7 I OUT OF THE LAB 4i 159 



afternoon reading a spy novel. Some fishermen cast ofT from the rocks 

 below the lighthouse. The difference in atmosphere represents more than 

 just the different sides of the spit of land on which Woods Hole sits. 



Drama 



Beyond the beach, the MBL crowd has become involved at various times 

 with other outlets for recreational energies. One year in mid-century a 

 group of young scientists and friends agreed to help raise money for the 

 Woods Hole library and the MBL Club at the same time. They agreed to 

 perform a vaudeville type skit entitled "Tea for Several." They had a 

 magician, and they sang songs for the other acts. But the play was the thing. 

 They had used local people as models for their characters, and some 

 complained. A few also complained that the show was vulgar — thereby 

 demonstrating that they had probably never seen a vaudeville act and that 

 the standards of the Laboratory and the town dowagers were not always in 

 perfect sympathy. 



Another performance much earlier had had a different ending. History 

 suggests that Englishman Bartholemew Gosnold had first arrived on Cape 

 Cod and the Elizabeth Islands in 1602. Nobody noticed in 1902 that it was 



J. K. P. Purdum as Gosnold in 1907 



before the fall. Sumner family T^w" - 



papers, MBL Archives. ■ "^ " 



> •* 



