 This is our 5th year in a row to make it to Kilgore. This is hands down our favorite summer vacation and we look forward to it every year. I made our reservations extra early this year, so we got to stay at our favorite hotel, The Holiday Inn and Suites in Kilgore. This year the hotel gave us a discount for going to TSF, and Downtown D'Lites Cafe gave us a discount on our food for being Guild Members. We're still the only Guild Members from Waco. The Design/Tech StaffThis year there was only costume designer for the four mainstage shows, every other year that we've been coming, there have been two. They brought back Angelina Herin again this year. She designed for them last year and the year before.
Lobby displayI was disappointed to find that the costumes weren't labeled this year and there was only one set model, the children's show The Girl Who Cried Throgmonster, on display. I asked why there were no set models of any of the mainstage shows on display this year and was told that because Othello and Born Yesterday had such immense sets that the scenic designer, Jason Jamerson, didn't build any set models in order to concentrate more of his effort on those two enormous builds.      Into The Woods Directed and Choreographed by Daniel Haley Costumes Designed by Angelina Herin Scenery Designed by Jason Jamerson Lighting Designed by Alice Trent Wig Master Byron Batista  Company Act I Photography by TSF  Company Act II Photography by TSF I'd seen Into the Woods before, back when I lived in El Paso, before I was a parent. Act I is great and then Act II is a downer. No one is happy with the wish that came true. The characters all learn lessons the hard way, just like in real life. On the surface it's an escapist fantasy that turns out to be a lesson in real life. The characters are all flawed and they all quickly turn to blaming each other for the mess they are in rather than working together to find a solution or even admitting their part in creating the mess. Everyone is in pain, everyone is punished. I thought that I might feel differently after I became a parent, but no, Act II is more of a downer now that I've experienced loss. Loss of a parent, loss of a child, either through estrangement or death, or even the hell that is hormones, puberty, and the search for independence, is real and visceral to me now and only seemed to make my experience of Act II worse than it was before when I was a seemingly carefree twenty-something. The play brings up many themes like "be careful what you wish for" because you might get it and when you do it probably won't be what you thought. The theme of "Children listen" to what you do, not what you say, so model behaviors that you want to teach them. Also, children are smart enough to notice when what you say and what you do do not match, so don't do anything that you don't want "printed on the cover of the New York Times" to steal a quote from Born Yesterday. The theme of "do the ends justify the means?" is answered with no, they don't, not if you hurt other people in the process. In terms of the costume design, it looks just the way any fairy tale should. It's a mix of periods with lots of bright colors, textures, and patterns. There's a clear difference between the classes with the Royal Family in more expensive fabrics, bigger wigs, brighter colors, and the poor peasants in more homespun garments and even bare feet. I was very impressed with the Witch's quick change from old ugly hag, into young and beautiful sorceress. My one critique is that I felt her Act II costume looked like it had been borrowed from Lady Macbeth's "out damn spot" scene. I wanted her gown to be more colorful and less "I've drowned in the river because Hamlet rejected me." I was so sure this was a Lady Macbeth gown that my husband looked up Macbeth on the TSF page and found that although Meaghan Simpson did play Lady Macbeth back in 2014, it was neither the same costume nor the same wig. Regardless, her performance was great as the Witch. I was especially fond of the Stepmother and Stepsister's costumes and wigs. The stepmother was played by a man, Evan Hart, and at first we thought it was Matt Simpson, only at intermission did we discover our mistake. Another favorite was Little Red Riding Hood's costume. Her red cape was made not with just any old hood, but a medieval liripipe that was stuffed and then curled up at the end. You can't see it from the front view, but in the profile picture with the wolf it's quite visible although not as curly as it was when we saw it. The rendering for Rapunzel's gown is clearly inspired by Daenerys Targaryen's costume from the second season of Game of Thrones, but this gown did not materialize in the show. I felt that the dark blue gown Rapunzel ended up in (which was far less spectacular) was something that was pulled and not built and that decision was probably based on the lack of time or money. Costume Renderings by Angelina Herin.
