April 16-18 2010  will mark the fourth annual gathering of the Second St. Irregulars Mutton Eaters.

As to itinerary, Friday we will be investigating the city of Taunton for our early adventure followed by our annual banquet Friday evening at White’s Restaurant Presidential Room. Saturday will bring a very indepth tour of Fall River, a visit to the Fall River Room at the library, city cemeteries, and a tour of Borden-related houses still standing in the city. Saturday night we will be having our usual Open House for LB Society members and the first Hyman Lubinsky Ice Cream Social with 1890’s music. There will be visits to our usual Victorian Venue of course.  Also, we will have our “Call for Papers” and will hope several of you will again present research projects you will be doing over the Fall and Winter. Some of our recent endeavors will be published on Warps and Wefts very soon.

Extra seating is being added on today as a result of a blizzard of news coverage and radio interviews for the play written and starring Jill Dalton.  The old Eagle restaurant has been beautifully converted for the occasion and a flock of Mutton Eaters will descend to be on hand to meet and greet playgoers in the lobby.  Dr. Dolan has a new derby hat for the occasion and Mrs. Borden will be circulating with a tray of hors d’oeuvres and tips for flaky pie crust!  Alice Russell, Bridget Sullivan, Emma Borden and Mrs. Churchill will have something to say about everything, and undertaker, Mr. Winward will be glancing over the crowd for prospective future business! Best news of all- Miss Lizzie Borden Live  will be returning in August- that all-important month!!

“To that end, appetizers and a cash bar will be available and, to help playgoers get into the proper mind set, the event will be enlivened by members of The Mutton Eaters, a shadowy group of enthusiasts who know their roles.

“We’ll have the Mutton Eaters there to interact with the audience,” Cabral said, explaining that, as you sip a cocktail before the show, you may be approached by a woman in authentic 19th century dress, a woman who claims to be Emma Borden. Listen to her. She’ll tell you who she is and she’ll tell you some interesting things about what did or didn’t happen on that morning. There will be other costumed players about, too, all with information to impart.”

We’re up to the challenge!

The flock is gearing up for a big weekend in Fall River when Jill Dalton’s Lizzie Borden Live comes to town at the former Eagle Restaurant.  On Saturday trolleys will make a circuit of restaurant stops for guests dining out prior to the 8 p.m. curtain for the play.  The Noble Order of Mutton Eaters will be on hand in various character roles and costume, to welcome and chitchat with guests, man the trolleys, and to pose artistically at #92 Second Street.  What fun for all of us! – Read about it here  http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x2122537493/Mutton-Eaters-have-a-taste-for-history

Some more photos courtesy of Ted & Lorraine N.O.M.E.-sing along with the Muttonpoofs as we trek to see Lizzie’s courtroom, Marion and high jinx back at the Borden House. The house being renovated is on Green St. in Fairhaven- Emma Borden’s alibi abode!  Our Victorian destination this year was historic Blithewold mansion and gardens for Daffodil Days in nearby Bristol.

Sung to the tune of the Whiffenpoof Song

To the tables down at Rogers’
To the place where Lizzie dwells
To the dear old Second Street we love so well
Sing the Mutton Eaters assembled with their glasses raised on high
And the magic of their singing casts its spell

Yes, the magic of their singing of the songs we love so well
“Can’t chop your Poppa Up” ,”Took an Axe” and all the rest
We will serenade our Lenny while life and voice shall last
Then we’ll pass and be forgotten with the rest

We’re poor little lambs who have lost our way
Baa, baa, baa
We’re little black sheep who have gone astray
Baa, baa, baa

Mutton Eaters, songsters, - off on a spree
Doomed from here to eternity
God have mercy on such as we
Baa, baa, baa

The Whiffenpoof Song”is based on a tune written by Tod Galloway (Amherst 1895) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode (Yale 1910).

The word “whiffenpoof” originated in the 1908 opera Little Nemo by Victor Herbert, based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay. 

The Whiffenpoofs have performed for generations at a number of venues, including Lincoln Center, the White House, the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Oakland Coliseum, Carnegie Hall and the Rose Bowl. The group has also appeared on television shows such as Jeopardy!, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, 60 Minutes, Gilmore Girls and The West Wing.

Throughout the school year, the Whiffenpoofs traditionally perform Monday nights at Mory’s, known more formally as “Mory’s Temple Bar,” circulating from room to room singing.

The Whiffs’ best-known alumnus may be Cole Porter, who sang in the 1913 lineup of the Whiffenpoofs when he was a student at Yale. Today the group often performs Porter songs in tribute.

The Whiffenpoofs donate part of their proceeds each year to the Whiffenpoof Children’s Literacy Initiative, which aims to create 15 literacy centers in 12 countries, including the U.S. They travel extensively during the school year and take a three-month world tour during the summer. At one time most members were full-time students, but today many members take all or part of the year off and are effectively full-time professional Whiffenpoofs. (Wikipedia)