Each Spring near the end of the school year, Theatre Intime participated as part of the annual "amusements" for the yearly house party week-end. This particular presentation was a huge extravaganza,
using a combination of dance and music as well as acting, and both of the years that Mel Ferrer was involved, it depended heavily on the Finch School for Girls coached by Miss Frances Pole.
The selected play for the Spring of 1936 was an
experimental version of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" adapted by Lemiel
Ayres (class of '36) and Richard Baer (class of '38) with the role of
Peer Gynt being played by three different undergraduates, each
representing Gynt at different times in his life - as a boy, man, and old
man. The three selected Princeton players were Edwin D. Thatcher ('36),
Thomas H. Smithies ('37) and Richard A. Baer ('38), while the leading
female parts - all under the guidance of Miss Frances Pole - were taken
by Nita Easley as Solveig, Isabelle Tennant as Ase, and Frances
Pilchard, who played Ingrid.
Much of the pre-publicity
surrounding the production concerned the starry cast of dancers from the
Finch School for Girls, which included Jane Luther Rich (whose mother
was the "well known actress of stage and screen, Irene Rich") and
Barbara Strong, who would perform Anitra's dances. John H. Hicks (class
of '37) was the only dancer from Princeton, but the university orchestra
performed Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suites 1 and 2 and some of his folk dances
as incidental music in what was touted as a world's first time
collaboration of these two acclaimed versions of "Peer Gynt." While
Frances Pole supervised the girls of her school, the overall production
was directed and coordinated by one of the co-adaptors of the play Lemiel Ayres ('36).
A great deal of excitement was
generated over this particular production, which had two performances at
the McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus over the hectic house party
weekend of May 1st and 2nd followed by a single performance in New York
City at the Lenox Little Theatre on Monday May 4th.
Melchor G. Ferrer ('39) was only listed as a
"supporting player" in this production, but the entire affair probably
very much piqued his interest - particularly the dance aspects, as he
was an enthusiastic dance fan later in life, and of course, began his
career as a dancer on Broadway the year he might have been graduating
from college. But perhaps of primary interest is that this particular
staging resulted in Mel's first meeting with his future wife - Frances
Pilchard.
