The St. James Stage Group have done it again! Their 39th annual Old-Fashioned Variety Concert was an outstanding success, full of gusto, colour and side-splitting humour from start to finish at St. James Church Hall.

The performers, all amateurs who ordinarily may be seen predominating in their churches, homes and places of work, have perfected their own art of turning everyday experiences into down-to-earth humour through skits about the cost of living, loving and conflicting with family, neighbours, the courts, police and other whatever.

It was all just so funny. Down through the decades the cast have become stars in their own roles. For the most part they write and perform their own skits, with some emerging as superstars, such as veterans Joan Dismont, Myra Bristol, Marjorie Talbot, HattieAnn Gilbert, Lilymay Bulford, Viola Rogers, Alsace Trott, Brenda Wingood Mervyn Smith and Johnathan Rogers (making his second appearance), just to name a few.

There were monologues, solos and group singing of sacred and other songs, backed by a live orchestra comprising Elliott Perinchief on drums, Earl Bascome on piano, Thomas Bean on accordion, Charles Virgil, on lead guitar, Franklyn Richards on bass guitar and Uleen Lewis, making her debut with the group on the piano.

There were moments of nostalgia when time was taken to lament the passing of highly active prominent members of the group. They were Mrs. Olive Smith, who died at the age of 99 several months after her appearance in the last concert singing her favourite solo, If I Could Help Somebody, Mrs. Iona Maxwell, a former president who was 97, Mrs. Enith Simons, Mrs. Winifred Simons, Mrs. June Dickenson, one of the early emcees and Mrs. Elsie Burrows.

The family of Mrs. Winifred Simons donated the evening's programmes in her memory. And Mrs. Winifred Nesbitt, wife of Canon Thomas Nisbett, presented $1,760 which had been given in memory of her mother, Mrs. Olive Smith.

Our photos, courtesy of Michelle Dismont-Frazzonni, capture some of the highlights of the Easter Monday night concert of the St. James Stage Group. Curtain call, top right: Joan Dismont, Lilymay Bulford, Marilyn Burchall and Marjorie Talbot in one of their routines. Viola Rogers (right) was most demonstrative in her skit, with Marita Thompson in the background. Centre: concert patrons, obviously caught up in the humour of the night; and far right, highlighting the intense family involvement in the production, are Viola Rogers, her son TV producer Johnathan Rogers and his talented daughters, musicians Khylah and Kiarrah Rogers.