Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Page’s weren’t novice travelers. Soon after they moved from Kansas to Colorado, he and Ethel joined the Chautauqua circuit. Think of it as educational Vaudeville. Ethel did dramatic readings and such, while Willard gave talks on various subjects as he made chalk drawings on a big board. Back then, they were known as “Chalk Talks.” They traveled all over the Midwest on the circuit. Teddy Roosevelt call it “the most American thing in America.”
Anyhow . . . Ethel was stricken with severe arthritis, and their lives changed as her condition worsened.
