The History / Origins of the Gulfport Little Theatre
(an interview with the late Ms Ethlynd Baxley on 8/5/94)

Interview conducted by the late George Leggett and the late J. Warren McDaniel

 Warren: We’d like to learn how the theatre began; we are trying to create a chronological order to celebrate our
                50th Anniversary which will be next year.  If you don't mind, let's start back at the beginning, and if we
                have a question or two, we can ask you, if you remember.  As you know, the theater goes back to 1946.                              

 Mrs. B:  Yes, but with me, the whole idea goes back to when I was in high school.  I had a high school speech teacher who was very active in the Little Theatre in New Orleans , the Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre.  When she was in a performance, she would invite several of us to come to the matinee, so I got adjusted to going to matinees of the Little Theatre performances.

 George:  You said you had the idea of the little theatre, sometime previous to this when you were still in high school.  Were there any of your friends from high school associated with Gulfport Little Theatre when it got started?

 Mrs. B:  No, I can’t think of any.   The Zollmans’ came over here and they were associated with the Le Petit Theatre Du Vieux Carre.

 George:  Was Mr. Zollman the only Director that you had when the Gulfport Little Theatre was started?  

Mrs. B:  No, but Lee Zollman and I really started the Gulfport Little Theatre.  I came over here with the idea of a little theatre and I was teaching school.  I was in Day’s Drug Store getting some ice cream and the Zollmans came in and we started talking about the New Orleans Little Theatre.  So I said: “I have been talking little theatre over here and I would love to see something developing”.  We talked but did not do anything about it then.  It was almost ten years later before we got any activity.  When we did get activity, the way it occurred, we decided that there would be enough people in Gulfport interested in it.

George:  At that time, probably some of your former students were early members of GLT.

 Mrs. B.:  I can’t remember if there were any, but I have a copy of the first membership list.

 George:  We need to see that.  

Warren :  There’s a program at the theatre that is mounted.  It is the program of the first play:  Night of January Sixteenth.

 Mrs. B:  We talked little theatre for a long time and finally decided that we would see how many people would be interested.

 George:  Let me tell you how interested people were.  In the first season, you had eleven directors, six one-act plays and four
                major productions.

Mrs. B:   Yes.  The first play that we did was in the old recreational building that was left over from the Exposition that was                         here.   It was standing where the Fire Station (on 15^th Street , next to City Hall) is now.   It was a big green barn, just a 
               huge place.  But, it did have a stage, and it had a roll-up curtain.  

George:   What play did you do there?  

Mrs. B:  The first play that we did there was when Dot and James Eaton did The Valiant.  

Warren :  Do you remember where The Night of January Sixteenth was held?  

Mrs. B:   Let me visualize – possibly the Gulfport High School .  

Warren :  Do you remember where Outward Bound was done?  

George:  Do you remember where January Thaw was done?  

Mrs. B:   I think at the recreational center.   Lee (Zollman) was the backbone of the beginning of the little theatre.  He and I made a list of the people we thought would be interested and invited them to a meeting in the old recreational building.  There were about 30 people or more at the meeting.  They decided that they would form an organization and have an election.   So, we had another meeting, and Harold Barber was elected Chairman.  

George:  Do you remember any of the other people that were at that meeting?  

Mrs. B:  The Eatons, Zollmans, Barbers, the Band Director at the high school, the Arnolds, Leila Emerson, Lula Wimberly, Mildred Payment, Alice Mitchell, June Beasley, Keith Tritle, and Louise Turley.  

George:  Who wrote the original by-laws?  

Mrs. B:  The Jack Obermayers came in – I don’t know if they were at the first meeting…this is the Wizard of Oz..

George:  This was in 1969, the day before Hurricane Camille.  

Mrs. B:  Yes, Lanee Kent always worked with me on makeup.  When the performance was over, I said “Lanee, let’s just line up the makeup on this big table and if you can meet me here at 3 o’clock tomorrow, Sunday, the we can sort it out and clean it up, cover it, and put it back in storage boxes.”  But, by 3 o’clock, the whole place had been blown away.  

George:  The theatre was dark until December of 1969.  

Mrs. B:  I don’t think we forfeited any of our performances; we played one in the high school, but their schedule was so heavy, they could not give us much time.  

Warren :  Some were done at Gulf Park College .  

Mrs. B:  In Helen Pickering’s little studio.  

George:  Black Comedy and White Lies  

Warren :  We also did Don’t Drink the Water and another one.  

George:  In May of 1970, The Night of the Iguana on Second Street .  

Mrs. B:  You know, in a little grocery store on Second street , Charles Kennedy, Elsworth Rauh, and others helped renovate the little store that would hold 80 people.  It had a very small stage and the plays went right on.  We never had a black season.  We played there until we were able to get the theatre (pre-renovations) where we have it now.  

George:  In the summer, in the Second street building, Tish Buckley directed Winnie The Pooh and Ray Sodequest directed The Falcon and the next year, also on Second street , The Gazebo.  Also, this is when Ms Annie and Ms Lula donated the land for the present theatre.  

Mrs. B:  Annie Barber and Lula Anderson gave the land.   We are the only theatre in the area that has never been dark.  We have had continuous performances.  

George:  On Second street , Tommy Meek directed Generation, Warren McDaniel directed Dr. Cook’s Garden, Charles Kennedy directed The Seven Year Itch.  Tish Buckley directed the children’s play Barnaby and Mrs. B directed Plaza Suite, Warren directed Caine Mutiny Court Martial, and Maria Watson directed I Never Sang For My Father, and Charles directed You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  

Mrs. B:  That’s right – that’s the only play that Maria Watson ever did.  

Warren :  We had a good season down there.  It was tight, but we made it.  

George:  Then in 1972, September 21^st, we opened the Deborah Place Gulfport Little Theatre with  Play it Again, Sam directed by Charles Kennedy.  

Mrs. B:  Lanee Kent Cobb directed Picnic and then at state competition, a cutting from the Caine Mutiny Court Martial and I Never Sang for My Father, directed by Warren , won first place on January 15, 1973.  

George:  Then in February, Tommy Meek directed Butterflies Are Free.  

Mrs. B:  That was a good performance.  The Sheffields played in that, you know, they were professionals, or
              she was, had been on the professional stage and he was very good.  That was a good play.  I wish we could have kept them.  

George:  Warren directed Here Lies Jeremy Troy and then at the MTA convention, with William Windom, My World and Welcome To It  on June 1^st, 1973.  

Mrs. B:  You know he went on to Hollywood after he left here.  

Warren :  He is Dr. Haslett on Murder She Wrote.  

Mrs. B:  Yes, and he is still there.  I will never forget the night they decided they were going to have a shrimp supper in his honor.  When he got there, everyone was at the table.  He did not know what to do with the shrimp, so he watched to see how to eat them.

(End of interview)