St. John Terrell

St. John Terrell

Actor, Impresario, Creator of the Lambertville Music Circus
Born: December 12, 1916, Chicago, Illinois
Died: October 9, 1998, Ewing Township, New Jersey
St. John Terrell
St. John Terrell
Courtesy of St. John Terrell and James A. Michener Art Museum.

St. John "Sinjin" Terrell, "contracted incurable theater-itis" early on. He was the first Jack Armstrong on the radio series, Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy. He worked as a in a carnival when he was 16 years old.

Later in life, his daring feats continued, when as a producer, he launched two prominent professional summer theaters in this region. In 1939, he produced the Bucks County Playhouse's first season. He opened with a hit, Springtime for Henry starring Edward Everett Horton (which he revived 25 years later at the Music Circus), followed through with a successful season, and closed with a profit.

In 1949, he created and produced the country's first commercial arena-type theater under a tent, the Lambertville Music Circus, which he ran until 1970.

He originated the re-enactment of Washington's Crossing of the Delaware in 1953 and for 25 years on Christmas day he played the role of George Washington. He was an actor on Broadway in the 1930s, appearing in Elmer Rice's Judgement Day and Maxwell Anderson's Winterset. He has regularly appeared in television commercials throughout the years. He nurtured his interest in United States folk culture as a member of the Board of Directors of the Folk Culture Center of the Library of Congress.
Source: bcad.frb.io/artists/st-john-terrell

During WWII, Terrell was a Troop Transport Command pilot in the South Pacific until discharged due to crash injuries. He joined the USO and wound up in Manila. He became frustrated that many soldiers were deprived of some shows because small stages couldn't accommodate the productions and even then the back rows of the audience were too far from the stages. He planned to commandeer a bulldozer to dig a large circular pit with sloping sides, place a stage at its center, and cover it with a large tent. Army red tape prevented him from carrying out his plan, but the idea stayed with him until he created the Music Circus in Lambertville a few years after the war.


Terrell and the Buck County Playhouse

St. John Terrell and actor Richard Bennett in front of the Buck County Playhouse in 1939
St. John Terrell and actor Richard Bennett in front of the Buck County Playhouse in 1939
Courtesy: Melissa Bayer.
The Bucks County Playhouse has a long history. A local group, including Producer St. John Terrell, Broadway music arranger Don Walker, and Broadway producer Moss Hart, who lived in Bucks County, opened the playhouse in New Hope on July 1, 1939 with a production of "Springtime for Henry" featuring Edward Everett Horton.

(In 1963, Mr. Terrell once again produced "Springtime for Henry," again starring Edward Everett Horton, at his Lambertville Music Circus as a 25th Anniversary Special Event.)

The building, a grist mill situated on the Delaware river, dating from the late eighteenth century, had been in danger of demolition when Mr. Hart and the local community rallied to renovate it into a theater.

The original structure was built in 1790, when Benjamin Parry's Hope Mills burnt down and he rebuilt them as the New Hope Mills, inspiring a change of the village's name from Coryell's Ferry (an enterprise no longer in existence) to New Hope, PA.

The theater, located just ninety minutes from New York City, was the venue for some Broadway tryouts, but more significantly, a place that developed a litany of future and current stars of Broadway and Hollywood including Lillian Gish, June Lockhart, Kim Hunter, George C. Scott, Colleen Dewhurst, Kitty Carlisle, Bert Lahr, Ruth Gordon, Helen Hayes, Claude Raines, Shirley Booth, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford and Walter Matthau.

Charlie Shaw, Editor of the New Hope Gazette said, "It is safe to say that Terrell, along with long-time Playhouse producer Mike Ellis, gained more fame for the New Hope-Lambertville area than any other persons."
Source: Charles Shaw, New Hope Gazette, December 4, 1986

The Bucks County Playhouse
The Bucks County Playhouse
Photo: John Slavin / Philly.com
St. John Terrel at the Bucks County Playhouse
St. John Terrell addresses the audience at the Bucks County Playhouse, photograph by Jack Rosen, 1980s
Courtesy: James A. Michener Art Museum.

Terrell and George Washington

St. John Terrell as George Washington
St. John Terrell as George Washington, newsprint courtesy of the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society and James A. Michener Art Museum.
"The original idea to cross came in 1939 from a newspaperman on the Philadelphia Bulletin, but I didn't get around to in until 1953. That year a newspaperwoman wrote that I planned to cross and people stared calling me, so I figured I'd better do it."

He crossed in one boat the first time, with 12 people. He had that boat made by a man [Elmer Case] from Lambertville who sent to the Neptune Society in Plymouth, Massachusetts for the design and then had it made half scale. It was 22 feet long.

"Hundreds of people came out that first year," he recalls. "The local papers didn't make much of it but the New York Times did. I've done it every year since because I was so pleased with the reaction."

Source: Excerpted from an interview of Mr. Terrell by Ann Rinaldi, columnist, feature writer, and editorial writer for the Trentonian. (Year unknown.)


