Stories Told by Great Music

About the Book

Author’s Note: These scripts were written for the pleasure of a group of students who performed them as live broadcasts over W V C H, a local radio station. They were known as the ONCE UPON A TIMERS of Franklin Grammar School, in the 1950’s. They are long since grown up, citizens of the nation. I am certain they have pleasant memories of their broadcast days. George Sharp M. ed. Temple University 1950

About the Author

Jonathan Nichols, son of Harriet and David, was born to a farm family. Through circumstances not unusual for the 1860’s, the family moved from the dairy farm to a growing mining town in Central Pennsylvania. His mother became the manager of a hotel, his father was organizer of the Town Market, and Jonathan, in his teens, saw his challenge in the lack of entertainment for the townspeople of Ashland. Meeting a comedian, traveling by stage coach from one venue to another, he arranged a performance for Sven Svensen in the hotel ball room. At this success, and more opportunities coming his way, Jonathan helped plan and build the Temple Theatre. There, as years passed by, he presented for a growing audience, the best of entertainment. Jonathan went to Philadelphia to visit the Centennial Exposition. He met his future wife Emma in the Exhibition Hall, and with her, he had a family of five children. This is the account of that family and Jonathan’s interest in the expanding entertainment business through shows on the Temple stage: vaudeville, local drama groups, operas, and the early years of motion pictures.