Costume GalleryAll photography by TSF.                   As You Like IT Directed by Matthew Simpson Choreographed by Daniel Haley Costumes Designed by Angelina Herin Scenery Designed by Jason Jamerson Lighting Designed by Alice Trent Sound Designed by Richard L. Sprecker Wig Master Byron Batista  Company Act I Photography by TSF.  Company Act II Photography by TSF I had read As You Like It in college at least once but had never worked on a production of it before. This production had a very similar feel to Twelfth Night from their 2015 season. The scenery featured a raised platform with steps leading down from the center that was made to look like a veranda during the court scenes with columns and railings. You could see the trees in the background with a netting of fall colored leaves. Once the action moves to the Forest of Arden, the veranda elements were struck leaving just the platform and steps. There was lots of live music in the show with the musicians singing and playing onstage. My only complaint about the music (or possibly the mics) is that the washboard was entirely too loud and I couldn't hear the singer over the washboard. The show was set in the crinoline period, judging by the ladies' court costumes. Celia was in pink with a gold diagonal stripe running through the fabric, and longer sleeves. Celia's costume was more elaborate than Rosalind's was, as the poor relation living off her Uncle's generosity. Rosalind's court costume was blue but done up in a plain fabric with a tacked on white ruffle and matching center front panel in the bodice, like it was a hand-me-down from Celia that they'd had to add fabric to so that it would fit her. Rick Higgenbotham played both Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, the former with a beard and the latter without. You'll notice in the photos that he's not wearing any facial hair for Duke Frederick. I'm imagining that the photos were taken at a dress rehearsal and the director and costume designer felt that Rick needed more than a change of coat to signify his changing of characters and the bad guy, Duke Frederick, got the facial hair tacked on at the last minute. Rick was wearing a white shirt, creme vest, and white pants with black boots as his base costume. Duke Frederick also wore a red cutaway tail coat, like a ringmaster, and carried a walking stick, while Duke Senior wore a light green frock coat with a straw hat. I was fretful for his dressers, he had to make so many quick changes, plus the facial hair. But he always came on in the right costume with the right facial hair. Touchstone wore a three piece suit of purple coat and pants with a brocade vest, which felt very similar to the costume he wore for his role in Love's Labour's Lost, as the girls' valet. No motley in this show. The rest of the men at court were dressed in a similar fashion. Orlando was dressed much more poorly than his brother Oliver, in brown pants, shoes, leather suspenders, blue faded shirt, white undershirt. Once the action moves to the forest, those characters were dressed less formally, in just pants and vests, no jackets, from their rough living. Celia changes her pink and gold gown for a much subtler dress of pale green calico, but with the same amount of rich detail like pleating around the neckline and ruffles on the sleeves. Rosalind's Ganymede costume consisted of creme pants, white shirt, silver brocade vest, white frock coat, tall buff boots, and straw hat. Phoebe was in an orange and brown plaid V-necked cotton dress worn over a tan blouse with a brown leather belt and brown buttons. The only other female character, Audrey, was dressed even more plainly than Phoebe, in a greyish plaid dress unbuttoned over a very low cut white blouse and her apron on sideways. The sleeves were very large and she wore them with the cuffs rolled way up. The costume was a bit large and saggy for her, making her seem even more simple-minded. Costume Renderings by Angelina Herin.
Costume GalleryAll photography by TSF.             As YOu Like It Panel From left to right: Director Matt Simpson, Lucas Iverson as Orlando, Lea DiMarchi as Rosalind, Rick Higginbotham as both Duke Senior and Duke Frederick, and Stage Manager, Darielle Shandler. Our favorite part of the festival, besides watching the plays, is being able to attend the panels the morning after the play. This year our trip was planned so that we could see the As You Like It panel. The director, Matt Simpson, led the panel. The panelists were Lucas Iverson who played Orlando, Lea DeMarchi who played Rosalind, Rick Higginbotham who played both Duke Senior and Duke Fredrick, and the Stage Manager, Darielle Shandler Matt began by asking questions and letting each panelist answer them to start off our discussion. The first question was, "Have you done this play before?" None of the actors had ever done it before being cast in this production and in fact it was Lea's first ever Shakespearean comedy. Matt had been in numerous previous productions, as had his wife Meaghan, so between the two of them they'd played most of the roles. I feel that that's a great boon for a director, to be very familiar with the play. "What research or preparation did you do for your role?" Rick never watches another production when he's preparing for a role. He explained that he's too imitative as an actor and if he watches someone