ESCANABA IN DA MOONLIGHT-YA GOTTA BE KIDDIN'

I moved from Escanaba, Michigan in 1954. During the last fifty plus years in California I’ve seen references to Escanaba three times. One reference is a sign-post on the MASH television series; another was Jimmy Stewart’s speech for the United States Bicentennial Celebration in 1976 in which he eloquently recited the names of gobs of cities from every state in the union. Escanaba was one of them. The third came from my political science teacher at Ohlone Jr. College in Fremont who described Escanaba as “…the Appalachia of Michigan…
What are the odds that a little known town sitting on Little Bay de Noc in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan would be the subject of a play in the small town of Murphys, California?
Oh, for crumps sake, I hadda go see it, doncha know. I ain’t givin’ the story away, now, or anyting. Ya wanna see it, aye? Its darn funny.
UP-ers are a bit covetous of being from the Upper part of the state. They don’t have much in common with the big city folk in Detroit and like it that way. Beer and whiskey drinkers, hunters and fishermen, they would not have identified with the Wine Club that enjoyed a fine repast in the lobby of the Black Bart Playhouse to see Escanaba In Da Moonlight. The play, written by Jeff Daniels while he was filming “Dumb and Dumber” is performed by the Murphys Creek Theatre Company at the Playhouse in Murphys, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday matinees through March 8th. It’s worth a trip to the motherlode. Its a hoot!!