Norma McLeod holds a 75-year old banner designed by her father, Norman Vulery, for a show at the Brown County Playhouse.
95-year-old Brown County resident Norma McLeod recently received a one-of-a-kind heirloom: A banner designed by her father for the Brown County Playhouse when it opened 75 years ago. “I didn’t know that I would ever get one of them,” McLeod said.
The banner was delivered to her house on Sept. 30, and she said, “It’s hanging over my dining room table”.
McLeod was married and living outside of Brown County when her father, Norman Vulery, began creating the banners.
“I know the story of how the banners developed … but I wasn’t here, those are the stories my mom and dad told me,” McLeod said. “I know a lot of the background of that, and when I saw stories coming about about the (playhouse’s 75th anniversary), I thought part of that was attached to my father and everything that he did with the Rogers family.
“My dad originated all of them (the banners), the way it was put on canvas to tell the story was all his idea. When he was told what the play was going to be — the next play — he had to do research because he didn’t follow theater in those days on Broadway and in New York, so he had to research the story of what the play was about and then do the banners before the play opened. It’s more complicated, but no one else drew all the ideas that went on the Playhouse posters.”
McLeod moved back to Brown County on her parents’ property 24 years ago after living in various parts of the country with her husband.
She knew of the posters and had seen a few when they opened, but she lost connection with their whereabouts over the decades. All she knew was that the Rogers family owned them and once had them hanging in the Nashville House.
“The next thing I knew about them, I didn’t know. I kept asking around, and no one seemed to know. After Andy Rogers died, no one seemed to know where they were, who owned them or anything and then they showed up at the Playhouse when the Playhouse got rebuilt.”
The Nashville House changed ownership when owner Andy Rogers’ businesses were auctioned upon his death. His daughter bought and reopened the restaurant. She found the worn and tattered banners during the process and returned them to the Playhouse to be restored, according to President of the Brown County Playhouse Board Patty Frensemeier. The playhouse is also currently displaying most of them, Frensemeier said.
McLeod eventually spoke with the late Bob Kirlin who was the CEO of the Brown County Community Foundation at the time. He told McLeod that one of the banners was supposed to be hers and that even after they were refurbished, she was still in line to receive one. She eventually contacted the Playhouse and was able to choose one.
