Joe Florenenski of Columbus, Ohio, centersquare@paullyndestory.com, is looking for information on the Kenley Players - "America's most exciting summer theatre."
The group performed in summer stock theater in York in the 1950s.
"Mae West, Angela Lansbury, and a very young Alan Alda were some of the notables who traveled to York to work for John Kenley," Florenenski wrote in an e-mail... .
Joe has been working on Kenley's Pennsylvania history (1940-1956), which included theaters in Deer Lake, Reading, Lakewood Park, York, and Bristol.
Joe said the company took over a theater on Market Street in York in 1952 and
presented at least two seasons of stock, maybe more. He's checking on the length of the run.
I wrote back that newspaper coverage of Kenley would be relatively easy to get. The York County Heritage Trust library has full microfilm sets of The Gazette and Daily and The York Dispatch ready to roll.
It's a pretty neat query. The likes of Alda and Lansbury spending a summer along the Codorus Creek? Pretty interesting.
Anyone know more?
Background posts: YLT + YSO = A1 entertainment, Another list of entertainers with York links, and Stand-in stole show in YLT's "Inherit the Wind."
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