Mr. Scarlett Replies
In my last post (“Letters to Mr. Scarlett”), I looked at some letters we discovered while processing materials for the CDSS Archives at UNH. These letters were from notable callers Ralph Page and Benjamin Lovett to one unknown “Andrew Scarlett”. Two readers wondered if there were any letters from Mr. Scarlett in the Ralph Page Collection at UNH. I went online and starting searching, virtually, through the boxes of correspondence and there it was — a letter from Mr. Andrew Scarlett, dated January 27, 1938. It is a reply to that first Ralph Page letter we have in the Hider collection.
Roland Goodbody, Curator of Special Collections at UNH, sent me a copy of the letter and all of a sudden Mr. Scarlett came alive. His penmanship and courtly writing made me think him old rather than young, but those were different days and polite writing was the norm.
You may recall that Page asked for “the Americanized version of Huntsman’s Chorus” and in the January 27 letter Scarlett obliges, writing: “The Huntsman’s Chorus is a grand folk dance with the universal appeal that pleases and thrills all groups. We use the Americanized form of the dance which differs from the English as baseball differs from cricket, or as the Declaration of Independence differs from Magna Carta. ”
Andrew Scarlett's instructions to Huntsman's Chorus
Scarlett continues, writing: “The traditional music and dance was collected by Leta M. Douglas of Giggleswich, Yorkshire, England. It is published by her in a small collection of folk dances entitled Six Dances of the Yorkshire Dales Price 2/6 Postage 3d (that’s about .70 in our money).”
Scarlett suggests a visit to Page, “en route to my camp on Lake Winnepesaukee” [sic], and finishes his post with the observation that in the Oranges (New Jersey) they have five folk dance groups and a great many more in nearby New York “with its cosmopolitan population.” Even so, five groups is a wonderful number, whether they are cosmopolitan or not.
As far as the fate of the Page and Scarlett correspondence goes, Roland and I decided that, despite the correct rules of provenance, it is important that the letters be easily found if searched for. So, the Page letters in the CDSS Hider collection will join Mr. Scarletts’ reply in the Page collection. Copies of the letters and directions to the originals will stay with Hider.
 Scarlett's reply (page 1) |
 Scarlett's reply (page 2) |
And that, for the moment, is the end of the story of Mr. Scarlett and Mr. Page.
— Pat
Visit the CDSS library page to browse our online and physical collections.
If you are interested in donating to the CDSS Library or Archives please contact me at pat@cdss.org
Celebrating Tom!
Photo courtesy Arthur Ferguson.
This past weekend, I was pleased to attend the CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award ceremony for Tom Kruskal. The Lifetime Contribution is presented annually to individuals who have made a long-term and exceptional contribution to the mission of CDSS. In 2010, there were two recipients: John Ramsay and Tom Kruskal. John Ramsay’s award was given on October 16, 2010 in St. Louis. You can read about that here (pdf).
CDSS presented Tom Kruskal his award in Framingham, MA, on Saturday, April 2, where the greater Boston dance community celebrated Tom, and enjoyed one incredible party. For more than 40 years, Tom has — among many other things — nurtured morris and sword dancing in America, most recently establishing teams and mentoring innumerable young dancers.
The Celebrate Tom! Committee (Karen Axelrod, Deborah Kruskal, David Fleischmann-Rose, Erika Roderick, and Andra Horton) did a superlative job organizing the party and planning the program. Over 300 people, from the Revels community, Tom’s church, and the music and dance community, joined in the festivities. Many past and present CDSS Governing Board members came, as did members of the CDSS staff — these are their impressions.
Candyrapper taking the stage. Photo courtesy Arthur Ferguson.
Brad Foster, CDSS Executive Director: “The mix of youth and longtime CDSS members was fabulous and it was wonderfully overwhelming to be there. I would turn around and say, ‘I haven’t seen you in years’ and then turn around again and say the same thing.”
Steve Howe, CDSS Assistant Director of Programs: “It was a terrific gathering for someone who so clearly deserves it. Seeing seven sets of Great Meadows teams dance Cotswold was a great joy; I’m only sorry I was standing up so people behind me couldn’t see.” [Steve is over 6′ feet tall.]
Robin Hayden, Associate Director of Development: “Having worked at CDSS for over 20 years, I well remember a time when we worried about the future of morris. Well — our worries are SO over! It’s clear, from the national perspective we have at CDSS, that the widening ripples of this ‘youth quake’ — arising from Tom’s work and that of many other dedicated leaders — have had a profound effect on the whole culture of American and English dance across the continent. Morris on!”
Tom's supporters managed to fill a large stage. Photo courtesy Marty Stock.
