Princeton University. Triangle Club

To a great extent, the history of the Triangle Club reflects the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the United States during the twentieth century, as well as its literary and theatrical development. The amount of talent--writers, composers, designers, performers--that came out of the organization is astonishing. A chronological examination of the archive traces an evolution of undergraduate life at Princeton University, from travel by private railway cars, invitations to tea dances and debutante parties, through what some might term our “vanished amenities,” to the bus-and-truck tours of the seventies, eighties, and nineties.

Beginnings

The origin of the club is firmly rooted in nineteenth-century theatrical tradition. Its archives begin in 1883 with a production of David Garrick by the Princeton College Dramatic Association; during the next five years the Association presented plays by Goldsmith, Sheridan, Garrick, and W.S. Gilbert. In keeping with the practice of British and American all-male institutions, women's roles were played by men. Entre'act music provided by the Instrumental or Banjo Clubs consisted of popular dance tunes or operatic excerpts, selections which would also have been in New York theatre programs of the time. Student theatricals were performed for the benefit of financially ailing athletic associations, and the sporadic activity of the Dramatic Association can be explained by the fluctuating fortunes of the athletic teams. It is interesting to note that the extensive Triangle tours of later years may be traced to the New Brunswick and Freehold performances of David Garrick .

In 1891 the Dramatic Association joined forces with the University Glee Club to present Po-ca-hon-tas, the first show in the Triangle tradition of musicals written and produced by students. According to a New York review, the reworked John Brougham play featured “new topical songs and local hits” and was well received, both on campus and in Trenton. But cast shenanigans in Trenton caused the faculty to veto a proposed New York performance; over the years, students and administrators would continue to be at odds over theatrical activities. Nevertheless, the Association came to Trenton once again the following year with Katharine, a Shakespearean spoof which marks the first appearance of Booth Tarkington '93 in the Triangle records.

The Triangle Name

The 1893 production was again a reworking of Shakespeare. Tarkington, a senior and president of the Dramatic Association, was prominent as both co-author of the book and as actor in the role of Cassius. The Honorable Julius Caesar was, in fact, so successful that it was repeated the following year, but with several significant changes. The Princeton University Dramatic Association had been replaced by The Triangle Club of Princeton. According to The New York Times, “several specialties will be introduced, such as tumbling, acrobatic feats, and dancing” and “James E. Wilson of Frohman's company came down Thursday and will coach the club regularly four times a week.” If Wilson did indeed coach, the club had its first professional director in its very first show under the name “Triangle Club.”

Financial problems--another recurrent theme in the history of the organization--caused Club members to curtail expenses in 1895. Neither the February production, Who's Who, nor the May offering, Snowball, were written by students, and both had relatively small casts. The following year the Club turned to a recent graduate, Post Wheeler '91, in hopes that his magic touch as co-author of The Honorable Julius Caesar could be repeated, and indeed, according to the review, their hopes were realized. The Mummy (1895-96) was also the first production in Triangle's new home, the Casino, located at lower campus near the present-day McCarter Theatre site. Yet another innovation was attempted in 1897. A Tiger Lily, the first Triangle show to be based on Princeton student life, was part of a double bill with Lend Me Five Shillings, a British farce. Since neither show was a great success, the Club returned to the tried and true in 1898 with a revival of P o-ca-hon-tas . The Privateer, presented in 1899, was originally entitled The Captain's Kidd Sister ; the name change occurred because Mask and Wig at the University of Pennsylvania had produced a show about Captain Kidd. The “Privateer” March was the first commercially published Triangle song.

The King of Pomeru was notable in several respects. The Triangle Records contain an account of the show by William O. Morse '02, president of the Club from 1901 to 1902. Morse described the first meeting to hear the words and mu sic; while they were not well received, there was no time to write a new show. He added, “It may make rotten reading, but it played well.” (Triangle writers ever since have had similar problems). The following year, Morse recalled, “there was a bit of dressing up and some new songs added.” The 1901 production marked Triangle's first New York appearance; in 1902 the Club ventured as far as Pittsburgh, but not without difficulty. Two performances in that city were necessary for financial reasons, but there was faculty opposition. Morse remarked, “I had a staunch ally in Professor Howard Crosby Butler '92--himself Portia in The Honorable Julius Caesar and finally “I think my guarantee that there be no drunkenness in Pittsburgh helped to carry the day. “ Here is the first inkling that liquor could be a problem on Triangle tours.

