Princeton Triangle Club
Encyclopedia
The Princeton Triangle Club is a theater troupe at Princeton University
. Founded in 1891, it is the oldest touring collegiate musical-comedy troupe in the United States
, and the only co-ed collegiate troupe that takes an original student-written musical on a national tour every year. The club is known for its tradition of featuring an all-male kick line in drag
.
The troupe presents several shows throughout the year. In September at the end of the University's Freshman Week it presents a revue of popular material from previous years. In autumn it puts on an original student-written musical comedy in McCarter Theatre
, then takes this show on tour over the Winter holiday season
. In spring it puts on another original show in a smaller venue. During reunions
after the end of the spring semester, it relaunches the previous autumn's show at McCarter.
Among the club's notable alumni are F. Scott Fitzgerald
, Booth Tarkington
, Russel Wright
, Joshua Logan
, Brooks Bowman
, Jimmy Stewart
, José Ferrer
, Wayne Rogers
, Clark Gesner
, Jeff Moss
, David E. Kelley
, Nicholas Hammond
, and Brooke Shields
.
The history of the Princeton Triangle Club reflects many major social, cultural, economic, political, literary and theatrical trends in the United States during the late 19th and 20th centuries. It also traces the evolution of both undergraduate life and theatrical endeavors at Princeton University. In its century-plus of productions, Triangle has commented upon Princeton-specific topics, from examinations and campus safety to the Honor Code and the eating clubs, in addition to broader movements and events, including war protests, political scandals, women’s rights, and affirmative action. Although Triangle essentially recreates itself every year with an entirely new, full-scale musical-comedy, the club remains committed to its longstanding traditions, from the annual national tour to the kickline, and perpetuates its unique spirit, blending topical humor with collegiate irreverence and outright playfulness.
Triangle’s history is documented in several ways. The Long Kickline: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club, written in 1968 by Donald Marsden '64, provides a detailed chronology of the organization through the production of Sham on Wry in 1966-67. The senior thesis of Nancy Barnes ’91, One Hundred Years and Still Kicking: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club, updates this written record. Finally, Triangle’s extensive archives in Princeton’s Mudd Library include playbills, musical scores, scripts, reviews, photographs, business correspondence, tour itineraries, scrapbooks, recordings, and much more.
In 1891 the Dramatic Association joined forces with the University Glee Club to present Po-ca-hon-tas, the first show in the Triangle tradition of musicals written and produced by students. According to a New York review, the reworked John Brougham play featured "new topical songs and local hits" and was well received, both on campus and in a Trenton performance. But the faculty vetoed a proposed New York performance, and over the years, students and administrators would often be at odds over theatrical activities. Nevertheless, the Association visited Trenton once again the following year with Katharine, a Shakespearean spoof marking the first appearance of Booth Tarkington
1893 in the Triangle records.
The 1893 production, The Honorable Julius Caesar, was again a reworking of Shakespeare. Tarkington, a senior and president of the Dramatic Association, was prominent as both co-author of the book and as actor in the role of Cassius. The show was so successful that it was repeated the following year, with several significant changes. Most importantly, the Princeton University Dramatic Association had been renamed the Triangle Club of Princeton. According to a preview in The New York Times, "several specialties will be introduced, such as tumbling, acrobatic feats, and dancing" and "James E. Wilson of Frohman's company… will coach the club regularly four times a week." If Wilson did indeed coach, the club had its first professional director in its very first show under the name "Triangle."
site. Yet another innovation was attempted in 1897. A Tiger Lily, the first Triangle show to be based on Princeton student life, was part of a double bill with Lend Me Five Shillings, a British farce. Since neither show was a great success, the Club returned to the tried and true in 1898 with a revival of Po-ca-hon-tas. The Privateer, presented in 1899, was originally entitled The Captain's Kidd Sister, but the name was changed because the University of Pennsylvania’s Mask and Wig Club
had already produced a show about Captain Kidd. The "Privateer March" was the first commercially published Triangle song.
During the first decade of the 20th century, the organization of Triangle became increasingly structured. Printed copies of the script, "for the exclusive use of candidates," first appear in the archives with The Man From Where (1903–04).
Although A Woodland Wedding (1899–1900) included a specialty skirt dance, and "The Pony Ballet" was a part of Tabasco Land (1905–06), The Mummy Monarchs kickline in 1907 was the first of that tradition to be documented photographically in the Triangle Archives.
The Evil Eye (1915-16) had a distinguished pair of neophyte authors: Edmund Wilson '16 wrote the book, and F. Scott Fitzgerald '17 was responsible for the lyrics. Although he was never a cast member in a Triangle production, Fitzgerald wrote three shows for the Club between 1914 and 1917.
During 1917-18, a four man Triangle troupe toured Europe to entertain the soldiers stationed there for World War I. After the year hiatus, the club became active again with a revival of The Honorable Julius Caesar. The first post-war tour occurred when The Isle of Surprise was taken on the road during Christmas break of 1919. This show marked a change in attitude toward Triangle productions. In the program, Club president Erdman Harris '20 described the new production: "We hope that a new day has dawned, that ‘Jazz’ will be forever relegated to a back seat, that Broadway will cease to be the idol of those who create the shows, that their staging shall be done in Princeton by Princeton men, and that the authorities and graduates will approve what is being done to elevate the standard of a society whose value in student life has been seriously questioned."
In the spring of 1922, Triangle staged George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. This production marked a milepost in the Club's history, for its three female roles were actually played by women. Sets for this production were designed and painted by Russel Wright
during his freshman year, marking one of the few times that a freshman was ever allowed to join Triangle.
Here began the Golden Period for which the Triangle Club became famous, in terms of its eventual contribution of outstanding talent to the Broadway theatre and Hollywood. Within a few years the Club would send forth into these professional realms Erik Barnouw
'29; C. Norris Houghton, Joshua Logan
, and Myron McCormick
, all Class of 1931; James Stewart
'32; José Ferrer
'33; and Nick Foran '34.
The 1935 show, Stags at Bay, featured "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," written by Brooks Bowman
, which would become the most popular and longest-lasting national hit ever to come out of the Triangle Club. Recorded by Frank Sinatra
and Louis Armstrong
, among many others, "East of the Sun" still provides the club with royalties. Other songs from the same show, by Bowman, included "Love and Dime" and "Will Love find a Way?."
