Yuletide Entertainments

Title page:

YULETIDE ENTERTAINMENTS

CHRISTMAS RECITATIONS, MONOLOGUES, DRILLS, TABLEAUX, MOTION SONGS, EXERCISES, DIALOGUES, AND PLAYS

SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

BY ELLEN M. WILLARD

CHICAGO, T.S. DENISON & COMPANY, 1910

(Back cover)

The front matter includes this assurance:

The songs in this book are to be sung to old airs that are presumably familiar to everyone. If any of them should prove unfamiliar, however, the music will be found in Denison's "Songs Worth While," one of the best arranged and most carefully edited collections of old favorites ever published. This book is beautifully printed, in non-glossy paper, measuring 10¾ by 7 inches, and is well bound in a stout paper cover done in colors. It may he obtained from the publisher for the price of $1.00, postpaid.

(Ad page, at back of the book).

Then we have these words of guidance:

INTRODUCTORY

It becomes more and more a part of Christmas gayety to present the legends, or the spirit of it, to the eye as well as the mind.

For this purpose the following pages have been prepared in play and pantomime, songs and marches, drills and recitations. While the needs of adults have not been forgotten, those of the children have been most largely remembered, since Christmas is pre-eminently the children's festival.

A word to those who take charge of such affairs may not be amiss.

Precision of movement is the keynote of success for everythinng of this kind. This does not mean stiffness, but it does mean exactitude and certainty. Uncertain gestures in speaking; scattered attack and close in singing; hesitation in acting; and, more than all, careless motions and marching in the drills (corners not formed squarely, motions only half in unison, etc.)—all these are fatal to that success which makes such entertainments entertaining.

Here, as everywhere else, "What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."

Rather exacting entertainment...

There are no real illustrations, just a few diagrams, in this paperbound book, "Price, 40 cents." Those figures include a frame and screen arrangement for use as a stage, and diagrams of the movements to be made for specific drills and dances.

The latter two look pretty complicated. "Dance of the Holly and the Mistletoe; For Eight Young Girls or the Number May Be Doubled," has six illustrative figures and seventeen steps in the directions.

The period skits include the usual moral tales about learning the true meaning of Christmas.

There are the usual ethnic stereotypes, such as, "The Pickanny's Christmas."

"Santa Claus in Many Lands" features actors who each dress as a "country," with countries including "Hindustan" and "Esquimaux." "China," has lines in excruciating pidgin to express how much "me likee Melican Santa." Though the dialogue sort of suggests that even countries that don't celebrate Christmas have their points, and at the end, Santa arrives to say he loves all the children.

If this all does not provide adequate entertainment, the publisher also offers:

Tiger of the Month Club: December

As all good things must come to an end...

Frate Indovino: December Divining

Caption: "The law is equal for all but more equal for some."

Well, that's a change from the sentimentality expected throughout this time of year in the U.S.

And a more honest appraisal than publicly acceptable here, at any time.

In any case, the theme is that justice has always been elusive:

As far back as the ancient Greeks, Plutarch complained that "the spiders' weavings blindside flies, but leave hornets alone," and the Latin poet Juvenal stigmatized the censors who "forgave the crows, but made havoc with doves." And many centuries later, things have not changed much, and people say it this way: "In jail he who steals wood, on the throne he who steals a kingdom"; "Many times money and friendship, break the legs of justice" etc., etc. ...

After more quotes and expressions highlighting the theme, there's a long passage about the the slow wheels of justice... Which I can't quite follow, but: it seems to be about an Italian incident [or more than one incident] involving a legal [and maybe political] conflict, that began in 1816 and ended in 2001 [? - the math doesn't quite seem to work, either].

The writer says the dispute ended only

... because the losing party did not contest the umpteenth ruling issued, just think: after 192 years!

The mini-essay concludes that

The justice of God is a bit different but equally "mysterious," as evidenced by the fact that the first to "steal" paradise was the good thief.

Perhaps an inspiring seasonal reference there, after all.

In other wisdom, the almanac says:

A Dicembre nevoso - segue anno fruttuoso
Snowy December - a fruitful year follows

In the skies:

A total lunar eclipse on the 21st, visible from Asia, Australia, the Pacific, America and Europe, and lasting 3 hours 29 minutes.

Also:

Magnetic storms will influence the weather, with the possibility of gales and storms at sea... in the first ten days: negative influences on mental activity.

"First ten days": quite early for holiday behavior, American-style.

Though with the opening of the shopping season having been pushed to the night of Thanksgiving and following dawn, this may fit here, after all.

Sadly, the year of visiting with Frate Indovino is coming to an end.

One last bit of wisdom, as we wave bye-bye to crazy, dear Italy:

Besides death, three things are certain for the Italians: the New Year's television horoscope, the size of the budget, and the soccer league.