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South Carolina Ladies Auxiliary's Photo
Gallery:
November 9, 10 11, 2001, Charleston, South Carolina
Battle of Secessionville at Boone Hall Plantation
Mt. Pleasant, Charleston County, SC
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"The Womanless Wedding"
The soldiers have always looked for ways to entertain
themselves when encamped for long periods of time.
Before modern television and radios, people frequently put on plays to
entertain themselves. Performing plays, vignettes or skits has been done
for centuries, right up to the mass introduction to television. Do you
remember those old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movies where they put on a
play for charity in every episode? In a book written shortly
after the war, "Little Women", the girls put on a play
just for fun.
In Shakespeare's time, only men could take to the stage so all parts
were played by men. Progress had been made by the 1800's to accept
female entertainers, but there were rarely any females in the camps.
When the Civil War soldiers put on a camp play, the men played all the
parts. That is why this skit was called the Womanless Wedding.
Our modern soldiers thought this would be fun to try. It was usually
performed only in front of the other soldiers, but today's ladies don't
like to be excluded from anything. The boisterous play was certainly an
ice-breaker for the evening.
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The cast consisted of the father and his shotgun  ,
three bridesmaids and a maid of honor 
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Some had escorts, but the others had to find their dance partners later
in the evening. There were several groomsmen to help bolster the courage
of the groom  .
With some persuasion by the father  ,
and some support from his friends  ,
the groom made it to the altar with his intended  .
After the traditional religious singing  ,
the preacher (see disclaimer below) performed
a tasteful (under the circumstances) ceremony  .
At long last the veil was lifted and the bride 
was revealed in her innocent splendor. Following the first kiss  ,
the father was overcome with relief  .
Then the bridesmaids 
were presented to the eager audience  .
After some "adjustments"  ,
the bridesmaids 
were ready to find their own beaus  .
The cast of this womanless play were willing partners for the rest of
the evening, and they joined in the opening Grand March 
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There was a special guest who appeared unannounced for the reception  ,
but he didn't dance.
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| DISCLAIMER: Thanks go to Sy Mabie for filling
in for the missing preacher. His straight-man act shouldn't ruin his
upstanding reputation. Since Sy can legally perform marriages, does this
mean . . ? |
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All photos were taken on behalf of the SCLA, so if you
make any money blackmailing anyone with them, we want half! |
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