Throughout the mid-thirties, Triangle continued to tour in spite of the Depression, but there were rumblings of discontent from both the Graduate Board of the Club and the University administration. In a 1934 meeting with President Dodds, the Board indicated concern about the financial condition of McCarter Theatre; Triangle profits were insufficient to keep McCarter operating in the black, a situation that would become increasingly serious as the decade wore on. President Dodds had also heard alumni criticism about poor acting and an apparent lack of coaching in connection with the latest show. Yet he remained confident that Triangle could play an important role on campus. Later that year, Club Manager Stryker Warren '35 received a stern letter from Dean of the College Christian Gauss. Gauss had considered canceling the Christmas tour, first because of financial considerations, and then because of alumni criticism, which "in nearly every case… came as the result of the excessive drinking on the part of a few of your men." Nevertheless, the Dean concluded by wishing "you and all the officers and members of the Club a highly successful trip, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year."
At a 1937 Board meeting there was discussion about the lack of good voices in Triangle. Alumni as well as Board members had noted this situation, and it was suggested that "there must be someone in the Glee Club who could at least be drafted to sing, so that a song could be heard beyond the footlights." Another complaint came from a Louisville alumnus early in 1938, who wrote, "I am not crazy about the Triangle Club bringing in certain dirty lines about ‘buying a drink’ and ‘the Knights of the Garter,’ etc…. Personally I would prefer to see the young men get properly soused and have to be poured on the train than to use [these] lines."
Another change in tradition came during the 1941-42 academic year, when Triangle produced Ask Me Another, its first show in revue format. Then, at a Board meeting in September 1943, Graduate Treasurer B. Franklin Bunn '07 announced that there would be no Triangle Club activities for the duration of the war. The University assumed control of McCarter Theatre during this period, and the building was leased by the military for trainees’ use on campus.
Despite ongoing debate in the 1950s about the club’s obligations to theatrical professionalism, as well as its questionable impact on the University’s reputation, Triangle continued to reach a wider audience through greater media exposure. In 1948, All in Favor was broadcast on WNBC-TV, becoming the first college show to appear on the new medium of television. The entire score of Too Hot for Toddy (1950–51) was recorded, and members of the cast appeared on The Kate Smith Show and Ed Sullivan's The Toast of the Town. Club productions appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show from 1950 to 1957; its host wrote to Triangle President Charles Robinson, "The Princeton Triangle Club has an annual appointment on our stage, so long as I’m on TV."
Finally, in 1953, a memorandum of agreement was drawn up between Princeton University and the Trustees of the Triangle Club abrogating the McCarter agreement of the 1920s. The Club had simply been unable to cover the operating expenses and pay the taxes of the Theatre. A full-time general manager was hired for McCarter, and the University, which had been underwriting Triangle's losses, agreed to cancel the Club's debts.
Student apathy toward extracurricular activities began to have an impact on Triangle toward the end of the 1950s. At a meeting in October 1958, the Board noted a very small turnout for the previous month's auditions. It was decided that more on-campus publicity would help, and as part of this effort Triangle Junior was formed, a group of seven club members who performed favorite Triangle songs at various receptions and functions. Over the following years, this small group would undergo periodic name changes, being known as Triangle Ding! and Triangle Bit Parts before returning to Ding!, as it is called today.
With the gradual elimination of passenger trains in the late 1950s, the club began touring by bus. Early in 1960 there was a proposal to produce a motion picture on the Triangle Club, but a Hollywood writers' strike and possible heavy expenses brought an end to this publicity idea. However, Triangle did embark on its first European tour that summer; the Club performed Breakfast in Bedlam (1959–60) at French and German bases of the American army. Tour de Farce (1961–62) became perhaps the most widely toured show: performances in Pasadena and San Francisco marked the first time the show had been seen live on both coasts, and then troupe members again went to Europe that summer to perform at US Army bases.
Funny Side Up (1963–64) was billed as the 75th anniversary show in spite of the fact that number seventy was Tour de Farce, produced only two years earlier. Funny Side Up did not have a smooth start: the writers were slow to produce material, and the trustees even considered the possibility that there would be no show. Fortunately, because of the diamond jubilee, twenty-one songs from earlier shows were made a part of the program. The tour of Funny Side Up included several southern stops, and the Birmingham visit became problematic when Triangle was booked into a segregated theatre. After some strongly worded letters from Board members, it was determined that the performance would either be cancelled or moved to a non-segregated house.
This incident, along with growing budgetary and logistical concerns, caused the Board of Trustees to revise its production schedule. As per the May 1970 Report of the Board’s New Directions Committee, there was to be neither a December show nor a Christmas tour; instead, a spring show was promised, to be followed by a short tour. Cracked Ice opened in April 1971, was repeated for alumni in June, but did finally tour the following December. To cut expenses, the cast and crew stayed in private homes rather than hotels, and non-union halls were booked.
The Princeton Triangle Workshop made its debut in November 1972 with a presentation of The Fantasticks at the Princeton Inn Theater; the following March the Workshop produced Transitions, described as "five original plays and a multimedia extravaganza," in Wilcox Hall. This began a twenty-five year tradition of smaller fall productions to complement the full-scale, original spring shows. The fall productions of 1978, Happily Ever After, and 1979, String of Pearls, were both written by undergraduates. For the 1981 spring show, Triangle writers returned to the very roots of the club and based their book musical, Bold Type, on Booth Tarkington's novel, A Gentleman from Indiana.
The 1981 tour again returned to California, but with a revue of Triangle favorites, Fool's Gold, rather than the spring show. The following year Triangle hired Miriam Fond, the first female director in the Club's history. Triangle finally found a permanent home for its fall productions when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at the Triangle Broadmead Theatre in November 1984. In the 1980s, the Club began to present produce revues of the best of Triangle early in the fall to introduce the freshman class to the organization.
, entitled The Rude Olympics. The 1999-2000 season saw the hundredth anniversary of the kickline in The Blair Arch Project (November 1999), as well as Triangle’s return to Theatre Intime in May with The Rude Olympics II: American Booty. Puns of Steel (2000–2001) became the first Club show to record its score on a CD.
Theater. Recent years have seen the refinement of the Club's infrastructure, with continued development of the writing workshop and the shaping of a more active business team under the name "TriBiz." The Club continues to receive a high level of regional recognition, with the 2007 fall show A Turnpike Runs Through It appearing in The New York Times
.
