Standley, Jack & Myrtle (Farr)

Obit Index
Updated: 20 Mar 2009

Daily Oklahoman, The
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
September 19, 1972, page 15

Mrs. Myrtle Standley, 86 Dies

Services for long-time actress Mrs. J. T. Myrtle Standley, 86, of 6209 NW 19 , are pending with Turner Funeral Home in Yukon. Mrs. Standley died Sunday at a local nursing home.

Mrs. Standley and her family toured the Southwest for 29 years with the Standley Players Tent Show.

Survivors include a son, Johnny Standley, Los Angeles; and three daughters, Marjorie Standley, of the home; Martha (Mrs. Robert Knott), 3125 NW 41, and Mrs. Eleanor West, Los Angeles.

80 years ago when a showgirl from Milwaukee met a horse trainer from Boston on a train trip. Jack Standley and Marjorie Farr soon were married, and in 1927, they embarked on their own traveling tent show. As time passed, the couple added their son, Johnny, and daughters Marjorie, Martha, and Eleanor to the show.

January 28, 2002, page 1

Reliving Past Performances

Exhibit honors comedy troupe
Standley

Players to entertain Cheyenne residents once again

   CHEYENNE — Fifty-four years ago, Martha Knott and her family folded the canvas tent of their renowned traveling show for the last time.
Packed away along with the tent was the joy they brought to each rural town in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas where they performed. Gone were those magical days when children and adults hailed the arrival of their troupe caravan, laughed at their comedy skits and tapped up small clouds of dust to the beat of their music.
    Folks picked extra sacks of cotton for admission money in those days — anything to see The Standley Players. The allure was that strong.
    Apparently, it still is in some circles.
    The show’s tent has risen once again in spirit with a permanent exhibit at the Cheyenne Pioneer Museum in Roger Mills County. The display is a humble tribute to both The Standley Players and that bygone era — days now unknown to most and a faint memory to a dwindling few.
    “I’m sure the younger generations have never heard of them,” said Joe
    ——
    ——Frank Moad, president of the Historic Roger Mills County Foundation. “But they should know them. They were part of our past. They were part of a history we don’t have anymore.
    “They brought a lot of excitement to towns back when we didn’t have any entertainment.”
    Moad, 80, said he first felt that excitement as a 10-year-old in Hammon, wading through the crowd at the local park where The Standley Players assembled
their tent each summer during the 1930s. He watched those shows beneath the tent in the sweltering Oklahoma heat. He enjoyed them so much he forgot it was hot.
    Glena Belle Crane of Cheyenne also remembers The Standley Players with fond recollections.
    “We had no radios back then, no good movies ... church activities were just about all we had,” said Crane, 89. “But when The Standley Players came, it brought the whole community out to watch them perform.
    “And, oh, were they good.”
    Crane fostered the idea of a permanent museum display on the popular traveling troupe, then financed the project. Her first task was to contact Knott, the last surviving family member and troupe performer.
    Knott, 88, remains active in Oklahoma City theater. Her work still can be seen at the Jewel Box and Lyric theaters.
    She allowed Crane to copy old show posters and family photographs that chronicle the family’s unique story. Knott also donated a glitzy hat she often wore on stage.
    “That was real nice,” Knott said of the museum’s interest. “That made me feel good to know people still remember. Every once in a while, I can still walk into a grocery store, and some old lady will come up to me and say, ‘Weren’t you one of The Standley Players?’
    “That’s always fun.”
    The fun started nearly 80 years ago when a showgirl from Milwaukee met a horse trainer from Boston on a train trip. Jack Standley and Marjorie Farr soon were married, and in 1927, they embarked on their own traveling tent show.
    As time passed, the couple added their son, Johnny, and daughters Marjorie, Martha, and Eleanor to the show. Each brought a talented mixture of comedy, dance and music to the family performances.
    “We did a lot of traveling,” Knott said. “But we were raised with that, and that’s all we knew. Every winter we would station ourselves in one town until the next summer came along, and then we’d hit the road again. We spent most of our winters in St. Joseph, Mo. It seems like we were always behind on our school work.
    “But with all the traveling we did, well, that was an education in itself.”
    One of the family’s most popular skits involved what they called a “Toby character,” a simple country boy who always outwitted the city slicker. In Cheyenne, those honors went to a real local Toby — Toby Shoop.
    Shoop even traveled some with the show.
    “He was a clown,” Moad recalled. “He was always really funny.”
    As funny as the Standleys were loved.
    “The people always made us feel so important,” Knott said. “They treated us like movie stars.”

A show poster advertises a performance of The Standley Players. The poster, among other items from the troupe, is on display at Cheyenne’s Pioneer Museum.
Jack and Marjorie Standley founded The Standley Players. The couple’s children also joined the traveling act, which often stopped in small towns throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas more than five decades ago.

Martha Knott:
She is active in Oklahoma City theater.

Sources: fair use as stated above

Contributed by Marti Graham, July 2007. Information posted for educational purposes for viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.

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