A Deserving Curtain Call for the Pasadena Playhouse

I have seen more Pasadena Playhouse productions than before since a Pasadena band of stalwarts set out to breathe life, drama and laughter into the moribund old lady in 1986. And that’s even though the storied Gilmore Brown opened the Playhouse decades ago.

During its glory days, I was going to college and acting in a melodrama revival of a show called “The Drunkard,” which became the longest-running show in the history of the theater. The curtain came down on “The Drunkard” for the last time after 27 years.

The theater was good to me. It put me through college in the lean years of the Depression. The Saint Joseph of Carondolet nuns who maintained my college, Mount Saint Mary’s, thought it was fine that one of their students was an actress upon the wicked stage.

That stage was about as wicked as a meeting of the Young Ladies Society because we played the show in the style of actors and actresses of the era when the show was first produced by Phineas T. Barnum in 1843 New York.

I don’t write about the theater often because it was all so long ago that it sounds as if I played a split week with John Wilkes Booth.

But that’s why I never got to see the superb productions of those days at the Pasadena Playhouse. I had my own show to do every night for 12 years.

The Pasadena Playhouse alumni group reads like a list of the aristocracy of Hollywood, and the theater is doing some wonderful stuff.

Because the Pasadena Playhouse has gone through some rebirth pangs of reorganization after its long sleep, like most theaters it is always in desperate need of money. Gregg Smith, the owner-manager of the Parkway Grill and its little brother, the Crocodile Cafe, is heading a committee to offer a benefit for the Playhouse.

The event will be in The Commons, home of the Crocodile Cafe, and a number of toothsome shops. The square courtyard, which centers The Commons, looks like a stage set to begin with. Smith will have it edged with mesquite-burning grills cooking delectables, pastas, pizzas and pastries. The tab is $50 per person.

Mimes, magicians and a dance floor with music by a trio led by Chuck Silverman will add to the tasty festivities. Because the inner square of The Common is non-stretchable, Smith says you’ll have to buy your tickets in advance for a spot at the party at The Commons.

The $50 ticket is for both the opening show of the Pasadena Playhouse season and the feast and can be purchased at the Playhouse box office at 39 S. El Molino.

The benefit and opening production are on Sunday, Oct. 1. The show is “Groucho: A Life in Revue” starring Frank Ferrante, a Marx disciple who has received great notices for his one-man show on the celebrated comedian. The performance starts at 5 p.m. and the Crocodile Cafe event at The Commons begins at 6 p.m. and continues through the evening. The box office telephone number for this and any Playhouse performance is (818) 356-PLAY.

The event is called Animal Croc-kers, a pun on the name of Gregg Smith’s cafe and the Marx Brothers’ classic “Animal Crackers.” Arthur Marx, son of Groucho, is honorary chairman for the event and will join committee members in welcoming theatergoers and lovers of tasty food to The Commons.

The $50 tickets for the Animal Croc-kers benefit are tax-deductible. Everybody ready? Overture and beginners, please.