THE FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE -- HOME OF THE VAGABOND PLAYERS -- Founded by Robroy Farquhar

Robroy Farqauhar and a group of struggling actors found their way to Hendersonville in the Spring of 1937.
He formed them into The Vagabond Players. This was the beginning of a love affairs with the community of   Hendersonville that continues today.

The Vagabonds started performing in 1940.  The site was an old, dilapidated grist mill located at the mouth  of the Highland Lake Waterfall.

Robroy and his followers, a dedicated troupe of actors, had gone through a lot together.  After World War II, they were back in Hendersonville and opened a Playhouse on Lake Summit in an old schoolhouse.(pictured above). It later became the dining hall for Camp Wendy Wood owned by Bill and Jo Waggoner.
The camp was named for their oldest daughter, Wendy.  My daughter, Ann, attended the camp and later became a counselor there.My son, Matthew was a camper there for eight weeks one summer.  My family and the Waggoner family were friends.

Here is a neat story about the camp and co-owner, Leona Farquar. -- My friend, Jack Folline, whose family had owned a home in Laurel Park, asked the Leona for permission to sell cold drinks, crackers and candy during intermission times of the plays. She agreed. Jack did a land-slide business during most of the performances. He was so successful that Leona cancelled his agreement and assumed responsibility for concessions from that day forward.  In the years that followed, she became famous for her "Lemonade".

After operating successfully in the old schoolhouse on Lake Summit, the Vagabonds made an offer on the Loundes House and some eight acres of land in the Village of  Flat Rock.  They rented a circus tent and performed under the "Big Top" for a considerable amount of time.

By this time they had formed a board of directors and had attracted the attention of several prominent  community leaders, particularly Bruce Drysdale, owner of a brick manufacturing company in Etowah.  He is given a lion's share of the credit for taking the Playhouse and the Vagabond Players to the place of prominence they enjoy today.

This is what the Playhouse looked like after the "Big Tent" operation had run its course.  The board of directors, Bruce Drysdale and others who gained interest in the future of the Playhouse joined the team
and made it possible for this first -- rustic as it was, hoped for -- permanent home for the Vagabond Players.
It had open sides with canvass curtains that could be let down in case of rain, no air conditioning and a fair, at its best, sound system.  The seating was old theater chairs from one of Hendersonville's movie's.  Extra chairs were brought in when the show's popularity warranted it.

A few years later, after a series of successful seasons and the generosity and "hard work" of the great band of  Vagabond and Farquhar faithful, this photograph shows some dramatic changes in the facility. Air conditioning had been installed and the sides of the building could be either open or closed depending upon the weather.

Before going further with this story, it is important to dial back to sometime near its beginning and give recognition to some of the Vagabonds that came and went -- and made their contributions -- to the organization  Here you see Robroy Farquhar, hanging a kerosene fired lantern on a sign being posted by Mendel Reddish announcing the coming attraction at the Lake Summit Playhouse - DANGEROUS CORNER. Mendel had played an important role in bringing the Vagabonds and the Playhouse to this point of success and he would continue as a valuable asset for a long time.

Then, there were a number of "struggling actors" who came to Hendersonville to join Robroy in his quest to produce a quality theater product for the region.  Some of them are shown here in this montage.  Left - top to bottom -- Don Dubbins, Pat Hingel and Rosmary Prinz.  Center, Lee Marvin, Left -- top to bottom -- Joann Woodward and Dodee Wick.

There are a lot of good stories to be told about these actors who went on to successful careers and others who followed them. Some of us were very fortunate to have known them personally and delt with them on occasion.  As an example, Lee Marvin went with me to a cook-out and square dance at a mountain camp for dignitaries looking at the possibility of locating their business in the community. Once he was back in the area filming "Raintree County" with Elizabeth Taylor and staying at the Skyland Hotel where my office was located.  I went to his room for a visit.  He taught me "HOW A MAN GETS OUT OF A CHAIR."

Here are the two people most responsible for the beginning and the success of the Vagabond Players in Hendersonville, a community that both of them dearly loved. -- Robroy and Leona Farquhar. Words cannot adequately describe their importance.

The son of a Merchant Marine, Robert William Smith left Liverpool to make his home in America.

He visited Hollywood and the great English actor, Sir C. Aubrey Smith offered to help him get into motion pictures, he declined and went to New York.

He borrowed the name Robroy McGregor and took the surname Farquhar from his mother' family. "It seemed to be an appropriate stage name", he wrote to his Aunt Gertie, "but I never made it legal." Soon, he dropped McGregor and became Robroy Farquhar.

Robroy was a very good actor as well as a “Jack of all trades” at the Playhouse. He was the original Vagabond, no doubt about it! 

"BE A BWICK -- BUY A BWICK -- It was the way Robroy would raise funds by having patrons clip a dollar bill to a closeline as it was passed through the audience with an actor holding the close line on both sides of the isle. 

HERE COMES THE TENT... A Ringling Brothers Circus tent.

As luck would have it, complications arose in the new Flat Rock home of the Vagabonds. Joe McKennon, having been transportation manager for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus arranged for a tent to be set up for the shows provided Leona Farquhar would take care of it -- become the seamstress and general repair person for the tent when it needed it.

McKennon set up the stage on pilings and with only a canvas cover.  It was not unusual for summer storms to rip the canvas during a performance, requiring instant repair. This caused what came to be known as the :upstage-down tent syndrome -- that caused the ringing of bell that brought a corp of people to rush to the scene, grab ropes and tighten or loosen the canvas on a given signal. If passers-by had heard the cry "H-O-L-D" and had seen the bending and stretching they would surely have sworn that some kind of ritual was going on inside the tent.

It was an awesome sight to see Leona up on top of the tent sewing away while water poured in.  But, the record shows that she never lost an audience to the collapse of an errant tent.  And, the tent remained in use until 1956 when the "Raise the Roof" campaign produced sufficient funds that enabled a open-air shed theatre to be joined to the stage house. 

Pictured third from the left in the back row is Robroy Farquhar -- directly in front of him is Mrs. John Clemons.  Bevo Middleton, owner of WHKP Radio at the time,
is to the right of Robroy and Mr. John Clemons is to Robie's left.

A highlight of many summer seasons for the Vagabond Players had its beginning in the early "50's" when Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Clemons, owners of the historic Woodfield Inn began having an annual tea to introduce the cast to the community.
Almost everybody who was anybody -- particularly SC Low Country folks who had summer homes in Flat Rock -- frequented these affairs and enjoyed mingling with the players.  Sometimes, a close-by neighbor, the famous poet and Lincoln Biographer, would show up with his guitar and treat the folks with a couple of his old-timey songs.

This is our continuing story of the Vagabonds -- their trials, their missteps and some of their successes over the years. We will continue to add to it in the coming weeks and invite you to give us your thoughts. We will surely consider including them sometime along the way. Should you have photos, we'd like to consider posting them.  So, please stay tuned.