Oral History Interview with Orlin Corey Part II

Glen Taul

This is an unrehearsed interview with the Orlin Corey, a professor of speech at Georgetown college, 1952 to 1959, by Dr. Glen Taul, Archivist. The interview took place in the Special Collections and Archives room of the Ensor Learning Resource Center at Georgetown College on September 9th, 2002.

Orlin Corey

'58--one day, and was at least a half hour, maybe over a half hour. And I went away, shaken, but we were going with it. I lost a (??). Shall we stop?

Glen Taul

Oh, no, no, someone's just waving to me.

Orlin Corey

Ah, and the the graduate students were arriving, if not that day, the next, and we will be in his whole new rehearsal round to fit these people in. And so the Job was done, and so on, and so on. And then the John Henry, good was also set up simultaneously at the other and we could alternate, which it's very good to have these two things going at once in a way. And the Job was first started, it was much more complicated to do. And then the other was fairly easy to fit in. Because many of the people going with us of the undergraduate production were still there. The John Henry, for example, a graduating--well, he was a junior, for example.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

So, that was fine. But the other, the more experienced people had to fit in. And then we learned what I--we were about to do a performance just to get the audience--the players used to an audience. And when we learned that information, and so we just packed it. Well, the secretary of the president came over that day, as we were just deciding, I just said, "we don't need the public performance, we just need a rehearsal." And so we rehearsed, as we we're finishing the rehearsal, this is the day before the other event should have happened.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

Secretary of the president came to the door and wrapped and as she would speak to me, and I said, "Sir," and she said, "I would give this to you from Dr. Eddleman." It was a little note, and it was inviting all of us who are going to England. It was about two and a half weeks after the May incident. We're now in mid-June.

Glen Taul

Oh, okay.

Orlin Corey

Now, we were ready to leave, you see. We'd been in the rehearsal phase.

Glen Taul

Okay. Okay.

Orlin Corey

Inviting the whole group to have dinner at his house tomorrow.

Glen Taul

Tomorrow.

Orlin Corey

Tomorrow. And a couple of trustees would be there. Same people who would have been seeing the production tomorrow, had we been doing it, I suppose. Maybe they were doing tha--I can't be--I'm just surmising.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Because he had a committee coming.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

That I know, because of the daughter, one of them told it. [laughter]

Glen Taul

Oh, yeah.

Orlin Corey

She was not in the production but. she was very concerned. Because she knew something about what was happening. But anyway, I happened to--I thanked her and, and said, "well, let me talk," because young people were scattering, we'd just finished the rehearsal, just finished.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

I said, "I'll read some in the next or two hour and let you know but, thank you very much." And--and--

Glen Taul

Now, what time are you leaving the next day?

Orlin Corey

We will not leaving town the next day.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

The next day was when we would have had the public perform.

Glen Taul

Right. Right.

Orlin Corey

We would have then left a couple of days after that..

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Because we had we built special packing for these and we had the restrictions on the train in England--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

--It would be moving things, all the dimensions, everything was highly organized. So all these things had to be done and assembled and padded and put away properly and so on. So we had a couple of days like that to do. And one couple were getting married Phil (??) Graybard (??) and Pat Mitton (??) in the company were getting married. So I allowed them a day off get married. [laughter] I understood, they were divided with the day so. Anyway, you know, I think I misstated something. It wasn't dinner the next day, it was dinner, like two days later, that was it.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Two days later then--than that moment when she knocked at the door. Because I now realize that that evening, I had dinner with Alice Fogle.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

The sister with Sheldon who were great friends of all this work. And I've mentioned her generosity already to the players, which was a very quiet thing that she did. And I mentioned this to her and asked her advice. And she said, "well, what's your instinct?? I said, "I don't really want to go." She said, "well, that's perfectly understandable but, you asked my advice, you should go. Because you do not want him to give any excuse to say that you snubbed him, that you did to him what he has already done to you. Take the higher way, do it. He quite possibly doesn't expect you to accept." If you want to look at it that way. It will be more put out by your coming then it would be by you're not because he could use that against you. You're not coming. I said, "well, I wouldn't believe it from anybody but you, but I'll accept the advice." So I did. And we did. And she was right. It was very interesting. It was very interesting. [laughter] He this, this is the other side that. You know, I mentioned Dr. Jones today.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

Him (??) and the basket of flowers.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

To this and then make a public jest. It was some kind of torture but, I'm not, I have a certain sympathy toward his personality. I mean, this was really complicated. And in my read as a layperson, and 50 years ago, not very, not a very heavy person. But because he was very successful, it's pretty misery all around here. But that was--it was very interesting. But it was--it was good, in many ways. His--his daughter had worked with us.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

And that was a tie, I imagine she'd been sent. But she worked with us and what that was, who knows?

