Jordan River Revue records, 1921-1966, bulk 1922-1933
A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives
Processed by Kate Ball
Electronic finding aid
encoded by Liling Tseng and Caitlin Hunter
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
Jordan River Revue.
TitleJordan River Revue records, 1921-1966, bulk 1922-1933
Collection No.
C242
Extent
1.9 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Language
Materials are in English.
Abstract
The Jordan River Revue was originally
conceived as a benefit performance featuring Indiana University students to raise money
for a new auditorium. Though strongest in the 1920s and 1930s, the Revue continued until
1966. Notable performers through the years included students Hoagy Carmichael and
Charles "Bud" Dant. The collection consists of scrapbooks, correspondence, minutes,
scripts, song lyrics, musical scores, and programs.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Advance notice is required.
Administrative History
The first Jordan River Revue was brought to fruition by Charles Hays, the superintendent
of grounds and buildings and an avid supporter of drama and theatre at Indiana
University. Charles Hays sought to raise money through the Memorial Fund to build a new
auditorium that would accommodate full-scale theatre productions. The Jordan River Revue
was conceived as a benefit performance, featuring exclusively student talent at all
levels of writing, directing, and performing.
In November of 1921, Mr. Hays sought the musical assistance of student, George “Dixie”
Heighway, who led a dance band with experience in theatrical productions. On 8 December
1921, they posted an advertisement for auditions in the Daily Student and created a
committee to write and direct all facets of the production. The original committee
consisted of Helen Coblentz, P.E. instructor and dance director; James S. Adams, writer;
William Rawles, Jr., publicity manager; Katherine Rice, lyricist and costumer; and
Walter Stiner, composer. The plot and script were developed as a collaborative effort
between student coaches, directors, artists and composers.
Over the course of December 1921 and January 1922, numerous auditions were held
resulting in 75 students being chosen as actors, dancers, singers, and musicians for the
first Revue. The final cast was announced to the public on 14 February 1922, leaving
approximately two weeks for rehearsal before the first performance on 2 March 1922.
The Jordan River Revue was an immediate success. It played to a full house at its
premiere on 2 March 1922 in Old Assembly Hall. Due to its popularity in Bloomington, a
tour to Indianapolis, Indiana, was arranged for 11 April 1922 at the Murat Theater.
Rehearsal minutes from the first Jordan River Revue reveal that, as late as 8 April, the
script was being rewritten and new musical numbers were being added. In addition, the
Jordan River Revue was also performed during commencement weekend that same year. The
performances of the 1922 Revue netted $600.00 for the Memorial Fund Drive. After
graduating, bandleader Dixie Heighway went on to manage future fundraising efforts as
Alumni Secretary and director of the IU Foundation.
A highlight of the 1922 Jordan River Revue was the jazz music of Hoagy Carmichael, then
a student at Indiana University. His “Carmichael and Company” jazz group played in the
Revue’s New York cabaret vignette. A notable associate of Carmichael, Charles “Bud”
Dant, appeared in later Jordan River Revues, first as an assistant musical director and
composer in 1929 and then as leading man in 1931. Bud Dant is also known for making the
first transcription and arrangement of Carmichael’s famous composition “Stardust” in
1927.
Though the first Revue was produced on a $65.00 budget with a largely volunteer cast and
crew and a plot designed around donated scenery, the overwhelming success of the
original 1922 production won the Jordan River Revue a substantial budget for subsequent
years. By 1931, the Jordan River Revue had a budget of $9,350.00 and toured throughout
Indiana. In scrapbooks of the newspaper clippings of the 1931 Revue, 22 towns around
Indiana featured articles about the Revue. Though the tour did not travel to all 22
localities, the Revue had gained such wide acclaim that citizens of these towns traveled
to see the show in Muncie, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis.
