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Pantomime Aladdin
Letter Home 18 December 1945
by
Cpt. Ivor
Gordon Davies No. 313434
.....At the moment we are all agog here with Christmas arrangements. First I have quite a big program of services to cover in my brigade, & in addition I’m assisting this battalion in all its do’s. the choir which I’ve been spasmodically training makes its debut on Christmas Eve where it will render familiar & least known carols. A sympathetic audience also required. Then we have a film, always a high spot in our lives. We shall feed communally as a bn. in big marquees we’ve now seating & of course the officers will wait upon the men in traditional manner. Then you might see officers walking around here as if under a spell. They see nothing or no one. The reason? – they have to think out rhymes for the clues in the proposed treasure hunt. The races come next – in Jeeps, on mules, with bullocks & carts, we have a rooster & duck race – needless to say there will be some wagering on each company’s representative. The high spot will be ???, our Pantomime. It’s to be a skit on Aladdin, & I’m the Emperor I’m proud father of a fair & beautiful daughter Stripitoff! A week or so ago the idea of such an enterprise seemed fantastic, now however it has assumed quite presentable proportions & style. The costumes are a difficulty of course. But we ransacked the QM’s stores & I can tell you our tailors make a nifty line in mosquito – netting. The Pioneers too have built a substantial stage, the piano is rather prefabricated & certainly no Steinbeck, but it will serve. No doubt the high spirits of Boxing Day helped by a bottle of beer or two will see the show through.
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