- By Dan Veaner
- Entertainment
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Saturday July 16 marked the second of three Lansing Community Library Center Summer Reading Program events. This one featured Tom and Cindy Rasely in "The Travelling Vaudeville Show." The Summer Reading Program seeks to encourage kids to read throughout the summer, and keep a log of what they read.
Orgainizer Susan Rosenkoetter started by announcing that 110 children are signed up to read this summer. This number is remarkable when you consider that is approximately the size of an entire grade level in the Lansing schools. The program is sponsored by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County/NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization Program and an anonymous Lansing donor.
Even though Vaudeville was nearly 100 years before their time, the children enjoyed re-enactments of classic routines and original material. The acts included Gallagher & Shean, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," Groucho Marx's Captain Spaulding, "The Old Soft Shoe," Swami George the Snake Charmer, and The Great Cyndini. Most popular with the kids was Swami George, a blue Muppet-like puppet that vintriloquist Tom Rasely traded quips with, and the classic "Who's On First" routine that was made famous by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Kids howled with delight as Cindy tried to explain to Tom that Who's on first. A fun fact: the routine was originated by husband and wife team Joey and Judi Faye before Abbott and Costello performed it, so it was appropriate that the two Raselys resurrected it.
After the performance children went straight to the library to take out new books to read, including the newest Harry Potter book (see accompanying story).
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