All the World’s a Stage: Elmira Little Theatre

by Erin Doane, Curator

This week we are gearing up for our annual Ghost Walk event that will take place this Friday and Saturday, October 18^th and 19^th. (Tickets are going fast so call 607-734-4167 asap to reserve yours!)  This is the seventh year of the Ghost Walk and each year just seems to get better and better.  We could not do it on our own.  The Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery allow us access to the cemetery and the wonderful actors of Elmira Little Theatre make the scripts that CCHS staff members write for the “ghosts” come alive.

The Elmira Little Theatre will be celebrating its 70^th anniversary next year.  The group started in 1944 with thirty original members called together by Mrs. Eleanor McKinnon Emery.  In December 1944 they presented their first formal production – The Man Who Came to Dinner – at Elmira College’s Cowles Hall.  The organization has had several homes over the years and in 1964 it found a permanent home in the former Southport Volunteer Fire Department building.  In 1977 when the Clemens Center for Performing Arts opened, ELT joined the Center as its resident theater company.

Many local residents have had the opportunity for time in the spotlight thanks to the Elmira Little Theatre.  Local broadcast legend Carl Proper was active in ELT.  While he never played a historic Woodlawn Cemetery resident for any of our Ghost Walks, he did play such roles as Billis in South Pacific, Harold Hill in the Music Man, Enoch Snow in Carousel and the title role in Dracula.  He was also known for his performance of the Abbott and Costello routine “Who’s On First?” along with David Sisken during the Little Theatre’s presentation of “A Visit to the Golden Age of Radio.”

 

Carl Proper, left, and David Siskin
as Abbott and Costello, 2010

Nearly every participant in ELT is a volunteer.  The actors, designers, costumers, builders and the organization’s thirteen board members all donate their time to bring theater to Elmira.  Community and civic participation have always been integral parts of the group and it has been providing much more than just entertainment since its beginning.  In the 1940s ELT participated in war-time fundraising campaigns, servicemen’s canteens and flood relief efforts.  In 1969 ELT created “Black and White Teen Theater” with the Elmira Neighborhood Ministry to improve race relations and encourage theater among the youth of the city.  ELT won an award from the NAACP in 1970 for that effort.

See actors from Elmira Little Theatre in action at the Woodlawn Cemetery Ghost Walk or in one of their upcoming productions: The Hallelujah Girls, Morning’s At Seven and Little Women the Broadway Musical.

Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines in Pieces on the Ground

by Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

The concept behind the helicopter is centuries old and dates at last as far back as 400 BC in China where children played with bamboo flying toys.  Basically, the spinning of the rotor blades produces a downward pressure which, in turn, provides lift.  In the 1480s, Leonardo De Vinci created designs for a flying machine, but the lack of an available working engine meant it never got off the page let alone the ground.  The first truly functional helicopter was the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 designed by Professor Henrich Focke in 1936 and the first large-scale production of helicopters was undertaken by Sikorsky Manufacturing Company beginning in 1942. 

De Vinci Helicopter or ‘Air Screw’

Between De Vinci and Focke were a number of attempts at vertical flight, including one right here in Elmira.  The device, known as the Hiliocopter was designed by Captain Bell and piloted on its maiden voyage by J. Edwin Morrow.  Morrow was the secretary of the Willys-Morrow Company, a local manufacturer of car and machine parts.  The Hilicopter was built entirely at the plant in Elmira.  The exact date of the test flight is unknown, but it was likely either in the spring or fall of 1908.  The machine was lifted a full three feet in the air by the power of the engine before the whole craft began to twist in the same direction of the blades.  The twisting proved too much and the whole thing was ruined.

Flight of the Hiliocopter

So, why didn’t it work?  It lacked some type of mechanism to control the torque.  The most common of these mechanisms is tail rotor developed by Sikorsky.   The tail rotor creates force in the opposite direction as the main blades to keep the whole thing from spinning.  It also helps with forward propulsion and flight stabilization.      
  

Schweizer 300CBi Helicopter