HISTORICA

Vol. 20 No. 4 April 2005
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APRIL PROGRAM ­THE BACKYARD PLAYERS, STEVE LEE

The legendary Backyard Players of China Lake will be giving one last performance on Tuesday April 19 as part of the Society's regular monthly meeting. Due to the high interest expected, the meeting will take place in City Council chambers rather than the usual site for Society meetings, but at the usual time of 7:30 PM. Everybody is welcome to attend the Society's meetings.

The first performance by what would evolve into the Backyard Players was not in a backyard at all. In 1954, Steve Lee wrote a skit for an office party that took place at the old Anchorage club on base. That first play was a hit, and Steve enjoyed the writing, so he wrote another and another, eventually adding up to 35 different plays over 40 years. The early plays consisted of one joke after another, but as the years went by, Steve began to incorporate songs and music. The final production, "The Hummingbird Club," in 1993, even included a live band. At first, the performance venue moved from place to place on Base, but eventually moved into someone's backyard. That turned out to be the best place for the plays, with the outdoor informality and the pleasant atmosphere of a desert evening providing the ideal setting. From then on, the plays moved from backyard to backyard on the Base, including several years in the backyard of Society President Bruce Wertenberger. Eventually, as civilians moved off Base, the plays moved out into the Ridgecrest backyard of Steve and Sandra Davis.

Steve Lee wrote, produced, directed, and acted in all of the plays. The performers and production staff were all, or became, Steve's good friends, and six of those friends will also be part of the HSUMD presentation on April

19. Steve will describe the history of the Backyard Players with slides and stories, with several intermissions for six of the Players (Dorothy Saitz, Sandy Pryor, Bill Blanc, Bob Westbrook, Dick Cruise, and Bruce Macintosh) to illustrate the history by performing scenes from some of the plays.

This may well be the Backyard Players "last hurrah," so whether you saw all of their plays or are just now reading about this piece of local arts history, be sure not to miss this presentation!

The Historical Society meets on the third Tuesday of every month, each meeting featuring a presentation on some aspect of local history. The May meeting will be the annual Dinner Meeting taking place on May 17 and featuring Dr. Robert Pearce on the "Owens Valley Controversy ­ the Untold Story."
Andrew Sound

ANNUAL DINNER MEETING

As previously announced, this year's annual dinner meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 17, at Victoria's at the Heritage. The speaker this year will be Dr. Robert A Pearce, Ph.D., on the subject: The Owens Valley Controversy the Untold Story. Dr. Pearce is a fourth generation resident of the Bishop area so he has a lot of background on his topic.

There will be a short business meeting, brief annual reports and election of board members. Kathy Armstrong is in charge of the arrangements for the dinner and she promises good food. In the meantime, mark the date on your calendar and get your tickets. Tickets are available at the Maturango Museum and are $21 per person. See you at the meeting on May 17!

The Nominating Committee is actively at work under the guidance of Kathy Armstrong who chairs it. You may be hearing from her or one of the other committee members, Eileen Dietz or George Silberberg. More details in the May newsletter

MYSTERY PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS

Identification has been made of four people in the mystery photo of a musical group published in the February 2005 issue of the newsletter. In the middle of the back row, is thought to be Don Jo McKernan, with Mr. Pierce on the far right. Next to Mr. Pierce is Kent Dudley, with the fourth from the right thought to be Roxie Gump. No information was been received on the identification of the appliance store featured in the March newsletter

RENEWALS STILL NEEDED

Some of our long-standing members still have not sent in their renewals for 2005. Our treasurer, Fred Weals will be sending you a reminder letter this month. Please respond.

CONTRIBUTORS/PATRONS

Our March contributor was High Sierra Auto and Truck Repair. All donations are appreciated and may be made at any time during the year. We are an IRS 501(c)(3) corporation so contributions are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations may be sent to Fred Weals, Treasurer, HSUMD, P. O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA 9355

OPEN HOUSE PLANNED

The board of directors is hosting an open house in our offices at 302 Station St. on Saturday, May 7th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. We'll have the welcome mat out, the coffee pot on and our board members will be on hand to show you our facilities. This is the first time in several years we have done this, so we hope lots of our members will come over to 302 Station St. (the next street north of the Old County Building) to see what we have and what we are doing. This open house will occur before the next newsletter so be sure to mark your calendar now.

HISTORICAL ARTICLE

Instead of a historical article in this issue, we are publishing the following article about an ambitious project which the Historical Society is attempting to undertake.

THE FORMER USO BUILDING

At the recent March meeting of the Society, President Wertenberger made a brief announcement of the current exploratory efforts being conducted by the Society's Board relative to this building. This facility, located on West Ridgecrest Blvd., was built by the U.S. government in 1945 as a USO Center. It served that function until 1947 when it was sold to Kern County and used as a courthouse for a number of years. Ownership was ultimately transferred to the present owner, the City of Ridgecrest, in 1967.

Early this year, the Society identified a grant opportunity, administered by the California Cultural and Historical Endowment (CCHE), as a potential source of funds for the refurbishment of the "USO Building". The CCHE, created in 2002, is empowered to grant funds, totaling $128M authorized by State Proposition 40, to public agencies and nonprofit organizations to preserve California's cultural and historic resources. The first cycle of grant applications and awards totaling $37M was in 2004. A second cycle will be done this year, 2005, with the tentative date of October for the submission of grant applications.

Accordingly, the Board established a committee of directors under the leadership of Director Bill Nevins, to conduct the necessary research and studies to determine the feasibility of developing and implementing a plan for the restoration of the USO building as a community history center, to be operated by our Society. This is the effort ongoing at the present time. Several discussions have been held with Ridgecrest City staff members; documents and background info about the CCHE grant program have been obtained; phone contact with CCHE staff for clarifications, etc. has been initiated; and investigations into a number of other factors is continuing.

The CCHE grant process specifies many requirements which have to be met. The principal one that our committee is focusing on now is the 1:1 Matching Funds requirement, i.e. $1 match for every $1 of grant money. The match can be with cash or non-cash funds (in-kind). A principal in-kind asset would be, subject to concurrence by the City of Ridgecrest, the present USO building and property. Effort is now underway to obtain an appraisal of its worth. Parallel to this is the determination of the scope and estimate of cost of building refurbishment and other related expenses. These and many other areas have to be examined in completing our feasibility study and, depending on its conclusions, mutual (City and HSUMD) decision to proceed with project plan development and grant application process.

Obviously, this project, if it comes to fulfillment, will require the help and support of many Society members and from the community as a whole. Of necessity, this report is brief and only a general summary. Should any member have questions or comments please contact President Wertenberger, committee chairman Bill Nevins or committee member John Di Pol. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are listed in the cover of this newsletter.
John Di Pol

BUSINESS MEMBERS

We welcome this month the following new business members: AltaOne Federal Credit Union, High Sierra Auto and Truck Repair, Southern Sierra Medical Clinic and Texas Cattle Company

Please patronize them as well as our other local business members: ROJOSACO ­ a Ridgecrest Septic Service, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Nevins Technology, L R. Haugen, H & R Block, News Review, BevLen Haus ­ Bed and Breakfast, Jack and Dana Lyons, the Swap Sheet, Ridgecrest Moving and Storage, Heritage Inn, Farris' Diner and Italian Gardens and Indian Wells Valley Insurance Co.