The terrible fire that gutted the Herbert
Georg Studio in downtown Springfield in February 1980 was very
nearly thorough in its destruction of the studio building and its
contents. Only about 9,000 usable negatives survived the
catastrophe. Readers of this column know of the esteem in which we
of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library now hold this precious
archive of 20th-century images of Springfield. Fortunately, many of
the negatives that did make it through the fire survived with their
identifying inscriptions still legible. The only information on the
sleeve that protected the image that accompanies today’s
column was “Mr. Kramp, April 5, 1935.”
Part of the pleasure of working at the
library is interacting with the collections themselves. I’m a
history nut and love poring over old books, documents, and photos.
The real value, for me, is when these inanimate objects open the
door to the past by illuminating the lives of ordinary people of
previous generations. I love the mystery of the past, but I love it
more when the past is made known to me. And so I was pleased and
surprised recently when a chance encounter with my high-school
classmate Jim Kramp led to the pleasure of a meeting with his
father’s cousin Larry, who played Jesus Christ in the Passion
play to benefit St. Aloysius Church 70 Easters ago this month.
Kramp, now 91 and living in Bloomington, was then a 21-year-old
amateur-theater player who, he says, was drafted into the
production by the Ladies Sodality Society.
“I didn’t know I was
capable of acting, but they persuaded me that I could,” he
says with a laugh.
St. Aloysius Parish, which was organized in
1929, erected a church two years later, but by that time the Great
Depression had set in and there was virtually no money with which
to pay for the church or the operation of the school. During the
Lenten season of 1932, the parish’s dramatic group, under the
direction of Leon White, successfully staged the play and was
thereafter urged by Father Ernest Burtle, pastor of the parish, to
continue to produce it annually. In 1935 it was staged with a cast
of 300 at the Knights of Columbus auditorium at Sixth and Edwards
streets on April 14-16. Music was produced under the direction of
Thomas Mahoney and the choir of Blessed Sacrament Parish.
Kramp was three years out of Springfield High
School when the photo was taken. (Incidentally, the makeup man for
the production was Romain Proctor, profiled in the March 24
“History Talk.”) In fact, Kramp had acted in several
local amateur theatrical productions with Henry House, who at that
time was a well-known player on the local arts scene and who
portrayed Pilate in the Passion play. Kramp, who was from a
religious family, had a good religious education at home and at
Sacred Heart Church and School, which was just across the street from his home at 13th and Cook
streets.
“Yes, I would say I was religious. I was
hardly a renegade; I was pretty faithful. I was even scrupulous,
back then,” he laughs, looking at the picture. “I was
young — and innocent.”
He says that his recently deceased wife, Mary
Agnes (née Kunzweiler), who was also in the Passion play,
was his neighbor and classmate at Sacred Heart, although, he says,
“We never paid any attention to each other — I should
say that she never paid any attention to me. I knew her in school,
and she lived at the other end of the block. Then, when I joined
the Army, she’d walk by the house and talk to my
mother.”
Before World War II, Kramp was a disc jockey
for radio station WCBS, earning $12 per week.
“That was when a disc jockey was just a
disc jockey. We put on the platters and read the news and the
commercials. We had no personality.”
After the war, Kramp went to the University of
Illinois in Urbana-Champaign on the GI Bill and graduated with a
journalism degree. He says that he and Mary did not marry until
they were both 35 years old.
“We had more sense, even though we had less
money. We were married 56 years.”
Kramp worked for the Associated Press, mostly
around the Statehouse, for 25 years. The last 10 years of his
working life were spent at the Statehouse, working for State
Capitol Information Service. He and his wife retired to Concordia
Village, where they lived until December 2003. They then moved to
Bloomington to be nearer their son.
Kramp has a crucifix on his living-room wall and is watched
over by a statue of the Blessed Mother. He wears a cross around his
neck and says that his faith has helped sustain him these many
years, particularly since the death of his wife. He has found a
home at St. Patrick’s of Merna Church, where, he says
jokingly, they have accepted him as a member and he is no longer on
probationary status:
“There is a lot I do, but the church is
my rock. I don’t know what else there is, actually.”
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2005.
