You Can’t Take It With You - But I Did! - BY TOM KANALEY

The year 1961 was an exciting time to be twenty-two years old. John Kennedy was President and it seemed there wasn’t anything that was not possible in this country. This was especially true for me, a first year junior high school American History teacher. My first teaching position was in Watkins Glen, N.Y., a charming rural village in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

Winter in the Finger Lakes in 1961 was cold and snowy. I was looking for something interesting and challenging to do to pass the cold winter months in this beautiful small town where I began my teaching career. So, I joined the local community theater whose plan was to produce and present Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s “You Can’t Take It With You."

Rehearsals began in early February 1961. The play was scheduled to be presented to the community on March 15, 16 and 17.

I was cast in the role of Tony. Alice was played by Louise, a beautiful, talented, eighteen year old high school senior. Although Louise was never a student in any of my classes, our status was still teacher/student. As rehearsals progressed and Tony and Alice’s romance came to life on stage, Louise and I began to feel an attraction towards each other. We could never act on these feelings off stage, however, since I was a teacher and she was a student. To further complicate the drama of the play within the play, it just so happened that the director of this production was Louise’s mother, Jean Argetsinger, who was also a member of the school board.

Rehearsals continued, the play went on and was a smashing success. It sold out all three nights. Tom and Louise’s attraction also continued.

After Louise graduated in June we had our first real, public date. We then began our courtship. Louise went on to Vassar College as a drama major and I continued my career in education after moving to Rochester, N. Y. 

Tony (me) and Alice (Louise) eventually married and God gave us three beautiful children. One of whom is our daughter Jeanie - known to all as Jeanie Rapp. Did you ever wonder where this talented actress/director/producer got her passion for the theater?

I agree with Kaufman and Hart that you can’t take it with you…but thanks to their wonderful play - I did.