Margaret E. Lynn
Encyclopedia
Margaret E. Lynn formalized U.S. Army entertainment, beginning in Korea in the 1950s. Building on the tradition of Civil War camp shows, and a military show Yip Yip Yaphank
created by Irving Berlin
as a soldier in World War I, she eventually developed the U.S. Army Entertainment program http://www.armymwr.com/portal/recreation/entertainment/history.asp, inspiring, supporting and coordinating theatrical and music programs at Army bases world wide.
Under her stage name, Margaret Lynn, she was a dancer and dance captain with the Radio City Rockettes in New York City, and appeared in seven Broadway shows, including Oklahoma!
, Carousel
, and Mike Todd
's Mexican Hayride. She played the ingenue lead as well as understudying Ethel Merman
in Something for the Boys.
In 1945, she was chosen by Peggy Wood
and Paul Green
to be among the first civilian "actress technicians" employed by the U.S. government to work with troops overseas following World War II. Under commanding officer and stage director Joshua Logan
, she worked on dozens of productions for the military. She continued to conceive and direct shows during the Korean War
, bringing entertainment, sometimes under artillery fire, to military personnel of various United Nations units involved in that conflict.
In addition to "soldiers entertaining soldiers," Lynn stressed the benefits of including dependent wives and children actively in the performing arts, and the desirability of involving civilians from nearby towns as an antidote to the social isolation of service personnel working far from home. Under her guidance, numerous workshops, showcases, worldwide competitions and scholarships were established to discover and encourage talented members of the military.
Under Lynn's ambitious inspiration, dedicated music rehearsal facilities, proscenium stages, "black box" theatre studios and dinner theatres were established in unused army movie houses, barracks and other surplus facilities, where colonels, corporals, and civilians created theatre together. Not content with makeshift "soldier shows," her directors produced themed variety bills, Broadway musicals, comedy, serious drama, and occasionally Shakespeare. She loved to recount the great success of one of Father Hartke's Shakespeare productions from Catholic University, for which she arranged a tour of military bases. Enormous crowds cheered the comedy erroneously announced to troops stationed all over the Far East as "Love, Labor and Lust."
With her protege Donn B. Murphy
she established workshops at Georgetown University
to which she brought Entertainment Directors from all over the world.
The caliber and breadth of the army music and theatre activities from the 1950s into the 1980s are a tribute to Lynn and to the many professionals and amateurs whom she involved, inspired and supported at installations at home and overseas. Extensive documentation on this work is preserved in the Margaret E. Lynn Army Music and Theatre Collection, 1967-1978 at the New York Public Library Performing Arts Research Center at Lincoln Center http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b6567580.
In 1971 she assisted in arrangements for the debut of the Walt Disney World Symphony Orchestra, which brought together 145 musicians from 66 countries to perform concerts in New York at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and to celebrate the opening of Walt Disney World In Florida.
In 1982, Lynn left the Department of the Army and formed her own company, called Creative Consultants. She was simultaneously named general manager of the World Showcase Festival Program for the Disney organization. She brought more than 1,100 dancers, singers and other performing artists from 23 countries to Orlando for the opening of EPCOT
Center at Walt Disney World on October 1, 1982. The groups, including Moroccan dancers and drummers, Italian Flag Twirlers and members of Canada's Royal Mounted Police, performed in the park's World Showcase area. Lynn also coordinated the gathering of water from rivers in far-flung parts of the globe, which were ceremoniously poured into the Fountain of Nations in the Future World section of EPCOT.
Yip Yip Yaphank
Yip Yip Yaphank is the name of musical revue composed and produced by Irving Berlin in 1918 while he was a recruit during World War I in the United States Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York.-From idea to the stage:...
created by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
as a soldier in World War I, she eventually developed the U.S. Army Entertainment program http://www.armymwr.com/portal/recreation/entertainment/history.asp, inspiring, supporting and coordinating theatrical and music programs at Army bases world wide.
