SOMBRERO PLAYHOUSE

George Mickle, E. V. O'Malley, Robert Goldwater, William Allison, Mel Jacobus, Del Webb, Denison Kit-chel, Louis Karpe and Dr. Gaskins.

With a month to spare before the theater had to open to catch the season, construction was started on two and one-half weed-grown acres. Enthusiasm was at a high pitch. With the help of the city council extracted by Ann, 75 local jail inmates were detailed to clear the area. Business concerns contributed gravel, concrete, brick, burlap and flooring. Ed Varney, the architect, helped mix the paint. Allison steel partitions, just being manufactured, enabled erection of entire walls almost within hours.

The story of the parking attendant at the night club next door is still a favorite one. Returning to work after two days off he gaped at the building that had risen almost overnight, where there'd been only a vacant lot. Only after he walked over and rubbed his hands along the walls was he convinced it wasn't a mirage!

On March 29, 1949, with the audience on war surplus chairs (since supplanted), the Sombrero's first curtain rose on "Born Yesterday" with William Bendix.

An editorial writer measured that first season: "'Here Today' rings down the curtain on the first season of the Sombrero Playhouse, a short lived season which has seen a daring enterprise start from scratch and which citizens of this city hope will go on and on, growing more successFull every year. "Miss Lee and her partner Richard Charlton have won the hearts of a lot of Phoenicians for building some-thing in the nature of a big time stage here."

After the initial season of four productions, the Play-house settled down to a regular ten-week season of one-week runs. Last year's whopping offering of 16 produc-tions included the innovation innovation of several musical revues.

The Sombrero begins this season with a tidy total of 100 shows. In general the fare has emphasized light comedy, which audiences seem to prefer. But produc-tions have run the gamut, ranging from "Tiger at the Gates," "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" and last year's popular "Witness for the Prosecution" to "Desk Set," "Glad Tidings," "The Little Hut," "Too Many Hus-bands," and an occasional musical comedy.

They've brought stars of international caliber like Sarah Churchill, June Havoc, Gracie Fields and Vincent Price, Kirk Douglas and even Jim Backus, now renowned as the voice of near-sighted Mister Magoo.

Indicating the theater's professional position, New York producers allow it the first off-Broadway production rights for many of the newest plays. Thus Phoenix audiences have been first in the straw hat circuit to see such important vehicles as "Born Yesterday," "Affairs of State," "Harvey," "Picnic," "The Reluctant Debutante" and others. Tragedy had billing with Robert Walker, Jane Cowl and Brock Pemberton, prominent producer of "Harvey" on Broadway. All gave the last performances of their lives from the Playhouse.

Real life drama has touched the Sombrero, too.

On the happier side have been the stage debuts of outstanding film stars including Linda Darnell, Mickey Rooney and Fernando Lamas. Some thespians have gotten their big breaks at the Sombrero. Pretty Anne Kimbell last year played the showgirl in "The Sleeping Prince" with stalwarts Francis Lederer and Hermione Gingold. She charmed producer Edward Choate, in one of her audiences. He subsequently signed her for the lead in "The Joker" on Broadway. There she was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who has lured her to London this season to star in "Roar Like a Dove."

The Sombrero has been an impetus for local talent, too, giving able amateurs the opportunity of playing alongside the greats. Phoenix actress Olga Rogers, Marion Fernandez and Kit Pedler had the thrill last year of joining Gracie Fields for "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals."

Phoenix juvenile Jody Johnston kept up the lively pace set by Sylvia Sidney and a professional cast in "Anniversary Waltz." Talented Phoenician C. J. Miller frequently appears with stars.

From time to time such performances are the springboard to professional careers. Now on the New York stage, Phoenix's Sally Brophy started in the Sombrero's "For Love of Money" with John Loder. Burt Mustin of Tucson, now firmly established in Hollywood, was discovered in "Detective Story" with Kirk Douglas.

The inside story of production is a breathless one, sometimes full of suspense almost to curtain time. Close schedules permit a mere week for preparation and rehearsals. The manner in which occasional crises are overcome reaffirms that "There Are No People Like Show People."

Ann Lee, who left her producer activity only last year, has acted every season in one of the plays. But in the experience she recalls as the "most dramatic" of her career, she had no billing. Blanche Yurka as the empress in "Anastasia" two years back delighted opening night audiences. Next day-Thursday-she suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. She left a gaping hole in the cast with a sold-out house awaiting that night's performance. At 4 p.m. Ann Lee in Los Angeles was summoned to the rescue. She boarded an airplane at 4:40 p.m. It landed her in Phoenix at 8:20 p.m. She was met by a police escort and raced to the theater. A jittery cast, re-assured by her coming, went ahead with the opening curtain. Ánn, saved from combing her hair by an ap-propriate coiffure, wriggled into her costume just in time for her entrance.

