Racist theater goers rejoiced as Walter Shay and Vern Whitcomb's Hood River based Electric Theater played host to the St. Mark's guild backed Society Vaudeville through their timeless performance of racist entertainment!
Shay and Whitcomb’s 280 chair venue proved to be insufficient in accommodating the chauvinistic masses, as ticket seller Richard Pooley was forced to turn away 75 eager theater goers due to the Electric’s seating capacity. However one would believe they weren’t too disheartened in not receiving their oppressive fix, as given the turnout for the first Society Vaudeville event at the Electric, there were bound to be more showings.
The 280 in attendance were in for quite the performance, with acts spanning from Miss Constance Harrison’s profound Indian club swinging to the rejuvenating Southern lullabies of Mrs. C. H. Henney, who was donning the outfit of, and I quote, "a negro mammy”. Other featured displays included the event’s laugh producers, a Jewish impersonation by W. A. Rahles and an act by “the Gold Dust Twins”, Brooks Hayworth and Banks Mortimer, which like Mrs. C. H. Henney, used blackface.
However, not all went smoothly at the Society Vaudeville event. Joe D. Thompson’s insightful rendition of an Igorotte war dance was only brief, with rumors spreading as to why it was such.
In attempting to steady the ship following Thompson’s flop, the production was concluded through the “Bachelors Reverie”, in which some of the previous performers were joined by debutants in song.
The production side of the vaudeville event was tasked upon 4 ushers, one stage director in Phil Carrol, the ticket salesman, Richard Pooley, and 2 pre-performance crowd pleasers in Buck Kelly and Dean Ballard, the former entertaining and the latter serving peanuts among other foods.