1890-1891 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
1891-1892 Katharine
1892-1893 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1893-1894 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1894-1895 Snowball; Who's Who
1895-1896 The Mummy
1896-1897 Lend Me Five Shillings; A Tiger Lily
1897-1898 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
1898-1899 The Privateer, or The Pirates of Pennsnec
1899-1900 A Woodland Wedding
1900-1901 The King of Pomeru
1901-1902 The King of Pomeru
1902-1903 The Mullah of Miasma
1903-1904 The Man From Where
1904-1905 The Pretenders
1905-1906 Tabasco Land
1906-1907 The Mummy Monarch
1907-1908 When Congress Went to Princeton
1908-1909 The Duchess of Bluffshire
1909-1910 His Honor the Sultan
1910-1911 Simply Cynthia
1911-1912 Main Street
1912-1913 Once in a Hundred Years
1913-1914 The Pursuit of Priscilla
1914-1915 Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi!
1915-1916 The Evil Eye
1916-1917 Safety First
1917-1918 (a four-man troupe entertained troops in Europe)
1918-1919 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1919-1920 The Isle of Surprise
1920-1921 They Never Come Back
1921-1922 Espanola; The Devil's Disciple
1922-1923 The Man From Earth
1923-1924 Drake's Drum
1924-1925 The Scarlet Coat
1925-1926 Fortuno
1926-1927 Samarkand; Captain Applejack
1927-1928 Napoleon Passes
1928-1929 Zuider Zee
1929-1930 The Golden Dog; The Second Man
1930-1931 The Tiger Smiles
1931-1932 Spanish Blades
1932-1933 It's the Valet; Private Lives
1933-1934 Fiesta; Goodbye Again
1934-1935 Stags at Bay (incl. East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)
); Holiday
1935-1936 What a Relief!
1936-1937 Take It Away
1937-1938 Fol-de-Rol
1938-1939 Once Over Lightly; Spring Shambles
1939-1940 Any Moment Now
1940-1941 Many A Slip
1941-1942 Ask Me Another
1942-1943 Time and Again
1943-1944 (no show, due to WWII)
1944-1945 (no show, due to WWII)
1945-1946 (no show, due to WWII)
1946-1947 Clear the Track
1947-1948 All Rights Reserved
1948-1949 All in Favor
1949-1950 Come Across
1950-1951 Too Hot for Toddy
1951-1952 Never Say Horse
s
1952-1953 Ham 'n Legs
1953-1954 Malice in Wonderland
1954-1955 Tunis, Anyone?
1955-1956 Spree de Corps
1956-1957 Take a Gander
1957-1958 After a Fashion
1958-1959 For Heaven
's Sake
1959-1960 Breakfast
in Bedlam
1960-1961 Midsummer Night Scream
; Guys and Dolls
1961-1962 Tour de Farce
1962-1963 Ahead of the Game
1963-1964 Funny Side Up
1964-1965 Grape Expectations
1965-1966 High Sobriety
1966-1967 Sham
on Wry
1967-1968 Enter Venus
1968-1969 A Different Kick
1969-1970 Call a Spade a Shovel; '70 Minutes
1970-1971 Cracked Ice
1971-1972 Blue Genes
; One More Hour for Uncle Ben
1972-1973 Future Schlock
1973-1974 A Titter Ran Through the Audience
1974-1975 American Zucchini
; Blithe Spirit
1975-1976 Mugs Money
1976-1977 Kafka, Tea
or Me
1977-1978 Chile
Today, Guacamole
1978-1979 Academia Nuts; Happily Ever After
1979-1980 From Here to Hilarity
; String of Pearls
1980-1981 Bold Type and Company
1981-1982 Stock
s and Bondage
and Cabaret; Fool's Gold: 85 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1982-1983 Under the Influence
; Merrily We Roll Along
1983-1984 Revel Without a Pause
; Three Penny Opera
1984-1985 No. 96-Untitled; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
1985-1986 Star Spangled Banter; The Boy Friend
1986-1987 Business Unusual; Applause; 90 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1987-1988 Ain't Mythbehavin'; No Strings; 91 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1988-1989 Satanic Nurses
; Little Shop of Horrors
1989-1990 Easy Street
1990-1991 The Older, the Better; Into the Woods
; 94 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1991-1992 Do-Re-Media
;The Centennial Revue: "100 Years and Still Kicking";95 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1992-1993 Shelf Indulgence; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
; 96 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1993-1994 Bermuda Love Triangle
; 97 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1994-1995 Rhyme and Punishment
; 98 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1995-1996 Pulpit Fiction
1996-1997 The Tiger Roars; It's a Wonderful Laugh
1997-1998 In Lava and War
1998-1999 101 Damnations; The Rude Olympics; Palindromes are Fun!
1999-2000 The Blair Arch Project
; The Rude Olympics II: American Booty
; Menage '03
2000-2001 Puns of Steel; 2004Play
; The Rude Olympics III
2001-2002 Absurd to the Wise; sLAUGHTERhouse '05
; The Rude Olympics IV
2002-2003 This Side of Parody
; '06 Degrees of Separation
; The Rude Olympics V: Schlock & Awe
2003-2004 For Love or Funny
; '07 Deadly Sins
; The Rude Olympics VI: Weapons of Mass Distraction
2004-2005 Orange and Black to the Future
; Magic '08 Balls; The Rude Olympics VII: Fondling Neverland
2005-2006 Excess Hollywood
; Love Potion '09; Rude Olympics VIII: An Eye for an iPod
2006-2007 Heist Almighty; Crude In'10tions
; Rude Olympics IX: The Devil Wears Nada
2007-2008 A Turnpike Runs Through It
: A New Jersical; Knockin' on '11's Door
; Rude Olympics X: Whitman Can't Jump
2008-2009 Stark Raven Mad
; All's Well That Ends '12
; Wa
Wall-E
2009-2010 Store Trek
; A Night at the Apollo
'13
, Cornel West
Side Story
2010-2011 Family Feudalism
; Chicken Soup '14 Souls
, Dial Elm for Murder
2011-2012 Doomsdays of our Lives
; Freshman '15
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. Founded in 1891, it is the oldest touring collegiate musical-comedy troupe in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the only co-ed collegiate troupe that takes an original student-written musical on a national tour every year. The club is known for its tradition of featuring an all-male kick line in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
.
The troupe presents several shows throughout the year. In September at the end of the University's Freshman Week it presents a revue of popular material from previous years. In autumn it puts on an original student-written musical comedy in McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year...
, then takes this show on tour over the Winter holiday season
Winter holiday season
The Christmas season, the holiday season, or simply the holidays is an annual festive period that surrounds Christmas and various other holidays. It is generally considered to run from late November to early January. Its relation to Christmas in official use by schools and governments has resulted...
