Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Begun in 1949 as a fundraiser for the Midland Community Theatre, Summer Mummers is now the longest continuing melodrama in the United States. (As a theatrical genre, melodrama refers to a dramatic work that engages the audience through exaggerated performances and sensational plots where good always triumphs over evil.) Shows include both a locally written stage play and an olio, or a short song and dance number performed either between acts or as an encore.
This 1982 episode of The Eyes of Texas captures the raucous scene at the historic Yucca Theatre, the former movie and vaudeville house where Summer Mummers relocated the previous year.
Watch the full video at: tinyurl.com/yn6dt97s
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by KPRC-TV.
#midland #summermummers #melodrama
Begun in 1949 as a fundraiser for the Midland Community Theatre, Summer Mummers is now the longest continuing melodrama in the United States. (As a theatrical genre, melodrama refers to a dramatic work that engages the audience through exaggerated performances and sensational plots where good always triumphs over evil.) Shows include both a locally written stage play and an olio, or a short song and dance number performed either between acts or as an encore.
This 1982 episode of The Eyes of Texas captures the raucous scene at the historic Yucca Theatre, the former movie and vaudeville house where Summer Mummers relocated the previous year.
Watch the full video at: tinyurl.com/yn6dt97s
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by KPRC-TV.
#midland #summermummers #melodrama