Who crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Day? It all depends on the year. In 1776, it was the father of our country; from 1953-1977 it was Round Tabler St. John Terrell.
Mr. Terrell passed away in October at 81. he was a Chicago born actor who made his name as a theatrical manager, founding the Bucks County Playhouse in 1939 and the Lambertville (N.J.) Music Circus some years later. In 1953, Mr. Terrell, with six friends a-rowing, played George Washington as a one shot publicity stunt for the Music Circus.

The idea caught the public's fancy and is continued to this day by the Washington Crossing Foundation. Ah, an actor's life for me! In case you're wondering who replaced Mr. Terrell in 1978, it was longtime crewman Jack Kelly, Princess Grace's brother.

Source: leew, Kean University, Union, New Jersey


St. John Terrell as George Washington and his men in their Durham boat.
St. John Terrell as George Washington and his men in their Durham boat crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day.
Photo: The Trentonian
The Builder of the Durham Boat Replica

Elmer E. Case of Lambertville, NJ was commissioned by Mr. Terrell to design and construct a model of the Durham boats used by George Washington to cross the Delaware River in 1776. Tight funding and other restrictions resulted in Mr. Case building the boat at one third the length of the original boats.


Terrell and New Jersey Council on the Arts

St. John Terrell and NJ Governor Richard J. Hughes
St. John Terrell and NJ Governor Richard J. Hughes in 1966.
St. John Terrell pictured with NJ Governor Richard J. Hughes in 1966.
Photo Source: Music Circus Souvenir Program

In 1966, Richard J. Hughes, the governor, signed a law creating the NJ State Council on the Arts, consisting of 17 members, all appointed by the Governor for terms of three years, and three ex-officio members.

The Council is charged to do all that is necessary and appropriate to: support, encourage, and foster public interest in the arts; enlarge public and private resources devoted to the arts; promote freedom of expression in the arts; and facilitate the inclusion of art in every public building in New Jersey. St. John "Sinjin" Terrell, was one of those appointed, founding members.


St. John Terrell at Home

St. John Elrita Terrell in their living room at "Northridge."
St. John Terrell and Elrita Terrell in their living room at Northridge.
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program

Mr. Terrell and his wife, Elrita owned and lived in what is now the Woolverton Inn in Stockton, NJ in the 1950s and 1960s. They called the property "Northridge."

The property dates back to the post-revolutionary war era and the early days of commerce along the Delaware River. In August, 1792, Lieutenant John Prall Jr. purchased 290 acres of farmland from John Ely, and built the foundation of the current "Woolverton Inn," which was originally a simple 2-story farmhouse.

Elrita Terrell and Son, Bartholomew (Bart)
Elrita Terrell and Son, Bartholomew (Bart)
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program


The Woolverton Inn in the 1980s.
The Woolverton Inn in the 1980s.
Photo Source: woolvertoninn.com/

In the mid-1800s, Maurice and Asher Woolverton purchased a portion of the land and the old farmhouse. They completed significant renovations, transforming the building into its current form, a three-story grand Colonial Manor house with a lovely year-round veranda overlooking the great lawn.

The property served as summer home during the 1940s for the Seymour family. Whitney North Seymour was a well-known New York trial lawyer who served during the Hoover Administration, and later served as the 84th President of the American Bar Association. The Seymour Family called the property "Woolverstone."

Anne Hackl owned the Woolverton Property through the 1980s, when she began the process of transitioning her beautiful home into a historical New Jersey Bed and Breakfast. The original guest rooms had to share bathrooms, and only continental breakfast was offered.

Today, the Inn is owned by Mary and Mario Passalacqua, who appreciate the Inn's colorful history, and continue to make improvements to making sure the Woolverton Inn stands for another 200 years.

Source: woolvertoninn.com/


St. John Terrell and Some Friends

Mr. Terrell entertained many celebrities at the Music Circus. By the early 1950s the theater had gained immense notoriety and showbiz movers and shakers were interested in experiencing the new tent theater phenomenon. Most of these photos are found in the 1956 Music Circus Season Souvenir Program.

Sinjin Terrell and Noel Coward. Noel Coward's musical, "After the Ball," had its American Premiere at the Music Circus in 1955.
Sinjin Terrell and Noel Coward
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program
Mary Martin and her daughter, Heller, visit the Music Circus. Her son, Larry Hagman worked at the Music Circus in the early 1950s.
Mary Martin, her daughter Heller, and Mr. Terrell
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program
Mr. Terrell welcomes Sid Caesar to the Music Circus.
St. John Terrell and Sid Caesar
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program
Composer Sigmund Romberg and St. John Terrell
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program

Mr. Terrell welcomes Composer Sigmund Romberg to the Music Circus. Mr. Romberg's musicals, "Desert Song," "The New Moon," and "The Student Prince" were presented many times at the Music Circus.

Oscar Hammerstein II (right) visits with Mr. Terrell, Stage Director Robert C. Jarvis outside the tent in 1952.
St. John Terrell, Robert Jarvis, and Oscar Hammerstein II
Source: Music Circus Season Souvenir Program