In October 1932, a permanent campus all-dramatics board was formed; this board combined
the resources for several campus variety shows, including the Jordan River Revue and the
Garrick Gaieties, to produce one professionally written production titled The University
Revue. Due to the strain of the Great Depression, the Revue halted production in 1933,
and the production did not tour from 1934-1937. The student-produced Jordan River Revue
resumed regular production in 1938, having regained its budget from the university.
Throughout this period, the high quality of student talent remained a hallmark of the
Revue. In 1940 and 1941 the script and score won the regional award for best college
musical play from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
The Revue continued through 1943, taking a 2 year hiatus during World War II. When the
war ended, Dr. Lee Norvelle, director of the University Theatre, revived the Jordan
River Revue for the 1945-46 school year. Incidentally, Norvelle was instrumental in
realizing Charles Hays’ original goal of building a new theatre, which was completed and
dedicated on 22 March 1941.
The popularity of the Jordan River Revue peaked in the 1920s and 1930s, but the Revue
remained a well-loved campus institution into the 1960s. By the late 1950s, the quality
of the Revue was less consistent and experimental scripts and plots proved less
successful. The 1957 Revue centered round a teenager using South African voodoo in a
botched attempt to fix up her coed sister’s love life. In 1958, the plot focused on a
young witch who longed to become mortal and featured a ‘flying’ witch on guy-wires.
Despite the Revue’s technical display, the Indiana Daily Student commented that “the
lack of plot and dialoguehindered the show and the resort to profanity did not bring
response. It lacked subtlety.” (15 March 1958) The 1959 production returned to more
traditional subject matter and was “a deluxe Jordan River Revue, which IU has sorely
missed the last two years.” (IDS, 14 March 1959) The 1960 Revue looked to tradition even
further by featuring a revival of the popular 1949 Jordan River Revue, The Bandmaster,
rather than a new script and score.
The quality of the productions may have waned, in part, due to lack of funding.
Administrative records show that in 1929, the score was commissioned from Amos Otstot
for $175.00. By 1961, the compensation for both the script and score was a $100 prize
from the Speech and Theatre Department. The winner of this competition, Lee Devin,
produced a script satirizing student life at IU in a “corny and gaudy farce.” The
“script’s highest aim was a laugh,” but it was still a success with students. (IDS, 10
March 1962) The last program in the collection dates from this 1962 production and
clippings from the Indiana Daily Student also indicate that the Revue was not performed
after 1962.
A 5 January 1966 IDS headline stated that “Poor scripts seal fate… Jordan River Revue’s
rebirth chances bleak.” With lack of participation in the script and score writing
contest, quality scripts were hard to find. Theatre professor William E. Kinzer (who
co-directed the Jordan River Revue in the 1950’s) also commented that other
student-produced shows and musical groups filled the place of the Jordan River Revue and
that the student talent, once so vital in the Revue, had been channeled elsewhere. This
collection includes a group of photographs from a Jordan River Revue in 1989, but no
other further mention of a revival of the Jordan River Revue is found after 1966.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into six series: Administrative files; Scene dialogues and
lyrics; Sheet music; Programs and flyers; Scrapbooks and clippings; and Show files. Each
series is arranged chronologically unless otherwise noted.
Scope and Content Note
The Jordan River Revue records document the Indiana University student performance
group’s history from its inception in 1921 through the early 1960s. The collection
primarily includes administrative, publicity, and production materials, such as meeting
minutes, correspondence, programs, flyers, scripts and scene dialogues, musical scores
and lyrics, and newspaper clippings. Also included are three scrapbooks (1929-1931),
which contain scripts, photographs, clippings, and other memorabilia from performances
and tours.
The materials in this collection are arranged into six series: Administrative files;
Scene dialogues and lyrics; Sheet music; Programs and flyers; Scrapbooks and clippings;
and Show files.
-
Indexing Terms
-
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online
catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the
catalog using these terms.
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Separated Material
4th duplication of sheet music for 1929 Jordan River Revue discarded.
