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The Cookie Jar Theatre in Chatsworth
•The inspiration for this program was a 31-minute documentary on character
actor Milton Parsons made in 2014.
•From 1948 to 1963, Milton and Collette Parsons created the Cookie Jar Theatre.
The performers were Chatsworth children between the ages of 5 and 12.
•Performances were held at the American Legion Hall on Devonshire, at the
Chatsworth Park Elementary Auditorium, and in private homes.
•Rehearsals were held at the Parsons’ residence at 10801 Farralone Ave.
•The photographs that follow were donated by the performers and their families.
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1948 “Princess Nina’s Birthday”
From Left, Sally Ann Parsons (8), Mary Jo Meyser,
Henry Ditto (4), Susan Meyser, Jeanette Butler
•Performers from
the 1948 playlet,
“Princess Nina’s
Birthday”.
•This was the
beginning of the
Cookie Jar
Theatre.
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1951 “Little Women”
Leuise Schepler at right
The Van Nuys News and Valley
Green Sheet, Jul 30, 1951:
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1951
“Little
Women”
Henry Ditto 4th from right, Joel Boyce 3rd from right, Allen Pettebone far right,
Sally Ann Parsons 3rd from left
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1951 “Little Women”
Program
•Comments echoed by all:
These where not children's plays.
These were large, well planned
productions, that just happened to
have children for the actors.
The costuming, the sets and
production were all professionally
done.
Milton and Collette brought a high level of artistic culture to the children of Chatsworth
during this era, they gave a lot of themselves to this community.
Also, this was a total community support function. If you look at the sponsors it is a
Who’s Who of Chatsworth during that era.
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1952 “Dick
Whittington”
•Performance Photograph
from “Dick Whittington” at
right.
•The play was held at the
American Legion Hall,
21340 Devonshire Blvd.
Anstr Davidson is a mouse third or
4th from right. The Mice were
named “A, E, I, O and U”.
Henry Ditto (as General Nuisance,
their Commander) is at left.
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1952 “Dick
Whittington”
•Performance Photograph
from “Dick Whittington” at
right.
•The play was held at the
American Legion Hall,
21340 Devonshire Blvd.
Henry Ditto (8yrs old) is front
left.
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1952 “Dick
Whittington”
•Performance Photograph
from “Dick Whittington” at
right.
•The play was held at the
American Legion Hall,
21340 Devonshire Blvd.
Phyllis Fladwed’s
Performance Photograph.
Henry Fladwed was also in
the cast. Mrs. Joseph
Fladwed was the Musical
Director.
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1952 “Dick
Whittington”
1952 newspaper article at right states:
“75 boys from San Antonio School,
Pacific lodge and Nazarene were
guests at the performance, and given
a bottle of pop through the kindness of
Mrs. J.B. Meyser, Mrs. Allen
Pettebone and Jack Allen”
“Saturday night, movie actress Teresa
Wright attended the performance”
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1954 “Tom Sawyer”
•Performance Photograph
from “Tom Sawyer” at
right.
•The play was held at the
Chatsworth Park
Elementary School
Auditorium, sponsored by
the school’s PTA.
Photo at right: Susan Pettebone
seated in middle, Dick Dickenson
behind her, Susan Bogert 2nd from
right, Sally Ann Parsons at right.
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•“The Parsonage”, circa 1950’s,
Home of Milton and Collette
Parsons (from 1941 to 1980)
10801 Farralone Ave.
•Built by the Flint family, about 1925.
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Email from Virginia Watson, 4/20/2015
Hi Ann,
You asked for info for tomorrow at The Acre. Milton and Collette attended St. Martin-
in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Winnetka when they lived in Chatsworth and I also
attended the same church. I saw them often. They organized a group of members
and produced religious plays for the church.
When the Chatsworth Historical Society was organized in 1963 they joined and
became active members. Collette was editor of The Smoke Signal and we have
copies of them. The couple loaned us their home for many meetings including board
meetings. They were good friends of Jane Matthews, one of our most active
presidents.
I only saw one of their plays. It was "Little Women" with Leuise Schepler in the play.
My daughter Judy was friends with her and Judy still remembers going to the play.
They were really nice people and the plays were really good. Sorry I can' t be there,
but I know the meeting will be good.
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Sources/Acknowledgements
• “The Face is Familiar: Milton Parsons”, The Henson Press, 2014
•Chatsworth Historical Society Oral History Archives, Leuise Schepler Mitchell et al.
Charleen Janess Roesch, Lila Schepler, Virginia Watson, Ann Vincent, Betty and Jim
Summers
•Ken Ditto, Anstr Davidson, Reid Bogert, Phyllis Fladwed Owens, and Carolyn Schepler
Grimm for sharing photographs and articles, and participating in research questions.
•Prepared by Ann and Ray Vincent, Chatsworth Historical Society, April 2015, revised Dec
2022
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Up Next:
•A 2014 31-minute documentary on character actor Milton Parsons, “The
Face is Familiar”. The video is available at:
https://archive.org/details/FaceMiltonParsons
•Note clip from
documentary
special thanks to
Virginia Watson
Sally Ann Parsons
•A 2011 6-minute video oral interview with Leuise Schepler Mitchell, one
of the founding Cookie Jar Theatre performers
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Up Next:
A 2011 6-minute video oral interview with Leuise Schepler Mitchell, one of
the founding Cookie Jar Theatre performers.
With Lila Schepler, Charleen Janess Roesch, Virginia Watson, Ann
Vincent, Betty and Jim Summers.
•Available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/E1O4maxUnL0
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