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And so it was honoring Sarah, the daughter, and it was the right thing for all of us to do. And he was--he was--it was a little difficult for him. He played it pretty well. In his way, his way is to never stop talking.

Glen Taul

I see, huh. So there wasn't much conversation coming from yourself.

Orlin Corey

Oh, no, no, it was a lot of monologue.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

So, it was easy to watch.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And--it was alright. But anyway--

Glen Taul

Now, which house did this take place?

Orlin Corey

Well, the big house that they--

Glen Taul

--on Main Street--

Orlin Corey

The college was originally on Main Street.

Glen Taul

The one on Main Street.

Orlin Corey

Yeah it was down--

Glen Taul

So, it wasn't the one over here?

Orlin Corey

No, that's where the Hills were.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Yeah, that was all changed. And it was a beautiful--if you don't know that, that's a good--

Glen Taul

--I know where they have

Orlin Corey

--A beautiful old house.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

Beautiful, show it's--the

Glen Taul

It's the one-storey?

Orlin Corey

--It's rare vintage, early, early, beautiful high ceilings, with full glass on the backside, which was a nice modernization. So you can see--see toward the campus, or I don't know how the trees are now, but--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But anyway, that's--that was sort of the deal of that--postscript. Sometime in the summer, he said to someone who told me when I came back, met them on the street, and they said, maybe Ralph (??), I don't remember now--it may have been. And said, they said something about, well, "let's see something (??)--Corey shouldn't be back. Well, if Corey has an ounce of manhood, he'll never come back again."

Glen Taul

Dr. Eddleman said that?

Orlin Corey

So he said that, I think Ralph who said it to me.

Glen Taul

After that dinner?

Orlin Corey

Well, this would have been in August.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

A couple of months later.

Glen Taul

[laughter] That's very interesting.

Orlin Corey

And then ironically, after all of the predictions, you know, on his part, but he really wasn't a good drama critic. It was to my amazement, and he must have been incredulous, the most unlikely success of my life. You know, it was created for that purpose. It fit like a glove. What we did was right, for where were going, but then it went on for 25 years, it's just really incredible. [laughter]

Glen Taul

That is--that is--at some point I'd like to, it would be nice to get into that part of it. You developed the Book of Job in '56?

Orlin Corey

'57.

Glen Taul

'57.

Orlin Corey

Commissioned to do something in '55, spent a year looking, then spent a year adapting and then designing this ritual production. It'd be staged in October.

Glen Taul

--And it came out of this invitation from the British?

Orlin Corey

From Martin Brown, through the British Drama Society.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And he had wisely moved off over to the English Baptist Union, because he sensed, wise man, that that would be a good relationship here. And it always was played that way here, that it was Baptists who were asking us to go, which was a little ridiculous in a way. The other way around is that we were being asked by the British Drama League, which is all of Britain, and also the Religious Drama Society, which has in its board Baptists and Presbyterians and Catholics, Anglicans in England, you know--they were very concerned with a theater of some importance and some significance.

Glen Taul

So what were the practical limitations, if you want to call it that, that you had to work within to produce a play like that?--

Orlin Corey

Well--

Glen Taul

--Or to even write.

Orlin Corey

Well, when--I chose Job, because I--A was biblical.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

I knew something about it, had been in a production myself many years ago of a modern version. Then had directed another modern version, it was quite different. And these things are subject to many different--J.B.----Archibald MacLeish, about the time that we were doing this, about a year after this, he did his a totally different way. Again, these classics are full of potential to be--

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

Played many ways. I chose it though, because it was biblical, because I really felt this is the book that's full of the great questions of the bible. In fact, it's the great questions of all religion. Who is God? Where is God? Who are we? How do we please? What is right and wrong? Why is it evil? --It's all the great questions, and there are over 100, over 100 questions asked by Job, many of the same questions that we phrased. They break into about 10 fundamental questions.

Glen Taul

A lot of repetition in the--

Orlin Corey

Yes, but that's the old--the old way.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

You're saying it, and then you sing it again. And then you ask if you want to hear it again. And you do another work. It's-- it's very interesting--the Greeks did this somewhat in their tragedies too. They would move it slowly. And the--the Hebraic way was more or less like it is here. When you do it this way. And then you come at it another way. So the point has been made in their tradition, thrice. Three times its said, slightly different ways, of different nuance and then moves on. But anyway, the adaptation would be to simplify that, you know, because to do it so clearly once, that one moves on.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

In the essential of all things dramatic, is that there's some kind of movement, I don't just mean activity, there's some progression in the question, in the anguish, in the laughter and it keeps going on into something else. --We hold to the end. If it's a good piece, we're held to the end. If it's not, we get tired of it.

