The year 2020 will mark Laurel's 150th anniversary as an incorporated town. If the city is planning to top its centennial celebration from 1970, it better start now. In an extraordinary display of community involvement, the 1970 celebration spanned eight days, was managed by a Who's Who of the Laurel business community, staged events in every corner of the city, raised tens of thousands of dollars from sponsoring local businesses and, most impressive, produced a massive stage play about Laurel's history that included a cast of almost 400 residents.
The Laurel Jaycees jumped on the bandwagon first. So much so that in March 1970 the News Leader, in its coverage of the proceedings, reported that "it is expected that the Mayor and City Council will officially appoint the Greater Laurel Jaycees to coordinate Centennial activities. The Jaycees were complimented by the Mayor and Council for their interest." At the next City Council meeting, however, residents charged the mayor and council with "abdicating their responsibility by considering the appointment of the Jaycees as the official coordinator of the centennial celebration." The Jaycees responded by saying they were only "offering their help in creating the greatest promotion that Laurel has ever seen." The ruckus took the mayor and council by surprise and a special council meeting was scheduled for two days later.
At the special meeting, Mayor Merrill Harrison announced the formation of the Laurel Centennial Planning Committee, with himself as chairman. The committee was composed of seven local business leaders, including Ted Metzger of the Jaycees. According to the News Leader, "The Mayor said very little at the meeting. …It appeared to close observers that Mayor Harrison had intended to appoint the Jaycees as official coordinator for the centennial, until he had to respond to the charge of 'abdicating' responsibility." During the meeting, council members defended themselves to the riled-up residents, and Metzger vigorously defended the Jaycees' involvement. "I'm a little tired of being resented for the work we have done," he said at the meeting. "He called for a show of hands as a vote to indicate whether the people present believed the Mayor and City Council should appoint the Jaycees as coordinator of the Centennial," the News Leader reported. Council Chairman Leo Wilson, however, refused to call for a vote.
Things quieted down and the Planning Committee went to work. The initial plans, announced in April, were modest. The celebration was to incorporate some traditional summer events, such as the Fourth of July fireworks and the "Old Fashioned Days" promotion at the Laurel Shopping Center, with some Centennial Week events: a parade, a historic city tour, exhibit, and a costume ball. In May, an interfaith religious service and "possibly" a historic pageant were added. In June, however, things really took off. Harrison announced that the Rogers Co. had been hired "to conduct Laurel's Centennial celebration." No one seemed to object.
Founded in 1903 in Fostoria, Ohio, the John B. Rogers Producing Co. found a niche so specialized that they were virtually the only company that offered it. They had produced so many community historical pageants and celebrations they had templates for the historical play and the entire community celebration, as well as the organization required to produce them, all using local volunteers and amateur actors. According to the Toledo Blade, the company averaged 75 productions a year, with the high point in 1976 for the country's bicentennial, when they produced 120.
The company offered far more than a template to stage large community celebrations. Over the years the firm's collection of period costumes and props grew to fill a warehouse, all of which could be rented as part of the celebration. Music, lights, wiring, sound systems and souvenirs were all available for a price. The company's most important offering was its stable of producers and directors with years of experience staging large pageants, who lived nomadic lives jumping from one community celebration to the next across the country. It's unclear why, after their banner year producing bicentennial programs, the company closed for good in 1977.
In 1970, to organize Laurel's massive undertaking, the Rogers Co. put to use its template used in cities and towns across the country. Programs from similar celebrations in towns such as Wenatchee, Wash.; Cambridge, Ohio; Wichita Falls, Texas; and Thomasboro, Ill., all list the same titles and organization used by Laurel.
The Laurel Centennial Corporation was formed and local business leaders signed up to lead "divisions" under the overall leadership of an advisory committee, officers and General Chairman James F. Alexander. John Sippel and Leo Wilson headed the Revenue Division, along with Ted Metzger for Men's Participation, Ruth Block for Women's Participation, Frank Casula for Spectacle Ticket, Robert Kluckhuhn for Publicity and Wolford Berman for Special Events. Each division had numerous committees listed under it, and each committee had a person in charge. It was an impressive list of dozens of business and community leaders.
Each day of the celebration had a different theme, with committees for each led by a chairman. Future Mayor Bobby Joe DiPietro, who was a 17-year-old senior at Laurel High School, was named chairman of Young America Day. In a recent interview, DiPietro recalled that "they wanted someone young to run it and I already had in interest in politics, attending some City Council meetings."