. In spring it puts on another original show in a smaller venue. During reunions
Princeton Reunions
The Princeton Reunions are an annual college reunion event held every year on the weekend before commencement at Princeton University. It is known as the most well-attended college reunion in the world, as well as the largest single order of beer after the Indy 500...
after the end of the spring semester, it relaunches the previous autumn's show at McCarter.
Among the club's notable alumni are F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
, Russel Wright
Russel Wright
Russel Wright was an American Industrial designer during the 20th century. Beginning in the late 1920s through the 1960s, Russel Wright created a succession of artistically distinctive and commercially successful items that helped bring modern design to the general public.-Designer:Russel...
, Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, Brooks Bowman
Brooks Bowman
Brooks Bowman composed the song "East of the Sun " which has become a jazz standard....
, Jimmy Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
, José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
, Wayne Rogers
Wayne Rogers
William Wayne McMillan Rogers III is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the U.S...
, Clark Gesner
Clark Gesner
Clark Gesner was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M...
, Jeff Moss
Jeff Moss
Jeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss was a composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award winning work on the children's television series Sesame Street.-Early life:...
, David E. Kelley
David E. Kelley
David Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...
, Nicholas Hammond
Nicholas Hammond
Nicholas Hammond is an American actor best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music, and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the CBS television series The Amazing Spider-Man...
, and Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
.
History
(Taken largely from the account of Mary Ann Jensen, former Curator of the William Seymour Theatre Collection, with additional material and editing by Elizabeth Greenberg ’02; February 2001)The history of the Princeton Triangle Club reflects many major social, cultural, economic, political, literary and theatrical trends in the United States during the late 19th and 20th centuries. It also traces the evolution of both undergraduate life and theatrical endeavors at Princeton University. In its century-plus of productions, Triangle has commented upon Princeton-specific topics, from examinations and campus safety to the Honor Code and the eating clubs, in addition to broader movements and events, including war protests, political scandals, women’s rights, and affirmative action. Although Triangle essentially recreates itself every year with an entirely new, full-scale musical-comedy, the club remains committed to its longstanding traditions, from the annual national tour to the kickline, and perpetuates its unique spirit, blending topical humor with collegiate irreverence and outright playfulness.
Triangle’s history is documented in several ways. The Long Kickline: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club, written in 1968 by Donald Marsden '64, provides a detailed chronology of the organization through the production of Sham on Wry in 1966-67. The senior thesis of Nancy Barnes ’91, One Hundred Years and Still Kicking: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club, updates this written record. Finally, Triangle’s extensive archives in Princeton’s Mudd Library include playbills, musical scores, scripts, reviews, photographs, business correspondence, tour itineraries, scrapbooks, recordings, and much more.
Beginnings
The Triangle Club archives begin in 1883 with a production of the Princeton College Dramatic Association; during the next five years the Association presented a number of plays. In keeping with the practice of British and American all-male institutions at the time, women's roles were played by men. Entr'acte music, provided by the Instrumental or Banjo Clubs, consisted of popular dance tunes or operatic excerpts. Student theatricals were performed for the benefit of financially-ailing athletic associations, and the sporadic activity of the Dramatic Association can be explained by the fluctuating fortunes of the sports teams.In 1891 the Dramatic Association joined forces with the University Glee Club to present Po-ca-hon-tas, the first show in the Triangle tradition of musicals written and produced by students. According to a New York review, the reworked John Brougham play featured "new topical songs and local hits" and was well received, both on campus and in a Trenton performance. But the faculty vetoed a proposed New York performance, and over the years, students and administrators would often be at odds over theatrical activities. Nevertheless, the Association visited Trenton once again the following year with Katharine, a Shakespearean spoof marking the first appearance of Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
1893 in the Triangle records.
The 1893 production, The Honorable Julius Caesar, was again a reworking of Shakespeare. Tarkington, a senior and president of the Dramatic Association, was prominent as both co-author of the book and as actor in the role of Cassius. The show was so successful that it was repeated the following year, with several significant changes. Most importantly, the Princeton University Dramatic Association had been renamed the Triangle Club of Princeton. According to a preview in The New York Times, "several specialties will be introduced, such as tumbling, acrobatic feats, and dancing" and "James E. Wilson of Frohman's company… will coach the club regularly four times a week." If Wilson did indeed coach, the club had its first professional director in its very first show under the name "Triangle."
Early growth
Financial problems caused Club members to curtail expenses in 1895. Neither the February production, Who's Who, nor the May offering, Snowball, were written by students, and both had relatively small casts. The following year the Club turned to a recent graduate, Post Wheeler '91, in hopes that his magic touch as co-author of The Honorable Julius Caesar could be repeated, and they were pleased with the result. The Mummy (1895–96) was also notable as the first production in Triangle's new home, the Casino, located on the lower campus near the present-day McCarter TheatreMcCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year...
site. Yet another innovation was attempted in 1897. A Tiger Lily, the first Triangle show to be based on Princeton student life, was part of a double bill with Lend Me Five Shillings, a British farce. Since neither show was a great success, the Club returned to the tried and true in 1898 with a revival of Po-ca-hon-tas. The Privateer, presented in 1899, was originally entitled The Captain's Kidd Sister, but the name was changed because the University of Pennsylvania’s Mask and Wig Club
Mask and Wig
The Mask and Wig Club, founded in 1889 by Clayton Fotterall McMichael, is the oldest all-male collegiate musical comedy troupe in the United States...
had already produced a show about Captain Kidd. The "Privateer March" was the first commercially published Triangle song.
Traditions begin
In 1901, with The King of Pomeru, Triangle ventured for the first time to New York, and the next year the club ventured as far as Pittsburgh. After the 1901 New York performance, Franklin B. Morse 1895 proposed a meeting to organize Triangle alumni, whom he believed could help promote the Club, build its reputation, arrange the annual tour, collect materials and memorabilia, and generally socialize among themselves. In June of that year, thirty-seven alumni met in Princeton, and the Triangle Board of Trustees was established.During the first decade of the 20th century, the organization of Triangle became increasingly structured. Printed copies of the script, "for the exclusive use of candidates," first appear in the archives with The Man From Where (1903–04).
Although A Woodland Wedding (1899–1900) included a specialty skirt dance, and "The Pony Ballet" was a part of Tabasco Land (1905–06), The Mummy Monarchs kickline in 1907 was the first of that tradition to be documented photographically in the Triangle Archives.