Growth

During the first decade of the twentieth century the organization of Triangle became more structured. Printed copies of the script “for the exclusive use of candidates” first appear in the archives with The Man From Where (19 03-1904), and are indicative of the audition procedures necessary to become a member of the Club. After the New York performance of 1901, Franklin B. Morse '95 proposed a meeting to organize Triangle alumni; he suggested that they could promote the Club and help to build its reputation, assist with business arrangements on tour, and generally socialize among themselves. In June of that year thirty-seven alumni met in Princeton. They hoped to present a constitution and by-laws at a fall meeting, and there was also discussion of a written history of the Club and the collection of Triangle materials and memorabilia.

Although A Woodland Wedding included a specialty skirt dance, and “The Pony Ballet” was a part of Tabasco Land, The Mummy Monarch 's kickline in 1907 was the first of that tradition to be documented photographically in the Triangle Records. Performances of The Mummy Monarch in 1907 prompted a letter from Eugene Sanger, the stage director, to J.B. Nutt, Club Manager. Sanger complained about the bad attitude of the men and cited as an example the fact that they did not think it necessary to rehearse before the Philadelphia performance. Nutt was also the recipient of a letter from John L. Kirk '81, who took offense at the treatment of alumni by the undergraduates in the matter of ticket distribution. Over the years Triangle would continue to have clashes with directors and alumni. The 1908 production, When Congress Went to Princeton, returned to a local setting, although in an earlier era. By 1910 the tour had extended as far west as Chicago and St. Louis; printed luncheon menus and newspaper clippings provide evidence of the elaborate social functions which were becoming part of the annual trek.

Christmas and White House Tours

With Once in a Hundred Years Triangle moved its tour to the Christmas season, again traveling as far west as St. Louis. The following year, The Pursuit of Priscilla was enthusiastically received in New York. The Washington visit featured a White House reception with President and Mrs. Wilson; the President also attended the matinee performance. The 1915-1916 production, The Evil Eye, had a distinguished pair of neophyte authors: Edmund Wilson '16 wrote the book, and F. Scott Fitzgerald '17 was responsible for the lyrics. Although he was never a member of the cast of a Triangle production, Fitzgerald in fact wrote three shows for the Club between 1914 and 1917. Among the enthusiastic Club supporters of this period were Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus McCormick of Chicago, who hosted numerous social events during the tours.

After a year's hiatus due to the war, Triangle became active again with a revival of The Honorable Julius Caesar . The first post-war tour occurred the following year, when The Isle of Surprise was taken on the road during Christmas break of 1919. This show marked a change in attitude toward Triangle productions. In the program, Club president Erdman Harris '20 described the new production: “And so we hope that a new day has dawned, that 'Jazz' will be forever relegated to a back seat, that Broadway will cease to be the idol of those who create the shows, that their staging shall be done in Princeton by Princeton men, and that the authorities and graduates will approve what is being done to elevate the standard of a society whose value in student life has been seriously questioned.” If indeed the value of the organization was being questioned, once again liquor seems to have been part of the problem. Correspondence in the Records indicates that Triangle managers during those years implored alumni in tour cities to write to President Hibben in order to confirm the good behavior of the men. E.S. Hubbell '20 commented to a St. Louis alumnus, “I am very sorry some of the men could not resist the temptation at Mr. Warner's tea but as the show went off all right I suppose there is no harm done. It was the only time on the entire trip that this occurred.”

In the spring of 1922 Triangle staged Shaw's The Devil's Disciple . This production was a milepost in the Club's history: the three female roles were played by women.

Professionalization and Emerging Stars

During the early 1920s there were several new developments in Triangle activities. New York performances were now booked in the Metropolitan Opera House, although initially there was some concern whether the Club would be able to fill such a large theatre and whether the men's voices would be strong enough to be heard properly. Late in 1923 there were negotiations concerning a possible radio broadcast, and in the same year Triangle's music publisher, J. Church Co., corresponded with the Victor Talking Machine Co. about a trial recording.

But the major event during this decade was the planning and construction of McCarter Theatre for Triangle Club. The completed theatre opened on February 21, 1930, with the Triangle Club presentation The Golden Dog . McCarter replaced the long-controversial Casino, which burned on January 8, 1924.

Here began the Golden Period for which the Triangle Club became famous in terms of its eventual contribution of outstanding talent to the Broadway theatre and Hollywood. Within a few years the Club would send forth into these profession al realms Erik Barnouw '29; C. Norris Houghton, Joshua Logan, and Myron McCormick, all Class of 1931; James Stewart '32; Jose Ferrer '33; and Nick Foran '34.