With the Rogers Co. on board, the celebration's scope exploded. The fireworks and shopping center promotions were dropped as part of the celebration and the eight-day, self-contained templated extravaganza took shape. Other themed days included Freedom of Religion Day, Fraternal Day, Veterans Day and the final day, Everybody's Day. During the eight days, events held around the city included a parade, fireworks (their own, not the city's Fourth of July event), a mass interdenominational faith service, a beauty pageant, a military display by Fort Meade, games and competitions, an antique auto show, numerous dances and many others. Most important, an ambitious historical play was added to tell Laurel's history, which was to run for five consecutive nights during the celebration.
On July 9, the Laurel Centennial Headquarters opened on C Street at the former site of a Safeway store.
'Energetic Director'
Twenty-nine-year-old Edward H. Horner Jr. arrived in July to take over the producer reins of the celebration and to also direct the huge stage play depicting the history of the town, titled "The Laurel 100 Story." The News Leader introduced him to readers with the headline "Energetic Director Takes Charge of Sept. Centennial Production." Horner had worked for the Rogers Co. since 1963, after a stint in the Army where he directed 75 stage plays. In 1976, while directing a community pageant in Cohoes, N.Y., he told the Troy Times Record that he had directed 127 shows with the Rogers Co. His largest production was in Waterbury, Conn., which boasted a cast of over 1,000 locals.
Patti Davis Hostetter, who was a 16-year-old student at Atholton High School and played an Indian dancer in the production, remembers Horner as "so much fun" and that he "managed to make all of us dancers" in a short amount of time. Hostetter, one of dozens of young participants, appreciated that Horner "treated us all like adults."
Another participant, Kirk Felix, recalled that Horner was "full of energy." During his time in Laurel, Horner put his energy to good use. He seemed to be everywhere, conducting meetings almost daily with committees, local businesses and city government, as well as writing the script, casting the actor, and directing the construction of the mammoth stage.
Using notes provided by the city, Horner modified the play template used to tell Laurel's story. The completed script had a prologue and 16 chapters, from "Chapter One: Relics of Man and Earth" to "Chapter Sixteen: An All American City Tomorrow?" By using the company's script template, Horner was able to insert enough references to Laurel's history to make it seem like a custom production. Staging such a huge production with amateurs was possible because of another clever device created by the Rogers Co.: there were no speaking parts, except for a cadre of narrators who recited the script while the cast danced and pantomimed the action.
Hostetter remembers the experience as "wonderfully fun."
While the script was being polished and the cast selected, Horner also managed the construction of the 200-foot set at the site of the production, Laurel Park racetrack. The set was another template and identical to the one used in other towns. Much of the material used in the construction was donated by local businesses.
A key member of the staff producing the "spectacle" was the props manager, and Horner found the perfect guy. Tom Coward worked at NSA and was a member of the Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad. He was also in charge of the Laurel chapter of the American Field Service, which coordinated exchanging Laurel students with high school students around the world. He knew everybody in town and it helped.
In a recent interview, Kirk Felix provided Coward's story. Felix was a 19-year-old Marine working at a recruiting station in Baltimore and needed a place to live. Coward and his wife offered him a room in their apartment in Oxford Green. It was during this time that Coward signed on as props manager and asked Felix if he wanted to help. Felix saw it as a way to repay Coward for his kindness, so he became his assistant. Coward's kindness didn't end with Felix; Horner also moved in during his stay in Laurel.
Horner, Coward and Felix drew up the plans for the set and the props required for the production. Coward used his influence at Fort Meade and the Army provided some soldiers for the cast as well as a tank for the production. Felix remembers the most challenging task was to build a "river" so actors could paddle a canoe through the set. The rubber lining leaked and Coward had the Laurel Fire Department refill it daily from a pumper.
Felix said the only prop Coward couldn't produce were some buffalo; but he did find a team of oxen.
The play was well-received and, like all of the centennial events, was very well attended. The final official event of the centennial celebration was burying a time capsule with artifacts from 1970 (including a Spiro Agnew wristwatch) in Centennial Park on Montrose Ave near 10th St. Horner, who died in 2004, stayed to oversee the dismantling of the huge set before moving on to his next production in Wixam, Mich.
Is it possible to produce a similar celebration with so much community involvement for Laurel's 150th? We'll find out in five years.
History Matters is a monthly column rediscovering Laurel's past. Information for this story was found at the Laurel Historical Society. Contact Kevin Leonard at info@theleonardgroupinc.com or 301- 776-9260.