"Oh, Boy" by Jerome Kern and P G Woodhouse

I was always grateful for the support of my family when I decided to go in Theatre.

Some families are not flexible and have unyielding or inflexible dreams of what they want for their children.

I was lucky in that my family wanted me to be happy and successful if possible.

I knew that there was some history of family members working in the performing arts in the past, but I wish now that I had asked more questions of them before they passed away.

It turns out that both of my grandmothers spent some time on the stage, both in the same city but in very different parts of town.

My grandmothers led two very different lives and although friendly with each other they always addressed each other formally

It was Mrs. Musante or Mrs. Radgowski, never Ethel or Mea. 

My mother’s mother worked as a housekeeper for several rich Long Island families during the Depression but found time sometime along the way to sing in a Speak Easy during Prohibition.

She passed away when I was only 17 and the only story of that time she ever let slip out is that she saw someone knifed during a fight in one of the clubs.

For my father’s mother music was always part of her life.

I always knew that she had played piano on stage during the silent movie error.

She would play for during the holidays and when the movie The Sting came out and gave a resurgence to the music of Scott Joplin she said: “Oh, I know that” and then played a wonderful rendition of The Entertainer.

We always joked that she played liked she had extra fingers as she always seemed to add some extra flourishes to whatever she was playing.

My grandmother lived to be 102 years old and as older people often do she repeat the same stories over and over again, but surprised even my Aunt with several things that she revealed in the last years of her life.

When my grandmother was young she lived in NYC and it turned out that she lived across the hall from Dorothy and Lillian Gish the famous silent screen actresses.

It turned out that my great grandmother would babysit which ever Gish sister was not making a movie that day out in the Brooklyn film studios.

One day she tells my Aunt that she went out to the film studio some times and was in some of the movies.

My grandmother was in her 90’s and my Aunt was shocked to hear it.

There is no way to find out anymore as too many of the old films have been lost over the years and she had no memory of the title of any of those films.

Another shock was to find out that my grandmother was a replacement member of the chorus in a Broadway play back in 1917.

The play she was in was Oh, Boy! by Jerome Kern.

Post card for tour of "Oh, Boy"

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh,_Boy!_(musical)

http://www.musicals101.com/1910bway.htm

It turn out that my grandmother even had a stage name but I can find no traces of her being listed in documents I have searched.

Her name was Ethel Keefe, I am not sure when the family dropped the “O” from O’Keefe or if it was ever there in the first place.

My grandmother acted under the name of Baby or Babe Keefe or O’Keefe, my Aunt was not sure.

My Aunt did have a photo that appears to show my grandmother in postcard of the play, another copy I was able to find on eBay.

My grandmother?

My Grandmother, c.1920

I was able to buy a copy of the Playbill but it does not list my grandmother in it, but I will keep looking.

My Aunt also has a photo or two from that time period that shows some actors and my grandmother at a cast party.

Gee some things never change.

One of the actors went on to make movies and my Aunt would tease my grandmother that she should have married him then she would have a famous actor as a father.

I am not sure what my grandfather would have had to say about that.

Is it my grandmother on the postcard?

I am not sure but even if she was not in the play she did do many other wonderful things.

She was involved in music her whole life from performing in string quartets, playing for silent movies and accompanying on piano for my aunt’s music class performance well into her eighties.

Oh, my grandmother was also a hooker.

What, she made hooked rugs, what were you thinking?

My grandmother also taught me copper tooling and taught painting at the senior center to people 10 years younger then her.

Looking for something else I found my old copper tooling sheets that I made when I was about 14 or 15 years old:

My grandmother was active until her mid 90’s and even went to see Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway.

When I asked her about the play she said that she enjoyed it but the language was a bit rough for her.

If you know David Mamet’s plays he does use the “F” word a lot.

I would suggest to my readers to make sure you have all your own families’ stories written down so you do not lose your unique family history.

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