Biography
Born Margaret Linskie, in Dallas, Texas, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in 1942. In 1965, she was named the University's Distinguished Alumni Award http://www.smu.edu/alumni/reunion/daa/pastdaa_I_O.asp as the "Woman of Achievement" for the decade of the 1940s. She earned a Master's degree in Speech and Drama at Catholic University of America in Washington DC in 1943, studying with the renowned Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, O.P.Under her stage name, Margaret Lynn, she was a dancer and dance captain with the Radio City Rockettes in New York City, and appeared in seven Broadway shows, including Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
, and Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
's Mexican Hayride. She played the ingenue lead as well as understudying Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
in Something for the Boys.
In 1945, she was chosen by Peggy Wood
Peggy Wood
Peggy Wood was an American actress of stage, film and television.-Early career:She was born Mary Margaret Wood in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Eugene Wood, a journalist, and Mary Gardner, a telegraph operator. She was a direct descendant of Daniel Boone...
and Paul Green
Paul Green
Paul Eliot Green was an American playwright best known for his depictions of life in North Carolina during the first decades of the twentieth century...
to be among the first civilian "actress technicians" employed by the U.S. government to work with troops overseas following World War II. Under commanding officer and stage director Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, she worked on dozens of productions for the military. She continued to conceive and direct shows during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, bringing entertainment, sometimes under artillery fire, to military personnel of various United Nations units involved in that conflict.
Achievements
Lynn was eventually put in charge of soldier show entertainment at Army Headquarters in Washington, DC, where she organized companies of service personnel touring shows. In time she organized and supported a network of some 200 full-time civilian directors on military bases around the world. She obtained production and musical performance rights, created "How To" handbooks complete with scene designs and music. She set up worldwide Army Entertainment competitions, sending theatre professionals to bases to adjudicate shows, give support and feed-back to post entertainment directors, and select the best musical performers, who were then brought to Washington for a public showcase which she directed. The Washington Post observed that she had created "the largest producing organization of theatre and music in the world."In addition to "soldiers entertaining soldiers," Lynn stressed the benefits of including dependent wives and children actively in the performing arts, and the desirability of involving civilians from nearby towns as an antidote to the social isolation of service personnel working far from home. Under her guidance, numerous workshops, showcases, worldwide competitions and scholarships were established to discover and encourage talented members of the military.
Under Lynn's ambitious inspiration, dedicated music rehearsal facilities, proscenium stages, "black box" theatre studios and dinner theatres were established in unused army movie houses, barracks and other surplus facilities, where colonels, corporals, and civilians created theatre together. Not content with makeshift "soldier shows," her directors produced themed variety bills, Broadway musicals, comedy, serious drama, and occasionally Shakespeare. She loved to recount the great success of one of Father Hartke's Shakespeare productions from Catholic University, for which she arranged a tour of military bases. Enormous crowds cheered the comedy erroneously announced to troops stationed all over the Far East as "Love, Labor and Lust."
With her protege Donn B. Murphy
Donn B. Murphy
Donn B. Murphy taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations for White House dramatic and music presentations in...
she established workshops at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
to which she brought Entertainment Directors from all over the world.
The caliber and breadth of the army music and theatre activities from the 1950s into the 1980s are a tribute to Lynn and to the many professionals and amateurs whom she involved, inspired and supported at installations at home and overseas. Extensive documentation on this work is preserved in the Margaret E. Lynn Army Music and Theatre Collection, 1967-1978 at the New York Public Library Performing Arts Research Center at Lincoln Center http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b6567580.
In 1971 she assisted in arrangements for the debut of the Walt Disney World Symphony Orchestra, which brought together 145 musicians from 66 countries to perform concerts in New York at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and to celebrate the opening of Walt Disney World In Florida.
In 1982, Lynn left the Department of the Army and formed her own company, called Creative Consultants. She was simultaneously named general manager of the World Showcase Festival Program for the Disney organization. She brought more than 1,100 dancers, singers and other performing artists from 23 countries to Orlando for the opening of EPCOT
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
Center at Walt Disney World on October 1, 1982. The groups, including Moroccan dancers and drummers, Italian Flag Twirlers and members of Canada's Royal Mounted Police, performed in the park's World Showcase area. Lynn also coordinated the gathering of water from rivers in far-flung parts of the globe, which were ceremoniously poured into the Fountain of Nations in the Future World section of EPCOT.