'Curious George' comes to Moses Lake Friday
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 11 months AGO
‘Curious George’ comes to the Wallenstien Theater stage Friday, sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | March 17, 2016 6:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — The most famous curious monkey in the world will take the Wallenstien Theater stage at 7 p.m. Friday. The presentation of “Curious George” is sponsored by the Columbia Basin Allied Arts Association.
The play is the last production of the 2015-16 “Green Turtle” series. The Green Turtle series is designed for children, with stage productions and sometimes visits to local schools along with the play. The association also sponsors the annual visit of the Missoula Children’s Theater.
Curious George celebrates his 75th birthday in 2016; the first Curious George book was published in 1941. George, of course, is the little monkey brought to the Big City by his buddy, the Man in the Yellow Hat.
In the stage play George is waiting for “All You Can Eat Meatball Day,” which is – as far as one curious little monkey is concerned – one of the best, most important days of the year. Every year George helps Chef Pisghetti cook meatballs and serve them to the crowd of hungry meatball lovers. Oh, but this year there is no crowd of hungry meatball lovers – in fact, there’s no crowd at all. It’s up to George to find out what happened, and find all those hungry people.
Curious George is one of the most famous monkeys in children’s literature, the brainchild of a couple who arrived in the U.S. as European Jewish refugees. H.A. Rey and his wife Margret were born in Germany, met as teens, met again in Brazil and married in 1935.
H.A. Rey sold bathtubs in Brazil, but both H.A. and Margret Rey were also artists. They moved to Paris in the mid-1930s, and H.A. Rey’s drawings of monkeys caught the eye of a Paris publisher. The book that resulted included a curious little monkey named George.
George was the star of the next book, but the manuscript was completed just in time for the start of World War II. Margaret and H.A. Rey got out a few hours ahead of the German entry into Paris in May 1940, escaping on bicycles. They left Paris with a few possessions, among them five manuscripts, including the original Curious George.
The Reys escaped to Portugal, Brazil and eventually the United States. The manuscript they brought with them was published to instant success, and eight more books followed, along with movies and an animated television show.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
New Samaritan Hospital opens its doors
MOSES LAKE — The tarp covering the “Emergency” sign at the new Samaritan Hospital could be removed a few minutes early, but it wasn’t officially open until the sign’s lighting was turned on. The timing had to be precise. “I’ve got to wait until 6:59 (a.m.),” said Jason Wilbur of Graham Construction.
Coolidge Rd. extension to improve access to Moses Lake Community Health
MOSES LAKE — Construction is scheduled to be completed in late April on a project to extend South Coolidge Street to connect it with East Wheeler Road. The goal, said Moses Lake Community Health Center Sheila Berschauer, is to improve access MLCHC.
With fewer applicants, Grant PUD trying to fill what’s left
EPHRATA — A steep increase in application fees for Grant County PUD customers has reduced the number of pending applications dramatically. Andy Wendell, vice-president of customer experience, said that was one of the goals, but there were others. “There were a number of things that we wanted to do. We wanted to become contemporary. What I mean by that is that we (want to) have application processes that are providing certainty in our queue,” Wendell said. “(We wanted to ensure) that when we dedicate engineering and planning staff to reviewing applications, we want to increase the probability that we're working on applications that are going to come to fruition as much as possible. So yes, we did achieve results that we had hoped for, which is to have applicants in the queue that are more certain (to) come to fruition.”