I came across this Silver Anniversary Program for the 1943 Season of the St. Louis Municipal Opera (now known as The Muny), in going through some of my boyfriend’s deceased dad’s mountains of papers. Ofcourse, I took it home and scanned all the pages immediately! It’s in near perfect condition and what a wonderful local St. Louis artifact from the midst of World War II.

One of the things that struck me when glancing through it, was the amount of advertisements for beer and for funeral homes. Hoffmeister Mortuary, 6464 Chippewa, had a full color full page ad on the inside of the front cover. I also went ahead and scanned the back cover, an advertisement for to buy more war bonds and carry your share for victory.

Below are the cover of the 1943 Muny Season Program, the back cover, inside the front cover, and the first page which is a listing of the Officers and Directors on the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis:

OFFICERS:

President JACOB M. LASHLY

First Vice-President A. M. KELLER

Second Vice-President ARTHUR SIEGEL

Third Vice-President – – JOHN B. STRAUCH

Treasurer M. E. HOLDERNESS

Assistant Treasurer WILLIAM N. Sitton.

Secretary MONA B. CRUTCHER

DIRECTORS:

ARTHUR B. BAER, PALMER B. BAUMES, WILLIAM DEE BECKER, LOUIS H. BEHRENS, ROBERT B. BROOKS, G. A. BUDER, GEORGE M. BURBACH, O. R. CALHOUN, JR, VINCENT M. CARROLL, HENRY S. CAULFIELD, MARTIN J. COLLINS, J. RUSSEL COULTER, MONA B. CRUTCHER, NELSON CUNLIFF, THOMAS N. DYSART, OSCAR B. FISCHER, S. W. FORDYCE, W. L. HEMINGWAY, ADOLPH B. HILL, JR., M. E. HOLDERNESS, A. M. KELLER, ARTHUR A. KOCIAN, LOUIS A. LANGE, JACOB M. LASHLY, CARL S. LAWTON, J. W. McCAFEE,

SIDNEY MAESTRE MORTON MAY FRANK M. MAYFIELD ARTHUR C. MF.YERS JOSEPH GILMAN MILLER JOHN J. NANGLE E. LANSING RAY E. LANSING RAY, jR. ELZEY ROBF.RTS CARL E. ROESSLER, W. T. ROSSELL, OTTO E RUGG, ARTHUR SIEGEL, WILLIAM N. SITTON, HERMANN SPOEHRER, JOHN B. STRAUCH, CHARLES M. TALBERT, RALF TOENSFELDT, R. W. UPSHAW, F. W. A. VESPER, MAHLON B. WALLACE, JR., W. B. WEISENBERGER, KELTON E. WHITE, PAUL J. WIELANDY, PARKER H. WOODS

RICHARD H. BERGER, Productions Manager

PAUL BEISMAN, Manager

(I used an Optical Character Recognition program for the above, please excuse any typos that I didn’t catch).