With The Tiger Smiles, Triangle writers returned to a Princeton town and gown setting for the first time since When Congress Came to Princeton (1908-1909). The production was well received, but the Club was already beginning to feel the effects of the Great Depression. In October 1930, the Program Manager reported, “Due to the financial depression the business of getting ads is a rather difficult one just now.” By the following year economic conditions had begun to affect the tour. South Orange reported poor ticket sales, and the local alumni chairman was concerned with keeping down the cost of stage hands. In Pittsburgh a poor house and lack of entertainment were attributed to the weak stock market. And in April 1932, a Buffalo alumnus painted a bleak picture of the current business situation. When It's the Valet was ready to tour, local alumni groups were either unwilling to sponsor a show or unable to guarantee an adequate sum to cover expenses, let alone show a profit. The Club's Graduate Board sought aid from alumni in underwriting the show, but individual contributions were equally difficult to come by.

Depression Years

During the mid-thirties Triangle continued to tour in spite of the Depression, but there were rumblings of discontent from both the Graduate Board of the Club and the University administration. In a 1934 meeting with President Dodds, the Board was concerned about the financial condition of McCarter Theatre; Triangle profits were insufficient to keep the Theatre operating in the black, a situation which was to become increasingly serious as the decade wore on. President Dodds had also heard alumni criticism about poor acting and an apparent lack of coaching in connection with the latest show. Yet he remained confident that Triangle could play an important role on campus, and Board President John Larkin '13 expressed the hope that the Club could be “the center around which would develop a new school or a department in writing and drama and creative art.” Later that same year, Club Manager Stryker Warren '35 received a stern letter from Dean of the College Christian Gauss. Gauss had considered cancelling the Christmas tour, first because of financial considerations, and then because of alumni criticism: “In nearly every case the criticism came as the result of the excessive drinking on the part of a few of your men.” Nevertheless the Dean concluded by wishing “you and all the officers and members of the Club a highly successful trip, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”

At a 1937 Board meeting there was discussion about the lack of good voices in Triangle. Alumni as well as Board members had noted this situation, and it was suggested that “there must be someone in the Glee Club who could at least be drafted to sing, so that a song could be heard beyond the footlights.” Another complaint came from a Louisville alumnus early in 1938: “… I am not crazy about the Triangle Club bringing in certain dirty lines about 'buying a drink' and 'the Knights of the Garter,' etc… Personally I would prefer to see the young men get properly soused and have to be poured on the train than to use the lines objected to.”

Another change in tradition came during the 1941-42 academic year, when Triangle produced Ask Me Another, its first show in revue format. Then, at a Board meeting in September 1943, Graduate Treasurer B. Franklin Bunn '07 announced that there would be no Triangle Club activities for the duration of the war. The University assumed control of McCarter Theatre during this period, and the building was leased by the military for the use of the trainees on campus.

Post-war comeback

In November 1945, the Committee on Undergraduate Activities issued a report. According to that Committee, a sub-group of the Graduate Council of Princeton University, “The Triangle Club is perhaps the most controversial of all under graduate extracurricular activities. Despite obvious shortcomings, the Club affords many valuable opportunities to the undergraduate body and plays a very real part in alumni relations. According, it should be reestablished at the first possible moment.” The first post-war show, All Rights Reserved, opened in December 1946, and even managed a seven-city tour. The following year Triangle was beset with problems. The Daily Princetonian reported, “… All Rights pretty nearly weren't Reserved . A play by the same name had fizzled on Broadway for a bare month, in 1934, and the petulant playwright threatened to sue. Hasty consultation with a Broadway lawyer revealed that the author could not possibly win the suit and that matter was closed. The club resolved the tricky labor question by employing union stage-hands; and surprised [union official] Petrillo's hirelings in Philadelphia by making them earn their fee playing with the regular orchestra and in Washington by using them for intermission music.”

