101 North Washington Street
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Chapter 3
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Chapter 3
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It was going to be a wonderful evening! Sara floated around the dining room double checking the table setting. Tonight they would have 4 guests, 2 couples, Marge Warner and her husband Tom and, the terribly exciting and interesting guests, Fritz Leiber the great Shakespearean actor from Chicago and his charming and talented companion, Miss Ethel Drew. Tomorrow night Mr. Leiber and Miss Drew were presenting “Impressions from the Bard” at the Weiss and Warner Opera House. The production, sponsored by the Starke Center Woman’s Arts Council, Mrs. Weiss Chairwoman and Mrs. Werner Vice-Chair, promised to be the highlight of the entertainment season. It certainly was a moment to savor.
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Abe strolled into the room wearing his new and handsome lounge suit. Sara was quite pleased that she had convinced Abraham to acquire this bit of fine tailoring, perfect for “less formal gatherings of just a few couples”, a little quote right off the pages of “Town and Country Magazine”. Mr. Leiber certainly would see that they weren’t all bumpkins in Starke Center. Sara had on finery equal to her husband’s, a lovely silk taffeta dress, not too formal of course. Still, this wasn’t going to be equal to an evening in New York’s Club at Tuxedo Park. Sara was pretty certain that Marge and Tom would be attired in something a wee bit old fashioned.
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It would be a safe bet that Abe was the only man in Starke Center possessing a Tuxedo. Here there was no occasion for formal wear much less the fine gradations that would later become known as white tie and black tie. These distinctions of fine living that were so carefully recorded in the aforementioned T & C magazine were completely irrelevant to life in the Center. It is true that Abe and Sara were prone to feeling and acting superior to their neighbors. From our vantage point we find it odd that they were not accused by their friends and neighbors of “putting on airs”. But it was well understood that Mr. and Mrs. Weiss were, indeed, superior. They had been to Europe (more than once). Abraham Weiss had money and handled it with the ease displayed by a 2nd generation of wealth. Sara Weiss was educated, artistic, beautiful and very stylish. Anyway, the people who might care, Mrs. Werner and the other members of the Woman’s Arts Council, admired the mantel of culture worn so gracefully. Envy isn’t possible when the gap is a bit too wide. The lower class doesn’t envy the middle class; the middle class doesn’t envy the upper class.
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It was going to be a wonderful evening! Sara floated around the dining room double checking the table setting. Tonight they would have 4 guests, 2 couples, Marge Warner and her husband Tom and, the terribly exciting and interesting guests, Fritz Leiber the great Shakespearean actor from Chicago and his charming and talented companion, Miss Ethel Drew. Tomorrow night Mr. Leiber and Miss Drew were presenting “Impressions from the Bard” at the Weiss and Warner Opera House. The production, sponsored by the Starke Center Woman’s Arts Council, Mrs. Weiss Chairwoman and Mrs. Werner Vice-Chair, promised to be the highlight of the entertainment season. It certainly was a moment to savor.
.
Abe strolled into the room wearing his new and handsome lounge suit. Sara was quite pleased that she had convinced Abraham to acquire this bit of fine tailoring, perfect for “less formal gatherings of just a few couples”, a little quote right off the pages of “Town and Country Magazine”. Mr. Leiber certainly would see that they weren’t all bumpkins in Starke Center. Sara had on finery equal to her husband’s, a lovely silk taffeta dress, not too formal of course. Still, this wasn’t going to be equal to an evening in New York’s Club at Tuxedo Park. Sara was pretty certain that Marge and Tom would be attired in something a wee bit old fashioned.
.
It would be a safe bet that Abe was the only man in Starke Center possessing a Tuxedo. Here there was no occasion for formal wear much less the fine gradations that would later become known as white tie and black tie. These distinctions of fine living that were so carefully recorded in the aforementioned T & C magazine were completely irrelevant to life in the Center. It is true that Abe and Sara were prone to feeling and acting superior to their neighbors. From our vantage point we find it odd that they were not accused by their friends and neighbors of “putting on airs”. But it was well understood that Mr. and Mrs. Weiss were, indeed, superior. They had been to Europe (more than once). Abraham Weiss had money and handled it with the ease displayed by a 2nd generation of wealth. Sara Weiss was educated, artistic, beautiful and very stylish. Anyway, the people who might care, Mrs. Werner and the other members of the Woman’s Arts Council, admired the mantel of culture worn so gracefully. Envy isn’t possible when the gap is a bit too wide. The lower class doesn’t envy the middle class; the middle class doesn’t envy the upper class.
