Beach Towels

In rehearsal, the question often comes up: "Wouldn't it be great if we had a [insert name of prop here] for this scene?"  This came up when a bit of choreography called for some members of the women's chorus to be on the floor. The first act of the show takes place on the beach, so during "How Beautifully Blue the Sky", the wards are sunbathing. The director wanted to makes sure she didn't wreck all of the brand new dresses being made by our costume designer and crew, so these girls were going to need something to sit on. One of the chorus members said, how about beach towels? 

Well, it just so happens that our director, Felicity Ann Brown, is also the Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies Librarian at The University of Maryland's Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, where she helps performing arts students and faculty with their research. So the question was raised: Did beach towels exist in England in the Victorian era, and therefore be appropriate for our show? Not to allow a reference question go unanswered, Felicity did some research and found the following article:

Reproduced from Stevens Point Daily Journal October 13, 1938

As it turns out, not only did terry cloth towels exist in 1848, but Queen Victoria herself gave them her royal stamp of approval! Granted, they weren't at all popular during that era, "but," as our Pirates King says, "we'll waive that point...we do not press it....we look over it."