They came about through the efforts of one Dorothea Johnston, the daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston who ran the Saratoga Inn, a well-known hostelry on the site of the present Saratoga Inn Place condominiums. Dorothea had had some professional drama experience by the time she returned to Saratoga in the early 1930s, and her mother persuaded her to share her talents with the home folks.

Dorothea gave drama lessons to children and in 1933 staged her first major production, Alice in Wonderland, with a local girl, Olivia de Havilland, in the title role. Olivia at the time was a junior at Los Gatos High School. I have several times in this space boasted of my role as the duck in this production, treading the same boards as the future movie star. The following year, 1934, Dorothea Johnston staged her first Theatre of the Glade production, A Midsummer Night's Dream, in a delightful natural setting behind the Inn, along Saratoga Creek.

Olivia played the part of Puck, and already the forces of professional connections were at work. That same year Olivia went to Hollywood, where she appeared in Max Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of Dream and in his 1935 movie in which she played Hermia. Mickey Rooney was Puck.

With the Theatre of the Glade successfully launched, Johnston produced As You Like It there the following year. With a wide acquaintanceship among theater-oriented people in the Bay Area, Johnston had no trouble recruiting talented casts. She also drew heavily on the locals, and my brother and I appeared at one time or another in bit parts. My mother played Lady Capulet in a Glade production of Romeo and Juliet in 1938.

Getting back to the subject of 65 years ago, 1940 was the first time Johnston staged two productions in one summer. The first was a repeat of A Midsummer Night's Dream. There being no Olivia available, the role of Puck was played by Orestes D'Anna, a talented young man from San Jose who many thought outshone the Hollywood star Mickey Rooney.

My brother and I had roles as two of the "rude mechanicals" who presented the "Pyramus and Thisbe" howler before the duke. But the person I remember best was a lovely young girl named Judy Baum. Her appearance came about through Johnston's reputation as a producer of stars, there having been at least one other girl who was said to have gotten a start in movies through the Johnston influence. I even saw the term "Star Factory" appearing in print. Olivia, though, was really the basis for this.

But about Judy Baum. I can't remember where she came from, I think it was Southern California, but I do know that she was the granddaughter of L. Frank Baum, who created the Wizard of Oz image in his books. Judy used the stage name of Judith Niles. I was just turning 17 then, and hadn't really started any serious dating of girls. As I remember, Judy was a year or so older than me--a circumstance that didn't interfere with my marriage 12 years later--and I never would have thought of asking her out. To me she represented the unattainable; she was a goddess, but a friendly one.

Johnston's Dream was given in Mid-August. Just a month later, she produced Merry Wives of Windsor, using most of the earlier cast. It made for a full summer. I was John Rugby; and my brother missed out because he had to get back to college. Anne Page was played by Judith Niles. The key role of Sir John Falstaff was played by Frederick Stover, who was a long associate of Johnston, doing work on sets. In the 1933 Alice in Wonderland he was the Gryphon.

As to Judy Baum, a.k.a. Judith Niles, I never heard anything further about her.

As to the Theatre of the Glade, the final production was in the summer of 1941. World War II put an end to the Theatre of the Glade. Dorothea Johnston died in 1969 at the age of 77.