TRUE STORY

BOYS MUST BE GIRLS

By Kathy 5-P-4 FPE

I had the fairly heavy part of Lady Sneerwell in an abridged version of Sheridan's School for Scandal, the 1938 dramatic production of the English boys' school I attended. The previous year I had been a fair maiden in the chorus of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, a part that had called for little acting ability; I, like the others, had worn a full-length floral-patterned cotton gown with knee-high white stockings underneath and white running shoes, a gaily beribboned bonnet that obviated the need for a wig, and white gloves. I carried a spray of arti- ficial flowers. I remember that two of the boys wore underwear loaned by their mothers or sisters, and surprisingly perhaps the rest of us thought nothing of it as we donned our dresses over our own regular and quite unfeminine nether garments. While I say we thought nothing particular about their attention to sartorial detail I, at least, did feel a little envy, since for some years I had obtained some mysterious pleas- ure from putting on little silk or rayon camisoles and bloomers be- longing to girl cousins. (A camisole is an under-bodice or vest, usually embroidered.)

But we were doing the Sheridan comedy in contemporary costume. knowledge that gave me mixed feelings of trepidation and pleasurable excitement whenever I thought about it during early rehearsals. Two weeks before opening we were fitted for our costumes by the director's wife, Mrs. Ellis. Having already measured the five of us playing female parts she had a large collection of dresses, suits, blouses, skirts and shoes which she, after much pinning and chalking for minor alterations, finally assigned to us. I had a floral voile dress with a loose jacket of the same material and a light grey suit and pink silk blouse. Both the dress and the skirt had to be taken in a little at the waist to make what struck me then as a very good fit. For the dress there were white summer shoes

27