Pageant of the Masters
The main attraction of the Festival
of Arts held at Laguna Beach in southern California is
an event named the Pageant of the Masters. This festival is
usually scheduled to take place from July to late August and
it mainly consists of famous paintings the come to life as
real people on stage are in them.
It all started in 1932 when famous artist Lolita Perine dressed
local residents and made them to look as if they were representing
a painting. Each live show had an approximate duration of
about 90 minutes. People had not seen anything like this before
and this lead to the popularity of the show.
Lolita cleverly dresses people by using appropriate costumes,
makeup, props and lighting (its really all about the lighting)
to create a real visual effect of a painting. This new concept
fascinated people and thus the Pageant of the Masters became
a really popular and famous festival.
In 1933 the Spirit of the Masters was presented in the festival
which eventually was named the Pageant of the Masters. The
festival is continuously on display for about 60 days in a
year since the year 1933. However it took a break during the
Second World War.
In the early years the festival was kind of amateurish and
some people even confronted it for its poor quality. One of
them was Roy Ropp who is now considered as the Father of Pageant
for his contribution in this field. He was the man who made
significant improvements in the presentation of the festival
and was the director of the festival in 1935.
In this year the festival received a positive response from
people and since then the festival has managed to hold its
position. I know it sounds somewhat interesting when you are
reading this but this is one event you really need to see
with your own eyes to appreciate.
With an orchestra playing some light music in the background
and different artwork being displayed on stage it is something
to behold. The living pictures may also have a narrator or
a vocal singer apart from the orchestra to add to its beauty
and charm.
Laguna Beach is the place where the Pageant of the Masters
festival takes place, however in the year 2000 the organizers
tried to conduct the festival at San Clemente which posed
many issues and in the subsequent year the festival returned
to its original place.
The Pageant of the Masters will now continue to take place
at the Laguna Beach for the coming 40 years. The festival
is organized mainly as a source of entertainment for people
and thus the tickets are fairly priced.
The Pageant requires a large number of volunteers who need
to be trained and therefore the preparations for the festival
begin as early as in the month of January. Many consider it
to be an honor to join as a volunteer for the Pageant of the
Masters.
This is one "Do Not Miss" event that those traveling
to Laguna Beach in the summer must see.
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