She'd memorized her cue lines and with her script in the folds of her dress, she paraphrased to the cue line.

As reported, "She walked off stage to a rafter-ringing ovation of the packed house, a tribute from an audience recognizing a real trouper."

Ann remembers, "I walked off stage all right. But afterwards couldn't stand up. What an audacious thing to do!"

Contrary to public concept, the Sombrero's plays are not lined up in advance of the season's opening.

According to producer Charlton, "Top talent won't commit themselves so far ahead of time. And we'd rather gamble on waiting to sign them later than clinch contracts with semi-names and dubious talent. In the past the gamble has paid off."

The Sombrero offers name stars the inducement of a fine showcase for their talents and the convenience of sandwiching in appearances between pictures, plays or TV assignments. Stars are accommodated at one of Phoenix's luxury resorts. Supporting cast members stay in modern motel-type rooms which are part of the Sombrero's unique plant. They are pleasant, and, of course, so handy that stars frequently prefer them to the luxury billets.

In the nine seasons past, Ann Lee and Richard Charlton have strived continuously to present better plays, more accomplished stars, and a pleasanter atmosphere. Last year, theater-goers found a Playhouse touched with luxury and a glamorized Backstage Club. This exceptional restaurant and night club which adjoins the theater provides epicurean fare and a sophisticated setting for the gatherings of theater-goers, Phoenicians, and celebrities.

And the theatrical product of the Playhouse has paralleled that development, with top stars, eager to play from its stage.

The mirage has become a monument not alone to the pair who pioneered professional drama in Phoenix, or to the community, without whose support it could never have survived, but to the changing face of an American city.

"Now in our 10th season," Charlton says, "we're looking to the next ten. What will they bring? We hope they'll make the Sombrero one of the most stimulating theaters in the country."

With dancing eyes, he explains that his first goal is to intersperse the regular proven fare with brand new, never before produced plays. His second is to work out plans to establish a dramatic workshop for training theater aspirants along with professional presentations.

Bird Watching with a Camera ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARRY L. AND RUTH CROCKETT

Some years ago Ruth arrived in Arizona as a bride, and as soon as she became accustomed to the mining town in which she was to live she asked about the birds. Harry, a native of Arizona, not having had experience with the birds, said there were a few sparrows around. The answer did not satisfy either of us, and with some research and observation we found that Arizona, with its four life zones, representing a climatic variation equal to a trip from Mexico to Hudson Bay, and spread astride the path of migration of birds from north to south, was most favored with bird life. So favored, in fact, that few states without a coast line can compare with Arizona for the different birds that can be seen in a year.

Reading revealed that from the Huachuca Mountains, close by, much information was being gathered by scientists, and many, many bird skins were being shipped to the eastern museums. With the aid of the trusty Model T the 50 mile trip was made, and we began our acquaintance with the birds in the cool canyons. As time went on it was discovered there were birds in all the other mountain canyons, and the grassy valleys between the ranges.

Harry soon found that to keep up he would have to do some studying, for Ruth had the advantage of several years of organized work on birds in the Midwest. Most of the books to be found at that time were on eastern eastern birds, but luck smiled on us and we met several of the field ornithologists working in the area, and they were able to supply sources of information on western birds and some specifically on Arizona birds. Soon our summer vacations became camping trips where birds might be found.

Several changes in jobs during those early days gave an opportunity to live in several parts of the state and broaden our field of observation. Teaching made a long vacation available, allowing us to spend several weeks during the summers at the South and North Rims of the Grand Canyon, and mountain areas of the state.

After the camping equipment and the field glasses were acquired, it was decided that a camera would broaden our field activities. Harry had hobbied in photography a number of years and there was a need for photographs, not of Fourth of July parades as he had made, but of birds. At this period photographic equipment was not particularly adapted to bird photography and most of what was available was out of our reach financially, but a camera was bought and bird pictures began to supplement our observations and records.

Our first big break in cameras came when we were able to get a focusing back in the 3½ x 4½ size. It was a bit hard to operate from a distance because we were never able to trip the shutter with a string. The next year our associates in the school electric shop and machine shop helped us make a solenoid and battery