The Casino Club. (original) (raw)

The audience knew the play was about to start when the prompter, known as the "Souffleur," crawled into his box in front of the stage. The box was just large enough for a chair and an oil lamp to illuminate the prompter's script.

When the prompter was in place, an usher dimmed the coal oil house lights along the sides of the hall while turning up lamps that served as footlights circling the stage.

No one applauded. That would have been bad manners. The curtain simply opened and the play was on.

Later, when the performance was over, the usher turned up the house lights, patrons pushed the chairs against the wall and the band, organized and conducted by H. R. Richter the jeweler, tuned up.

When all was ready, dancers galloped, polkaed and waltzed until the coal oil lamps burned low. When the lights flickered it was time to go home.

One of the Casino Club's big events was the New Year's Eve dance. A midnight, as soon as the church bells rang, the entire group marched into the dining room for a midnight supper.

The Casino Club held a yearly Masquerade Ball on Tuesday before Lent. Members dressed as crazy characters, legendary creatures and exotic figures from faraway lands.

On arrival at the Nimitz some members performed short skits, cleverly written and practiced for weeks in advance. Judge J. T. Estill then led the grand march into the ballroom. The march was really a fashion show.

Months of thought, planning and hard work went into the costumes. Dr. Albert Keidel once came as a stork. Sylvester Kleck and Carl Ransleben dressed as a horse with Felix Weirich as the rider.

Edward Wahrmund came as hunter with a pack of hounds chasing Max Wahrmund, disguised as a bear, and Oscar Ransleben, dressed as a deer. August Schuchard once led in a group of Sing-Sing prisoners chained together and wearing striped prison clothes.

'Then with the new century the tastes of Americans changed. The pageantry and pretentiousness of the Victorian Age fell out of favor, suppressed by the rising power and influence of the middle class.

The Fredericksburg Casino Club was especially quiet during WWI. It didn't seem right to have fun while soldiers were dying in France.

After the war the Casino Club quietly faded away, replaced by the movies and radio.