Glen Taul

You've got to dramatize the struggles sometimes.

Orlin Corey

Well--but not--in the general sense yes, but in the Job, I mean, there it is. [laughter] And he talks about it, and his friends come and argue with him and raise questions and so you have rounds of debate. There are seven levels of debate. It's-- notice these sacred numbers start appearing.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

And that that's its own matter. Now, the introduction that is written to the anthology gives you probably--is a very good one page about the approach to that.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

But the choice of doing it as a ritual piece comes back this way, not only the settings, which sent me to the language, to use the authorized version. Also moved me to the necessity of chanting and singing as well as chorus--coursing in a vocal sense rather than the singing sense, as well as declamation, use all of the speech arts.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

According to the seeming direction of the--of anguish that's in it to assign, but the real thing that impressed me was this is--this is really archaic, but it was very critical to this, was to go back to Aeschylus' play of Prometheus, Bound, with Prometheus has been put at the end of the world on a rock above the sea by Zeus. Because Prometheus loved mankind and wanted to give him light and gave him fire and gave him things. Created--Zeus wanted to keep the world in darkness. And so the wrath of Zeus has put Job here to I mean, same idea.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Iis to put Prometheus here bound. And the various gods of messengers come and torture him. But the chorus of the sea, the Oceanids, the women that surround the ocean. They are the earth, they understand him. They honor him, they sympathize. They believe in him, and he in them. That's the concept that was used here, Job.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

The chorus of the men who have basically the same theme, even though they have different versions of how they deal with it. Becomes in effect, a chorus of friends, antagonists or if your friends like these who needs--

Glen Taul

Enemies.

Orlin Corey

Antagonists. Enemies, exactly. And then the most intense of his language was signed--assigned to a chorus of women. So they did the innermost tearing, weeping anguish. That's the way--it's worked that way.

Glen Taul

Now, this is in Prometheus?

Orlin Corey

Yes. Well, and this is how the Job was done.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

A chorus of women--

Glen Taul

Oh, okay.

Orlin Corey

Five women, five men, hence the ten. And so it was done that way.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And that was the rationale of doing it. And then to use all of those arts of the chant, not Gregorian, but we made up our own chat, so we'd have a primitive chant.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Quite different.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And this is why it took six intense weeks, of eight hours a night, six nights a week, to do the first time. After that, we never had to start again, without somebody who wasn't clued into how to go to work with this--[laughter]--terrific job. And these people were all carrying heavy classloads.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And they all were B average or above regardless. It's if you've got to do it, you've got to do it.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Amazing. Anyway, that ceremonial ritual sense of the Job lifted it above boils and ashes and dirt and snakes.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And heat.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And turned it into, really the sense of what Job has become, the glory of Job. And we see him that way. I mean, you may talk about--he was patient, he was not--he was impatient. He was not poor as a turkey although--

Glen Taul

Well--

Orlin Corey

Nevermind, you know.

Glen Taul

--I read the Book of Job after I heard all of that. That's--that thing about being--him being patient and all--

Orlin Corey

Yeah, I know, it's not--

Glen Taul

Well, why was he impatient?

Orlin Corey

He's not that. Other than that, he didn't lose faith in God. [laughter]

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And he held on that's--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

--That's the reason we remember, he did not despair. He--he couldn't understand it's--

Glen Taul

The (??)---he was defiant.

Orlin Corey

And he called him an urgeent--and cetera, et cetera. But ultimately, ultimately, when that voice comes, it doesn't answer one of his questions, it asked him larger questions. [laughter] The growth is in the questions, which is when the religion at its best, ask great questions, and then you search. And then, that's where you--you must have faith. And likewise, the drama at its best works the same way too. Anyhow, this was all meant to be very self contained. Now as to physically staging it, I knew those--many of those churches would have narrow little choirs or transepts. If we were in an Anglican, we'd have a divided mabe (??) we would have some space. But wherever, we were, because we were up to wherever we're going to be invited.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

So we only brought with us a 1, 2, 3 boxes, each just one step up in height. Each is just one step and then one on top of another. And the fourth one was a little higher, so he could sit on tha. These boxes, you'd lift the lid off, and they would fold, so they travel flat.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

As a set.

Glen Taul

Okay, and they were made of wood?

Orlin Corey

Oh, yeah.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Made of wood. And they were hinged properly this way. And you just simply assemble them and there they were, you could put them in in five minutes.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And if a space was too narrow, in one case, it was, we couldn't use the widest one. So we use the next. But in all others, they all worked and the rest of it turned on the language and the voicing and the imaging the ritual, the image ritual that enhanced this all styled in terms of the church and music. We used their organ and we'd instruct the organist where we wanted to test a sound. And at that time, let them freestyle the processional in, usually with something from Bach and at the end, whomever Bach. So, it's joyful. Let's say, "In Thee is Gladness," would be a good example, for the, for the, for the--for the recessional,.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

--And--later, later, all these things evolve further, but they still worked out of this basic idea. And the players were the show, the costumes were the set.

