The Story Behind the Photo 1967

To celebrate our 60th season, we are alternating Memorable Mondays with The Story Behind The Photo, where we’ll bring you the backstory on moments from SCR’s rich history.

We start the series with an iconic photo taken near 32nd Street in Newport Beach in December 1967. Featuring the company members from that time, including David Emmes, Martin Benson, Jerry Patch and Founding Members Hal Landon Jr., Martha McFarland and Ron Boussom, the photo was taken by Bill Dunn, a company member who previously worked in a New York ad agency.

Founding Artistic Director David Emmes said that Dunn came to him with the idea of promoting the second half of the 1967-68 season. He proposed a brochure featuring the company photo on the cover and copy describing SCR’s upcoming productions on the inside. Dunn took the photo standing on a ladder.

“It turned out, it was not a very successful campaign. We spent so much on the printing that I don’t think we recovered the expense in terms of the sales we got,” Emmes said. “We didn’t have a mailing list and couldn’t advertise in the papers with any degree because we didn’t have the money in our budget.

“It wasn’t a successful campaign. But the imagery was great.”

The photo became an SCR touchstone. It was featured on the cover of Stepping Ahead, Lawrence Christon’s written history of SCR. It holds a prominent place in SCR’s administrative offices.

Here is a guide to who's who in Dunn's photo.