Touching on some of Triangle's post-war problems in March 1950, The Daily Princetonian observed: “It is encouraging to note that the Triangle Club, to all intents and purposes, is making a serious effort to prepare its 1950 show well in advance of opening night, a practice strictly in the realm of wishful thinking in the years since the end of the war…. The Triangle Club, charging the professional prices it does, cannot expect to fill McCarter Theatre for a disorganized, semi-amateurish show. This obligation to Princeton audiences extends, of course, to audiences throughout the country. The Triangle Club has two further obligations. It should make money, badly needed to pull McCarter out of its decrepit state…. The club's second obligation is to Princeton. On the one hand, the annual tour provides a much-needed rallying point for alumni across the country. On the other hand, that same tour, in years past, has done much to further Princeton's ill-deserved reputation as a 'country club.' Unless the latter element can be de-emphasized in favor of the former, the club cannot claim to have justified its existence.” The following November a lengthy report was issued by the Special Committee on the Problems of McCarter Theatre, The Triangle Club, and the Future of Dramatic Arts at Princeton University. The portion of the report dealing with Triangle discussed finances, possible presentations of serious drama, cooperation with other undergraduate organizations, the contract concerning McCarter Theatre, relations with Club alumni, and undergraduate organization. During all of this debate on and off campus, Triangle continued to reach a wider audience through greater media exposure. The entire score of Too Hot for Toddy was recorded, and members of the cast appeared on The Kate Smith Show and Ed Sullivan's The Toast of the Town ; the following year Club personnel were featured on The Stork Club and Stars in Your Eyes, plus a repeat performance with Ed Sullivan.

Finally, in 1953, a memorandum of agreement was drawn up between Princeton University and the Trustees of the Triangle Club abrogating the McCarter agreement of the 1920s. The Club had simply been unable to cover the operating expenses and pay the taxes of the Theatre. A full-time general manager was hired for McCarter, and the University, which had been underwriting Triangle's losses, agreed to cancel the Club's debts.

The Lyon Era

Spree de Corps marked the debut of Milton Lyon as Triangle director. From 1955 until his death in 1995, Lyon would direct all but a handful of Triangle's original productions.

Student apathy toward extra-curricular activities began to have an impact on Triangle toward the end of the decade. At a meeting in October 1958, the Board noted a very small turn-out for the previous month's auditions. It was decided t hat more on-campus publicity would help, and as part of this effort Triangle Junior was formed, a group of seven Club members who performed favorite Triangle songs at club parties and other functions. Over the following years, this small group would under go periodic name changes, at some point being renamed Triangle Ding! and later Triangle Bit Parts, before changing back to Triangle Junior in 1989. But in the late 1950s there were also problems with the tour because of the gradual elimination of passenger trains; the Board suggested that the Club investigate touring by bus instead.

Early in 1960 there was a proposal to produce a motion picture on the Triangle Club, but a Hollywood writers' strike and possible heavy expenses brought an end to this publicity idea. However, Triangle did embark on its first European t our that summer; the Club performed at French and German bases of the American army.

With Tour de Farce the Triangle tour became a cross-country venture; performances in Pasadena and San Francisco marked the first time the show had been seen live from coast to coast. Because of the great distances involved, part of the tour was made by plane, also a first. The publicity staff of Ahead of the Game used some innovative advertising to promote the reunions show: “Family Night at the Triangle Show” was aimed at wives and children as a means of amusing themselves while the men were at stag dinners.

75th Anniversary?

Funny Side Up was billed as the 75th anniversary show in spite of the fact that number 70 was Tour de Farce, two years earlier. Funny Side Up did not have a smooth start. The writers were slow to produce material, and the trustees even considered the possibility that there would be no show. Student apathy was again cited, with undergraduates more concerned with grades and admission to graduate schools. Fortunately, because of the diamond jubilee, twenty-one songs from earlier shows could legitimately be made a part of the program. The tour of Funny Side Up included several southern stops, and the Birmingham visit became problematic. The Club was booked into a segregated theatre; after some strongly-worded letter s from Board members, it was determined that the performance would either be cancelled or moved to a non-segregated house.

Arguably, the main contribution to the Club's activities--and one that had been discussed as early as 1901--during the sixties was the publication of The Long Kickline: A History of the Princeton Triangle Club, written by Donald Marsden '64 and sponsored by The Board of Trustees. While it contains errors, it is the most detailed chronology of the organization through the production of Sham on Wry in 1966-67.

Women and other changes

A Different Kick was a Triangle milestone. It featured the first female undergraduate to be cast in a Club show, Sue Jean Lee '70, a junior in the Critical Languages Program. The orchestra was moved from the pit to the stage, and a spare, simple set and projection techniques marked a new approach to Triangle staging. In May 1969, the Board recognized the achievements of A Different Kick, but they also realized the challenges the Club was facing. The University's shift to coeducation the next fall would have a profound effect on Triangle. Growing deficits were a particular concern. And the Christmas tour was becoming more and more difficult: passenger trains were nearly nonexistent, bus travel was difficult, and the weather at that wintery time of year made plane schedules unreliable. Clearly, Triangle would have to change to survive.