Glen Taul

Okay, how did the costumes and the makeup evolve?

Orlin Corey

Well, back again, it's going to be in church. How do you image this? One of the things I did was I researched the imaging of Job historically. Job next to Peter, the Virgin Mary and Christ is the fourth most pictured individual in the Bible, which is--I didn't know that till I began the research. Christians are often not aware of that, but if you are pursuing certain kinds of, of sacred art--

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

--You begin to discover this. It is interesting. Anyway, and then I presume St. Paul would be right after Peter probably. So it goes. But and then--but in descending order, then you reach---you reach Job is even, even--he rivals Moses. In replication--in imaging. The oldest we have is in a Jewish, a synagogue in Iraq. That must be the fifth century before Christ.

Glen Taul

Wow.

Orlin Corey

And the Jewish tradition is not--the Orthodox is not of imaging, or not of perfect imaging. Imperfect imaging. But, and you come on this way anyway--the choices were to belong in the church, we didn't want it to be Bedouin.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

We didn't--it's easy to get rid of what didn't--want to didn't want it to be modern with foibles (??) Right. But rather, it became a sense as did the language, all of this, the glory of. In other words, we were to see Job as he now has become in our consciousness, across all of these years, the triumphant one, the one who did not despair, the one who believed against all odds, and held to his course and was ultimately vindicated by the Almighty. Well, then into the Christian forms, the Romanesque sculpture, very medieval, and I was to use it later with the Romans. Very appropriate for the saints. That's too Christian, because he's pre-Christian, stained glass. Medieval it has its place, and we were to use this in other ways too.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

In working through them, we find--we filed ideas. [laughs]

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But, didn't want the Job to be just medieval. Though, either one of those would have worked in any of these churches. Mosaic, mosaic is classic. It goes back maybe a couple of thousand years Before Christ. It's one of those forms once it appeared, it's become accepted by the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the Christians.

Glen Taul

The Muslims.

Orlin Corey

Yes, Muslims, they will go for the geometric, they'll go for that. And so leaned toward that, and then chose because that bridges, both dispensations. And if people want to look at it and see glass, and many of them did, they see stained glass, who are we to you know. If we're going to instruct them what--they've got to be given a manual and gonna read it and have a test--

Glen Taul

Yes---yeah.

Orlin Corey

--And do it our way. Again, the theater works in that kind of ambiguity. And so ultimately, that was it--that's why the decision was classic, it did not specifically dated to any period or culture.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And then, that geometric then began to fit with the way the chorus was done. Bits and pieces, the way the words and lines were put together and the voicing and certainly at home in any church setting, be it Georgian, be it contemporary, be it Gothic, be it Romanesque or Baroque. It fits anywhere. We later realized, but we did it at the time for the English churches. The--this also dictated choreography. Because these pe--you're not going to be casual when you--when you look like you're off the wall at Ravenna. Those are not casual figures. Oh, no, so high formality, great presence. The gestures tended to be uniformed and coordinated.

Glen Taul

Almost liturgical?

Orlin Corey

Well, yeah, absolutely, they were liturgical. We didn't go into certain--we did a general kind of blessing approach, but a general one, not a--not a specific, and so forth. But we worked a lot--ultimately, I chose the Ravenna Mosaics, as the sort of primer to work the choreography around. All of this didn't fit together and the faces was simply too complete otherwise, you'djust have an actor in an odd costume. But then this unified it. A final thing that we didn't really anticipate and like the fact that there's a surprisingness after all the theory, and that is, that when this has come together, the look, the language, the voicing, the unified ritual movement. Then this cracks and breaks with the passion. The face is shattered its onus (??)

Glen Taul

Wow.

Orlin Corey

It's like the stained glass, cold and perfect and suddenly, the whole passion shifts the thing, which was part of its visual appeal.

Glen Taul

Yeah, how did you affect that part?

Orlin Corey

You just have the face.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And the face moves.

Glen Taul

And the face moves.

Orlin Corey

It smiles.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And the whole thing happens, and the anguish comes through.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

In the voicing in the fit, they act to the whole bodies involved. And the photographs in the Odyssey of Massacres, which are on these pieces in action, it's astonishing what you're seeing there--

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

--The outrage the, everything's exaggerated, because the mouth is larger, the eyes are bigger.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And so forth. So at the same time, it has a restraint inside it.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

One of our anxieties over the years was to be sure that nobody ever made a photograph of a Job actor in costume, drinking a coke or smoking a cigarette. [laughter]

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

See, now you understand what I mean? It has to be appropriate.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

You know, I mean--they're tired, they'd take a break, whatever, eat--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

--A candy bar, or some of them smoked, I believe.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

None--no way, that was absoutely ever (??), total privacy. And anyway, all of this worked incredibly. And of course, what happened was at the World's Fair in Brussels, it was a smash, with an international audience.

