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1923-1924:
Drake's Drum

Score

Score

© The Trustees of Princeton Triangle Club. Princetoniana Museum use only.

Another star of the twenties was Wallace H. Smith '24, one of the finest comedians in the club's history. In his senior year he wrote "Drake's Drum," based on a poem about Sir Francis Drake by the English poet Alfred Noyes, a visiting professor at Princeton. Critics called this the best Triangle production ever; its book, dialogue, music, lyrics, costumes, scenery, acting, and dancing were all effectively combined to make it a standard by which succeeding shows were judged. Best known and longest remembered among several outstanding hits was "Ships That Pass In The Night," whose lyrics and music, by Smith, appear on the following page. Four other numbers in the show were written by Robert M. Crawford '25, who also did the orchestration and played the part of Sir Francis Drake.

Source: Leitch p. 477

This show toured in Trenton, Newark, Montclair, Brooklyn, Morristown, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, Akron, and Cincinnati.

A scan of the entire playbill and the score may be found in the Mudd Library digital archive here.


"Ships that Pass in the Night"

"Ships that Pass in the Night"

© The Trustees of Princeton Triangle Club. Princetoniana Museum use only.

First page of the score of the famous song: "Ships that Pass in the Night," by W. H. Smith '24.