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I think we can skip a detailed description of dinner. Suffice it to say that Fritz and Ethel, our Shakespearean duo, were both in the early stages of what would become good careers. They were sincerely grateful for the patronage of the Woman’s Arts Council and, of course, the free meal. Before dinner the guests admired Sara’s painting and poetry. After dinner, at the piano Mrs. Werner accompanied the beautiful Miss Drew, sweetly singing some popular melodies. Mr. Leiber was adroit socially with a large repertoire from parlor magic to vaudeville. It seems so inviting and utterly pleasant doesn’t it? At least it seems so in comparison to an evening at my house, watching “American Idol” on the television.
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The Weiss and Warner Opera House was located above the Weiss Department Store. Abraham Weiss and Tom Werner erected the building, the grandest on Main Street, fully intending the dual use. The Opera House, on the 2nd floor and its balcony, was well booked. There were regular dances and many traveling troupes providing a fair range of entertainments. The downtown Starke Center railroad station with service from Chicago to Fort Wayne and beyond was only a short walk from the opera house and the Nickel Plate Hotel and Restaurant. It was a logical stop for entertainment ventures with a free day on their hands, either coming out of Chicago or on their way to the country’s 2nd city..
The Weiss and Warner Opera House was located above the Weiss Department Store. Abraham Weiss and Tom Werner erected the building, the grandest on Main Street, fully intending the dual use. The Opera House, on the 2nd floor and its balcony, was well booked. There were regular dances and many traveling troupes providing a fair range of entertainments. The downtown Starke Center railroad station with service from Chicago to Fort Wayne and beyond was only a short walk from the opera house and the Nickel Plate Hotel and Restaurant. It was a logical stop for entertainment ventures with a free day on their hands, either coming out of Chicago or on their way to the country’s 2nd city..
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The next evening, the weather having turned a bit blustery, Abe and Sara accepted the short ride to “Impressions from the Bard” in the Werner’s carriage. The crowd settled in expecting to be well entertained. In those days the enchantment of the theater was more easily attainable. Entrancing the audience didn’t require elaborate sets, costumes, or ultra realistic effects. Reasonably talented acting and presentation did the trick. The audience was quite familiar with Shakespeare. The “Complete Works” were in many households and the book wasn’t being wasn’t just a decorative accessory on the coffee table. It was read; read in school and at home; and enjoyed, (which I understand is quite hard to believe in this day and age). This audience, that unsettled spring evening in Starke Center, expected and knew that they would receive a familiar meditation on life’s frailty from a handsome young Prince Hamlet, perched on a fresh grave, with poor Yorick’s rotted skull in hand. They were speculating aloud as to what else might be in store when the house lights dimmed, a thunder sheet rumbled, and they quickly schussed or were schussed as soon as they realized that it wasn't thundering outside.
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Today, in 2007, Starke Center’s finest knows how many pickles Peter Piper picked, however knowing what a peck actually is proves more elusive. In 1907 Starke Center’s finest not only knew how many pickles were picked, but even what a peck was. More impressively they knew a little about Plutarch, Petrarch, Plato, Pliny, Pindar, and perhaps (the perverse) even knew Petronius. There is a cultural gulf or chasm between us and them, difficult for us to fathom. Then Chautaqua was all the rage. Especially in rural communities there was a hunger for learning and culture. Classics and Great Books with 10-year study guides were marketed to the Lady’s (even some men’s) Reading Societies. Concerts and lectures were widely appreciated and attended. So it was considered agreeable, even good, that Mr. Fritz Leiber did a bit of lecturing to supplement the acting. It made the scenes that much more enjoyable. Fritz did 3 different takes on “Alas, poor Yorick!”; Hamlet growing more mad with each rendition. Thus the audience’s expectations were trebly gratified.
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Mr. Leiber and Miss Drew cleverly adapted Queen Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s tragic drowning. Ethel, as an abstracted, forlorn Ophelia, wandered dance like across the stage. Ophelia’s impossibly long and curly blond tresses were a Pre-Raphaelite daydream. Cascades of flowers and ivies were entwined in her hair and trailed down her beautifully full (10 yards of seeded batiste), luxuriant nightgown. Leiber, still attired as Hamlet, stood just on stage left and in melodious voice began,
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“There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples….”
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Onstage was a simple set. A willow with flowering vine overhanging a mirrored brook. Ophelia stretched over the brook grasping the slim willow bough as the voice continued…
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“There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide.”
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The audience gasped in sympathy as poor Ophelia fell into the clutches of the brook. Her hair spread gloriously over the mirror as she the began to quietly sing traces of folk songs.
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“And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.”
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It might be stated with some hyperbole that, “there wasn’t a dry eye in the house”. In any case, Sara Weiss was quite touched, as we shall soon see.
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Later that evening, upstairs at 101 North Washington Street as Mr. And Mrs. Weiss prepared for bed, Sara jolted poor unsuspecting Abraham as she quietly said, “If it’s a girl, I shall name her Ophelia.” And that, my dear reader, is how my poor mother, received her rather sad name.
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