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Black faces will be on parade tonight in Sanders Theater when the Harvard University Male Employees Mutual Benefit Association presents the second in a series of minstrel shows started in 1944.
The University is invited. Rasius, played by Earl Skidmore (steamfitter) opens the show with the tuneful "Melancholy Baby." Jones, Al Fraser (sprinkler system and fire protection) sounds off then on "Watch Them Shuffia' Along."
A banjo duet, Harry Minkle and Charles Wharton, follow, plucking their merry way through "Wait Till The Sun Shines Nelly." With neither pause nor protest, Mr. Bones, James Shine (electrician) rolls out in front of those staid footlights to the tune of "Alexander's Ragtime Band," followed by Langdell Hall's own Chick Wyman (janitor) crooning in Bostonese the beloved strains of "Are You From Dixie?".
The Purpose of the show is to raise funds which the Mutual Benefit Association uses to supplement the sick benefits paid to employees by the University.
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