Call a Spade a Shovel featured six women in a seventeen-member cast. The social and political commentary of the show unleashed an unprecedented storm of alumni protest, especially its anti-Vietnam War tones. Indeed, there was a massive walk-out by the audience at the Grosse Pointe tour performance.

Acting on the May 1970, report of the New Directions Committee of the Board, Triangle revised its production schedule that year. There was no December show and no Christmas tour; instead, a spring show was promised, to be followed by a short tour. In The Daily Princetonian a writer lamented, “… some will miss the excitement and debauchery of the annual tour.” In fact, Cracked Ice opened in late April 1971, was repeated for alumni in June, and finally toured the following December as far west as Missouri. To cut expenses, the cast and crew stayed in private homes rather than hotels, and non-union halls were booked.

The 1972 production, Blue Genes, featured a dance number which eventually became the kickline, with the cast on roller skates. The Princeton Triangle Workshop made its debut in November of that year with a presentation of The Fantasticks at the Princeton Inn Theater; the following March the Workshop produced Transitions, described as “five original plays and a multimedia extravaganza,” at the Truck Stop in Wilcox Hall.

Triangle continued to change during the mid-seventies. In the spring of 1974, Stephen James '74 submitted to the Board what was apparently the first annual report of a Club president. As recommended in the report, there was a southern t our of A Titter Ran Through the Audience that December. Also in December, the first issues of a Triangle newsletter appeared, reporting current activities and items of historical interest to Club members and alumni.

On December 14, 1979, The Daily Princetonian proudly reported that the Triangle Club was making its television debut with the performance of two numbers from Macadamia Nuts on The All-American College Comedy Show ; the Prince was apparently unaware of the Washington, D.C., broadcast more than thirty years earlier, as well as the clubs appearances on Kate Smith and Ed Sullivan's shows. The fall productions of 1978, Happily Ever After, and 1979, String of Pearls, were both written by undergraduates. For the 1981 show Triangle writers returned to the very roots of the Club: Bold Type, a book musical, was based on Booth Tarkington's novel, A Gentleman from Indiana . The 1981 tour again returned to California, but with a revue of Triangle favorites, Fool's Gold, rather than the spring show. The following year Triangle hired Miriam Fond, the first female director in the Club's history.

Triangle finally found a home for its fall productions when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at the Triangle Broadmead Theatre in November 1984. Revues of the best of Triangle, presented early in the fall, were intended to introduce the freshman class to the organization.

Further details of this tenth decade of Triangle productions are covered in a senior thesis written by Nancy Whitcomb Barnes '91, who was also a performer and officer of the Club. Triangle continued its tradition of punning titles such as Business Unusual (1987), Ain't Mythbehavin' (1988), and Satanic Nurses (1989), a take-off on the title of the much-publicized book by Salman Rushdie.

Centennial

The Club's centennial was celebrated in 1991 with a series of events throughout the year on the campus. There was, of course, the spring show, The Older the Better, as well as a large exhibition which ran through the summer i n Firestone Library and included some 850 items from the Triangle Archive, and in the fall a Triangle reunion weekend of parties, performances, and renewed acquaintances and reminiscences.

How could a centennial celebration be held in 1991 when documents in the Triangle files indicate that the fiftieth anniversary show was Once Over Lightly, produced in 1938-39? In a set of 1939 Board minutes, Fred Fox '39 attempted to explain Triangle's tangled chronology: “In 1926 Samarkand right out of the blue said it was the 38th Triangle production. After that everyone naturally followed suit. All our publicity material said founded in 1893 and that left a 5 year deficit…. Jack [Hurdman '39] and I did our best to find some signs of Princeton drama before 1893 and finally discovered that we could use 1882 as a landmark. That was no good either because we had to have 1888 or nothing. At last we noticed a neat constitution in an old Princetonian of 1888 and we used that. Our records then, start with a fine PUDA (Princeton University Dramatic Association) Constitution. They plod along for five years under that heavy title and finally Booth Tarkington suggests the name Triangle Club for the organization in 1893.” But Club name or constitution aside, the first show truly in the Triangle tradition was Po-ca-hon-tas in 1891; hence the choice of 1991 for the centenary.

Mary Ann Jensen

Curator, William Seymour Theatre Collection

From the guide to the Triangle Club Records, 1883-2008, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections.)