else performing his role he'll start imitating that actor and won't be able to stop himself, a thing he figured out while still in college, when he used to listen to recordings of great actors performing famous speeches and had a teacher tell him at an audition that he'd done a great Olivier, for example, but now please do it like yourself. Instead of watching productions, he will look up photos of productions to see costumes and hair and makeup ideas to get a feel for how the character might look. Lucas says he's a huge "thief" and will watch all the productions he can get his hands on. He watched the RSC production twice before he came to Kilgore and wished he'd taken more notes during his study abroad course in London where he got to study with an actor who played Orlando and did a scene for the class with Rosalind. Lucas likes to try bits of others' performances in rehearsal to see which of those things fits his interpretation of the character. Rosalind makes what she calls a "mental scrapbook" by listening to others' performances like Vanessa Redgrave's as Rosalind where she's tricking Orlando in the forest. She never watches the entire production, just scenes. Matthew makes a huge effort to do an amazing amount of research before he begins work on a show. He watches every production he can get his hands on, pictures, recordings, he'll even search out director's notes in the library. He loves to get overwhelmed with research before he starts. This is also my approach to a show. In terms of choosing the 1840's as the setting for the play, Matt said that ecause much of the action is set in the Forest of Arden, he began thinking of Robin Hood, but then quickly moved beyond that setting. Matt prefers to update Shakespeare's comedies by moving them forward in time. He feels this makes them easier to relate to: falling in love, being betrayed by your family, running away from home. Matt stated that he was heavily influenced by O Brother, Where Art There?, as well as the Hatfield/McCoy feud, 12 Years a Slave, and the Civil War in general. He felt that Rosalind had a lot in common with Scarlet O'Hara in terms of being cast out of a position of wealth and power and into being dirt poor and having to take control of your situation in a way you never did before. Matt chose to set the play on a Southern plantation in the 1840's. A question that the production team had was whether or not to include Civil War uniforms. Although there are many Shakespearean plays where men in uniform appear, i.e. Much Ado About Nothing, there were no textual references to war, soldiers, or uniforms of any kind, so they avoided using those visual references. There is so much music in Shakespeare, in fact this play has the most music. Matt wanted to have live music as much as possible, and because of O Brother, Where Art There? they wanted guitar, banjo, washboard, and harmonica. The sound designer, Richard L. Sprecker, composed all the music in AYLI and Othello. The budget for the show was $13,000, they spent $10,000 on costumes, and scenery and sound less than $5,000. 70% of the show was pulled from stock pieces. They do very little renting because they see it as a waste of money. I wholeheartedly agree. The trees were built on wooden frames and then wrapped in burlap, stapled, and painted. The designer used the same trees for both Into the Woods and AYLI, they were just placed onstage in a different configuration. The multi colored leaves completely changed the palette. All the leaves were individually stapled to netting by the guild members as part of their volunteer work. The lighting made all the difference, between the spooky claustrophobic forest of Into the Woods and the bright, open, airy, and colorful Forest of Arden. Born Yesterday Pre-show Act I set. Directed by Leda Hoffman Costumes Designed by Angelina Herin Scenery Designed by Jason Jamerson Lighting Designed by Alice Trent Wig Master Byron Batista  Company Act I Photography by TSF  Company Act II Photography by TSF Born Yesterday was written in 1946 by Garson Kanin. I'd never even heard of this play before, and assumed it would be a musty old period piece. I was so wrong. At this point in our history, it's suddenly very timely and a sadly accurate snapshot of our government and its leaders. A corrupt junk dealer, Harry, brings his show business girlfriend Billie Dawn, to DC with him in order to buy a Senator to get some laws changed so he can profit off the WWII scrap metal left all over Europe. Billie's lack of an education makes her stick out among the DC socialites, so Harry hires journalist Paul, to educate her. Once Billie starts reading books and newspapers, she figures out what kind of person Harry is and she has a problem with how he does business. She and Paul conspire to foil his plans. Their scheme works, and it seems that she and Paul will get married, having developed a true fondness for each other over the course of the play. Ostensibly this play is a comedy and we do laugh at Billie's ignorance. However, I was surprised to discover that Harry is a complete villain, no better or worse than Iago. He orders everyone around, he demeans his employees, he shoves people out of his way, he's gruff, basically he's an overgrown bully. He treats Billie like a object, like he owns her; he yells at her. Later we find out he's a con artist at best and