Glen Taul

What year was that?

Orlin Corey

'58?

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Same way.

Glen Taul

Okay, all right.

Orlin Corey

By way of--we went to Brussels first, then came back to England.

Glen Taul

Went to Canada, then Brussels and then--

Orlin Corey

--To Brussels and then moved to a--

Glen Taul

England--

Orlin Corey

--From the Brussels fair, then we went into and the pre-production there, then to Canada, and the British press had picked up the reactions in Brussels.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

And because we were coming to Britain, they were widely played--

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

In the press, which was a great help there.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And so basically, the reception of the Job was always greater in England than it ever was in America.

Glen Taul

I see

Orlin Corey

We ultimately had five tours in Britain, over the years.

Glen Taul

And this is after you have Georgetown.

Orlin Corey

Yeah, the first one being '58. We were there, with four other tours over the years.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And some of them would be two months long. And--

Glen Taul

Who was your sponsor then?

Orlin Corey

Well, it would depend.

Glen Taul

Oh, is that right?

Orlin Corey

It would depend on who was--

Glen Taul

Did you own the copyright to it?

Orlin Corey

Oh, yes, to the adaptation, and the designs and directed the show and so forth and so forth. But and this is the Everyman Playhouse, you see, it became that in--the first summer we did Job outdoors and this is now jumbled. I have-- I've lost the sequence in telling this, which is 1959.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Which grew out of that reception, in Europe. It was still--as the maskrafter production.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Though I had left the college by then.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But, it was the maskrafter production.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

But, I had also bought the costumes for under the maskrafter Bill of sale and paid money and the money went to the maskrafter. That was one of the efforts made after we left by one person to do something. This is after--

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

--After, and that stopped it cold, yeah

Glen Taul

Where did--how did it--it play at Pine Mountain State Park for--

Orlin Corey

For twenty years.

Glen Taul

Twenty years. How did it get to that stage?

Orlin Corey

[laughter] Let's go back to Brussels, that press. And then English press coupled and some of this press then in turn got back through AP to the [Louisville] Courier Journal and the Lexington Herald.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

So there was awareness of this, a Kentucky group. Georgetown, maskrafter. We were all a cast of Kentucky Colonels.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

[A.B.] "Happy" Chandler came over.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

The night of the John Henry, which he loved, oh he loved. [laughter] He made everybody Kentucky Colonels. We were a whole nut bunch you know, [laughter]. We made our own comments about it, we were a basket of nuts. [laughter] and then we were called a cast of colonels and you know the press is always--they play these--

Glen Taul

Oh, yes.

Orlin Corey

--Word games, they can't resist them.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Anyway. Something about Job and Mosaic, he's all to pieces. So--anyhow, the Southern Governors Conference was slated to meet in Kentucky in September. [Tape cuts off]

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

News of that reception in Europe reached Governor Chandler. The lady in charge of doing the arrangements with the governor was Katherine Connor of Bardstown. We''d been involved nationally and also statewide in democratic politics since 1930, very savvy lady. She was the one behind the Stephen Foster story. Got that to happen. But she was also keenly aware of Job in her own life and responded to the potential of this in the show business sense. So, she went to the governor and said, "look, let's really do something different." What--he liked the idea and he--said, "my colonels, he said, "my colonels." [laughter] So anyway, we--he wired--he cableless us. A command Performance, you know. [laughter] Come to the Lexington Country Club for the governor's luncheon, and do Job. Well, I thought, but letter followed.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

I wasn't planning you know, it-- was--I was just returning to teach at Georgetown.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Which I was to do that fall away and so forth. Other things we're going to happen that fall, which I didn't know, there's enough, coming on my plate coming up.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But anyway, the--[isighs]--I decided that I could do a smaller version. I didn't really have time to get any new people involved.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

But, I had a fair continuation of people. Remember, I had a core of people who were students.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

In addition, there were two or three others on the campus who had been in the production before, and whom I had left out because they were not, they didn't meet my mix of needs.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

So I can put them back in with short review. Time to adjust the costumes. And about the 16th or 18th, somewhere around the third week of September, we were at Lexington at the country club and there was Job. And I enjoyed this very much, the ironies of are wonderful to me. Job was scheduled between, let me see, the whole thing began with mint juleps in the patio.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

