116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: ‘The Finding of the King’
First Presbyterian Church presented Christmas musical drama in 1959
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Christmas programs at First Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Third Avenue and Fifth Street SE in Cedar Rapids, have included pageants and cantatas. But in 1959, a group of young couples – members of a social and service organization called The Mariners – presented a musical drama at the church for the Christmas season.
Professor Paul Ray of Coe College’s music department, who was in charge of music for the play, selected the musical drama “The Finding of the King” for The Mariners so the church’s children’s choirs could be included in the production. It was presented only once, at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 20, in the church sanctuary.
The play was directed by Wilson School Principal Pierre “Pat” Tracy. Tracy, who also taught English and drama classes at Wilson School, often directed school plays at the school.
The Nativity play was written in 1935 by Madeleine Sweeny Miller using 14th-century to 17th-century carols. Miller, who graduated from Vassar in 1912, was the wife of the Rev. J. Lane Miller, pastor of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.
In reviewing the play in December 1935, the Boston Globe said, “It is of a historical, religious and romantic type and is in three acts.”
Miller also wrote “Children of the Book,” another musical drama based on the Bible, as well as many poems. One book of her verses, “Songs from the Smoke,” focused on the steel industry in Pittsburgh.
Elaborate costumes
The Cedar Rapids church production’s cast consisted mainly of adult performers, with three children chosen for minor roles. The church’s five choirs performed: the regular church choir, the senior high choir, both the girls’ and boys’ junior choirs and the primary choir.
The play was performed in front of the church’s altar, much like early church dramas were. Scenery for the play was simply representative, rather than elaborate.
The costuming, however, was elaborate, as Gazette photos attest.
“The Mariners went to considerable lengths to make the costumes for their production of ‘The Finding of the King’ as authentic and detailed as possible,” according to The Gazette.
The Rev. Harold Butz, the church’s assistant pastor, stepped into the role of a greedy innkeeper who becomes a believer in the Christ Child and lays his money bags beside the gifts of the Magi.
Attendees were admitted without charge and were treated to a coffee hour following the play.
The church
First Presbyterian, established in Cedar Rapids in 1850, built a new chapel at Madison Street and Park Avenue (now Third Avenue and Fifth Street SE) in 1869 for about $35,000.
Its predecessor on Second Avenue – known as “Little Muddy” because heavy rains complicated its construction – opened in 1860. It held its last service Feb. 28, 1869, the same day the new First Presbyterian was dedicated.
Little Muddy was demolished in the late summer or early fall of 1876, according to Pastor-emeritus Dr. Edward R. Burkhalter in 1922.
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