Even though Spare A Dime's performances for the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts are complete, we'll be continuing our daily blog posts throughout the festival – and beyond, to May 6, the anniversary of the founding of the Works Progress Administration.

Today, our history Sunday post is particularly appropriate for a musical blog!  On April 20, 1935, "Your Hit Parade" began its radio broadcasts.  Every Saturday night, the show reviewed the top 15 songs of the week, both by song purchase data (including sales of records and sheet music) and by audience surveys. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. The show popularized the idea of a countdown to the top three finalists and featured a performance of the number one song as a finale.  Since the show was sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes, songs not on the top fifteen list (including past favorites and popular standards) were performed as "Lucky Strike Extras."  The show stayed on the radio until 1950 when it moved to television for an additional nine year run.

The paradigm
of Spare A Dime
finds parallels of place and time,
the mystery
of history
repeating, and we hope you'll see
true Liberty
finds unity
of purpose in community.
Rise or fall, we'll always be
together, indivisibly.

A big shout out and our deepest gratitude to the fantastic cast, musicians, and crew of Spare A Dime, and to all of the project's community participants.  You define the very essence of the power of art to transform lives.  Thank you.

There's one last chance to see the show -- Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and are available at the door of the Bok Tech Theater, 8th and Mifflin Streets in South Philadelphia.  Proceeds support COSACOSA youth programs citywide.  Please join us!

Above (from left to right), Spare A Dimers Bruce Fero (Chorus of Liberty), Sherria Watts (Chorus of Liberty), Lourin Plant (The Veteran), Phyllis Chappel (The Farmer), Venissa Santi (The Mother), Julian Coleman (The Immigrant), Khrista White (The Merchant), Brielle Leary (Chorus of Liberty), Victor Rodriguez (The Builder), and Bill Gross (FDR) sing the grand finale to the show at our Friday evening performance.

Song, story, and new media design came together seamlessly in our first performance.

Above: the Bok Tech Theater entrance, photo by Bradley Maule at Hidden City.

Spare A Dime's performances this weekend are a wonderful opportunity for the community at large to see Bok Tech High School and its glorious theater before the building is closed by the School District of Philadelphia in June.  Hidden City is publishing a two-part article this week on Bok and the Spare A Dime project. You can read about Bok in Part 1 here and Spare A Dime in Part 2 here.  It's also a special chance for all Bok alums in the area to visit the school as we celebrate its 75th anniversary and Works Progress Administration origins.  Bok's culinary department is even cooking up some Depression-era recipes for our concession stand!  Please join us!  Your $10 ticket cost benefits COSACOSA's youth programs!

Tickets online: www.pifa.org/events/10
Tickets by phone:  215-893-1999
Tickets at the door, starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week: Bok Tech Theater, 8th and Mifflin Streets in South Philadelphia
For more information, please call COSACOSA at 215.385.2554
We look forward to singing for you!

Spare A Dime's cast works it at the final number of our final dress rehearsal!  Please join us!
If you don't already have your tickets, it's not too late!  Just $10 gets you great entertainment, and supports COSACOSA's youth programs citywide!

Tickets online: www.pifa.org/events/10
Tickets by phone:  215-893-1999
Tickets at the door, starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week: Bok Tech Theater, 8th and Mifflin Streets in South Philadelphia
For more information, please call COSACOSA at 215.385.2554
We look forward to singing for you!

Two long-lived American products, one purpose: a delicious and creamy treat not requiring preparation or planning.  Great Depression flummery mixes Jello with evaporated milk to make a creamy fruit-flavored dessert that was popular due to the availability of ingredients. Traditionally, flummery was a Welsh pudding made from boiling sour oatmeal jelly with husks; it characteristically had either a very bland or asharply acidic taste. Over the years, modern flummery has appeared in many varations and styles. This particular version boasts a very flavorful and fluffy outcome. You may find fancier versions in Wales today made with stewed fruit thickened with cornstarch.

Ingredients
2 boxes cherry Jello
2 cups boiling water
1 can Carnation Evaporated Milk

Directions
1.  Put the evaporated milk in the freezer for an hour or so to chill. Alternatively, refrigerate overnight.
2. Stir the boiling water into the Jello powder, stirring until completely dissolved. Put in the refrigerator to cool, but DON’T let it set. Stir it every so often to check.
3.  Pour the chilled milk into a metal mixing bowl and beat on high until it forms soft peaks (like whipping cream).  N.B., one little can of milk will turn into about five times the amount of whipped milk, so use a big bowl!
4.  Now, continue to beat on high while slowly pouring the cooled Jello into the whipped milk, then continue stirring until the mixture is uniform in color.  (You might need to scrape down the sides with a spatula a couple of times to achieve this.)
5.   At this point, you can put the flummery into a mold, or simply leave it in the bowl.  Put in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours, and serve.  The flummery will be frothy and melt sweetly in your mouth – the perfectly easy dessert.

The economic turmoil of the Great Depression was exacerbated by hundreds of dust storms pounding the Midwest throughout the 1930s.  Drought and over-farming had depleted 100 million acres across the Great Plains. Once the "bread basket" of America, this previously fertile land became a "Dust Bowl."  Unanchored topsoil was swept up into massive storms over and over again.
On April 14, 1935, also known as "Black Sunday," twenty of the "black blizzards" occurred throughout the Dust Bowl at once, turning the day to night.  By early afternoon, many of the areas affected were in total darkness; people could not see even five feet in front of them.  Eventually, unable to farm or find other work at home, over 400,000 people left the Midwest to travel the country as migrant workers. 

Less than one week until Spare A Dime is performed at the historic Bok Tech Theater!  We've posted some rough cuts from the forthcoming cast album on SoundCloud – check them out at soundcloud.com/cosacosaartatlarge

Remember to get your tickets to the show today at pifa.org/events/10 –
support the arts and COSACOSA's youth literacy, leadership and life skills programs throughout the city!

It's wonderful to see the great rapport among Spare A Dime's cast and crew – most especially evident in the song cycle's distinctive duets.  Above (left to right), Phyllis Chapell and Julian Coleman (as The Farmer and The Immigrant) rehearse Promised Land, a song about the American dream; Khrista White and Victor Rodriguez (as The Merchant and The Builder) rehearse Change in the Making, a song about life after the Works Progress Administration; and Lourin White and Ken Ulansey (as The Veteran and his whistle-playing shadow) rehearse Citizen Conservation, a song about the Civilian Conservation Corps. Percussionist François Zayas and bassist Jason Fraticelli look on stage right.

Click here to buy Spare A Dime tickets – just $10 general admission!
Proceeds benefit COSACOSA's youth programs citywide!