a war-profiteer at worst. He slaps Billie around, forcing her to sign some business papers. In Act III, he threatens her life. He is a nasty piece of work and it's not funny. We are genuinely afraid for Billie's life even though Billie isn't. We're glad when Harry gets his comeuppance and Billie leaves him for Paul. The set was designed to resemble an expensive hotel suite, lavishly decorated in the Rococo style. We are told that Harry wanted only the best and this suite is costing him $235.00 a week. In comparison we are told that the maid who cleans it only makes $18.00 a week, whereas the Senator he's trying to buy makes $200.00 a week. The living area had white doors and crown molding, picture rail molding, chair molding, and baseboards all with gold trim and filigree, wood inlay floor inside a marble floor, with an Oriental rug underneath the lovely gold Queen Anne settee and matching chair, marble topped end tables and fireplace with brass screen and tools. There are gold sconces, gold door handles, gold picture frames, and green and gold draperies and even a gold telephone. The painting over the fireplace was Fragonard's "The Swing". Outside the window you could see a view of the dome of the Capitol building in the distance. The costumes were typical 1940's clothes. Suits for the men, dresses for the ladies, nothing out of the ordinary. There were three acts, so everyone had at least three changes, Billie and Harry had three changes each in Act I alone. Although there's not a photo of it, Billie, played by Angie Atkinson (who also played Emilia in Othello), started off Act I in a gorgeous hot pink satin dress with matching shoes, white purse, gloves, and coat, and fancy pink hat trimmed in feathers and net. She immediately goes upstairs and changes into her dinner dress of a dark green satin for meeting the Senator and his wife. I found out later that the green dress had originally been made out of gold fabric because the furniture was supposed to have been blue. The gold dress was finished before the furniture had been purchased and because the scenic designer got such an amazing deal on the gold couch, that was the one that made it onstage. The minute she sat on the couch, she disappeared, so the gold dress was scratched and made up again in green. After the dinner party, Billie changes into her pale pink peignoir set for a late night game of gin rummy complete with marabou trimmed slippers. In Act II we saw her studying her books in a black blouse printed with yellow daisies with green piping trim, worn with green pants, a la Katherine Hepburn. She also wore horn-rimmed reading glasses. In Act III, she wore a smart blue suit. The ladies' wigs were perfectly styled and very elegant. Harry, played by Walter Jacob (who also played Jacques in AYLI) had a lot of changes as well. In Act I he starts off in a two piece, subtle plaid, chocolate brown suit with a button down tan sweater vest and brown tie, then immediately changes into a double-breasted, dark charcoal grey pinstripe suit with a red tie and carnation. He changes into dark red silk pajamas and a striped brown robe with velvet collar, cuffs, and belt with leather slippers for the gin rummy game, that he continually loses. In Act II he wears tan trousers with a mauve suit coat, brown print tie, and brown shoes. It's an odd choice. In Act III, which is just a few hours later, he lost the mauve suit coat, taken off the tie, and exchanged it for the bathrobe and slippers. I took an immediate dislike to Harry's character, which made me admire Walter's acting even more. I imagine that he had a difficult time in rehearsals working up to being as nasty as the part required, especially after seeing him be sensitive Jacques the night before. Paul, played by DJ Canaday (who also played the Baker in Into The Woods) is in some variation of a blue suit the entire show. In Act I, he wore blue/grey plaid slacks and a bright blue blazer with a brown tie with blue print. In Act II he wore his argyle brown and blue sweater vest with a more conservative blue suit. In Act III he's in a navy blue suit with yellow print tie. Harry's lawyer, Ed Devery, played fabulously by Micah Gooding, wears the same brown slacks and lighter brown coat with a mustard yellow tie throughout the entire play almost like he never goes home to sleep or change. His costume gets more and more slapdash, wrinkled, and slept-in looking as the play goes on and he gets drunker and drunker. Rick Higgenbotham plays Senator Hedges and wears a grey three piece suit with a grey bowtie. Mrs. Hedges, played by Lea Dimarchi who played Rosalind in AYLI, wears a lovely charcoal grey floral print dress with three quarter sleeves and a collar. Although Lea is half Rick's age, she carried off her part with the grace and dignity of Eleanor Roosevelt, even quoting her at one point. With her elegant wig having just the right amount of grey in it, I totally believed she was the right age to be an old senator's wife, when just the night before she'd played Rick's daughter. There's a bevy of hotel employees/servants running through the show that no one seemed to get a photo of, all in their matching red and black, black and white, or grey uniforms: Two bellhops, a maid, a manicurist, a barber, a shoe-shine boy, and a waiter, all of varying degrees of fanciness. Costume Renderings by Angelina Herin.
