Kiwanis Revue, Having Fun for a Good Cause, 1949

By Lynn Nisbet, from the Raleigh Times, Nov. 28, 1949

Some folks grow up mighty fast. Take Dr. S.L. Bobbitt, dentist, and Harris Ogburn, banker, for example. Last year in the Kiwanis revue and minstrel show they were babies being pushed around through the park by attractive young nurses. The 1949 revue-minstrel show finds these two fellows have grown up so fast that they are having tin-type pictures made in the gay nineties.

Civilization sometimes suffers severe backsets. Take Bill Zack as an example of that. Last year he was a street cleaner in a modern city; this time he’s a cave man dressed (partially, that is) in imitation skin wraps, wielding a crude club instead of a street broom.

A year makes a lot of difference in other ways. Last year at this time Mrs. Ada Morris was a demure housewife in the Kiwanis show; this year she shows up as Queen of Spain lending enough money to Columbus (that’s Sam Leager who was just a bum last year) to discover America. Meantime, Mrs. Virginia Dennis has discarded the role of a highly respected business woman and is now cast as Forever Amber—with Bob Ponton and Cou Browne forced to explain to their wives why they can’t make love at home like they do on the stage with Forever.

These are just a few of the almost unbelievable, but definitely provable, transitions to be found in the Kiwanis “Facts and Fancies” show Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night at Hugh Morson auditorium. The “Facts” may be a bit distorted, but the “Fancies” have free rein.

This is the third annual revue-minstrel show sponsored by the Raleigh Kiwanis Club in furtherance of the Kiwanis Home for Aged, adopted three years ago as a major project by the local club. The two previous shows netted some $16,000 and it is hoped that the current edition will bring this amount to the $25,000 minimum required to start the project. The Raleigh Times on Thursday presented an architect’s drawing of the proposed original units for the home.