As for me, it was both joyful and moving to be there. I had a wonderful time, reconnecting with old friends, helping out at the greeting table, and watching the spectacular dancing from Candyrapper, Pinewoods Morris Men, New Moon Sword, and Tom’s kids and teen teams: Hop Brook and Great Meadows Morris & Sword — with music by Tom, and others, on concertina.
Here’s a video from Emily Ferguson of PMM dancing at the ceremony:
At the greeting table there were two baskets of ribbons, for past and present members of Hop Brook and Great Meadows to wear. A little girl was looking wistfully at the basket and obviously was torn about whether she could take one or not. She disappeared and reappeared a minute later with her Mom, who asked, “Can future members of the teams take a ribbon?” This little girl’s older siblings are team members, and she has been waiting more than eagerly to join Hop Brook herself and now that she is 9 1/2 years old, the moment is in sight. Past, present, and FUTURE — give that girl a ribbon!
— Pat
Visit cdss.org for an interview I did with Tom, music samples, and a tribute & chronology.
Joel Gonzalez also posted two nice YouTube videos of Great Meadows singing “The Parting Glass” and their rapper finale. Thanks!
Letters to Mr. Scarlett
 |
 |
My desk in the office is usually tidy, but right now I am surrounded by boxes of books, tapes, letters and teaching notes which are being processed to send to the CDSS Archives and Library at UNH. While going through a box from the Bob Hider estate, our fabulous volunteer Emma Van Scoy found a small sheaf of letters to a Mr. Andrew Scarlett of South Orange, NJ. Bob Hider was involved in dancing from his teen years and was a square dance caller, and leader of English country, morris and sword dancing. The letters Emma found in the Hider box took place between 1936 and 1938 and involved correspondence between Mr. Scarlett and two influential figures in the early 20th century world of traditional dance: Benjamin Lovett, who was hired as dancing master by auto magnate, Henry Ford; and Ralph Page, aka “Dean of American dance callers,” and a pivotal contributor to the resurgence of contra dancing today.
We don’t know why Bob Hider had the letters and we don’t know much about Mr. Scarlett. (In 1930 he led a hike into a New Jersey state park and in 1942 produced at pamphlet entitled “Folk Dance Songs”.)
The letters are a fascinating view into the lost, courteous world of letter writing. Mr. Scarlett was evidently involved in country dancing in NJ, because the letter to him May 4, 1936 from Benjamin Lovett, on Henry Ford’s stationary, gives directions for “Balance Six in Line” and Lovett asks for eventual remittance of 10 cents.
 |
 |
The three letters from Ralph Page to Mr. Scarlett are dated January, March and June, 1938. In 1938, Page had just begun calling professionally and the previous year, his and Beth Tolman’s The Country Dance Book had been published. In the first letter, Page mentions a “big armful of letters” which Beth Tolman has just given him. Page refers to Scarlett’s letter describing the Mead New Jersey dance group, saying he was very much interested because he had only previously heard about it “from a distance.” Unlike Lovett, Page is accustomed to barter and offers Scarlett “directions and rhymes for one or two singing quadrilles” in exchange for “the Americanized form of The Huntsman’s Chorus,” and then goes on to offer the observation that he “[has] prompted for dances for several years and find[s] it a very interesting occupation. The favorite singing quadrilles up here are these: Darling Nellie Gray, Garry Owen, Buffalo Gals, O Susannah, and Duck and Dive.” He asks Mr. Scarlett for “the favorite contra dances in New Jersey” and offers that in Munsonville, NH the favorites circa 1938 are Morning Star, Hull’s Victory, Lady Walpole’s Reel, and Money Musk.”
 |
 |
 |
In March, Page wrote again to Mr. Scarlett, thanking him for directions to Huntsman’s Chorus, saying “the galop part of it was most surprising to me. I had supposed that all of what we call ‘fancy contras’ had disappeared,” and goes on to write that he figures the only advantage he can see of living in a city would be to belong to a group of folk dance societies. “That way you get just the right people to your gatherings, which is extremely hard to do at a public dance,” although he also writes that he had been extremely successful with his dances in Nelson. Around this time, Page was invited to take a group of dancers to Washington, DC to the fifth National Folk Festival there. True to his offer in the January letter, Page fills the remaining space with directions to three figures of a Plain Quadrille.