Costume GalleryAll photography by TSF.          Born Yesterday and Othello were the two biggest sets this year and Danny recommended that we stay to watch the changeover. Luckily TSF filmed it so you can see it as well. Thanks to Amber Goebel for doing that. Othello Pre-show set.    Directed by Donald Carrier Costumes Designed by Angelina Herin Scenery Designed by Jason Jamerson Lighting Designed by Alice Trent Sound Designed by Richard L. Sprecker Wig Master Byron Batista  Company Act I Photography by TSF. Never was there a story of more woe than that of Desdemona and her Othello. The director, Donald Carrier, chose to set his production in the Italian Renaissance as Shakespeare intended. The scenery was grey Gothic stone buildings with archways and rose windows. The grey stone was dressed up with wrought iron railings on the balcony and wrought iron door handles. In the stage right corner the steps and walls were painted to resemble tile with geometric patterns. I noticed that the floor was spattered in several different colors of paint so that it would appear to be a different color under light. The light behind the rose windows made them glow a warm golden amber. There was a fog machine making the atmosphere a bit hazy. The sound design was amazing. Every time Iago would monologue about his evil plans, there would be the sound of eerie bells in a minor key, then just piano and drums, while a storm was beginning to brew and rage in the distance. At various times there were alarm bells, musicians playing a viol and a flute, and later, organ music. The sound designer, Richard L. Sprecker, did a magnificent job of manufacturing the dark and moody aural atmosphere of the play. There was a prologue a la Romeo and Juliet where a masked singer sang about Jealousy, foreshadowing the plot. It seemed like it was in the script at the time, only later did I look up the text to find that Othello does not begin with a prologue, so whether it was written specifically for this production or was lines borrowed from within the play itself, it felt like it belonged there. As always the acting was magnificent. Cordell Cole played Othello to Tim Sailor's Iago. They were the only two men in the company not forced to wear inappropriately frizzy and very unnecessary wigs. Othello was published in 1604 and by that point men had given up their long hair due to the lace ruffs that were in fashion at the time. If any false hair was going to be onstage it should have been on their faces and not their heads. Most men in this period had facial hair that came to be known as the Van Dyke, named after the Flemish portrait painter of the same name. A Van Dyke consisted of a moustache and goatee with the cheeks shaved. The men in Othello all looked like they'd stepped out of an 1980's hair band video. That is partly why I couldn't take any of them seriously except Othello and Iago. And even then Othello needed some more facial hair to help him look less baby-faced and more manly. Or conversely, if everyone else had had Van Dykes, and Othello didn't, that would have been OK too. Of all the characters to not have any facial hair at all, Iago definitely needed some to make him look more wicked. But that's just my opinion and doesn't diminish the success of this production. Perhaps because I came of age in the 1980's, that's all I could see. The women wore the typical Tudor high-waisted gowns of sumptuous silks and satins, while the men paraded around in Venetians (fitted breeches that ended below the knee) or slops (very loose breeches that ended below the knee), and doublets. The soldiers' Venetians had colored trim sewn to them, in alternating red and gold on the bottom half, and either red, blue, or gold trim on the top half. I was very confused by this. My first instinct was that the vertical placement of the trim was meant to fake panes and my second instinct was the varying colors indicated rank. Either way, it was a nice addition to the plain black Venetians, but the blue trim was very distracting on Cassio as it was WAY too bright; when he was on stage it made me look at his crotch rather than his face. Plus it bothered me that it was a clear attempt to make all the black pants look like part of a uniform, which being all black they were doing just find by themselves, yet none of their doublets matched. If the blue stripe was supposed to tell me that Cassio was the Lieutenant and the red stripe that Iago was an Ensign, then maybe Cassio should have had a blue doublet and Iago a red one, and all the other nameless, rankless soldiers should have been gold. Instead each man had a different colored doublet: Cassio's was black, Iago's grey, nameless faceless soldiers wore various shades of brown, red, or no doublet at all. Othello also wore black pants like his men but were devoid of any colored trim whatsoever. With his black Venetians he wore a lavender kimono over a purple shirt with silver trim on the neckline, all held together with a blue sash around his waist. It looks way more regal in the rendering than it did under the lights. There was no ornate gold trim at neck and sleeves, as indicated in the rendering, the kimono hung too lightly on him and should have been made from heavier fabric. He puts a black leather breastplate and bracers on over this costume to get ready to go to war, but then takes them off when the threat passes. He eventually takes off the sash and the kimono, strangling Desdemona in just his lavender shirt which gets completely washed out under the lights. Cordell Cole completely out-performed his costume in this role, which was disappointing for me, especially after I saw the rendering and realized what Angelina Herin had intended it to look like. I'm not sure what the disconnect was