For the wives of the governors and many congressman's wives and many senators. There were about 125 dignitaries there, from all over the South. They were there. And we were doing makeup and looked and they said, "well, Job, won't have to handle mint juleps. That's the way it is and maybe it'll help." [laughter] Anyway, we had no idea, truth is, they were just people.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Of course but, you know and then there was lovely music, a medley of Steven Foster music and other kinds of Kentucky music, and so forth going on with wonderful band and, and then the main course was over and before dessert, it was Job. Well, we said we'd do a version, we did a 45 minute version. Because you just remove certain sections, you know, that's the advantage of that. Well, it was quite sufficient. It was in a very unlikely place.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

A Country Club, a parlor, a bay window--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

--With the blinds drawn so the glare wouldn't hurt, lights on them from the floor and a little recorded music before they entered and left. It held them like a spell. When it was over, it was standing ovation time. And Catherine Connor with tears in her eyes said, "we must keep you--performing Job. We must keep Job in Kentucky," she said. A week later, she called and said, would I meet her at Pineville on such a day and she would--should meet--she could pick me up here and drive me down to Pineville to meet with a committee of people. So I could, I did. If I couldn't I would have, so I did. And there was a committee there of major business types of Pineville, mostly but some from Middlesbor. You see, that same summer, the state had made a survey of its state parks and Pine Mountain State Park on the weekend of July 4th had five visitors. They were thinking of closing a number of parks. She had played this anxiety. She knew that beautiful natural amphitheater, played in the anxiety to organize people to meet and talk. And she brought the press clippings and I had the press from Europe. But it's mostly her say so and they decided they'd do it for a summer. If I could do the show, get it together for them and develop a budget and do this and that, all those things were laid out that day.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And so this came about. It didn't get gelled--it didn't gel down till about the week before Christmas.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

It took about three months from that time for them to get all together.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

It's how they would do it. The men's club would do this, the rotary part would do that and the Women's Club of the city that did pieces of it. Who would do the publicity, who would do whatever. And then ultimately, then the Job was invited to be a feature of the Mountain Laurel Festival, instead of the usual, sort of whatever the usual was, I never knew. In the years later, I was never there at that time, because that was the end of May.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And so but, we were on that last night of May, 1959. And Tom Chaney who was presidency in [the] senior class, so forth--could not--it was graduation, he couldn't come.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Because he had to be there.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And several others too and they got roundly chewed out by people, but they came to this. And we did it to 2500 people, on a cold damp night in Pine Mountain, under a full moon. And John Ed Pierce was there from the Courier Journal and wrote an absolutely fabulous feature about--about a page and a half. It appeared four days later and then the play itself was to begin the following week, in its summer run there.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

And we shouldn't have made it. Because you know, it's cold down there to late June.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And when we got our first--night, Monday, our first night, it was a Monday. And we had six people in the audience or seven. I think it was and you [makes whistling sound] breath everywhere. So cold, we knew we had to do something.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And that's when I called AAA. I did some of the homework that they had not done. Locally, the committee didn't know.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

I just assumed these things were done and that's when I stopped assuming. And we found--we should have started maybe at the end of June.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Tourist Season begins the weekend before July 4th, we learned all these things that morning in three phone calls. We would have four weeks of just hanging on.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And we were going to close down. They've--having us closed at the end of July. We should have open the end of June and closed the end of August. But we did make it by--we did all kinds of things to promote.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

All kinds, and actually made it the final night. If the attendance at night tilted the scale.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

The piece ended in the black with like $30 out of a budget of maybe $25,000--whatever. I didn't know, they had lots of costs, I didn't anything about that side of it. And we signed a new contract for the next year.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

But by then, of course, you see when I signed, it was--I would bring the maskrafte to production.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But by then, of course, and that's when the Everyman Players was then organized as a different entity out of Georgetown--a lawyer drew it up here.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

As as an--incorporated as a nonprofit. So it was with the EovernmentPplayers there after production of the Book of Job.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And from there, it went on, and a year later, the real breakthrough--the next time, it did very well, because we started at the end of June. We did the things we learned.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Went the end of August, the season was much better. Word of mouth was better. AAA had become--come in to endorse it. The park traffic was picking up. It was--it was doing what it had to do there.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And there was a new governor, and Bert Combs.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

From the mountains, who was very interested in Kentucky's park system, and he did a tremendous job.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

You know, he moved us to the number one state in the nation, it was like number last, then, in quality of work. And he was particularly interested in Pine Mountain State Park, because of the Job play and the way it was working. So they poured a lot into that to help make that happen, which would be very useful to the timing into 1961 and '62.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

