Ward Griffing Returns Home

My twin brother Willis, my mother Hattie, & me, shortly after my discharge from the service.

After serving almost 6 months in the U.S. Infantry and writing nearly 80 postcards and letters, I am finally put on a train back home to Manhattan, Kansas, with my discharge papers in hand. The ride home was by way of Chicago where me and the boys were able to take in a Matinee at the Majestic Theater (now the Shubert Theater). It was the jakes, I tell you.

I enclose here the ticket stub my grandson found in the breast pocket of my tunic where I had stuffed it 90 years ago. The ticket stub read, "Retain this Check" -- so I did. I also enclose the program for that vaudeville performance that I took home to show my mother. She saved it along with the letters I sent her while I was in the service. You can click on the images to enlarge them.

The impressive playbill included:

KINOGRAMS -- "The Newest News" Weekly Shown Exclusively at this Theater
RENO -- Eccentric -- Pantomimic -- Comedian
FRED HOLMES & LULA WELLS -- Presenting their New Act "An Old Fashioned Bride"
JAMES C. MORTON -- The Famous Comedian
LEW DOCKSTADER -- The World's Famous Humerist
MLLE. NITA-JO -- French Singer in her first apearance in America
EDDIE LEONARD & CO. -- The Minstrels in "Dandy Dan's Return" & some new songs
WELLINGTON CROSS -- The American Musical Comedy Favorite
FOUR ANKERS -- Naval Gymnasts
ORPHEUM CIRCUIT TRAVEL WEEKLY -- featuring the Yermak, Russia's Largest Ice-Breaker

Lew Dockstader in blackface