Play Guide [1.2MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

HISTORY
Costume Design for the Gentleman
Caller by designer Emily Pepper
The Glass Menagerie
HISTORICAL REFERENCES FROM THE PLAY
PHRASES FROM THE 1930S WITH
WHICH YOU MIGHT NOT BE FAMILIAR:
“THE BOY THAT EVERY GIRL IN THE DELTA WAS
SETTING HER CAP FOR”
Comes from the slang term ‘cap acquaintances,’
meaning “Persons slightly acquainted, or only so far as
mutually to salute with the hat on meeting. A woman
who endeavors to attract the notice of any particular
man, is said to set her cap at him.”
“GARBO PICTURE AND A MICKEY MOUSE AND A
NEWSREEL”—WHAT’S TOM SEEING AT THE MOVIES?
Greta Garbo appeared in the fi lm Camille in 1937. It is considered her greatest
performance. Mickey Mouse appeared in several Disney animated fi lms in 1937,
like Clock Cleaners, Hawaiian Holiday and Lonesome Ghosts. Such shorts were
often played before full-length fi lms in the 1930s. Newsreels were also played before
feature fi lms; topics in 1937 included Roosevelt’s Inauguration, the Spanish Civil
War, the Crash of the Hindenburg, and Steel Union strikes in Michigan become
violent—broken up by the National Guard.
“WON THE CAKE-WALK TWICE AT SUNSET HILL”
Originally a plantation entertainment for slaves sponsored by the plantation owners,
the cake walk amounted to a comic send-up of the aristocratic and grandiose
mannerisms and European dance styles of the white slave-owning class of the Old
South. The cake walk as competition became a craze, and appeared in minstrel shows
as well as generating its own genre of dance music. The phenomenon crossed over
into white society after the Civil War.
Century of Progress: The Century of Progress exposition was
a huge event in Chicago celebrating advances in technology,
science and industry from 1833–1933 in a carnival atmosphere.
The tickets cost $0.25 each. Exhibitors included Kraft Mayonnaise,
International Harvester and Dr. Scholl, noted “foot authority.”
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide
A Century of Progress
world's fair poster
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