional 16 Oscars during Walt’s lifetime.

years. The result in the summer of
1928 was Mickey!
Largely drawn by one of Walt’s few
remaining animator collaborators,
Ub Iwerks, originally of Kansas City,
Mickey proved to be an almost instant
success. Part of this came from the
timing of sound movies coming on the
scene. Walt and Ub Iwerks completed
“Steamboat Willie” as the first sound
cartoon in history by August 1928. A year later,
new Mickey Mouse cartoons appeared every
three weeks or so, and Mickey Mouse dolls cropped up
in many households.
Walt Disney Studios followed this with the first color and sound
cartoon “Flowers and Trees” in 1932, the phenomenon of “Three
Little Pigs” in 1933, and the first cartoon feature film ever, “Snow
White,” in 1937. Grossing over $8.5 million world-wide, “Snow
White” became the highest grossing movie of all time…until 1939
when it was surpassed by “Gone With the Wind.”
But, as we shall discover together, Walt’s impact with “Snow White”
came only after years of hard work, motivating sessions, and
creative ideas that transformed this aspect of moviemaking. It is
an adventure into the human mind and expressive personality of
Walter Elias Disney.
It was not all roses after “Snow White.”
While today we consider such films as
“Pinocchio,” “Fantasia” and “Bambi”
as classics [some even consider
“Pinocchio” to be the best cartoon
feature ever made!], none of those
films made money for the studio.
Besides “Snow White,” only “Dumbo”
produced a profit before World War II.
The summer of 1941 witnessed a disruptive
strike as unions attempted to organize the
Disney animators and other craftspeople. Part of
what generated the strike was Walt’s rather dictatorial
management style in working with other creative people who
craved both monetary and inspirational rewards. Walt had
difficulty providing the latter especially.
While the studio produced several successful live action and
animated feature films [“So Dear to My Heart,” “Cinderella”
and “Peter Pan”] in the post-war period, some combination
live action/animated features, especially “Song of the South,”
proved less well-accepted. “Song of the South” also generated a
controversy over its portrayal of post-Civil War African Americans
that lasts to this day.
The idea that fully brought the studio out of its doldrums was one
that Walt dreamed up after failing to find good Sunday afternoon
22

amusements for his daughters. He thought there ought to be
amusement experiences that the whole family might enjoy in a
safe, clean atmosphere. Out of this quest emerged “Disneyland”—
first the television show and then the amusement park. He used
the TV show on the struggling ABC network to finance the final
construction and opening of the Anaheim site.
In turn, the television show became the hit of the 1954-55 season,
garnering Emmys for, among other things, a show that was
almost an infomercial for Disney’s new movie “Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea.” The Emmy recognized the
“Disneyland” episode as the single best television
program of the season!
Walt’s last vision—EPCOT—turned out
somewhat differently than he had
planned, but today the studio, the parks,
the movies, the television channels
and the merchandising bonanza have
created one of the most consistently
successful Hollywood stories ever.
Walt Disney’s role throughout
Hollywood’s Golden Age largely
diverged from the norm. When almost
everyone else concentrated on human
stories told by human actors, Walt Disney
Productions centered on animation, fairy
tales, music and technological innovation in
sound and image to take the art of motion pictures
further than anyone else.
Walt produced the first sound cartoon within a year of the first
partly-sound motion picture. He was a pioneer in using the
Technicolor process. His studio’s advanced camera techniques
paved the way for later animated development in the digital era.
And, he developed stereophonic sound to enhance the audience
experience for his wildly imaginative Fantasia in 1940. All of these
improvements have become standard in the industry.
His willingness to use television to enhance his auxiliary
enterprises such as Disneyland spelled the end of the studio
system that had made live-action pictures for over a quarter
century. Yet, he moved more and more into live action pictures
himself just as other studios began to compete more aggressively
in his premier field of animation.
Walt Disney was in exactly the right spot to experience the Gold
Age of Hollywood…and of America.
walt disney bibliography
For children and young people:
Marie Hammontree, Walt Disney: Young Moviemaker,
1969, 1997
Bernice Selden, The Story of Walt Disney: Maker of Magical
Worlds, 1989
For More advanced readers:
Dave Smith and Steven Clark, Disney: The First 100 Years,
updated edition, 2003
For adults:
Walt Disney by Neal Gabler, 2006. The best biography
currently available.
The Magic Kingdom by Steven Watts, 1997
A somewhat critical treatment: The Disney
Version by Richard
Schickel, 1968, 3rd ed., 1998
about dr. williaM worley: Dr. William S. Worley is a full-time Instructor of History at Metropolitan Community Colleges of Kansas
City-Blue River and an experienced Chautauquan. Currently, he regularly takes on the persona of Tom Pendergast, KC political boss;
President Harry S. Truman; basketball inventor James Naismith; Jewish compatriot of John Brown in Bleeding Kansas August Bondi,
and, of course, Walt Disney. Worley believes that history is not something to be put on shelf, but to be lived and discussed. Married with
three grown sons and three grandchildren, Worley has been a scholar-performer in numerous Chautauquas.

