Deseret News and Telegram, August 3, 1961
By Clarence S. Barker
Deseret News Staff Writer
Palmyra, N.Y. – Even though rain fell Wednesday morning and clouds threatened in the afternoon, clear skies prevailed in the evening as approximately 15,000 persons witnessed the opening performance of the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant here. The religious spectacle will be played again Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from the many-tiered open-air stages on the west slope of the hill.
“Awe-inspiring,” “deeply impressive,” and “a wonderful performance,” were typical of the spontaneous laudatory comments heard from the huge crowd of spectators who came from far and near to attend.
Plank bleachers and chairs provided seats for more than 11,000 spectators. Many hundreds of others watched from their cars, parked in fields in the 500-acre tract utilized for the presentation.
Sonorous tones of the symphonic music composed by Crawford Gates, taped speaking parts and sparkling sound effects were heard distinctly and without noticeable distortion, both near the stages and thousands of feet distant.
Costuming, backdrop scenery, lighting and acting were of a high order worthy of America’s largest and most colorful annual religious spectacle.
Principals and supporting cast members spoke and acted their parts with fervor. Their voices, however, do not reach the audience. Instead, stereophonic sound tapes recorded in advance by leading artists of the West are played simultaneously with the acting.
The pageant tells graphically the story of the Book of Mormon, America’s “New Witness for Christ.”
In the pageant, voices of ancient American prophets are heard to reaffirm the Savior’s status, as supreme and loving ruler of His world.
The setting is appropriate, since it was on the very hill 148 years ago that the Angel Moroni, the last great prophet of an ancient American civilization, delivered the gold plates containing religious history of his people to Joseph Smith.
The pageant shows Joseph Smith receiving the plates, Lehi leading a group of Israelites to America 600 years before Christ, the rise of a mighty nation, prophets delivering their messages, dissension, wickedness and war climaxed by the ministry of Jesus to the righteous on this continent following his resurrection.
The majestic sweep of action is complemented by the masterful stereophonic sound transmission, carried by three huge loudspeakers each seven feet square at the mouth and nine feet deep.
Tragedy, hope and promise for the future are conveyed in the rich, beautiful score played by the 80-piece Utah Symphony and the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ and sung by combined Brigham Young University choruses.
Two new percussion instruments were used in creating startling sound effects. One is the “rotarian,” an octagonal box full of croquet balls and steel marbles which produce a thunderous cascading effect. The second “hisser,” a carbon dioxide tank under high pressure, which emits a crescendo of hissing hound.
Diaphanous water curtains, one of them 16 feet high and 55 feet wide, add magic to several impressive scenes. A special fog machine creates billowing smoke effects in one impressive scene of destruction.
The excellent performance is a tribute to director Dr. Harold I. Hansen, head of the Brigham Young University speech department and the hundreds of voluntary participants.
Each of more than 300 pageant participants, including 175 Eastern States Mission missionaries daily attend inspirational meetings. Where weather permits, such gatherings will be held in the nearby Sacred Grove.
President Gerald G. Smith of the Eastern States Mission noticed that on very few occasions in its 24-year history has the pageant been rained out.
This is despite virtually daily summer showers in the area which make it unnecessary to sprinkle lawns or irrigate crops.
[Image] Pageant Drama – Hill Cumorah Pageant scene shows Book of Mormon figures, from left: Loren Blaur; Burley, Idaho, as the Prophet Abinadi; Glade Hall, Carnation, Wash., and Stephen Bleak, Klamath Falls, Ore., as wicked priests; and Delmar Derricott, Sugar City, Idaho, as King Noah.
Transcribed by: Emily Barker Farrer, 2007
Source: David McKay Barker