Budding fame and higher standards
By 1910 the tour had extended as far west as Chicago and St. Louis; printed luncheon menus and newspaper clippings provide evidence of the elaborate social functions that were becoming part of the annual trek. With Once in a Hundred Years (1912–13), Triangle moved its tour to the Christmas season, again traveling as far west as St. Louis. The following year, President and Mrs. Wilson attended The Pursuit of Priscilla’s Washington matinee performance; the First Family then hosted a reception for Triangle at the White House.The Evil Eye (1915-16) had a distinguished pair of neophyte authors: Edmund Wilson '16 wrote the book, and F. Scott Fitzgerald '17 was responsible for the lyrics. Although he was never a cast member in a Triangle production, Fitzgerald wrote three shows for the Club between 1914 and 1917.
During 1917-18, a four man Triangle troupe toured Europe to entertain the soldiers stationed there for World War I. After the year hiatus, the club became active again with a revival of The Honorable Julius Caesar. The first post-war tour occurred when The Isle of Surprise was taken on the road during Christmas break of 1919. This show marked a change in attitude toward Triangle productions. In the program, Club president Erdman Harris '20 described the new production: "We hope that a new day has dawned, that ‘Jazz’ will be forever relegated to a back seat, that Broadway will cease to be the idol of those who create the shows, that their staging shall be done in Princeton by Princeton men, and that the authorities and graduates will approve what is being done to elevate the standard of a society whose value in student life has been seriously questioned."
In the spring of 1922, Triangle staged George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. This production marked a milepost in the Club's history, for its three female roles were actually played by women. Sets for this production were designed and painted by Russel Wright
Russel Wright
Russel Wright was an American Industrial designer during the 20th century. Beginning in the late 1920s through the 1960s, Russel Wright created a succession of artistically distinctive and commercially successful items that helped bring modern design to the general public.-Designer:Russel...
during his freshman year, marking one of the few times that a freshman was ever allowed to join Triangle.
Professionalization and emerging stars
During the early 1920s, New York performances began to be booked at the Metropolitan Opera House, although initially there was some concern whether the Club would be able to fill such a large theatre and whether the men's voices would be strong enough to be heard properly. Late in 1923, there were negotiations concerning a possible radio broadcast, and in the same year Triangle's music publisher, J. Church Co., corresponded with the Victor Talking Machine Co. about a trial recording. But the major event during this decade was the planning and construction of McCarter Theatre for Triangle Club. The completed theatre opened on February 21, 1930, with the Triangle Club’s The Golden Dog. McCarter replaced the long-controversial Casino, which burned on January 8, 1924.Here began the Golden Period for which the Triangle Club became famous, in terms of its eventual contribution of outstanding talent to the Broadway theatre and Hollywood. Within a few years the Club would send forth into these professional realms Erik Barnouw
Erik Barnouw
Erik Barnouw was a U.S. historian of radio and television broadcasting.According to the Scribner Encyclopia of American Lives, Erik Barnouw was born in Den Haag in the Netherlands, the son of Adriaan , and Ann Eliza Barnouw...
'29; C. Norris Houghton, Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, and Myron McCormick
Myron McCormick
Myron McCormick was an American actor of stage, radio and film.McCormick was born as Walter Myron McCormick in Albany, Indiana....
, all Class of 1931; James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
'32; José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
'33; and Nick Foran '34.
The 1935 show, Stags at Bay, featured "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," written by Brooks Bowman
Brooks Bowman
Brooks Bowman composed the song "East of the Sun " which has become a jazz standard....
, which would become the most popular and longest-lasting national hit ever to come out of the Triangle Club. Recorded by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, among many others, "East of the Sun" still provides the club with royalties. Other songs from the same show, by Bowman, included "Love and Dime" and "Will Love find a Way?."
Difficulties in the Depression years
With The Tiger Smiles (1930–31), Triangle writers returned to a Princeton town and gown setting for the first time since When Congress Came to Princeton (1908–09). The production was well received, but the Club was already beginning to feel the effects of the Great Depression. In October 1930, the Program Manager reported, "Due to the financial depression, the business of getting ads is a rather difficult one just now." By the following year economic conditions had begun to affect the tour. South Orange reported poor ticket sales, and the local alumni chairman was concerned with keeping down the cost of stagehands; in Pittsburgh, a poor house and lack of entertainment were attributed to the weak stock market. When It's the Valet (1932–33) was ready to tour, local alumni groups were either unwilling to sponsor a show or unable to guarantee an adequate sum to cover expenses, let alone show a profit. The Club's Graduate Board sought aid from alumni in underwriting the show, but individual contributions were equally difficult to come by.Throughout the mid-thirties, Triangle continued to tour in spite of the Depression, but there were rumblings of discontent from both the Graduate Board of the Club and the University administration. In a 1934 meeting with President Dodds, the Board indicated concern about the financial condition of McCarter Theatre; Triangle profits were insufficient to keep McCarter operating in the black, a situation that would become increasingly serious as the decade wore on. President Dodds had also heard alumni criticism about poor acting and an apparent lack of coaching in connection with the latest show. Yet he remained confident that Triangle could play an important role on campus. Later that year, Club Manager Stryker Warren '35 received a stern letter from Dean of the College Christian Gauss. Gauss had considered canceling the Christmas tour, first because of financial considerations, and then because of alumni criticism, which "in nearly every case… came as the result of the excessive drinking on the part of a few of your men." Nevertheless, the Dean concluded by wishing "you and all the officers and members of the Club a highly successful trip, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year."
At a 1937 Board meeting there was discussion about the lack of good voices in Triangle. Alumni as well as Board members had noted this situation, and it was suggested that "there must be someone in the Glee Club who could at least be drafted to sing, so that a song could be heard beyond the footlights." Another complaint came from a Louisville alumnus early in 1938, who wrote, "I am not crazy about the Triangle Club bringing in certain dirty lines about ‘buying a drink’ and ‘the Knights of the Garter,’ etc…. Personally I would prefer to see the young men get properly soused and have to be poured on the train than to use [these] lines."
Another change in tradition came during the 1941-42 academic year, when Triangle produced Ask Me Another, its first show in revue format. Then, at a Board meeting in September 1943, Graduate Treasurer B. Franklin Bunn '07 announced that there would be no Triangle Club activities for the duration of the war. The University assumed control of McCarter Theatre during this period, and the building was leased by the military for trainees’ use on campus.
