THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411060188
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3B EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Theater review
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BETHEL LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
During the run of ``A Bethel Home Companion'' you will hear ``Carolina Moon'' - performed with permission.
The song, listed in the category of great standards, was penned in the 1930s by Benny Davis, a vaudevillian and Tin Pan Alley songwriter.
As everyone in the general vicinity knows, the old Perquimans River Bridge in Hertford - the world's longest s-shaped bridge - was the inspiration for ``Carolina Moon.''
Davis was driving over said bridge at the time.
During the last few years some disgruntled South Carolinians have been claiming that something in their state was the inspiration for the song.
Not so, according to the composer's widow, Gilda Davis.
Julie Feeney, who is producing ``A Bethel Home Companion,'' made beaucoup phone calls and consulted The New York Times library in an effort to locate the songwriter's widow.
She found her and phoned her and, later this month, will visit her in Miami, where Feeney's mom lives.
Davis said she would be delighted if Angler's Cove Dinner Theater used ``Carolina Moon'' with its endearing words and music by her husband.
This section of North Carolina inspired not only that song but also the forthcoming original production of ``A Bethel Home Companion'' which unashamedly does lots of borrowing from Garrison Keillor's ``Prairie Home Companion.''
There are dumb commercials - dumb, on purpose, this time - skits and songs - all original ``written by committee,'' said Glee Hammer, the director.
``We've been getting together and working on the script for several weeks.''
The fruits of those joyous labors will be seen at Angler's Cove Friday, Saturday and Nov. 18 and 19.
The presentation is by that restaurant's dinner theater group, once known as the Bootstrap Players.
That is a story unto itself. The Bootstrap members were once part of the Perquimans Players. A difference of opinion caused some Players to bow out and form the Bootstrap group.
Eventually, the Players reorganized, headquartered in Holiday Island. Recently, the Bootstrap group dis-organized for the same reason - difference of opinion.
Now, many of its members are part of the Angler's Cove Dinner Theater group.
There's no business like show business.
There's no place like home - and that is the locale of ``A Bethel Home Companion'' - the village of Bethel, the locale of Angler's Cove.
The audience will hear the cast of 10 - most well-known to local theatergoers - come up with references to places near and dear such as The Five Mile Y, Chowan River Bridge, the communities of Bethel, Belvidere, Valhalla, Rocky Hock and much more.
There will be references to such familiar things as collard greens, seed corn, Tarheel hot sauce, farm reports, etc., etc.
``We make changes every night,'' Hammer said. ``We add wonderful things every night.''
The classic movie, ``Casablanca'' was being written even as it was being filmed. ``A Bethel Home Companion'' is kind of a local version of that method.
``We've done a lot of research in this show about the places and so on,'' Hammer said. ``We're not entering into it lightly.''
In other words, it's fact-filled and funny. by CNB