Great Americans of the 20th Century

3rd through 8th grades
30 minutes
$39.95 (2 or more Book/CD sets @ $30 each)

Scroll down to see the list of characters and the first several pages of the script.  (You might want to print it out.)

Listen to samples of the songs!

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Click here for vocabulary terms from Great Americans.

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National Education Standards

Fulfills National Arts Standard 3 for Dance, 1 and 8 for music, and 2, 3, and 5 for Theater.

Fulfills National History Standard 3 for K-4, Standards 1 and 3 for 5-12, and Eras 7, 8, 9, and 10 for 5-12.

Fulfills National Social Studies Standard 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10.

CHARACTERS:

ANNOUNCER (offstage voice)
ANGELICA, the emcee
ALL-AMERICAN DANCERS
WALLY, the roving reporter
MARTHA GRAHAM
WILBUR WRIGHT
ORVILLE WRIGHT
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
RACHEL CARSON
WALT DISNEY
MARTIN LUTHER KING
ROSA PARK SINGERS
TEDDY ROOSEVELT and his ENTOURAGE
FDR and his ENTOURAGE
3 SPOKESPERSONS (for Stars in Your Pantry)
JACKSON POLLOCK
MUSICIANS
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
ANDY WARHOL
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
CESAR CHAVEZ
HENRY FORD and his WORKERS
2 GUYS in white coats
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
ALBERT EINSTEIN
THOMAS EDISON
BABE DIDRIKSON
BABE RUTH
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not playing roles on stage at the time

(Outside an auditorium—this can be represented simply as the very left of the stage. A woman, elegantly dressed, holds a microphone. People, also dressed up, walk by on a red carpet towards the right side of the stage. Other people are standing behind ropes. Some might shout out things like “There she goes!” and “I just LOVE your cars, Mr. Ford!”  After a few seconds of this, we hear from offstage:)

VOICE:  Five seconds to air, Angelica.

 (Angelica turns to the audience, primps her hair a bit and  speaks.)

ANGELICA:  Good evening! Thank you for tuning into our fabulous awards show. Tonight we celebrate great Americans of the 20th century. And best of all, it features…me!

(As the music begins, several “All-American Dancers” could   jump across the stage in silly “award show” fashion. These  dancers can return during the brief musical interlude after  the first chorus. ANGELICA sings:)

We’ve got scientists and heroes           Song 1
We’ve got entertainers too
And there’s even politicians
There was nothing we could do.

We found athletes and artists
And a business man or two
And we’ve brought them all together
Just to celebrate with you.

ANGELICA and CHORUS:

The greatest
The greatest
The greatest Americans.
The greatest
The greatest
The greatest Americans—
of the twentieth century.

DIFFERENT MEMBERS of CHORUS:

#1:  There are lots of great musicians

#2: And there’s folks in civil rights

#3:  We’ve got some who play with baseballs

#4:  Some who play with ’lectric lights.

#5: We’ve got labor movement leaders

#6: And a woman who paints flowers

ANGELICA:

And there’s ME, your host all evening
Hope the show goes on for hours!

ANGELICA and CHORUS:

The greatest
The greatest
The greatest Americans—
The greatest
The greatest
The greatest Americans—
of the twentieth century.

ANGELICA:  It’s so exciting. Brilliant and talented people from all walks of life are entering the auditorium. Let’s go to our roving reporter, Wally Walters, who’s standing just outside the doors.

(We see WALLY now, who also holds a microphone on the   other side of the stage. An elegant woman walks by him.)

WALLY :  Thank you, Angelica. It’s fantastic to be part of such an evening. Wait, here comes somebody. I think, yes, it’s, uh, somebody famous. Excuse me, ma’am.

MARTHA GRAHAM:  Yes?

WALLY:  Who are you?

MARTHA GRAHAM:  I’m Martha Graham.

WALLY:  THE Martha Graham? Fantastic.
       (WALLY has no idea who she is.)
This is Martha Graham, ladies and gentleman, the famous…er…inventor of the graham cracker. I just love graham crackers.
      (TO GRAHAM)
There’s something we’re all dying to know.

GRAHAM:  Yes?

WALLY:  How do you get all those little perforations in the crackers?

ANGELICA (cutting in):  Wally, you idiot!
      (catching herself, turning to audience, trying to forget what  she just said) I mean, Wally, what a kidder! Everyone knows Martha Graham, the great dancer and choreographer.

         (GRAHAM exits)

WALLY (sees WRIGHT BROTHERS walking up carpet):  Wait a minute! Here come a couple of guys who must be brothers. Just look at them! Hey, are you two the Brothers Karamozov?

WILBUR:  No. They’re fictional characters out of Russian novel.

WALLY:  Wait, don’t tell me. The Luden Brothers? I knew it. Ladies and gentlemen, these guys discovered cough drops.

ORVILLE: No, you’ve got the wrong brothers.

