breaking the law as established in ordinance 74.
subtitle: when men were men...but wore dresses
An ordinance of the Village of Table Rock, Nebraska once prohibited public nudity and also the wearing of "any dress not belonging to his or her sex." Take a look at Ordinance 74, Chapter 4, Section 24, enacted in 1911. (Ordinance 74 "embraced all of the ordinances" and "added to and perfected" them.) Just as the ladies of town took to wearing jeans and other "male" attire, Table Rock men just loved to dress up.
1952 - an all star wedding
Photo 226. This appears to be the cast of a 1952 play called an All Star Wedding, see the program below it. The venue is the Table Rock Theater (observe the light fixtures and the proscenium) although the background screens are from the Opera House.
The program lists the cast members as follows: Willard Hanna, Marvin Kalina, Lawrence Stehlik, Howard Workman,
Alfred Penkava, Elmer Gilbert, Bill Vondrasek, Nettie Stehlik, Art Meier,
Orville McKnight, Delmar McClarnen, Albert Rexroth, Lawrence Wenzbauer, Leo
Lang, Richard Karas, Allen Gold, M.C. Bonham, Ed Tomek, Edwin Fritch, Roald
Workman, Frank Sochor, Edward Tomek, Wayne Minchow, Eddie Kent, Dale Johnson,
Edgar Gilbert, Edmund Steiner, George Gilbert, Howard Howell, Lloyd Wright,
Dale Right, Rudy Senft, Steve Stasny, Robert Laun, Roy Briant, Louis Sochor,
Elmer Penkava, Lyle Hunzeker, Robert Vondrasek, Wayne Diehm, Vernon Reed, and
Harvey M. Snider.
The play "a womanless wedding"
Photo 13 shows the cast of a Womanless Wedding. The venue for this particular photograph does not appear to be Table Rock. The bottom part of the stage curtain is not from the Table Rock Opera house and the Opera House proscenium is square. The Table Rock theater's proscenium is likewise square. Perhaps the venue is in Pawnee City, it has been suggested, with a Table Rock cast. Historical Society member Kim Vrtiska remembers being told that this play was put on by a traveling company that incorporated local actors.
february 24, 1927 article about a performance of the womanless wedding in table rock
According to the article, the Woman's Club of Table Rock sponsored the play, in which 73 local men acted, playing both male and female characters. 15 people came from Lincoln!
A full listing of the cast that accompanied the photograph (Photograph 3a) may be from this 1927 performance, because the bride and groom were the same actors. As best as can be read, the full cast (photographs 3b and 3c) was as follows: Albert Wopata, Clay Cook, Ludwick Janas, Charles Barker, L.
Trout, C.J. Wood, Ed Dorland, Gus Metger, Aubra
Duncan, Professor Wilson, C. I, Norris, John Tomek, Wayne Kubic, Jim
Jobes, Bill Vondrasek, Hollis Burrow, Will Alderman, Lynn Snell, _____
Petrashek, A. Petrasek, P. J. Hnizda, Hugh Hodell, Harold Martin, Guy Bonham,
Art Horton, Ernest Kaiser, Frank Tomek, Ralph Cotton, Joe Tonek, S.V. Bailey, Leser Taylor, EdTomek, Jesse
Wopata, H. ____Hugh? Cage?, Dr. Kuhlman, ______ Colling, James _____ Mahon?, Ed
Hanna, Roy Shepherd, Edwin Hinds, Frank Kovanda, G. Wood, Jess ?, h.l. _____ Kenner, Lewis Hubka, Col. Dow, Art
Linn, R. ____?, CharlieJones, E.J.
Norris, john Groff, Will Linn, Gordon Bethel, Don ____ Pugh?, Edwin Freeman,
______ Zink, Orville Jones, Louis _____, Archer Harris, Lawrence Duder, Lavon
Jones , ____ Ritchie, Albert Stanek, Byron Catt_____, __________,
______________, Rudolph Zelenka, Irwin Morton.
1967 - the hatfields and mccoys
Photo 397: That long skirt is probably not being worn by a woman....
1989 - table rock or "bust"?!
This dress thing is pretty recent. 1989? That's only 26 years before 2015. The bandleader is Ed Hana, and the "woman" with the purse is reportedly one of the band members. He is not from Table Rock, but he nevertheless is breaking the law (as formulated in 1911!).
