Mustang Athletes Staged First Show at Chevalier 75 Years Ago

Chevalier Auditorium was not officially dedicated to pioneering Navy pilot Godfrey Chevalier until March 7, 1940, but the first stage performance at the beautiful new hall took place about seven weeks earlier. On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 1940, the Medford High School “M” Club presented “eMbers of 1939,” a variety show that was described as a takeoff of the film “The Wizard of Oz,” which had been released in August 1939.

According to the 1940 MHS yearbook, the purpose of the “M” Club was “to unite the lettermen into a club devoted to the promotion of better school spirit and character development not only among athletes of the school but among classmates as well. Sportsmanship at all times and respect for the letter ‘M’ is the Club’s code.”

The annual stage show was described as the club’s major activity, with proceeds funding a scholarship to be awarded to a “worthy member” of the club from the senior class.

Following an inaugural performance of “Snow White” in 1939, the second annual “M” Club show featured a variety of music, dance, skits and shenanigans performed by “boys of the athletic teams and girls affiliated,” according to the yearbook. It was said to have drawn an “over-capacity crowd” in 2,100-seat Chevalier Auditorium, which was built as an addition to the old Medford High School.

Included was a segment called “Passe’ News,” which reviewed the Mustangs’ football season, including the “true story of the Medford-Malden debacle.” (According to the yearbook, a “vastly superior Mustang eleven lost to a physically beaten Malden outfit” by a score of 7-6.)

An article in the Boston Globe said that assistant football coach John “Jit” Ricker directed the Chevalier show and wrote most of the original songs and lyrics. Ricker later would serve nine years as head baseball coach at Tufts University. His best season was 1950, when he led the Jumbos to a 17-6 record and a berth in the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb., the only such appearance in school history.

Chevalier Auditorium hosted numerous events over the remainder of the 1939-40 school year, notably the senior class play, “The American Way,” which had a cast of 160 students.

– Submitted by Ken Krause, Friends of Chevalier Auditorium & Gene Mack Gym, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Chevalier Theatre being celebrated in 2015.