[Rarebooks] baseball item #6 from the Norman Kane collection (FS)

[Serendipity Books]

1918                “YOU KNOW ME, AL!” / A Farce 
with Music. By Privates W. Anson Hallahan, Hugh 
Stanislaus Stange and Mr. Stanard Mears.  Lyrics 
by Lieut. Wm. A. Halloran, Jr. Music by Private 
Burton Hamilton. Interpolated Numbers by Sergeant 
Leon de Costa. Dances arranged by Trumpeter 
Stanley Hughes. Staged by Private Harry 
Gribble.  Entire production under the direction of Lt. Wm. A. Halloran, Jr.
ORIGINAL PROGRAM.   New York: McConnell Printing 
Co., 1918.   10” x 7 ½”, original white wrappers 
(dusty), saddle-stitched, signed cover 
illustration by Cecil Calvert Beall in red and 
blue, (24 pp). Presented at the Lexington 
Theatre, 51 and Lex, NYC, April 11 to 20, 1918 
(22 total performances).  Not widely known is 
that while at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, the 
27th Division first produced this theatrical show 
titled You Know Me Al!; it was a big hit, and 
then went on to play in New York City. Moreover, 
the soldiers had first created the play during 
WWI in France, even before the Spartanburg performances.

Collation: Telegram from John F. O’Ryan, Major 
General, commanding officer of the Division, with 
photo; “Our Show”, a poem by Pvt. Charles Divine; 
drawing of “Arline”; drawing by D. Emery of 
“Van”, a dog, composite photograph of the 8 
members of the executive staff of the New York 
Division Theatre; “The Man Who Could Laugh” by 
Pv. Walter Adams, a form of introduction; cast 
list; Hull drawing; cast list (cont.); 15 
drawings of principals by Lauten; cast list 
(cont.); Liberty Loan ad; staff list for the 
musical; cartoon by Breck of a rehearsal; “A 
Comrade” – poem; “At the Rifle Range” = cartoon 
by Harold Kunnuld; Third Liberty Loan ad; printed 
letter from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt; photo by 
H. Melville.    Nowhere in this book is a single 
mention of, let alone credit to Ring W.Lardner, 
whose YOU KNOW ME, AL was serialized in the 
Saturday Evening Post in 1914, and successfully 
published by Scribner’s in 1916.   NB!!!!  - 
before Breck’s cartoon, on all of page (18) is 
“Bill’s Letter to Mabel” by Lt. Edward 
Streeter  Streeter became best known for his 
novel FATHER OF THE BRIDE and his "Dere Mable" 
series, a humorous column from an illiterate 
soldier writing home [cf Lardner], columns 
serialized between 1917 and 1919, inspired by his 
army duty during World War I.  The letters were 
gathered in LOVE LETTERS OF BILL TO MABEL (1919), his first full-length book.

         The coincidences - the imitation of 
Lardner, Streeter publishing a “Dere Mable” 
letter in a play using Ring Lardner’s title, are 
intriguing. The Lardner bibliography makes no 
mention of Streeter. Just what further 
involvement with this musical play did Edward 
Streeter have?  Or, what involvement did Lardner 
have, given his specfic desire to seek success on 
the stage at this exact time? “In 1919 Lardner 
ended his career as a variety columnist and 
sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune and moved to 
the East, where he hoped to establish himself as 
a successful writer of Broadway musicals.” Edward 
Streeter’s first appearance in a book?   One copy 
located by OCLC, at University of Virginia, Alderman Library.  $2000.00


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