there but it was unfortunate. There are only three women in this play--the men get most of the stage time. Both Desdemona and Emilia had two courtly gowns, with Desdemona wearing her white shift that she gets strangled in, underneath the other gowns as was normal practice then. Bianca only gets one gown that she wears in both her scenes. Desdemona's first gown was a brown, creme, and gold striped satin gown with the seams making chevrons at the center front of the bodice and on the short sleeves. Her shift covers all her cleavage coming up quite high on her chest. The gown she is pictured in on the rendering below may have been designed for her but was worn by Emilia instead in the same scene where Desdemona is in brown. Emilia's shift only barely conceals her cleavage. I don't understand why Emilia, the Ensign's wife and servant of Desdemona wore a much more colorful, elegant, and costly looking gown than her mistress, the General's wife. Why was this beautiful sumptuous blue and gold creation designed for Desdemona and then made up for Emilia when Emilia should have been the one in brown without all the gold trim? And to add insult to injury, Emilia wore a headdress through the entire play, like her own little crown. If you were watching the show with the sound off you would believe that Emilia was Desdemona and vice versa. It's a mystery. It was so distracting I almost couldn't concentrate on what they were saying...almost. Fortunately (for me) when they changed into their second costumes, Emilia was in a cheaper, plainer, browner fabric that looked very similar to what Desdemona had been wearing in the beginning, but stilll with a matching headdress, while Desdemona changed into a creme satin gown with no shift underneath and a cleavage revealing square neckline. At least the colors and textures were correct for the characters' social status this time. For Desdemona's final change, she appears in another shift, this time one that is made up in the filmiest cotton gauze with an overabundance of gold embroidery and beadwork around the neckline and the cuffs, not practical for sleeping in, I would think all those beads would make for a lumpy, restless night a la Princess and the Pea. But the weirdest costume of all is Bianca's. The character whose only function in the play is to be Cassio's whore that wants more out of their relationship, wears a virginal, white, frothy confection with double puffed sleeves and three tiers of ruffled skirt with a pink satin robe thrown over the whole thing. She looks more than anything like a child playing dress up in her mother's nighty. This effect was perhaps more enhanced because the actress playing her was significantly shorter than everyone else in the play. In conclusion, I really enjoyed the production but was left confounded by the costumes. Costume Renderings by Angelina Herin.
Costume GalleryAll photography by TSF.                         The Kilgore Rangerette MuseumEver since we've been coming to TSF, I've wanted to see the Rangerette Museum. A friend of mine from high school made the team back in 1986. She was sort of famous in our hometown because of that. So I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the team. The website has always proclaimed that they are open on Wednesday through Friday 10 am till 3 pm. The first year we didn't get there till Saturday, so we missed it. The next year I was smart and we got there on Friday at lunch so that we could see the museum before the matinee started. Sadly, the neon sign was off and no one was home. Every year since then I kept going by there at different times on Friday to visit it and it's NEVER been open. This year, finally, we drove by and the neon OPEN sign was ON! There were people walking in the door. I figured it was my lucky day and we immediately pulled over and parked so we could go in. As it turned out, the only reason it was open was because they were having a summer orientation for the brand new Rangerettes and their parents. We had followed in a girl and her family just like we were related to them and the staff let us go right on in. I took some photos, checked out the display, and we ducked out before anyone was the wiser. From the website: KICKIN' SINCE 1940 "In 1939, Kilgore College Dean, Dr. B.E. Masters, decided that the college needed an organization that would attract young women to the college and keep people in their seats during football game halftimes. His goal of equalizing the male/female student ratio had a secondary benefit - the folks would stay in the stands during halftime instead of sipping improper beverages under them. Dr. Masters brought Miss Gussie Nell Davis to Kilgore College to create something special. Her creation and gift to the world were the Kilgore College Rangerettes! The first group of its kind in the world, the Rangerettes brought "show business" to the football gridiron. Miss Davis' team took to the field during the 1940 football season, pioneering the field of dancing drill teams now seen across the nation. Miss Davis retired in 1979, and passed away on December 21, 1993." If you haven't heard of the world-famous Kilgore Rangerettes, here's a National Geographic article that will get you up to speed. Here's a video of their last home game half-time performance.
There was a documentary made in 1972 called Beauty Knows No Pain of the Kilgore Rangerettes. I saw this documentary on TV in the 1980's. I wish someone would put it up on You Tube, but you can see it at the museum. For the 75th Anniversary, Chuck Hale was asked to make another documentary, but instead he made a feature length film, called Sweethearts of the Gridiron, which you can also see at the museum. Here's a trailer.
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