WALLY:  Okay, I give up. Who are you?

WILBUR:  We’re the Wright brothers.

WALLY:  Well of course you’re the right brothers if you’re not the wrong brothers. But what’s your name?

ORVILLE:  Really, we’re the Wright Brothers.

WALLY (a bit frantic):  Don’t play games with me! I’ve got an infected hangnail and my shoes caught on fire this morning. I’m not feeling well.

ORVILLE and WILBUR:  But it’s true: we ARE the Wright Brothers!

BROTHERS:

We are the Wright, Wright Brothers                                                             Song 2
We are the Wright, Wright Brothers
If you want to fly
Give the clouds a try
If you want to fly we’re the Wright Brothers.

ORVILLE:

I remember well that daring flight
I was cool as I flew out of sight
The things below looked just like ants to me.

WILBUR:

Well they WERE ants you saw below
You were only up ten feet or so
But that was news in nineteen hundred three.

BROTHERS:
We are the Wright, Wright Brothers
We are the Wright, Wright Brothers
If you want to fly
Give the clouds a try
If you want to fly we’re the Wright Brothers.

We Americans got off the ground
Hundred years and we are not back down
Yeah flying drew new maps and changed the clock.

You can fly to Rome, you fly in space
This whole world’s become a tiny place
It started way back there at Kitty Hawk.

BROTHERS and CHORUS:
We are the Wright, Wright Brothers
We are the Wright, Wright Brothers
If you want to fly
Give the clouds a try
If you want to fly we’re the Wright Brothers.
If you want to fly
Give the clouds a try
If you want to fly we’re the Wright Brothers.

 (THEY exit. ANGELICA enters the stage of the auditorium  and stands at a podium or a microphone stand.)

ANGELICA:  Welcome, honored guests and nominees. Let’s get straight to our first award.

 (ERNEST HEMINGWAY enters suddenly, much to the surprise of ANGELICA.)

HEMINGWAY:  Thank you, thank you.

ANGELICA:  Ernest Hemingway!

HEMINGWAY:  I’m honored, of course. Where’s that award?

ANGELICA:  Mr. Hemingway, I’m sorry, but this is not your category.

HEMINGWAY:  It isn’t? Are you sure?

ANGELICA: You’re not supposed to be out here.

HEMINGWAY:  Well, since I’m already here, we could talk about me for a few minutes.

ANGELICA:  Not now.

HEMINGWAY:  What if we just mention a few of my novels? It won’t take long.

ANGELICA:  No. I’m sorry.

HEMINGWAY:  I could mime the titles.

ANGELICA:  Ernest, please.

HEMINGWAY (exiting):  Farewell, then. Farewell…To Arms!    (laughing because he snuck in the title of one of his novels) Ha ha ha ha!     (exits)

ANGELICA (collecting herself, speaks to audience). I’m sorry about that. Now, back to the awards. To present our Humanitarian award, I am proud to introduce two great Americans in their own right, Rachel Carson and Walt Disney.

 (THEY enter, CARSON holds an envelope)

DISNEY:  Rachel, it’s an honor to be here with you. Your book, Silent Spring, about pesticide poisoning, pretty much started the whole environmental movement.

CARSON: Thank you, Walt. And who would have thought that at the same time I was fighting with chemical companies, trying to make the United States a safer place, you would be changing the world with an animated rodent?

DISNEY:  Life’s a mystery, eh, Rachel? But enough about us. We’ve got an important award to hand out. There were so many inspiring humanitarian leaders in twentieth-century America. Our panel of judges had a very difficult time selecting just one winner. But they did, and let’s find out who it is.

CARSON (opens envelope, reads):  For his work in civil rights, for leading the non-violent march towards equality for black Americans in the most difficult of times, the winner is Dr. Martin Luther King.

KING (entering with ROSA PARK SINGERS. HE speaks at podium):  I am honored, but I can’t accept this award alone. I want to acknowledge the bravery of one woman.  On December fifth, 1955, Rosa Parks was riding on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was sitting in the fifth row of the bus—in what was called the “colored section.” Blacks were not allowed in the front, and we were required by law to give up our seats to any white person who wanted it. But on that day Rosa did not give up her seat. Rosa did not move to the back of the bus. Rosa did not accept second-class citizenship. By that one simple and brave gesture, the civil rights movement was galvanized. Thank you, Rosa Parks.

ROSA PARK SINGERS:

Rosa Parks                                  Song 3
You stay in your seat
Rosa Parks
Not just tired feet
You know, you know
There’s gonna be a fuss
But you’re not movin’ to the back of the bus.
No, you’re not movin’ to the back of the bus.

Rosa Parks
You’re under arrest
Rosa Parks
Now here comes the test
Is it legal or just ludicrous?
To make you move on to the back of the bus?
To make you move on to the back of the bus.

