June 12, 19, 1932
Mountaineer Player, Harriet King Walker's Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, based on a tale from A Thousand and One Nights, was written for the Forest Theatre. Gwendolyn Mines Remy was music director and Margaret Tapping was the choreographer.
"..There was a play in a new tempos, dashing and Oriental, yet quite at home among the tall firs of Washington. The music bas borrowed from an old musical comedy. Since then, with the help of Patience Pascall, who wrote the lyrics, and of Evelyn Sczuck, who adapted old Arabic tunes, the music has been done over. For this play the mound served as the entrance - through a wall of convincingly solid rock - to the robbers' cave. Down left stage was the home of Ali Baba. The rest of the main stage was alternately the courtyard of Ali Baba's home and the city street, while up stage center in one of the tall trees was the Muezzin's tower from which he called the faithful to prayer. Certainly Miss Walker deserves high praise for her creation.
"Some visitors from Montesano were so entranced with "Ali Baba" and with the Forest Theatre that they went home and started to work for an outdoor theater of their own. As a result of their efforts, a forest theater was dedicated August 13, 1933, at Montesano. For the occasion, "Ali Baba" was used, with a cast of Mountaineers in the principal roles and with Grays Harbor residents as the chorus. At this performance the new music was used for the first time." [Wilmer Froistad, The Mountaineer, 1933]
