The Junior Guilders are a singing group associated with the Lucille Ball Little Theatre

Lucille Ball Little Theatre

Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown is a community theatre company located in Jamestown, New York. It evolved from the Jamestown Players Club and was established as a non-profit corporation in 1936 with the name Little Theatre of Jamestown. The company has its own theatre on East Second St....

 of Jamestown, New York

Jamestown, New York

Jamestown is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the United States. The population was 31,146 at the 2010 census.The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake...

. Founded in 1983 by Helen Merrill and Lucille Miller, the Guilders get together each week to practice their singing, dancing, and acting. Their ages range from 7-16 and they use a wide variety of styles, including folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, and rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

. Merrill, an actress, believed that "the kids were destined for greatness".

History

The Guilders were originally an idea by longtime Little Theatre director Fredricka Woodard. Woodard gave the idea to Helen Merrill, an actress at the Little Theatre, in 1982. Merrill established the group in 1983. Since that time, the group has grown from a dozen children to almost 40 performers. Helen Merrill remains its director. She also established and directs Children Sing, a minor organization of the Junior Guilders. Most Junior Guilders were formerly Children Sing members.

Performances

The Junior Guilders have performed in many locations, most commonly in Elderhostel

Elderhostel

Elderhostel is a not-for-profit organization established in 1975 that allows senior citizens to travel and take educational programs in the United States and around the world...

s. The shows at Elderhostels are generally from 20 minutes to two hours long. The Junior Guilders also perform with an ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 tribute act at the Chautauqua Institution

Chautauqua Institution

The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles northwest of Jamestown in the western part of New York State...

. During these performances the songs "Thank You for The Music" and "I have a dream are sung", with the latter accompanied by Sign Language

Sign language

A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...

. The Junior Guilders have also been invited to Walt Disney World's Magic Music days celebration numerous times. Their most recent show was in April 2010 at Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is the name of two outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complexes located at two Disney resorts:* Downtown Disney , at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida...

. The Guilders have performed for 25 years at the Chautauqua County

Chautauqua County, New York

-Major highways:* Interstate 86/New York State Route 17 * Interstate 90 * U.S. Route 20* U.S. Route 62* New York State Route 5* New York State Route 39* New York State Route 60* New York State Route 394...

 Fair in Dunkirk, New York, Walt Disney World, and Opryland

Opryland

Opryland may refer to:* Opryland USA - defunct theme park located in Nashville, Tennessee* Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center - formerly known as "Opryland Hotel", located in Nashville, Tennessee...

, USA, performing 3 times with an ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 tribute act, as back up chorus for the late Sheri Lewis in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...

, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

; they got a standing ovation at the Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis

Lonnie Melvin Tillis , known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....

 Theater. They have also been featured at the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 honoring Congressman Amo Houghton

Amo Houghton

Amory "Amo" Houghton Jr. is a politician from the state of New York, a retired member of the House of Representatives, and member of one of upstate New York's most prominent families in business, the Houghton family.-Early life:...

. The Guilders have performed in numerous shows at the Lucille Ball Little Theatre. The most recent Junior Guilders show is Disney's The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...

Kids.

Repertoire

• "Jamestown, New York, 10,000 Maniacs"
• "We're Doing a Show"
• "The Best Little Theatre in Town"
• "On The Stage"
• "God Bless The U.S.A."
• "What A Wonderful World"
• "Thank You for the Music""
• "Music will always be there

Christmas songs

• "Wonderful Time of the Year"
• "Jingle Jolliest"
• "Santa MaJazz"
• "Marshmallow World"

Sources

• Post Journal, July 8, 2008, "Guilders Slate Fundraising Breakfast"
• Post Journal, July 18, 2008, "Junior Guilders Marking 25th year at County Fair"

External links

• Official Website
• Press release: Junior Guilders at Chautauqua, July 20, 2010