Kidnapped: a Marion College (IWU) newspaper staff play
I went to the genealogy center in the Allen County main library on Tuesday. I was doing research for work … but then I got distracted by very old Marion College yearbooks. My favorite discovery was from the 1932 Marion College Journal newspaper, The Sojourn of its day.
I think you’ll enjoy this.
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EXTRA KIDNAPPED EXTRA
ONE ACT PLAY
Journal Staff Cast
By M. Jones
Forward—This play is entirely imaginary and has no parallel in real life. However, the scenes which will be depicted here are not impossible in this day and age.
SCENE I
This scene takes place in the editorial office of the Marion College Journal. As you enter the door you will see Wm. Fessenden, the editor, scratching his head over a trying editorial. He is seated at a desk littered with papers, and a reading lamp shines down upon him.
Time of this scene is 7:00 P.M. on a Tuesday evening.
Enter Elsie Gibbs. “Say Chief, have you heard the latest Dorm. news?”
Bill: “No what is it?”
Elsie: “Why Mae McCarty has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom!”
Bill: “Oh! At last we have some news, maybe we can put out a “newsy” Journal this time. I’ll have to call a meeting of the staff.”
SCENE II
Journal Office
Time—Wednesday evening 8 o’clock
Characters—Bill Fessenden, Elsie Gibbs, Marie Wilson, Clarence Davidson and Marvin Jones.
As the scene opens we find the chief in earnest conversation with Elsie and Marie.
Bill—“Has anyone discovered any clues about this kidnapping?”
Marie and Elsie together—“Not yet Chief. Why, we’ve looked high and low for her but can’t find her.”
Bill—“This case certainly has me puzzled, and I am just about frantic from all the calls I’ve had. Every five minutes some one runs in and asks, ‘Do you have any news? Is Mae still missing?’ And about eighty-seven other questions. If this keeps up I’ll go crazy.”
There is a sound out side of running feel. The door opens suddenly and Marvin and Clarence both dash in breathlessly.
Bill—“What’s the matter with you fellows now?”
Marvin—“W-W-Wait till we c-c-catch our br-breath.”
Bill—“Well, hurry up—I can’t stand any more suspense.”
Clarence and Marvin in unison—“We’ve found her! We’ve found her!”
Bill—“Where, quick—tell me!!”
Clarence—“Well Chief, Jones and I went up to the Chapel to practice a piano duet. I was the first in the room and there I found Mae asleep in one of the back seats. I yelled to Jones and Mae woke up. Then, we asked her where she had been and then she discovered she had slept there from Chapel yesterday to just now.”
Bill—“What a mystery! What a mystery! Oh! Oh! Well I suppose, we can say ‘All’s well that ends well’.”
June 30, 2011