M.L. KING (spoken as music continues): So we organized a bus boycott. It lasted 382 days. Rosa refused to pay the fine, and her case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. In December of 1956, the Supreme Court declared that the segregation in the south was unconstitutional. And through it all Rosa never wavered.

ROSA PARK SINGERS, KING, CHORUS:
Rosa Parks
Equality stalled
Rosa Parks
And you took the call.
An example still to all of us
By not movin’ to the back of the bus.
By not movin’ to the back of the bus.

        (THEY exit. ANGELICA steps up to microphone.)

ANGELICA:  To present out next award for outstanding American statesman of the twentieth century, please welcome the famous aviator and adventurer, Amelia Earhart.
        (SHE looks offstage—no one comes. After a pause:)
ANGELICA:  Apparently Amelia is missing. Well, I’m sure she’ll show up soon—she can’t be lost forever. I guess we’ll just move on…

HEMINGWAY (shouting from offstage):  Bring back Hemingway!

ANGELICA (speaking in his direction):  Ernest, be quiet!
       (to audience)
I guess I’ll do the honors.
       (Picks up envelope)
And the winner of greatest statesman is…Roosevelt.

       (FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT  enters, with ENTOURAGE behind)

ANGELICA: Congratulations, President Roosevelt.

       (TEDDY ROOSEVELT comes racing in, his ENTOURAGE  behind)

TEDDY:  Now hold on a minute there. You’ve got the wrong Roosevelt. That there is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR is a fine man, no doubt, but I’m sure that award was meant for me, Teddy Roosevelt.

FDR:  Oh, Teddy, you were a good president, all right. Panama canal. American internationalism. Nobel Peace Prize and all that. But that was way back in the first decade of the century. And you weren’t elected president four times.

FDR’s ENTOURAGE (like cheerleaders chanting):

FDR
I’m his fan
Four elections
He’s the man!

TEDDY:  Franklin, That New Deal of yours—the government programs to get us out of the Great Depression in the 1930s—it didn’t exactly work, did it?

FDR:  It gave millions of Americans a job and enough money to survive. I gave them hope.

TEDDY:  And I gave them a new political party—the Bull Moose Party!

ENTOURAGE (swinging hands over head):  Moose, Moose, Moose, Moose!

TEDDY:  No, sirree, you can’t beat a moose.

FDR:  I led our country through World War II.

TEDDY:  I’m talking a MOOSE, Franklin. A BIG moose.

FDR:  I have a Presidential Memorial in Washington D.C.!

TEDDY:  My face is on a mountain in South Dakota!

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:  Rushmore, Rushmore, Rushmore!


In nineteen hundred one                                  Song 4
This country’s time had come
And Teddy knew just how the people felt

TEDDY:

Speak softly, that’s the trick
And carry one big stick.

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:

We love this guy—
Our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt.

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

In 1932
The country was so blue
The depression had us tight around the belt.

FDR:

Your government is here
You’ve nothing now to fear.

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

He gave us hope—
Our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt.

BOTH GROUPS:

Let’s all cheer
Now you’re here
We are gonna stand tall

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Teddy

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Franklin

BOTH GROUPS:

He’s our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt of all.

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

When hope was wearing thin
Our FDR stepped in
And he made sure his grand New Deal got dealt

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:

Our Teddy’s strong and tough
Goes swimming in the buff             

TEDDY:

Australian crawl—

BOTH GROUPS:

Our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt.

BOTH GROUPS and CHORUS:

Let’s all cheer
Now you’re here
We are gonna stand tall

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Teddy

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Franklin

BOTH GROUPS and CHORUS:

He’s our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt of all.

TEDDY’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Teddy

FDR’S ENTOURAGE:

Yeah it’s Franklin

BOTH GROUPS and CHORUS:

He’s our fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite fav’rite Roosevelt of all.

 (THEY ALL exit, still arguing. ANGELICA steps up to microphone.)                                 

Song List

Click on the song name to hear samples in mp3 format. Please note that internet song samples have low fidelity and rest assured that the CDs we sell sound much better. Problems hearing the music? Visit our Audio Help page

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Teacher Reviews:

To submit your own review, just e-mail it to ron@badwolfpress.com   Be sure to include your school name and what grade you teach.

"This was my first year of doing a musical play. 'Great Americans' was perfect because it fit so wonderfully well into the unit that I do after Christmas vacation. My students learned so much, even about Americans who aren't so well-known by sixth graders. Kids are still mentioning the names of people from the show as they hear or head about them. And the parents loved it!"
---Lisa Atchison, Teacher (6th grade), Bertrand Community School, Bertrand, NE

"It's hilarious and the music is TERRIFIC. The melodies are beautiful and for the most part, very easy for the kids to sing. Thank you so much! You're my first place too look for creative, engaging, funny musicals!"
---Blake Leister, Teacher (music, 1-5), Dawson Elementary, Holden, MA

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