A newspaper photo of the seven female cast members of a production of a racist play, A Southern Cinderella.* Note the character at left, a white woman in “black-face and hands and negro wig” playing the role of Mammy Judy Johnson, per the instructions of the playwright, Walter Ben Hare.
The first group of articles presented below describes a production that took place in 1935 in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, that was presented by the borough’s Adult Dramatic Arts Class, sponsored by the Federal Education Relief Administration.
A similar article from two newspapers describes a performance of the same play by the same group in Klingerstown, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
Finally, a racial analysis of the play follows the text of the news article.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, April 18, 1935:
“A Southern Cinderella” Presentation of Dramatic Arts Class
An unusual treat is in store for the drama lovers of Elizabethville when the Adult Dramatic Arts Class under the direction of Miss Kerwin, presents the comedy-drama, “A Southern Cinderella” for the benefit of the High School Activities Fund on Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4 [1935].
The cast is composed wholly of women, and includes Mrs. J. M. Walters; Mabel Harner; Mrs. Mildred Witmyre; Miss Vivian June Snyder; Miss Ruth Becker; Miss Mildred Burrell; Miss Sara Dietrich; and Mrs. Grace Etzweiler.
The scene of the play is laid in an old southern mansion. When a haughty grandmother finally yields to love, an unwanted waif comes home. The plotting by the English nurse and her sister to win for themselves the inheritance of the old lady, the methods used to obtain it, and how the Cinderella finally comes into her own, supply the dramatic suspense. Comedy relief occurs when Mammy Judy Johnson, a colored widow, makes ready her “Wedding Crusoe,” only to be deserted at the altar. Nevertheless, in the closing moments of the play, she, undaunted, is getting ready again.
A well-drilled cast of no mean ability, promises to please both young persons and grown-ups. The price of admission has been set at 10 and 15 cents.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, May 2, 1935:
DRAMATIC CLASS TO GIVE PLAY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
“A Southern Cinderella,” a comedy drama in three acts is to be given by members of the Adult Dramatic Arts Class in the high School auditorium,. Friday and Saturday evenings, May 3rd and 4th [1935], at eight o’clock. Proceeds from admission of 10c fr children and 15c for adults, are to be received by the local High School Activities Fund.
The play is under the direction of Miss Philomena Kerwin of Lykens, instructor of the class which has been conducted during the past winter as part of the Federal Education Relief Administration.
The plot is carried by an all-ladies cast, and scenes are laid in an old southern mansion. Action revolves about a haughty old aristocrat, and the plottings of an English nurse to secure her fortune, while comedy is supplied by a colored widow, whose plans for marriage provide amusement as the Southern Cinderella finally comes into her own right.
That the production is “truly humorous, the plot interesting and the acting excellent” is the opinion voiced by a critic who previewed the play.
The cast includes:
Madam Charteris, an old aristocrat, Mrs. J. M. Walters, Enid Belamy; A Southern Cinderella, Mabel Harner; Miss Rosie Winterberry, a famous settlement worker, Mildred Witmyre; Katherine Hawke, an English nurse, June Snyder; Carolyn Hawke, her sister, Ruth Becker; Miss Johnnie Bell Randolph, a little coquette, Mildred Burrell; Mammy Judy Johnson, a colored widow, Sarah Dietrich.
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From both the Lykens Standard of May 21, 1935, and the Elizabethville Echo, of May 23, 1935:
PRESENTED PLAY AT KLINGERSTOWN SATURDAY
Members of the Adult Dramatic Arts Class of Elizabethville, presented the play, “A Southern Cinderella,” in the Leitzel garage building at Klingerstown, last Saturday evening.
The play, previously presented at Elizabethville by the same cast, was under the direction of Miss Philomena Kerwin, of Lykens, instructor of the class which was conducted last winter as part of the Federal Education Relief Administration program.
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A Brief Description of A Southern Cinderella:
A Southern Cinderella, a racist, three-act comedy-drama by Walter Ben Hare written and published in 1913, was performed many times in the Lykens Valley area. An all-woman cast includes a character, “Mammy Judy Johnson,” who the playwright describes as follows:
MAMMY JUDY – Aged forty. Black-face and hands and negro wig. May be very fat. Red calico skirt. Blue calico sack. Large gingham apron. White dusting cap coquettishly trimmed with pink paper muslin.
The overall description or synopsis of the play provided by the playwright is as follows:
Twenty years before the opening of the play, Madame Charteris, an old southern aristocrat, banishes her only child from her house because of an unsuited marriage. She remains broken-hearted all the years, but blindly held in check by the Charteris pride. Her daughter dies in poverty leaving her only child, Enid Bellamy, to eke out her living in the cotton mills. An old friend of her mother’s and a settlement worker, Miss Rosie Winterberry, finds her fainting from hunger at the loom. She takes her away and appeals to Madame Charteris in behalf of her grandchild. Madame has become an invalid and is completely under the influence of her nurse, and unprincipled English woman. Madame makes a will leaving her entire fortune to the nurse and her sister. Madame refuses to allow Enid to come to her house, but the sight of her grandchild’s suffering softens her heart and the little white room is opened for the first time in twenty years and Enid comes home.
Mammy Judy Johnston, the old black servant, decides to get married and Miss Winterberry and Enid attend the wedding, much to the disgust of Caroline Hawke. Madame determines to make a new will in favor of her grandchild and summons Mr. Deems to draw up the document. The will is made and the nurse and her sister are the witnesses. Katherine Hawke, the nurse, secures the new will and determines to burn it. Mammy Judy returns from the church in a towering rage, having been deserted at the altar by the prospective groom. She has the wedding license and by mistake the nurse gets this and burns it thinking that it is the new will. Madame dies and as the new will cannot be found the nurse and her sister are declared the heirs. They vainly try to enter society and treat Enid, the real heiress, like a common servant. On the night of the inaugural ball, two years after the death of Madame, Mammy Judy finds the will and the Southern Cinderella comes into her own.
Throughout the play, Mammy Judy, always played by a white woman in black-face, delivers all her lines in stereotypical dialect, some of which is included below:
- “I’se addrssin’ you.”
- “Yas’m.”
- “I’m gwine to leave…”
- “My lawsy lands!”
The man who left Mammy Judy at the altar was named Amos Peters, who was not a character in the play, but was described by Mammy as “de cream colored pick ob de unplucked colored aristocracy, so light complected that he belongs to de fair sex.” The man she eventually decides to marry is named Sassafras Rigger.
The villain, Katherine Hawke, a nurse, is provided a “magnificent ecru gown of silk chiffon with overdress of ecru lace, heavily spangled.” Likewise, her sister, Caroline Hawke, was dressed in “a trailing ball gown of green satin with an overdress of silvered lace and spangles.” In the program synopsis for Act II, it is stated that “Caroline disapproves of negro weddings.“
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*The featured photo is from the Harrisburg Evening News, February 21 1929, and is of a production of “A Southern Cinderella,” held at the Colonial Park Reformed Church for the benefit of its Comrades Class. According to the caption, the cast members pictured (left to right) are: Maxine Page; Edna Miller; Mrs. C. H. Gipe; Mrs. Mervin Hocker; Ruth Saul; Ethel Feeser; and Myrna Rudy. The production was directed by Mrs. Gipe.
News articles were obtained from Newspapers.com. The script cover is from an Amazon.com ad for a reproduction copy of the script available from Forgotten Books. The script is also available as a free download from Google.