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THE FABULOUS TOBY AND ME by Neil & Vance Johnson Schaffner

THE FABULOUS TOBY AND ME

By

Pub Date: Feb. 7th, 1967
Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Tent repertoire (never repertory)...the bards of the cornbelt...the troupes that used to come to town and perform overnight miracles complete with orchestra and three-act drama and whisk papa and mama away from tractor and kitchen and into a very special world. Not many remember those good old days which flourished in the decade, before the Depression but one company has kept the spirit alive. It's the Schaffner Players which survived to become ""America's Only Living Folk Theatre"" and it was all because, of a carrot-topped character named ""Toby."" Nell Schaffner was the originator of this likable ""rube"" with corn-silk in his hair and an answer for everything and this is the story of how Nell got' into the business and eventually into the character. It's about tank towns and Fast Lynne, Show Boats and Charleston contests, slick sheriffs and ham actors and the time Gentleman Jim Corbett came to town. Nostalgia aimed at that large small town audience East of the Mississippi and West of the Rockies that gave Toby the key to the city and remember his classics like Getting Gertie's Garter.