Post-war comeback
In November 1945, the University Committee on Undergraduate Activities issued a report describing Triangle as "perhaps the most controversial of all undergraduate extracurricular activities. Despite obvious shortcomings, the Club affords many valuable opportunities to the undergraduate body and plays a very real part in alumni relations. According, it should be reestablished at the first possible moment." The first post-war show, Clear the Track, opened in December 1946 and even managed a seven-city tour. But Triangle was beset with problems the following year for All Rights Reserved (1947–48). The Daily Princetonian reported, "All Rights pretty nearly weren't reserved. A play by the same name had fizzled on Broadway for a bare month, in 1934, and the petulant playwright threatened to sue. Hasty consultation with a Broadway lawyer revealed that the author could not possibly win the suit and that matter was closed." The club resolved tricky labor questions by employing union stagehands and music-hirelings, putting the later to work first in Philadelphia, where they were made to earn their fee by playing with the regular orchestra, and then in Washington, where they provided the intermission music.Despite ongoing debate in the 1950s about the club’s obligations to theatrical professionalism, as well as its questionable impact on the University’s reputation, Triangle continued to reach a wider audience through greater media exposure. In 1948, All in Favor was broadcast on WNBC-TV, becoming the first college show to appear on the new medium of television. The entire score of Too Hot for Toddy (1950–51) was recorded, and members of the cast appeared on The Kate Smith Show and Ed Sullivan's The Toast of the Town. Club productions appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show from 1950 to 1957; its host wrote to Triangle President Charles Robinson, "The Princeton Triangle Club has an annual appointment on our stage, so long as I’m on TV."
Finally, in 1953, a memorandum of agreement was drawn up between Princeton University and the Trustees of the Triangle Club abrogating the McCarter agreement of the 1920s. The Club had simply been unable to cover the operating expenses and pay the taxes of the Theatre. A full-time general manager was hired for McCarter, and the University, which had been underwriting Triangle's losses, agreed to cancel the Club's debts.
The Lyon era
Spree de Corps (1955–56) marked the debut of Milton Lyon as Triangle director. From 1955 until his death forty years later, Lyon would direct all but a handful of Triangle's original productions.Student apathy toward extracurricular activities began to have an impact on Triangle toward the end of the 1950s. At a meeting in October 1958, the Board noted a very small turnout for the previous month's auditions. It was decided that more on-campus publicity would help, and as part of this effort Triangle Junior was formed, a group of seven club members who performed favorite Triangle songs at various receptions and functions. Over the following years, this small group would undergo periodic name changes, being known as Triangle Ding! and Triangle Bit Parts before returning to Ding!, as it is called today.
With the gradual elimination of passenger trains in the late 1950s, the club began touring by bus. Early in 1960 there was a proposal to produce a motion picture on the Triangle Club, but a Hollywood writers' strike and possible heavy expenses brought an end to this publicity idea. However, Triangle did embark on its first European tour that summer; the Club performed Breakfast in Bedlam (1959–60) at French and German bases of the American army. Tour de Farce (1961–62) became perhaps the most widely toured show: performances in Pasadena and San Francisco marked the first time the show had been seen live on both coasts, and then troupe members again went to Europe that summer to perform at US Army bases.
Funny Side Up (1963–64) was billed as the 75th anniversary show in spite of the fact that number seventy was Tour de Farce, produced only two years earlier. Funny Side Up did not have a smooth start: the writers were slow to produce material, and the trustees even considered the possibility that there would be no show. Fortunately, because of the diamond jubilee, twenty-one songs from earlier shows were made a part of the program. The tour of Funny Side Up included several southern stops, and the Birmingham visit became problematic when Triangle was booked into a segregated theatre. After some strongly worded letters from Board members, it was determined that the performance would either be cancelled or moved to a non-segregated house.
Coeducation and other changes
A Different Kick (1968–69) was a Triangle milestone, featuring the first female undergraduate to be cast in a Club show—Sue Jean Lee '70, a junior in the Critical Languages Program. The University's shift to coeducation the next fall would have a profound effect on Triangle. Call a Spade a Shovel (1969–1970) featured six women in a seventeen-member cast. The social and political commentary of the show, most especially its anti-Vietnam War tones, unleashed an unprecedented storm of alumni protest and caused a mass audience walk-out at the Grosse Pointe tour performance.This incident, along with growing budgetary and logistical concerns, caused the Board of Trustees to revise its production schedule. As per the May 1970 Report of the Board’s New Directions Committee, there was to be neither a December show nor a Christmas tour; instead, a spring show was promised, to be followed by a short tour. Cracked Ice opened in April 1971, was repeated for alumni in June, but did finally tour the following December. To cut expenses, the cast and crew stayed in private homes rather than hotels, and non-union halls were booked.
The Princeton Triangle Workshop made its debut in November 1972 with a presentation of The Fantasticks at the Princeton Inn Theater; the following March the Workshop produced Transitions, described as "five original plays and a multimedia extravaganza," in Wilcox Hall. This began a twenty-five year tradition of smaller fall productions to complement the full-scale, original spring shows. The fall productions of 1978, Happily Ever After, and 1979, String of Pearls, were both written by undergraduates. For the 1981 spring show, Triangle writers returned to the very roots of the club and based their book musical, Bold Type, on Booth Tarkington's novel, A Gentleman from Indiana.
The 1981 tour again returned to California, but with a revue of Triangle favorites, Fool's Gold, rather than the spring show. The following year Triangle hired Miriam Fond, the first female director in the Club's history. Triangle finally found a permanent home for its fall productions when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at the Triangle Broadmead Theatre in November 1984. In the 1980s, the Club began to present produce revues of the best of Triangle early in the fall to introduce the freshman class to the organization.
Centennial
The Club's centennial was celebrated in 1991 with a series of campus events throughout the year, including the spring show entitled The Older, the Better, a large Firestone Library exhibition of more than 850 items from the Triangle Archives, and a fall reunion weekend of parties and performances. But how could the centennial celebration be held in 1991 when the fiftieth anniversary show was Once Over Lightly, produced in 1938-39? After much debate, it had been decided that the first show in the true Triangle tradition of original work was Po-ca-hon-tas in 1891; hence the choice of 1991 for the one-hundredth anniversary.The 2nd century
In the late 1990s, the production schedule reverted to its original format, in which the McCarter show was presented in the fall of each academic year, followed a month later by that show’s tour. This change meant that in 1997-1998 the Club needed to generate two-full length musicals in fifteen months, almost twice the writing load of previous years. In September 1997, Triangle began a writing workshop to coordinate the efforts of the writers; this program was enormously successful, producing In Lava and War in April 1998 and 101 Damnations in November 1998. By the spring of 1999, the corps of 21 writers had been so prolific that Triangle presented an extra, original spring show at Theatre IntimeTheatre Intime
Theatre Intime is an entirely student-run dramatic arts organization operating out of the Hamilton Murray Theater at Princeton University. Intime receives no support from the university, and is entirely acted, produced, directed, teched and managed by students.Theatre Intime was founded in 1920 by...