Ralph Page
By June 20, 1938 Page is offering accommodation to Scarlett at his farm, where his mother and sister Marguerite “take boarders and tourists and they would be glad to have you here.” Page goes on to say “I am busy every Thursday and Saturday nights now; Thursday in Dublin [NH], Saturday in Nelson [NH]. The Grange dances in Winchester have ended for the summer. This will start up again the first Friday in October. Expect to have a Friday job in Stoddard…” Should he decide to visit, Scarlett is supposed to find Page with the following directions: “As soon as your mileage shows you are nine miles from Keene [NH], start looking for a log cabin that has a sign saying ‘Happy Valley.’ It will have an old fiddler on it and will be on the left hand side of the road. I am there from May 20-Nov 1 and from 10am to midnight.”
So, who was the enterprising Mr. Scarlett? If anyone has knowledge of him, let us know. We’d be thrilled to know if Scarlett found his way to Happy Valley to visit with Ralph Page to talk about old dance tunes and country dances there.
– Pat
If you are interested in donating to the CDSS Library or Archives please contact me at pat@cdss.org
If you’d like to find out more about the roles Ralph Page, Benjamin Lovett, and Henry Ford played in the history of traditional dancing, we recommend the wonderful short documentary, Together in Time, among other resources.
The Bob and Kathleen Hider Scholarship was established at the request of his family upon his death in 1996 and has helped many attend English and American dance programs at CDSS camps.
Our newest publication: 21 Easy English Country Dances
Our newest booklet is 21 Easy English Country Dances: Dances Selected from The Playford Ball with Music Selected from CDSS Archival Recordings.
There are two people who were especially important to the production of this booklet: Gary and Rowena Roodman.
Rowena is the CDSS Sales Assistant; as part of her job, she helps people find the right CD or book for their needs. Until now all she has had to offer people who are either beginning teachers, dancers or both, has been the cassette Juice of Barley: Simple English Country Dances (CDS9)–outmoded technology–and The Playford Ball (CDSS, 1994)–wonderful resource but daunting to the beginner. Rowena remembers meeting an enthusiastic elementary school teacher at a CDSS week at Pinewoods Camp, who really wanted to teach English dance to her students — she needed music and she needed an introductory book of accessible dances. Rowena has also taken many calls at the office from folks who have seen the beautiful dancing in one of the recent “Jane Austen” films and want to be either Gwyneth Paltrow or Colin Firth (useful as it is, I really can’t say this booklet is going to help with that…).
Gary and Rowena at Pinewoods
Gary Roodman, Rowena’s husband and a well-known choreographer of English country dances, is a good friend to CDSS. Gary’s first encounter with English dance was at Pinewoods Camp. He and his family were vacationing on Cape Cod and had the opportunity to take part in CDSS Family Week. Gary told me about his first evening at camp: he was walking towards the main dance pavilion, C Sharp, and heard this sound! Gary remembers standing on a bench and looking down on the dancers, moving gracefully on the floor. He felt he was seeing a vision of his future. Gary said, “Every time I hear the music on the CDSS recordings, I am reliving that experience; and all my early dancing is connected to this music.” When the CDSS recordings started to come out in the late 1970s, it was the first opportunity to take that sound home.
Gary’s mission in helping with this booklet has been to preserve the music on the CDSS recordings (CDS 1-9). Gary took all the cuts from CDS 6-9 plus selected cuts from CDS 1 and Country Capers (Arabesque Records; Marshall Barron, guest artist) and created WAV files, for archival and re-publication purposes. Selections from this new archive are on the CD which accompanies the new booklet.
I’m happy to say that the new booklet has Rowena’s and Gary’s stamp of approval: it is easy to use, it is beautifully executed, and Rowena says it is all you need for your first two years of teaching and dancing. If you are able to do the 21 dances in the booklet, then you can move on to our next planned publication: Classic English Country Dances, with music on CD culled from CDSS recordings.
— Pat
Read the full description of 21 Easy English Country Dances and get one for yourself at the CDSS store.
EFDSS: Teaching Traditional Song
Fun With Folk
While checking out efdss.org the other day, I found a cool resource for teachers who are interested in incorporating traditional English song and singing games into their curriculum. Fun with Folk was created as part of the Take 6 Project, funded in England by the Heritage Lottery Fund and delivered to EFDSS in 2008-9.
Fun with Folk features 15 songs from Lancashire, Hampshire, and London with words and audio. And most importantly, there are extensive Teacher’s Notes with objectives, activities, local study suggestions, and websites for each region’s songs in the categories of: history, literacy, music, dance, physical education, art and design, and math.
These are fun, easy-to-use, colorful and kid-friendly resources. My favorite part was the staff room which addresses that age-old concern: I can’t sing!! You DO want to get over that, and it helps you learn how.
–Pat
Caroline, Promotion & Periodicals
Max, Youth Intern '09-'10
Pat, Education/Publications
Robin, Development Director
cdssblog.wordpress.com 