FOCUS ON HISTORY: Shakespeare at the golf course – The Daily Gazette

FOCUS ON HISTORY – The Phil Kilfoil Company’s Woodland Players from New York City performed Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It” on the grounds of the Antlers Club in Fort Johnson the night of July 13, 1904.  The private golf course, today known as Rolling Hills, had opened in 1901 on a 90 acre site. The original clubhouse was built that year with a spectacular view of the Mohawk Valley from its veranda. The play was performed atop a hill overlooking the clubhouse with the woods forming what the Amsterdam Recorder reviewer called “an ideal background” to a grassy stage.  Japanese lanterns lighted the audience “with a soft flickering light” and Minch’s orchestra, a local favorite, played popular songs before the show, keeping the crowd entertained while they waited. When the play began, “powerful calcium lights” illuminated the stage and trees with what the newspaper called “a bright but weird glow, which might be well described as exaggerated moonlight.” It was chilly for July. The performance was originally scheduled the night before but had been rained out.  An estimated 350 people sat on camp chairs to watch Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy. Many of the patrons arrived on crowded electric trolley cars from…
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