Related Material
More information on Hoagy Carmichael and Bud Dant, as well photos of Dixie Heighway with
Carmichael can be found in the Hoagy Carmichael Collection of the Archives of
Traditional Music, available via the Digital Library Program at
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/hoagy/.
More information on Dr. Lee Norvelle’s involvement with the Jordan River Revue can be
found in the “Lee Roy Norvelle papers, 1929-1967,” Collection C56, at the Indiana
University Archives.
Additional information on the history and development of the IU Auditorium can also be
found at the Indiana University Archives in Collection C201, Indiana University
Auditorium Manager's records, 1941-1946.
Materials related to the Indiana University Department of Theatre & Drama can be
found at the Indiana University Archives in Collection C299, Indiana University
Department of Theatre and Drama records, 1925-2012.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accession 7045
Usage RestrictionsCopyrights for records originating with Indiana University administrative units, departments, and other offices are held by
the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Jordan River Revue records, Collection C242, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Processing InformationProcessed by Kate Ball.
Completed in 2004.
The Archives received additional Jordan River Revue material from the IU Department of Theatre and Drama. This material was
added to the end of the collection as the Show Files series in 2009.
Files related to the Jordan River Review from the IU Department of Theatre and Drama records, Collection C299, were added
to this collection by Elizabeth Peters in 2017.
Series:
Administrative files, 1921-1932,
undated
Scope and Content Note
The Administrative files series includes correspondence, financial records, tour
schedules, and other documents dating from the first Jordan River Revue of
1922.
Box 1
Minutes of Auditions and Rehearsals for 1922 Jordan River Review,
1921-1922
History, 1922-1927
Roster of Writers and Directors, 1922-1948
Contract with Amos Otstot for Score, 1929
Rooming Arrangements on Tours, 1931,
undated
Girls in the Chorus of the Jordan River Review, 1931-1932,
undated
Tour Schedule, 1932
Correspondence, 1926-1952
Scope and Content Note
This file consists primarily of correspondence relating to the care and
chaperoning of the female students who participated in the Jordan River Revues.
In 1932, Agnes Wells, the Dean of Women, wrote to the parents of each girl
accepted to the cast to gain parental consent, assuring them that all
rehearsals and trips would be chaperoned and that only girls in good academic
standing were allowed to participate. The correspondence file contains copies
of each of her letters and the responses from parents. Another highlight is a
1926 letter from an upset taxpayer denouncing the vulgarity and “wild
recklessness” of the Jordan River Revue. The file also contains a note from
1952, unsigned but presumably from Charles Hays, presenting the original script
of the first Jordan River Revue to George “Dixie” Heighway.
Financial Records, 1925-1933,
undated
Scope and Content Note
This file includes budgetary material, production cost reports, and notes on
traveling expenses from the early years of the Jordan River Revue.
Series:
Scene dialogues and lyrics, 1922-1938,
undated
Related Material
Additional scene dialogs, scripts, and song lyrics are located in the Show Files
series.
Box 1
Original Scene Dialogue, 1922
Unbound Scene Dialogue, 1929
Bound Scene Dialogue, 1929
Revised Manuscript of Scene Dialogue, 1938
Song Lyrics, 1922
undated
Series:
Sheet music, 1922-1947,
undated
Arrangement
The series is arranged chronologically with the exception of the "Miscellaneous"
folder, which appears at the end of the series.
Box 1
Original Compositions, music by Walter Stiner / lyrics by Katherine
Rice, 1922
Original Compositions, lyrics and music by Amos Otstot & Charles
“Bud” Dant, 1929
Orchestration by Amos Otstot & Charles “Bud” Dant,
1929
1929
(former library copy)
Extra Parts of Orchestrations, 1929
"Who is that Man?", music by Louis Ross, words by E. Morrison,
1953
Miscellaneous, 1923-1947,
undated
Series:
Program and flyers, 1922-1962,
undated
Box 2
1922-1929
1930-1939
1940-1948
1951-1962,
undated
1925-1961
Series:
Scrapbooks and clippings, 1928-1966
Scope and Content Note
The Scrapbooks and clippings series includes fragments of a 1929 scrapbook of
newspaper clippings, as well as three complete scrapbooks spanning the years
1929-1931. Each scrapbook includes photographs, a copy of the script of that
year’s Revue, and newspaper clippings from towns in which the Revue toured. The
series also contains a collection of photocopied clippings primarily from the
Indiana Daily Student relating to the Jordan
River Revue.
