Information Sheet

 

 

R         Platisha, J. B.

774                  Ste. Genevieve, Mother of the West (booklet), 1935.

                                    One folder.

 

 

 

This is a souvenir booklet for the “Bi-Centennial Celebration and Pageant” held at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, on 19-22 August 1935.  Included is a detailed “scenario and organization” of Mother of the West, a historical pageant by the Rev. J. B. Platisha, C.M., M.S.

 

Sainte Genevieve, generally recognized as the oldest permanent European settlement in what is now Missouri, has traditionally traced its founding to 1735.  Thus the town celebrated its bi­centennial in 1935.  In 1933 the state of Missouri established a Sainte Genevieve Bicentennial Commission, funded by $10,000 from the State Park Fund.  The Commission was comprised of Gov. Guy B. Park and local citizens Herbert J. Fallert, Francis J. Rozier, and John W. Schwent.  The major undertaking for the celebration was a historical pageant entitled Mother of the West, which was performed over four evenings in August 1935.  The “author, organizer, and director of the Pageant” was the Rev. J. B. Platisha, C.M., M.S., pastor of the Church of the Assumption at St. Mary’s Seminary in Perryville, Missouri.  Father Platisha had previously “produced and directed the Pageant, One Hundred Years of Progress, at St. Mary’s Seminary” in 1927.

 

This 64-page booklet includes a brief history of Ste. Genevieve by Alvin F. Petrequin, com­plete membership lists of the committees needed to plan and support the celebration, and photo­graphic portraits and illustrations.  However, most of the pages are devoted to a “scenario and or­ganization” of the pageant, including narrative texts, stage settings, and song lyrics.  The first eve­ning (“Sainte Genevieve Night”) presented the earliest history of the area and settlement, followed in historical succession by “Saint Louis Night,” “Missouri Night,” and “National Night.”  Presi­dent Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the pageant on the final evening, Thursday, 22 August 1935, by telephone “from the White House.”

 

 

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