School Play by Norman Rockwell

April 6, 1918 Issue of The Country Gentleman

The alternate title is Deed to the House.

This was the tenth cover in the popular Cousin Reginald series.

This illustration was also the tenth Country Gentleman cover by Norman Rockwell. Rockwell painted thirty-three cover pictures for The Country Gentleman starting in August 1917, the first Cousin Reginald cover, and continuing through April 1922.

School Play

With this painting, Norman Rockwell allows us to see what an early twentieth century student play at school actually looked like. His was an unending quest for authenticity in his paintings. Rockwell no doubt attended many such productions preparing just for this one illustration. His devotion to detail is why he is America's favorite illustrator.

I categorize this as one of the Cousin Reginald paintings because the characters look like Cousin Reginald characters.

The hero of the drama unfolding on stage is Reginald Claude Fitzhugh. He wears glasses. He wears the same gloves as seen in the first painting in the series. He even wears the same red necktie, the same cuff-linked sleeves and the same shoes as Reginald.

The villian of the story is certainly Cousin Rusty Doolitle. His complexion, build and hair color all point to this identification.

Whether the girl on stage is the pretty young unnamed girl from other Cousin Reginald paintings is doubtful. There are two girls in the audience with her trademark red bow in the hair. She could be either of these two girls ...
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