Box 2
Scrapbook pages for Jordan River Revue, 1929
Box 4
Scrapbooks
1929
1930
Includes musical score.
1931
Includes tour memorabilia, such as postcards from the hotels and theatres
where the Revue played.
Box 2
Clippings,
1928-1932
1936-1940
1941-1947
1948-1955
1956-1959
1960-1966
Series:
Box 3
Show Files, 1930-1960
Scope and Content Note
The Show Files series consists of a collection addition received from the IU Department of Theatre and Drama in 2009. The
files consist of photographs, sheet music, programs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and scripts from Revue performances
spanning the years 1930-1960.
1930
1931
1936
1939
1939,
1942
Photos, 1939,
1947,
1949,
1951,
undated
Indianapolis
1940
March 28-29,
1941
"Take the Day", 1941
Devil May Care Script, 1942
Unidentified Script, 1942
Have a Heart, 1942
Have a Heart Scripts, 1942
(3 copies)
Correspondence and Miscellaneous, 1942
Two for the Show Scripts, 1946
(2 copies)
Two for the Show, 1946,
undated
1947
It's Friday, 1947
1948
Program/Script, 1948,
undated
The Bandmaster, 1948,
1949,
undated
The Bandmaster, 1949
The Merry Widow, 1949
Miscellaneous, 1946,
1948,
1949,
undated
Garrett Cope Revue, 1950
The Merry Widow, 1950
Spring is Here Scripts, 1951,
undated
(2 copies)
Spring is Here, 1951
Alma Mater Script, 1952
Alma Mater, 1952
"Who is that Man?", 1953
Welcome to France, 1954
Nautical but Nice, 1955
Carnival Crazy, 1956
Springtime and Stephanie Script, undated
Springtime and Stephanie, 1957
1957-1958
Undercover, 1959
1960
The Bandmaster, 1960
(2 folders)
Indianapolis, 1960
Photograph and script contest announcement, 1961
1961
Roman and Rompin, 1961
Thunder over Indiana, 1962
(2 folders)
1989
Unidentified Script, undated
Skits, undated
Beat as One,
undated
1
aluminum core instantaneous recording -
10"
Reeves Soundcraft lacquer
disc
This item has preservation issues (exudation) and is not playable.
Love is a Marionette,
undated
1
aluminum core instantaneous recording -
10"
Reeves Soundcraft lacquer
disc
This item has preservation issues (exudation) and is not playable.
Wherever You Go,
undated
1
aluminum core instantaneous recording -
10"
Reeves Soundcraft lacquer
disc
This item has preservation issues (exudation) and is not playable.
J. R. Blues,
undated
1
aluminum core instantaneous recording -
10"
Reeves Soundcraft lacquer
disc
This item has preservation issues (exudation) and is not playable.
Ladies Club Tea,
undated
1
aluminum core instantaneous recording -
10"
Reeves Soundcraft lacquer
disc
This item has preservation issues (exudation) and is not playable.
Here I Go Again Slow,
undated
1
steel core instantaneous recording -
8"
Audiodisc lacquer
disc
This item has severe preservation issues (delamination) and is not
playable.
Here I Go Again Fast,
undated
1
steel core instantaneous recording -
8"
Audiodisc lacquer
disc
This item has severe preservation issues (delamination) and is not
playable.
J. Roger Blues,
undated
1
steel core instantaneous recording -
8"
Audiodisc lacquer
disc
This item has severe preservation issues (delamination) and is not
playable.