A 1955 photograph of the cast members of the senior class play, House for Sale – Haunted, at Trevorton High School, Trevorton, Zerby Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. One of the cast members, is in black-face.
The cast is identified as follows:
Front (kneeling): Janet Smith.
Seated: Ruth Haas; Connie Sodrick; Betty Bastian; John Braubitz (in black-face).
Standing: Michael Tobias; Muriel Kieffler; Mrs. Clark, director; Floyd Lisinski; Charles Kidron; Theron Mairs; Voris Baskin; Stanley Rhoads; Anita Vottero; Annette Stasick.
According to newspaper articles in places where this play was performed, the character of Ezekiel Euripides Jones was a gardener. A copy of the script was not available at the writing of this post so there is no way to determine if the playwright intended the part to be played by a white man in black-face.
This post is part of a series in which news articles, photographs and other “memorabilia” are presented to show how “black-face” was infused into the culture of the Lykens Valley area. Readers are invited to submit photos and recollections on how long this offensive “entertainment” lasted and what locals thought of it as part of the culture of the area.
Typically, white men and women blackened their faces, and performed while emphasizing negative stereotypical behavior that they attributed to African Americans. The primary purpose was to get laughs. The practice was supported by prominent people in the community and often found its way into school plays such as shown here.
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From the 1955 Adieu, the yearbook of Trevorton High School, available in digital form on Ancestry.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.