April 1997

Farkleberry pokes finger at follies 30th anniversary show will take a switch to Clinton, Huckabee and many other Arkansas notables - all in the name of scholarship. Date: 04/20/97 Category: STYLE Page: 1E JENNIFER CHRISTMAN, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Caption: Photos by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN Bill Landcaster, who plays former sheriff and Congressman Tommy Robinson, rehearses a scene from the Farkleberry Follies. Ken Griffey and Benjia Hollinger have an encounter with the Garbage Patrol in their Farkleberry Follies skit. Jim Kordsmeier (left), Joe Riddle and David Walton, Democrat-Gazette staff members, rehearse for the Follies. It started in 1967 with a piano, a dozen or so cast members and whatever costumes they could snag from the Olde West Dinner Theatre's latest production. The members of Sigma Delta Chi, now better known as the Society of Professional Journalists, were looking for a way to raise money for scholarships, and they thought a roastand-toast show of public figures in Arkansas might be a fun way. They'd call it the Farkleberry Follies, taking a jab at longtime Gov. Orval Faubus, who had managed to make the farkleberry bush -- which political cartoonist George Fisher made famous -- as notorious as Dan Quayle later did the potato. "The words were funny, and the music was funny, and people just locked onto it," recalls Leroy Donald, a business writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette who had an acting part in the first Follies, then took over the show its second time around. He's been producing and codirecting ever since. Thirty years later, the biennial show in which local journalists, advertising executives and public relations people needle presidents, governors and other public figures, is beyond big. Now some 80 people make up the cast. Local pianist Betty Fowler, who has been the Follies' musical director since its inception, has an orchestra to work with. The show keeps Murry's Dinner Playhouse (formerly the Olde West) packed for five nights, including its final dress rehearsal on Tuesday that is traditionally reserved as Media Night. The audiences come to laugh at the show's amateurish audacity. Politicians and public figures usually face their comeuppance, and at least pretend to be amused as they weather the teasing. "It's blasphemous, it's irreverent," Donald says. "It says everything everybody wants to say, and we say it right there on the stage in front of the people who we're saying it about. Gov. Huckabee will be right there. Win Paul Rockefeller will be right there. The senators will be there. The congressmen are flying in. People want this show. It's become a must thing to see." The theme of this year's Follies, which consists of comedy sketches, dancing and spoofing lyrics sung to familiar show tunes, is "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century," a poke at the metaphor President Clinton made during his re-election campaign and at his second inaugural. "We're going to tell you in this show what the bridge really means," Donald says. In the role of Clinton will be Robert Stebbins, who works for KATV, Channel 7, and played former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker in the '95 production. Naturally, Gov. Mike Huckabee will not be spared from razzing, and Steve Wilson of Entergy is said to be a natural for the role. "He's a Huckabee look-alike, a Huckabee act-alike, and he's filled with quips -- just like Huckabee," Donald says. Director Bill Lancaster will once again portray former sheriff and Congressman Tommy Robinson, this time as a television anchorman. This year's show gives satirical enlightenment to the connection between China and Arkansas politics. Need some help with Ebonics? Joycelyn Elders, who again will be played by DemocratGazette columnist Helaine Freeman, will give the audience a vocabulary lesson. Light guru Jennings Osborne, a Follies staple, is parodied once again. He's also providing a light show. The audience will share a moment with Susan McDougal, played by Democrat-Gazette columnist Meredith Oakley, as she leaves the Faulkner County Jail. This year's Follies could possibly be the last, or at least the last with its longtime production team at the helm. It's something that they have hinted at in the past, but this time the producers sound a bit more serious. As the show has flourished, it's also become more demanding to put together. Particularly this year's, with pianist Fowler and choreographer Dot Callanen both recovering from recent injuries. "We kept joking about it," Donald says. "We have a one-handed pianist and we have a onefooted choreographer. But they stuck with it and made it work." As for this year, the show will go on. "It's a gong show," Donald laughs. "If you want to see something totally politically incorrect, go see the Follies. If there is anything we've found that is politically correct in it, we throw it out."

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