October 26, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mt. Airy woman pens musical about G’town Avenue history
by MICHAEL CARUSO

Pat Lewis stands in front of her favorite trolley, the Route 23. Actually it’s the converted trolley that is now the Trolley Car Ice Cream Store at 7611 Germantown Ave. (Photo by Len Lear)

For most residents of Northwest Philadelphia, the trolley line running along Germantown Avenue is a charming patch in the quilt of Philadelphia’s three-centuries-plus history. Begun in the 1850s with horse-drawn cars and electrified in the 1890s, the trolley line traversed what was one of the original “pikes” linking the colonial and federal city of Philadelphia — only a small portion of Philadelphia County prior to the 1854 Act of Consolidation — to such outlying townships as Germantown and beyond.

For Mt. Airy’s Pat Lewis, however, the trolley line and “The Ave.” along which it ran are the inspiration for the book of a projected musical appropriately called The Ave.

Lewis was born and grew up on Mt. Pleasant Avenue. After stays in Boston and North Carolina to further her education, she returned to Philadelphia, first living in the Nicetown section of the city. Since 1963, however, she has lived in a house built right on Germantown Avenue in 1863, as the War Between the States was raging. There she raised three children.

Writing, however, has been a constant passion in her life. In 1979, she wrote a collection of poetry entitled Our Masks, and she recently finished a novel entitled Fly and Buttermilk. She has also authored and illustrated four children’s books and written several plays including Tunnels and Holes three years ago and A Little Gin Straight Up in 1984. Neither script has yet to receive a public performance, however.

Lewis wrote the book for The Ave. in 1990. Her inspiration was the trolley line, itself.

“The trolley stopped right in front of my house,” she explained, “and I felt that taking a ride on the Germantown Avenue trolley car as the basis for a musical would be a great way to get to know and love the city of Philadelphia. The audience in the theater would get on the trolley car at the start of the line and then meet all the people who ride the trolley all along its route in the city.

“The book begins in 1989 with a prologue in which the audience meets the ghost of Benjamin Franklin flying a kite. Of course, Franklin predated the trolley line, but he introduces the audience to the founding of Philadelphia in the 17th century by William Penn and the English Quakers. He talks about how the city has developed, including the settling of Germantown by German immigrants and their Church of the Brethren. He points out Germantown’s importance as the site of a Revolutionary War battle as well as a stop on the Underground Railroad during the years leading up to the Civil War.”

The book continues with the arrival of the trolley and the clanging of its bell. The conductor gets onboard and the show’s first song, “23 Queen, “ is sung. Lewis wrote the lyrics, and a prominent musician, Bill Jolly, composed the music.

(Jolly has been named musical director for a new syndicated TV show called “Moms on the Move.” He also wrote the theme song for the documentary, Presidential Conversations, which recently won an Emmy; and he is currently arranging, charting and updating the production of 300 previously unreleased songs for the Philadelphia International record label.)

Lewis added that 17 songs are planned for The Ave. but that all of them have not yet been completed. A cast of 10 will be needed for the 12 scenes that follow the prologue.

It’s the conductor of the trolley who functions as the connecting link between all the passengers who ride his car and the neighborhood stops at which they get on the trolley, all the way west to Chestnut Hill. Lewis explained that the line originates at the Bigelow Street stop, where a gang-related murder has just taken place. The trolley continues on to Snyder Avenue, then Walnut Street, and then to Market Street and the Reading Terminal Market. Along the way, the conductor and the riders sing about their lives and exchange greetings with each other. There’s an attempted robbery at a shop in Chinatown, and the presence of drug dealing is felt at the Poplar Street stop.

One of the show’s most distinct and important characters, a woman named Carrie, gets onboard at that point and relates the difficulties of her working life. On her way to Chestnut Hill, where she works as a maid, the audience learns about her life experiences, both good and bad.

Lewis has already spoken to several local theater groups in the hope of mounting a workshop production. She’s also hoping that the city government might consider getting involved in the musical’s production by providing grant money.

“I think that it would fit perfectly into the city’s efforts to attract tourists because it highlights a very special part of Philadelphia’s history, its trolley cars and the sections of the city the trolleys have run through and the people who live in those neighborhoods and who have taken them,” she insis-ted. “It’s about the people of Philadelphia.”

For more information, call 215-438-6670 or e-mail giraffes11@aol.com.