Paperwhite Narcissus

The final production of the season was Life with Father, the popular play by Howard

Lindsay and Russel Crouse that ran on Broadway eight years and racked up over three

thousand performances. In three acts, the play follows daily life in the household of Clarence

Day, a wealthy Wall Street broker who lived in a handsome Victorian brownstone on Madison

Avenue in the 1880s. Tim was cast as Whitney, third of the four Day brothers. It was a stretch 

for him to play a preteen, but since he was the youngest looking of all the male apprentices,

he was the logical choice. His younger brother, Harlan, was played by a ten year old local 

boy from Essex Junction.

The very specific stage directions called for the Day family to be “redheaded in

temperament, vital and spirited.” Rather than deal with the inconvenience of fake-looking 

wigs, the actors playing the four Day sons agreed to dye their hair. Tim would get a crew 

cut when he returned to Westport, and hopefully traces of red would have disappeared 

before he arrived at William and Mary to begin his sophomore year.

The last week of the season was relaxed, as the company was not rehearsing for 

another show the following week. Their primary responsibility was Life with Father in 

the evening, with days off on their own. Classes for the apprentices were moved from

eight a.m. to a more civilized start time of ten o'clock. That week was devoted to rehearsing the 

benefit program which was a scaled-back version of The Wizard of Oz, minus the singing and 

dancing. The familiar songs would be played on the piano as background music to the dialogue. This 

simple program was designed for children, with hopes of attracting a young audience who'd

experience live theatre for the first time. Running time for the show would be just under an hour with

performances scheduled on the last Saturday of the season at ten a.m. and at two p.m. The ticket

price of thirty-five cents was also an incentive to attract young people, and the shows traditionally

sold out as soon as they were announced.

Tim's dyed red hair for his part in Life with Father proved to be an asset in his 

portrayal of the Tin Wood Man. He would point to his head when expressing fears of 

rust, before Dorothy came to his rescue with an oil can. Performing before an audience 

of young children was a new experience for Tim and the other apprentices. The children 

talked to the actors throughout the performance; some even cried when the wicked witch 

came onstage. It was an exercise in control for the actors, a daunting challenge to stay in character,

with chaos possible throughout the audience. 

That last Saturday of the season was an exhausting day for the apprentices: two

performances of The Wizard of Oz during the day followed by Life with Father at night. 

During that week when the apprentices finished rehearsals around four in the afternoon, 

Tim would borrow John Rathburn's bicycle and ride out to the state beach on Lake 

Champlain. He'd stretch out on the pebbly shore and watch cotton candy clouds float 

across the blue New England sky. He'd think how lucky he was to have Red as a mentor. 

How could he ever repay her for all she'd done for him, and all the encouragement she 

constantly supplied, when his own family was so negative. Reflective moments like that 

inevitably led to thoughts of Jeffrey, and as Tim splashed his face with cold water from the lake, 

he'd stare at his reflection in the clear shallow water and wonder if his twin brother would 

have looked just like him. Tim became enamored of that wavy reflection, determined to find 

out what had happened to Jeffrey.