Saratoga Stereopticon
Mustard and theater conjure up the past
Orchard spectacle will dazzle walkers
By Willys Peck
I'd like to think that the Saratoga Heritage Preservation Commission cuts the mustard in the metaphoric sense of coming up to expectations. However, as applied to an upcoming event, the phrase conveys a completely wrong idea. True, the yellow mustard plants in the heritage orchard eventually will be turned under by a rolling disc harrow drawn by Matt Novakovich's tractor, there to fulfill their destiny as soil nutrients. But before that happens, the yellow mustard will be even more of a crowd-pleaser than it is now for passing motorists.
That's because on Sunday, Feb. 10, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Heritage Preservation Commission will sponsor a Mustard Walk so that people can trudge along paths through the orchard under the guidance of docents and admire the spectacle up close and personal. Along with the tours, there will be a display of artwork and photographs at the Warner Hutton House, and docents explaining the many culinary uses of mustard.
When it comes right down to it, mustard appears to be a remarkably versatile commodity, with uses ranging from mustard plasters to the dreaded mustard gas of World War I. Being a non-botanist, I can't say for sure that our Heritage Orchard variety figures in all these. But, being an overly sentimental senior citizen, I can summon up mustard recollections from early childhood, when our family was living at the end of Marion Avenue (OK, I know the maps say Road, but the 1931 telephone directory has it as Avenue), where the house was bordered on three sides by prune and apricot orchards.
The orchards had their quota of mustard, which grew thick and, to a small child, very high. My brother and I would crawl on hands and knees through the growth, pressing the plants to the ground and creating what we called tunnels. We thought it was as good as any playground equipment. Not many weeks afterward, we'd be trudging after the plowman and his horse-drawn moldboard plow as the mustard was turned under into furrows.
Still in the nostalgia vein, where I seem to spend most of my time these days, may I recommend the current display at the Saratoga Historical Museum, where the hours are 1 to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday. The exhibit concerns drama in Saratoga, a subject on which I have written a number of columns.
Included are pictures from Dorothea Johnston's Theater of the Glade, where Olivia De Havilland appeared as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1934, and went from there to Hollywood. There are also pictures of her as Alice in Miss Johnston's 1933 production of Alice in Wonderland, when Olivia was a junior at Los Gatos High School. Modesty should forbid that I mention once more having played the duck in that production. For that matter, my mother played the Cheshire Cat and my brother played either Tweedledee or Tweedledum.
There is also a section on the Saratoga Drama Group, which got its start in 1963 as the Federated Drama Group, under the auspices of the Federated Church. I got in on the ground floor of that operation and it was, to understate the matter, interesting. One facet that doesn't show up in the exhibit of pictures was the dramatic interplay of human emotions and sentiments. At least three marital breakups could be attributed to the productions of the organization, leading to the frequently noted--and rather obvious--observation that there was more drama going on offstage than on.
The Drama Group eventually dropped the "Federated" from its name as it severed its church connection. It continued, and still flourishes, producing musicals.
There is also a display of pictures concerning the Valley Institute of Theatre Arts, so named to achieve the acronym, VITA, the Latin word for life. VITA, which was founded by my son, Bill, and his high school drama teacher, Judith Lyn Sutton, operated for 15 years, achieving its zenith with the summer Shakespeare Festival at the Mountain Winery. One of the photos is of son Bill playing Romeo to Annette Bening's (yes, same one) Juliet in the 1981 production of Romeo and Juliet.
Although not featured directly in the exhibit, other than in a photo of her playing a part in the Theater of the Glade's Merry Wives of Windsor, Lilian Fontaine rates mention in the local theatrical firmament. A resident of Saratoga and the mother of actresses Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine, she ran the Los Gatos Evening High School Theater Workshop, which produced plays in that venue, drawing heavily on talent from Saratoga.
So, the play's the thing wherein to catch the notice of the, er, prunepickers.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