, entitled The Rude Olympics. The 1999-2000 season saw the hundredth anniversary of the kickline in The Blair Arch Project (November 1999), as well as Triangle’s return to Theatre Intime in May with The Rude Olympics II: American Booty. Puns of Steel (2000–2001) became the first Club show to record its score on a CD.
Recent developments
Since the turn of the century the Club has continued the production schedule begun in the '90's, with a Freshman Week show in September, McCarter show in November, tour in December or January, spring show in late April / early May, and a reprise of the McCarter show in June. The smaller-scale spring show, The Rude Olympics, has moved from Theater Intime to the Frist Campus CenterFrist Campus Center
Frist Campus Center is a focal point of social life at Princeton University. The campus center is a combination of the former Palmer Physics Lab, and a modern addition completed in 2001. It was endowed with money from the fortune the Frist family Frist Campus Center is a focal point of social life...
Theater. Recent years have seen the refinement of the Club's infrastructure, with continued development of the writing workshop and the shaping of a more active business team under the name "TriBiz." The Club continues to receive a high level of regional recognition, with the 2007 fall show A Turnpike Runs Through It appearing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Notable cast members and contributors
- Booth TarkingtonBooth TarkingtonBooth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
1893 - F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
'17 (1917) - Russel WrightRussel WrightRussel Wright was an American Industrial designer during the 20th century. Beginning in the late 1920s through the 1960s, Russel Wright created a succession of artistically distinctive and commercially successful items that helped bring modern design to the general public.-Designer:Russel...
'21 and '22 - Joshua LoganJoshua LoganJoshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
'31 - James StewartJames Stewart (actor)James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
'32 - José FerrerJosé FerrerJosé Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
'34 - Brooks BowmanBrooks BowmanBrooks Bowman composed the song "East of the Sun " which has become a jazz standard....
'36 - Bo GoldmanBo GoldmanFor the next few years, Goldman contributed uncredited work to countless scripts including Milos Forman's Ragtime starring James Cagney and Donald O'Connor, The Flamingo Kid starring Matt Dillon, and Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy ....
'53 - Wayne RogersWayne RogersWilliam Wayne McMillan Rogers III is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the U.S...
'56 - Clark GesnerClark GesnerClark Gesner was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M...
'60 - Jeff MossJeff MossJeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss was a composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award winning work on the children's television series Sesame Street.-Early life:...
'63 - A. Scott BergA. Scott BergAndrew Scott Berg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer. After graduating from Princeton University in 1971, Berg expanded his senior thesis, about editor Maxwell Perkins, into a full-length biography. Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius won a National Book Award, and his second book,...
'71 - David E. KelleyDavid E. KelleyDavid Edward Kelley is an American television writer and producer, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal and Harry's Law, as well as several films. Kelley is one of the only screenwriters to have had a show created by him run on...
'79 - Brooke ShieldsBrooke ShieldsBrooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
'87 - Molly EphraimMolly EphraimMolly Ephraim is an American actress who has appeared in films, on television and in Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. She is best known for playing the role of Wendy Greenhut in the 2008 film College Road Trip, and the daughter, Ali, in Paranormal Activity 2...
'08
History of shows
Academic Year / Show (if more than one show listed, the first is the Mainstage Show)1890-1891 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
1891-1892 Katharine
1892-1893 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1893-1894 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1894-1895 Snowball; Who's Who
1895-1896 The Mummy
1896-1897 Lend Me Five Shillings; A Tiger Lily
1897-1898 Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
1898-1899 The Privateer, or The Pirates of Pennsnec
1899-1900 A Woodland Wedding
1900-1901 The King of Pomeru
1901-1902 The King of Pomeru
1902-1903 The Mullah of Miasma
1903-1904 The Man From Where
1904-1905 The Pretenders
1905-1906 Tabasco Land
1906-1907 The Mummy Monarch
1907-1908 When Congress Went to Princeton
1908-1909 The Duchess of Bluffshire
1909-1910 His Honor the Sultan
1910-1911 Simply Cynthia
1911-1912 Main Street
1912-1913 Once in a Hundred Years
1913-1914 The Pursuit of Priscilla
1914-1915 Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi!
1915-1916 The Evil Eye
1916-1917 Safety First
1917-1918 (a four-man troupe entertained troops in Europe)
1918-1919 The Honorable Julius Caesar
1919-1920 The Isle of Surprise
1920-1921 They Never Come Back
1921-1922 Espanola; The Devil's Disciple
1922-1923 The Man From Earth
1923-1924 Drake's Drum
1924-1925 The Scarlet Coat
1925-1926 Fortuno
1926-1927 Samarkand; Captain Applejack
1927-1928 Napoleon Passes
1928-1929 Zuider Zee
1929-1930 The Golden Dog; The Second Man
1930-1931 The Tiger Smiles
1931-1932 Spanish Blades
1932-1933 It's the Valet; Private Lives
1933-1934 Fiesta; Goodbye Again
1934-1935 Stags at Bay (incl. East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)
East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)
"East of the Sun " is a popular song written by Brooks Bowman, an undergraduate member of Princeton University's Class of 1936, for the 1934 production of the Princeton Triangle Club's production of Stags at Bay...
); Holiday
1935-1936 What a Relief!
1936-1937 Take It Away
1937-1938 Fol-de-Rol
1938-1939 Once Over Lightly; Spring Shambles
1939-1940 Any Moment Now
1940-1941 Many A Slip
1941-1942 Ask Me Another
1942-1943 Time and Again
1943-1944 (no show, due to WWII)
1944-1945 (no show, due to WWII)
1945-1946 (no show, due to WWII)
1946-1947 Clear the Track
1947-1948 All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved
"All rights reserved" is a phrase that originated in copyright law as part of copyright notices. It indicates that the copyright holder reserves, or holds for their own use, all the rights provided by copyright law, such as distribution, performance, and creation of derivative works; that is, they...
1948-1949 All in Favor
1949-1950 Come Across
1950-1951 Too Hot for Toddy
1951-1952 Never Say Horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s
1952-1953 Ham 'n Legs
1953-1954 Malice in Wonderland
1954-1955 Tunis, Anyone?