That's when the dividends played--payed off. But the late '60, late in the season, in August, the no, no, no, is that right? Now, that's right, it was in '60. The '61, it was in the next year. The Nashville Tennessean came up to--now I have it all wrong. It was a very--it was the next year, it was 1960, it was second year, that's right. And Clara Hieronymus (??) and Terry Sullivan from the Tennessean saw it and wrote a gorgeous two-page feature with color photos.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

And we didn't see the Tennessean in Pineville till Wednesday. It was out on the next Sunday. We didn't get to Wednesday after. The way the mail was and--

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

The Tennessean had to special order it

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And so on. But, on the Monday night after--no on the Monday morning after the Tennessean was printed, and three days before we saw it, Life magazine called or Look called and Life magazine had photographers in there, Don Cravens for example on the Monday night. We did a photocall till three in the morning, he shot 1,700 pictures.

Glen Taul

Wow.

Orlin Corey

And Look was in there the next day and did a bunch--a bunch. And that was the Life story that appeared then. The issue following Kennedy's election that November, that's how I suddenly corrected my dates.

Glen Taul

Ah, I see.

Orlin Corey

And it said Georgetown college maskrafters.

Glen Taul

Oh, it did.

Orlin Corey

Which is very funny. So you know, it was difficult to change the brand, but it's fine. I did--

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Go ahead and send it off. And I was able to write a letter, I would say probably saying, now I am at (??) college, but this is the Everyman Players. But that article, they changed the captions a bit.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

But that article--pictures Life used three other times, two times in Life International over the next three years.

Glen Taul

Wow.

Orlin Corey

And once again, in another spread, in this countr, in Regular Life. And after that, that's when a New York producer appeared and then that is when and so--so it just continued moving.

Glen Taul

I see.

Orlin Corey

--Long beyond the summers.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

In fact, there was a tour--there was a tour to the Kentucky Homemakers, I think it was. A big convention at Lexington in early January, 1960. We played that to seven, eight, ten thousand in some big coliseum over there.

Glen Taul

Well, it's probably UK's Memorial Coliseum.

Orlin Corey

It very likely must have been--this is now almost fifty years ago, see. Anyway, forty--forty-two, three years ago. And--but anyways Lexington, it was for that group. And then we also did a tour in Florida that spring, that May. And by now, the company, most of whom were still from that time, they were in graduate school or they were doing whatever, but they made a point of coming back and we had some people with this for as long as, one as long as 13 years.

Glen Taul

Goodness. Goodness.

Orlin Corey

And a number for eight and seven and gradually then and I'd replace piecemeal from around the country. But no, that was all. D--you know Warren Hammock? (??)

Glen Taul

No.

Orlin Corey

Okay. Well, he created the Horse Cave Theatre.

Glen Taul

Okay. Oh, he's a Georgetown graduates?

Orlin Corey

That's right.

Glen Taul

Yeah, yes.

Orlin Corey

He was a drama major.

Glen Taul

And when he put the--

Orlin Corey

He went to England in '58, he was the first show trip (??).

Glen Taul

Oh, really?

Orlin Corey

Yeah.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And then he played the Job in, in New York, which really started his his professional acting career.

Glen Taul

Oh, okay.

Orlin Corey

Because of the New York credits. So.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

And, you know, Walter Reed, Walter Rhodes, not as well known here, but also a graduate from Georgetown--

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

From Russellville--his real name, his natural born name was Walter Reed, but when he went to equity, they had to, they had to change the name because of the Reed chain of movie theaters.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

Because he would appear to a [laughter] cast lineup and every producer would hire him, you know [laughter]. Because they thought they'd get that money. So he had to have a different name, and it became Rhodes.

Glen Taul

Oh, okay. Now, is that R-h-o-d-e-s?

Orlin Corey

That's right. Walter teaches now at Wright State University, but also is one of the few actors I know who acts whenever he wants, wherever he wants.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And he's always in demand--if he's available, he's got an offer. (??)

Glen Taul

What were the circumstances of your leaving Georgetown?

Orlin Corey

Well, so we came back, and I apparently had a different kind of manhood than men thought I would have. Because I came back. But we got to that early October, I believe it was. And by then stops us, we're going to fly by the suit (??) which is another issue.

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

But we were--I was auditioning for Julius Caesar. And because the Job had been revived, it became the touring piece again, for the next, I just took advantage of that and left it together from the country club. Just put other people in, brought on back to keep it going. Which was fine, it made for a lot more publicity for the show in the future. I mean--

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

I hadn't thought of that till, I began then to think about the future.

Glen Taul

Okay.

