I was pleasantly surprised to see this program cover image also used in a recent book celebrating the centennial of the Eastern States Exposition, or Big E, as it is commonly called -- Eastern States Exposition Centennial - A Century of Fun at the Big E, (Pediment Publishing, 2016). Many events and activities have taken place on the fairgrounds over the last century -- not the lease of which is New England's "Great State Fair" in which all six New England states participate every September -- but among the other attractions was, for a period of about twenty years, a summer theater called The Storrowton Music Fair, later simply Storrowton Theatre.
It played under a circus-like tent, in-the-round, and existed on the fairgrounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1959 to 1979. Many well-known stars of screen and stage performed there, and it was a very popular summer venue in western Massachusetts for a generation.
The Storrowton Theatre received only a brief mention in this book that was otherwise about the larger story of the Big E, so it was a delight and certainly a surprise to see Ann's appearance there in Show Boat in August of 1976 as representative of the caliber of performers. The Exposition archives must have a couple hundred programs they could have used to illustrate the big-name stars who performed there under the tent. To have chosen this one featuring Ann Blyth may be no more than serendipitous, but I like to think the editors of the book are fellow fans.
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