1955-1956 Spree de Corps
1956-1957 Take a Gander
1957-1958 After a Fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
1958-1959 For Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
's Sake
1959-1960 Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...
in Bedlam
1960-1961 Midsummer Night Scream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
; Guys and Dolls
1961-1962 Tour de Farce
1962-1963 Ahead of the Game
1963-1964 Funny Side Up
1964-1965 Grape Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
1965-1966 High Sobriety
1966-1967 Sham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
on Wry
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
1967-1968 Enter Venus
1968-1969 A Different Kick
1969-1970 Call a Spade a Shovel; '70 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
1970-1971 Cracked Ice
1971-1972 Blue Genes
Blue Jeans
"Blue Jeans" is a sentimental popular song written by Harry D. Kerr and Lou Traveller in 1920. In the song, the singer is reminiscing about a long-ago young love that happened somewhere in the "hills of the old Cumberland." The chorus echoes the singer's longing:* The Parlor Songs Collection.* by...
; One More Hour for Uncle Ben
1972-1973 Future Schlock
Future Shock
Future Shock is a book written by the futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970. In the book, Toffler defines the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of...
1973-1974 A Titter Ran Through the Audience
1974-1975 American Zucchini
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
; Blithe Spirit
1975-1976 Mugs Money
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
1976-1977 Kafka, Tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
or Me
1977-1978 Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
Today, Guacamole
Guacamole
Guacamole , is an avocado-based dip that originated in Mexico. It is traditionally made by mashing ripe avocados with a molcajete with sea salt. Some recipes call for limited tomato, spicy Asian spices such as white onion, lime juice, and/or additional seasonings.-History:Guacamole was made by...
1978-1979 Academia Nuts; Happily Ever After
1979-1980 From Here to Hilarity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
; String of Pearls
1980-1981 Bold Type and Company
1981-1982 Stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
s and Bondage
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
and Cabaret; Fool's Gold: 85 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1982-1983 Under the Influence
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
; Merrily We Roll Along
1983-1984 Revel Without a Pause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
; Three Penny Opera
1984-1985 No. 96-Untitled; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
1985-1986 Star Spangled Banter; The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
1986-1987 Business Unusual; Applause; 90 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1987-1988 Ain't Mythbehavin'; No Strings; 91 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1988-1989 Satanic Nurses
The Satanic Verses
The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
; Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
1989-1990 Easy Street
1990-1991 The Older, the Better; Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
; 94 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1991-1992 Do-Re-Media
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
;The Centennial Revue: "100 Years and Still Kicking";95 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1992-1993 Shelf Indulgence; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
; 96 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1993-1994 Bermuda Love Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
; 97 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1994-1995 Rhyme and Punishment
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...
; 98 Minutes of the Best of Triangle
1995-1996 Pulpit Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
1996-1997 The Tiger Roars; It's a Wonderful Laugh
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
1997-1998 In Lava and War
1998-1999 101 Damnations; The Rude Olympics; Palindromes are Fun!
1999-2000 The Blair Arch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
; The Rude Olympics II: American Booty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
; Menage '03
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
2000-2001 Puns of Steel; 2004Play
Foreplay
In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physically intimate acts between two or more people meant to create desire for sexual activity and sexual arousal. Either or any of the sexual partners may initiate the foreplay, and they may not be the active partner during...
; The Rude Olympics III
2001-2002 Absurd to the Wise; sLAUGHTERhouse '05
Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim...
; The Rude Olympics IV
2002-2003 This Side of Parody
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...
; '06 Degrees of Separation
Six degrees of separation
Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer...
; The Rude Olympics V: Schlock & Awe
2003-2004 For Love or Funny
For Love or Money (TV series)
For Love or Money is an American reality television show initially broadcast as summer programming on NBC in 2003 and 2004. Four seasons of the program were shown in linked pairs, and all seasons were hosted by Jordan Murphy. It was produced by Nash Entertainment with Bruce Nash and J. D...
; '07 Deadly Sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
; The Rude Olympics VI: Weapons of Mass Distraction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
2004-2005 Orange and Black to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
; Magic '08 Balls; The Rude Olympics VII: Fondling Neverland
Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland is a 2004 semi-biographical film about playwright J. M. Barrie and his relationship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan, directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay by David Magee is based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee...
2005-2006 Excess Hollywood
Access Hollywood
Access Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
; Love Potion '09; Rude Olympics VIII: An Eye for an iPod
An eye for an eye
The meaning of the principle, an eye for an eye, is that a person who has injured another person receives the same injury in compensation. The exact Latin to English translation of this phrase is actually "The law of retaliation." At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the...
2006-2007 Heist Almighty; Crude In'10tions
Cruel Intentions
Cruel Intentions is a 1999 American drama film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair. The film is an adaptation of the 18th-century French epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Laclos and is set among wealthy teenagers living in modern New York...
; Rude Olympics IX: The Devil Wears Nada
The Devil Wears Prada (film)
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine...
2007-2008 A Turnpike Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories is a semi-autobiographical collection of three stories by author Norman Maclean and published by the University of Chicago Press.It contains:* "A River Runs Through It"...
: A New Jersical; Knockin' on '11's Door
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.-Story line and song structure:...
; Rude Olympics X: Whitman Can't Jump
White Men Can't Jump
White Men Can't Jump is a 1992 American sports comedy drama film starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as streetball hustlers, co-starring Rosie Perez...
2008-2009 Stark Raven Mad
Stark Raving Mad (film)
Stark Raving Mad is a film, produced by A Band Apart, about a heist pulled during a rave. The film was directed and written by Drew Daywalt and David Schneider. It stars Seann William Scott, Lou Diamond Phillips, Timm Sharp, Patrick Breen, John B. Crye, Monet Mazur, Suzy Nakamura, C. Ernst Harth,...
; All's Well That Ends '12
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
; Wa
Wawa Food Markets
Wawa Inc. is a chain of convenience store/gas stations located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It operates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, near the community...
Wall-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
2009-2010 Store Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
; A Night at the Apollo
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
'13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
, Cornel West
Cornel West
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....
Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
2010-2011 Family Feudalism
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
; Chicken Soup '14 Souls
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short and dense inspirational stories and motivational essays. The 101 stories in the first book of the series were compiled by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.There have been over 200 titles...
, Dial Elm for Murder
Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
2011-2012 Doomsdays of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
; Freshman '15
Freshman fifteen
The Freshman fifteen refers to an amount of weight often gained during a student's first year at college.The expression is commonly used in the United States and Canada...