lawton, ok enid, ok
May 31-June 4
evening perForMances at 7:30 p.M.
lawton public library plaza
110 sW 4th st, LaWton, oK 73501
workshops
10 a.M. – CaMeron uniVersity theater
2 P.M. – MuseuM of the Great PLains
Co-sPonsors
City of Lawton
City of Lawton Parks & Recreation
Friends of the Library
Lawton/Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce
Lawton Arts & Humanities Council
Lawton Noon Lions
coMMunity partners
David Snider, Director,
Lawton Public Library
Dory Thomas & Circulation Desk Staff,
Lawton Public Library
Billie Whipp, City of Lawton Arts
& Humanities Division
Charlie Clark, Lawton Constitution
Cody Holt, Great Plains
Technology Center
David Hale, Lawton Constitution
Deborah Baroff, Museum
of the Great Plains
Dr. Anita Hernandez,
Lawton Public Schools
Dr. Judy Neale, Cameron
University/ Library
Frantzie Couch, Friends of the Library
Gordon Blaker, U.S. Army Artillery
Museum at Fort Sill
Jane Mitchell, Success By 6
Marilyn Grijak, Southwest Opera Guild
Joan Auwen & Jill Manley,
Nye Library at Fort Sill
Patty Neuwirth, Friends of the Library
Ruben Sotelo, International Group
Sue Smith, City of Lawton Public Works
Susanna Fennema,
Retired Librarian
library board
James Burpo
Carol Sinnreich
Pamela Bonnell-Mihalis
Lynn McIntosh
Sally Cote
Friends oF the
library board
Patty Neuwirth
Dr. Judy Neale
Frantzie Couch
Margaret McCracken
24
June 14-18
entertainMent at 6:30 P.M.
presentations at 7:30 p.M.
cherokee strip regional heritage center
507 s. 4th st., eniD, oK
workshops daily at 10:30 a.M. and noon
at the huMphrey village churcy
chautauqua council oF enid, inc.
P.o. box 10502, eniD, oK 73706
for More inforMation CaLL 580-551-9792.
oFFicers
Kathi Box, President
Diane Ford, President Elect
Jane Denker, Secretary
Sally Whiteneck, Treasurer
proJect directors
John Provine
Laurel Provine
advisory board
Gary Brown
Colleen Flikeid
Bill Harris
Andi Holland
David Trojan
Sharon Trojan
Wally Turner
star MaJor event sponsor
Oklahoma Humanities Council
Harris Foundation
Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center
Northwestern Oklahoma State University
Enid Convention and Visitors Bureau
Pegasys
United Supermarkets
gold supporter
Central National Bank
Integris Bass Baptist Health Center
Panevino
Questus Corporation
Security National Bank
Tinker Federal Credit Union
Wally Turner
silver supporter
Brenda Faust
Lippard Auctioneers
Park Avenue Thrift
bronze supporter
David and Sharon Trojan
Effie Outhier
Jumbo Foods
board MeMbers
Carmen Ball
George Davis
Diane Ford
Jon Ford
DeLisa Ging
Mike McIlwee
Michelle Mears
Ann Ritchie
Daron Rudy
Patty Trimmer
Judy Winchester

sponsors
In its 20th continuous year, the Oklahoma Chautauqua is a program of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa.
Major funding is provided in part by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Additional
support for this program is provided by the following: Oklahoma State University – Tulsa,
The Mervin Bovaird Foundation, The Judith & Jean Pape Adams Charitable
Foundation, Williams, and the Downtown Double Tree Hotel.
the Mervin bovaird
foundation
the Judith & Jean Pape
adams Charitable
foundation