Orlin Corey

With the Job. And I was casting the Julius Caesar and we had done the--made the designs and were about ready, we were ready to buy the first lumber.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

And to get the first nails and whatever to begin that construction work. With--all of what should be done on the stage, by the students in Lewis Auditorium, no other place to work and--but that's alright, you can do it and we were ready to do that and we placed the order and the maskrafters, you know for years just going by and we would be billed. But, I think it was Oldham Lumber called me and said, "Mr. Corey, I'm so sorry, but we've been instructed that you must have a college purchase order to do this." I had not been instructed, I was instructed by that and I went over and found that they had taken the maskrafter monies and seized them.

Glen Taul

And put them into the general fund?

Orlin Corey

Well, I don't know they to put them in, but they were there and they were in their hands then.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And probably have been ever since, I don't know. And they didn't quite make this clear. The club insisted on keeping its own money as it did shows. So, it was one of those in between things, but they had seized, I mean, whatever from whatever account apparently, got it from a bank. So, the club just established another account in another bank in their name and went on and the next year.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Or that year we were in, but we didn't know that we didn't have much money in that anyway.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

Because we were starting from scratch with--it we didn't know this at--had to be done.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

So I went over to see about that and the instruction from the business office was yes, I should have been told, I have to give purchase orders, but your purchase orders must be signed by the President. I said, "for nails?" I went and checked with the secretary and that was right. So, I wrote a letter of resignation from directing the maskrafters. And made that very clear, I pointed out, as I was hired to teach the courses which I teach, but never to direct the maskrafters. I'm resigning as director of the maskrafters, effective this date.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And will work and assist any way that the department wishes me to, but will not serve as a director again. Because I think my presence is an impediment to that program. Something like that, I have that letter somewhere. That went in the campus mail, I think it was the next day. If not, I may be confusing the way time is, you remember, is either--it was the day after I did it, or the next day after it was received. But anyway, it doesn't matter--

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

--Wthin 24 hours--

Glen Taul

Right.

Orlin Corey

Or so. I had a note saying that my resignation from Georgetown College had been accepted.

Glen Taul

Oh, you're resigning from the college?

Orlin Corey

That's what the letter said. Effective May 31st, 1959. And that wasn't too bad. Because you know, one could have fought a fight on the ARP side about this because theoretically, I had tenure, but I really didn't want it. And now this postscript to tha, I was later to learn, the players had lots of friends. Just think of the tour programs and the years and Rena Calhoun's involvement in all those years. So some of her former students, and maybe former maskrafters at other times in the world before me, were on the board.

Glen Taul

Of trustees?

Orlin Corey

Yes. And in one particular case, one lady, whose name I don't remember, but she lived in a town on the river, the Ohio, this part of Kentucky.

Glen Taul

Oh.

Orlin Corey

But anyway, she--she told Rena and this story to Rena and gave to Rena the note she'd had from the president, the president wrote notes to the board about this. The note she'd received was that he regretted to tell her that Mr. Orlin Corey had resigned from his position at the college after years of good service, and so on-- (??) was supposed to tell her that. She had called on another friend of hers, also on the board, who was on the inside. And she mentioned this note in a dismay about this, and she was worried about the music program too. And the friend said, "oh, he wrote me he fired Corey. Let me get the letter." And to her, he had written, "I finally got rid of this least trustworthy of a party of untrustworthies on this campus," or something like that, and fired him. Now, you see how that--the letters between worked both ways.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

The lady who was on the inside was appalled at the double take.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

What that means is, it was a betrayal of trust, and so perceived by people, even those who were inclined to the view that certain things should be done about the college. That's what I mean about the undoing. The--when I've said it, the things I'm researching. There probably was merit in the concept of unifying the system. I can conceive of lots of merit of concept. But ultimately, the means used to that end were--they were self destructing. They were as bad as a fuel pump giving out in your car at 70,000 miles. I mean, the the means caught up with the--with the other. And remember the faculty meeting account we heard today from Gwen?

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

That--of the President said and that in final, which would have been the last meeting before the--he was to resign. Why don't you trust me? And her mother had said, "and I do want you gone immediate--remembered it." But, Doctor, I don't know, "why don't you trust us?" It stuck, you know. So the humans story, it's very complicated.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

I know.

Glen Taul

It always is.

Orlin Corey

It always is. And I'm not judgmental about that. I'm aware.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

There are lots of possibilities there.

Glen Taul

Yeah.

Orlin Corey

And I was but--a--unfortunate or fortunate, either both ways. Small figure in many, many larger incidents here.

Glen Taul

Yes.

Orlin Corey

But in--this approach, this double level, was in use with--with other people. Particularly if they were known for writing, if they were known for music, if they were known---if they had outer influence, because it's hard to deal with those people. It's exactly what was happening here. And that's been known too, you know, so.

Glen Taul

Interesting.

Orlin Corey

So there, you know, that's just sort of hearsay, that was hearsay. But the other was actually how it happened, in that I resigned from maskrafters and got the other letter.